To learn more, visit www.ElaineBowers.com!

View this email in your browser

It was great to have lunch in Kensington for a fundraiser to benefit the Honor Flight. Here is Don Suchsland, Honor Flight Rider 2014, with Representatives Troy Waymaster, Ken Rahjes, and myself.

Senator Elaine Bowers
R-Concordia

Capitol Office

Room: 223-E
Seat: 33
Phone: 785-296-7389
Email: Elaine.Bowers@senate.ks.gov

Home Information

1326 N. 150th Road
Concordia, KS 66901
Phone: 785-243-4256
Email:elaine@concordiaautomart.com

About the 36th District

Map of the 36th District
Demographic Profile
Counties Served: Cloud, Jewell, Lincoln, Mitchell, Osborne, Ottawa, Republic, Rooks, Russell, Smith, Washington and parts of Marshall and Phillips.

Committees

Vice-Chair, Financial Institutions & Insurance
Senate Select Committee on KPERS
Public Health and Welfare
Capitol Preservation Committee
Agriculture

Welcome to new State Representative Ken Rahjes! This photo is from the State of the State address on January 12 in the House Chamber.

The Bowers Bulletin

Senate Highlights
Typical of most years, our first week back in Topeka for the start of the 2016 legislative session was spent mostly on organization and ceremonial activities. The rest of the week was off to a slow start as members settled in and committees held a few informational hearings. Week two began in observation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and the legislature, along with state offices, were closed Monday. However, the abbreviated week did not slow committees from introducing and holding hearings on proposed legislation. The capitol was filled with a number of advocacy groups meeting with legislators and in just two weeks, we’ve already had a few dozen bills introduced in the Senate alone.

Committee Assignments
The Senate terms are for four years and the membership of the committees from the previous three years has already been established by Senate Leadership. My committees will remain the same - Agricultural, Public Health and Welfare and Financial Institutions and Insurance where I will serve as vice-chair. I also will remain on the Select Committee on KPERS, Joint Committee on State Tribal Relations and the Historical Preservation Committee. I will also continue to serve (as appointed by the Senate President) on The Kansas Coordinating Council on Early Childhood Developmental Services – SICC – the State Interagency Coordinating Council.

State of the State
Governor Brownback delivered the 134^th State of the State Address to members of the Legislature on Tuesday, January 12^th. He spoke to relevant national issues and outlined several recent legislative accomplishments. The Governor discussed national security issues, our state’s strong pro-life movement and plans for a commission that would address rural health care access. He offered support for tightening the property tax lid bill passed last session, eliminating any funds that go to Planned Parenthood through our state’s KanCare system and providing merit pay for teachers. Few details were outlined and the speech was short as the State of the Union speech was to follow soon afterwards.

Revenue Receipt Update
This week, the Senate Commerce Committee received an update on revenue receipts and estimates from Secretary Nick Jordan. The secretary stated Kansas’ unemployment rate is at 4%, which is the lowest our state has experienced in 14 years. Secretary Jordan referenced recent revenue trends, including:

Corporate Income Tax – Trends are normal. Fiscal year to date through December we are up 2.6% over estimates.
Use Tax – Receipts are increasing. Fiscal year to date through December we are up 2.5% over estimates.
Individual Income Tax – Receipts are growing year over year, even with a further rate reduction in 2015.
Sales Tax – Receipts have declined since Spring 2015.

The Department of Revenue indicated other states with significant oil and agriculture industries have also experienced a decline in sales tax receipts. The department pinpointed a number of possible factors that could be contributing to the decline, including consumers paying down debts, on-line sales and increased health care costs. For Tax Year 2013, Kansas saw 8,666 first time small business filers bring in $486.7 million in new income to the state. Several lawmakers voiced their concern with the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group’s process and suggested making statutory changes which would allow for more outside input and expertise in the revenue estimating procedure.

It was great to have the Kansas Agriculture and Rural Leadership (KARL) group in Topeka!

Jobs Report
Secretary Lana Gordon released the Department of Labor’s December jobs report this week. The unemployment rate for December dropped to 3.9 %, compared to the December 2014 rate of 4.2%. There was significant growth in health care and social assistance jobs. Continued growth in construction contributed to an overall gain of 1,800 private sector jobs for Kansas in December. There was however a decrease in the trade, transportation and utilities industries that resulted from lower than expected retail trade hiring.

State Corrections Update
This week Interim Secretary of Corrections, Johnnie Goddard (Minneapolis High School graduate), brought to light the vacancy issue the Kansas Department of Corrections is facing. Since 2013, corrections officer vacancies have risen from 7.65% to 8.5%, which has forced the department to pay its workers overtime. To combat the matter, Goddard introduced a revamped promotion system. Originally an entry-level officer would receive a 5% salary increase after three years of employment if the officer had not already been promoted. The new promotion system reduces the employment time to one year, and he expects the change to ultimately reduce the vacancies and turnover rate (29.7%) by paying less overtime. Nebraska has allotted $2.5 million towards starting salaries to tackle their turnover rate, which has dropped to 22.8%.

KDOT Agency Overview
Secretary King provided the Senate Transportation Committee with an overview and update on the Kansas Department of Transportation. He explained that the T-WORKS program is multimodal and utilizes a comprehensive approach when addressing transportation issues. Sec. King spoke about the wide array of transportation and spoke about recent accomplishments:

AVIATION – In the last 4 years, Kansas has made improvements to 92 airports

FREIGHT – Over the past 5 years, Kansas has invested or loaned $26 million to make key improvements to short-line rail
AMTRAK – Amtrak’s Southwest Chief had a record year in 2015 with 367,000 passengers
HIGHWAYS – Construction Lettings in 2015 were $669 million and $644 million for 2016.

Secretary King stated that T-WORKS has completed 2,230 projects, 9,645 miles and repaired 633 bridges. The Secretary also addressed the bonding issue and said that when T-WORKS began, it was projected that it would take $1.7 billion in bonding to complete T-WORKS. KDOT issued $325 million of Bonds in 2010, $200 million in 2012, $250 million in 2014 and most recently $400 million, which is $1.175 billion in bonds or about $600 million less than originally projected. Sec. King indicated they did have to exceed the 18% bonding cap, which was why the legislature suspended the cap last session. He noted that KDOT will be around 15% bonding by FY 2018. Regarding the Kansas Turnpike Authority, King mentioned the agency is exploring the option of removing gates in order for traffic to flow more freely through toll booths.

OIL & GAS Industry Update
Ed Cross of the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association provided the Senate Utilities Committee with an update on the Oil and Gas Industry in Kansas. He spoke specifically about the effect of lower oil prices and stressed that the strength of the United States Dollar was partially to blame and that cheaper oil does not augment the national or state economies. While prices are cheaper on the average taxpayer, it does not compensate for the layoffs made by companies and the declining production of oil. In 2015, barrels produced fell 5.5% and Cross expects this to linger. He asserted that OPEC and the Saudis are pushing a political agenda at the expense of the American consumer. It is anticipated that oil prices will stay low for a long period of time and most companies do not expect drilling to be profitable until 2017.

Senate Bills introduced:

Property Tax Lid [SB 316] - This bill moves up the effective date of the public vote requirement for counties and cities to raise property taxes above the rate of inflation from 2018 to July 2016. A hearing has not yet been scheduled on the bill.
Judicial Budget; Repealing non-severability clause [SB 320] – This bill would repeal the non-severability provisions of 2015 HB 2005 and enact a severability clause declaring that, if any provision of HB 2005 is held invalid or unconstitutional, then the remainder of the provisions of HB 2005 shall remain in effect.
Securities Commissioner Appointment [SB 340] – This bill would allow the Insurance Commissioner to appoint the Securities Commissioner.
Step Therapy [SB 341] – This bill would allow for step therapy, requiring Medicaid patients to begin with more cost-effective prescription drugs before progressing to more costly medications. The cost savings of this legislation was included in the Governor’s Budget Proposal.
Kansas State Board of Cosmetology [SB 344] – This bill would rename the Cosmetology board to the “Kansas Board of Beauty and Body Professions”
Licensure of Acupuncturists [SB 351] – This bill would require licensure with the Board of Healing Arts for acupuncture and oriental medicine.

Visitors from Senate District #36
It was my pleasure to meet with groups across the district during the early few weeks of session. Weather was a problem for some people traveling in however members of the Kansas Association of Schools Boards with School Superintendents and Kansas Municipal Judges visited Topeka during the short two weeks. Participants in Kansas Agriculture Rural Leaders (KARL) also shadowed many members of the Legislature on Thursday as part of their two year program as State Day.

As session progresses, not every bill introduced will make it to the governor’s desk, but that doesn’t mean opinions, facts and testimony wasn’t heard. Your participation in the state legislature is vital. As we continue to weed through the different bills, I hope to hear from you. I want to know how legislation will impact you and our district, or the ideas you have to improve a bill. There’s still plenty of time to get involved, but the legislative calendar does move quickly, so if you have interest in a particular subject, be sure to engage soon. An email with your thoughts (not a form letter) is truly the best way to reach us as we sit in committees for most of the day and seldom get to stay at our desks for long periods.

Office Information
My office remains the same, 223E (East wing second floor) next to the cage elevator. I do have a new assistant this year so please feel free to call in and speak to Roberta Kellogg who recently retired from Kansas State Board of Nursing where she was an Administrative Specialist for many years. When visiting the Capitol, look for the two new kiosks in the Visitors Center where you will be able see the calendar of the day, events and directions to find the offices of Capitol staff and legislators.

Thank you for the honor of serving you!

Sincerely,
Senator Elaine Bowers
Kansas State Capitol Building
Room 223-E
300 SW 10th St.
Topeka, KS 66612
elaine.bowers@senate.ks.gov
785 296-7389
www.kslegislature.org