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April 3rd, 2007
Capitol News
Welcome to my newsletter, “Capitol News!” I would like to wish everybody a Happy Easter! The regular session is now coming to a close! The last day is April 3rd, 2007 and then the members of the house will return home until the veto session in late April.

House Passes Health Care Bill

On Monday, April 2nd, the Kansas House of Representatives approved House Substitute for Senate Bill 11 today. The bill will begin the process of overhauling the state’s health care system. House Members voted 117-5 in favor of legislation. House Speaker Melvin Neufeld said, “I am extremely pleased with the bi-partisan support for this legislation. We have major issues with health care in Kansas. There is a lack of market competition, skyrocketing costs, and thousands of uninsured citizens. This legislation will start our state on the road to recovery.” Senate Bill 11 includes the following: Begins Medicaid reform that includes long-term care, health opportunity accounts and giving Medicaid recipients choices of private insurance; Establishes Safety Net Clinic Capital Loan Guarantee Act, which is a bill HB 2547 that I introduced this provision allows Safety Net Clinics to negotiate loans for expansion of facility and staff. Safety net clinics provide access and care to the under insured and the uninsured.; Encourages and expands the use of pre-tax dollars to pay for health care; Encourages and expands the use of pre tax dollars to pay for health care, and Establishes an Inspector General to monitor Medicaid programs for waste, fraud, and abuse.

“Drop Dead” Day

On Wednesday, March 28th, the House held “drop dead” day. This is the legislative deadline for bills from non-exempt committees to receive a vote from the second house, be sent to a conference committee or die on the calendar. The deadline is designed to put pressure on both chambers in order for them to reach a consensus on priority issues

Gambling Debate

For the first time in four years, the House heard debate on the expansion of gaming. After 12 hours of debate last Friday night, the House passed an amended lottery bill which will expand gaming by way of state-owned destination casinos in four areas as well as slots at pari-mutuel facilities. The measure passed with bi-partisan support but is still considered controversial. The bill did not receive hearings nor does the policy change allow for a statewide vote on the issue. Revenues of up to $200 million annually are expected from the expansion, 2% of which has been designated for rehabilitation of problem gamblers. The Senate also spent almost twelve hours on the issues, ultimately concurring with the House position and sending it to the Governor for her signature this morning. Kansas is the first state to approve state-owned casinos.

Staying Focused

For the first eleven weeks of the session, the house worked hard and followed the agenda they designed in the beginning. The Republican majority has worked together to represent the best interest of the people and most of the priorities outlined have been achieved during this session. Early in the session the House provided funding for the out-years of the school finance plan and has worked with the House Appropriations committee to look at responsible proposals to address deferred maintenance. The House has passed comprehensive tax relief measures. The franchise tax repeal promotes business expansion, while seniors receive relief through the social security tax exemption, and businesses and workers are assisted by the stabilization of the unemployment insurance rate and other proposals aimed at easing the burden Kansas taxpayers bare. A House proposal for comprehensive health care reform is under current review. A gamut of bills aimed at promoting economic development and tourism and controlling crime and public safety have passed the House and Senate, including Alexa’s Law. Election laws have received the attention of the body and House Republicans lead the way in ensuring that counties statewide are granted uniform opportunity to establish satellite voting and advance voting. House Republicans have accomplished the agenda priorities that were set by the caucus and have led the way on issues that reflect the values of their voters back home.

House Passes Bill Aimed At Breaking Cycle of Repeat Offenders

The Kansas House of Representatives approved House Substitute
for Senate Bill 14 this past week. The bill which was amended by House Members
allows the Department of Corrections to implement a new grant program to
assist community corrections programs. It focuses on reducing the number of
repeat offenders and increases the amount of goodtime credits inmates
can earn off their prison sentences from 15 percent to 20 percent. House Speaker Melvin Neufeld said, “Despite recent declines in crimes, our state’s prison population continues to grow largely because of the number of inmates who violate their probation or post-release supervision. The proposed legislation will strengthen our community corrections programs and will help break the cycle recidivism.” The work on the proposed legislation is done by the Joint Task Force on Kansas Corrections Reform and provisions in House Bills 2141 and 2142. “The House Republican Caucus pledged to establish a parole and probation program to reduce the number of repeat offenders. This is good public policy. It will reduce the number of prison beds needed and ease the need to build more prisons-saving the state millions of dollars,” said Majority Leader Ray Merrick. House Substitute for SB 14 goes back to the Senate for its members’ consideration.

From the desk of Congressman Jerry Moran

Asking the Agriculture Committee to Investigate Farm Service Agency Shortfalls

This week, I asked the House Agriculture Committee to examine problems at the Farm Service Agency (FSA), including an ineffective computer system and delays farmers are experiencing when signing up for Direct and Counter-cyclical Programs (DCP). For many months, farmers and ranchers across Kansas have informed me of the antiquated and inept computer system used by FSA. In one FSA office in Kansas, the staff must shut down all of the computers in the office to download a single form onto the system. Not only does this delay producer sign-ups, but it is a waste of staff time and taxpayer dollars.

FSA recently extended the DCP sign-up deadline due to problems with the computer system. The delay in DCP sign-ups is also being caused by extensive FSA paperwork reviews of all farm operations. The reviews were ordered after audit findings showed 11 percent of FSA payments were improper. However, about 91 percent of the improper payments were attributable to paperwork errors. While the government should be held accountable and every effort should be made to correct paperwork errors, forcing unnecessary audits that delay DCP sign-ups and payments to producers who are in compliance is unjustified.

Action by the House Agriculture Committee also comes at an important time as FSA is in the process of consolidating county offices. FSA is telling farmers and ranchers that consolidation will not adversely affect them because they can complete the paperwork online. This has not been the case, however, because the computer system cannot even handle current in-office use.

I am worried that the problems farmers and ranchers are experiencing today are just the beginning and that without significant technology changes, a catastrophic computer collapse will occur. Click here to read more and hear my audio about this topic.

New Regulations Cause Delay in Obtaining Passports

Due to new regulations imposed by the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security and State, many Kansans are experiencing delays with the processing of U.S. passport applications. The new regulation requires all U.S. citizens to present a passport to enter the U.S. when arriving by air from any part of the Western Hemisphere. For example, Americans visiting Canada and Mexico and traveling via plane will need valid U.S. passports to re-enter the U.S.

According to the State Department, processing times for passport applications are taking between two and ten weeks depending on the type of service requested. I have contacted the State Department to express my concern with the delays as travel plans are being held up and Kansans are experiencing occasional difficulties with the passport toll-free hotline. If you or your family has plans to travel outside of the country, I encourage you to apply for your passports at least 10 weeks in advance. If you have any questions with the application process or are having problems obtaining information about your pending passport application, please contact one of my district offices. Also for more information about U.S. passports, you may visit the State Department's website at http://www.state.gov/travelandbusiness/ .

Western Kansas Community Leaders Visit Washington, D.C.

This week, community leaders from western Kansas traveled to Washington D.C., and received updates on several important congressional issues, such as essential air service, critical access hospitals, immigration and the 2007 Farm Bill.

In from Hays were Assistant City Manager Toby Dougherty, Commissioners Troy Hickman and Barb Wasinger, Larry Berg with Midwest Energy and Mike Michaelis with the Ellis County Coalition. In from Dodge City were Mayor Jim Sherer; Ed Elam, County Manager; Kim Goodnight, County Commission Chair; Jeff Pedersen, City Manager; Ryan Carpenter, Special Projects Manager; Jeanie Zortman, USD 443 board member, and Tony Zortman; Seth Eckelman, USD 443 Director of Public Information; Alan Cunningham, USD 443 Superintendent; Jerry King, incoming Chairman of the Dodge City/Ford County Development Corporation; and Bob Wetmore, President of the Dodge City Area Chamber of Commerce, with Liz and Khannah Wetmore. In from Garden City were Commissioner David Crase, County Commissioner Larry Jones, County Administrator Peter Olson, City Commissioner J.R. Behan, Mayor Gary Fuller and City Manager Robert Halleran.

Attendees from Liberal included City Manager Mark Hall; Debbie Giskie, City Clerk and Airport Manager; Colleen Towns, Economic Development Director; Mayor Ron Warren; City Commissioner Joe Denoyer; Rozelle Webb, Chamber of Commerce Executive, and her husband, Darrell; Dr. Duane Dunn, Chamber President, and his wife, Cindi; and County Commissioner Joyce Hibler. In from Grant County were Scott Nichols, Executive Director of the Grant County Chamber of Commerce; Marlyn Redetzke, Grant County Chamber of Commerce Board Chairman, and his wife, Margaret. In from Barton County were City Administrator Howard Partington, City Council members Ken Roberts and Allene Owen, County Administrator Richard Boeckman and County Commissioner Rick Scheufler.

Contact Me

If you have any concerns, questions, or comments, please contact me at my office (785) 296-7616 or email me at bethell@ink.org. Thanks and have a great day!