This year has been an interesting and busy year as I am on two of the most active committees in the Senate. I am Ranking Minority Leader on the Judiciary Committee and also serve on the Ways and Means Committee plus serving on seven sub-committees.
Those committees include SRS Hospitals, SRS (Kansas Health Policy), Judicial, Parole Board, Labor, Aging and Veteran Affairs/Soldier and Veterans Homes. To date over 125 bills have been introduced in the Judiciary Committee and as many in the Way and Means Committee. My schedule will be quite hectic during these final days of this session.
HEALTH? INSURANCE PREMIUM ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
After more than three hours of contentious debate on the Senate floor last evening, the Health Insurance Premium Assistance Program was rejected with a solid 27 vote opposition.
The Premium Assistance Program brought forward by the Kansas Health Authority is designed to use public, employer, and potentially individual contributions to purchase private health insurance for Kansas families living in poverty who cannot otherwise afford health coverage.?
This program was a high priority enhancement request to implement the first year of new private health insurance assistance program (Kansas Healthy Choices) in January 2009. This program was projected to serve 8,500 very low-income Kansas parents. I believe strongly that this is a program we cannot afford not to move forward with.
Argument for the rejection was that the state can’t afford to pay for the adult health insurance assistance program, which over the next five years would cost about $135 million. One part of this program approved was the expansion of the HealthWave program, which is a blend of Medicaid and federal Children’s Health Insurance Program.?
This program would cost the state approximately $21 million over a five year period. The children’s program would eventually allow children in families of up to 250% of federal poverty guidelines to qualify for this subsidized insurance.
This past week the Senate approved several bills including the following:
SB 651 appropriates the needed funding for the Kansas Academy for Math and Science (KAMS).? KAMS, which will be hosted by Fort Hays State University, is an accelerated residential program for Kansas high school juniors and seniors who are academically talented in science and mathematics.?
The purpose of KAMS is to provide an opportunity for academically talented pupils to work in a community of peers and to earn simultaneously college credits and a high school diploma at a state educational institution designated by the Board of Regents.?
The Board designated Fort Hays State University as the site for KAMS. The bill appropriates $295,000 of funding in FY 2009 for the program based on estimates provided by Fort Hays State University and the Board of Regents.
HB 2749, which has already passed the House, would authorize any township board with a surplus in its general fund to transfer, by resolution, up to 25 percent of general fund revenue into a township equipment reserve fund.
The purpose of the equipment reserve fund would be to finance the acquisition of equipment.
The budget would be required to show the amounts credited to, available in, and expended from the equipment reserve fund. Equipment reserve fund revenue could be invested as allowed currently for governmental subdivisions.?
If the township board determines any portion of the money in the reserve fund is not needed for equipment, the board would be permitted to transfer the money back to the general fund.
Another bill approved by the Senate is SB 669, which would create the Virtual School Act.? Virtual schools are a relatively new concept in Kansas.?
Since the first virtual school opened in the 1998-99 school year, virtual school enrollment has increased from about 60 full-time equivalent students to more than 2,000.?
Virtual schools attract many students who previously weren’t part of the public school system, including non-traditional and home-schooled students. In 2006-07, 26 school districts and service centers operated 28 virtual schools across Kansas.
The bill would give general supervision and regulation of all virtual schools to the Kansas Department of Education. For each school year that a school district has a virtual school, the district would be entitled to virtual school aid.
Virtual school aid would consist of the unweighted Base State Aid Per Pupil plus 14 percent for each full-time equivalent student enrolled in the virtual school.?
Any student enrolled in a virtual school who is not a Kansas resident would not be counted in the enrollment calculation.? The bill would require school districts to provide adequate training to teachers who teach in virtual schools or virtual programs.
Finally, the bill’s definition of a virtual school would require that students make academic progress toward the next grade level, demonstrate competence in subject matter for each class in which a student is enrolled, and require age-appropriate students to complete state assessment tests.
I was surprised to learn how many virtual schools that are in place in my Senate district.? Many teachers of the schools have contacted me.
STATE PAY PLAN
State employees may receive a pay raise beginning next year if a new measure is approved by both the Senate and the House.? Members of the Senate Ways and Means Committee advanced a plan, contained in SB 666, to increase state employee pay after a Hay Group Pay Study determined that Kansas state employee salaries fall dramatically below the market rate.
Under this bill, classified state employees would receive a 2.5 percent salary increase.? Over the course of the five year plan additional increases would be made for those employees who currently earn substantially below average market pay.
According to the US Census Bureau, Kansas employee pay ranks 40th in the nation, while one in every three state employees works for more than percent below market value. Kansas state employees’ salaries lag way behind national averages and an adjustment is long overdue.
Longevity bonus will also be given to employees who have more than ten years of service to the state.? This rewards employees with experience and helps retain a highly experienced workforce in Kansas.? Increasing pay to more closely reflect current market rates is a necessary step that will help us retain experienced and effective employees.
IN CONCLUSION
I was pleased to have several students page for me in the Senate Chamber recently. Paging on March 6, were Caitlin Ott, Mallyssa Stockton, Bethany Cantu and Brianna Smith, Winfield Middle School and on March 13, Levi Russell, Sara Cortez and Kiona Harris, Arkansas City Middle School. I always appreciate the effort the parents make to bring the students to the Capitol.
In these final weeks of this legislative session, I will be out of the office most of the day.? Please continue to send your comments and concerns to my office either by telephone (785) 296-7381 or you may call the toll free number 800-432-3924 or continue to contact me by e-mail at
