April 24, 2019

Tax reform package heads to rare three-committee public hearing Wednesday

It's crunch time.

Three legislative committees, spearheaded by the Revenue Committee, will hold an extraordinary public hearing Wednesday to examine this session's much-revised tax reform plan before it heads to a showdown on the legislative floor.

It's the gateway to the end game, the prelude to a high-stakes shootout that has been building for four months.

Joining the Revenue Committee for the hearing will be members of the Education Committee and the Retirement Committee, a recognition that this comprehensive tax plan uses state aid to schools as the vehicle to property tax reduction and makes a change in Omaha's school retirement levy limit to authorize additional funding for its troubled teacher retirement program.

"I hope the people will have some influence, not just the special interests," Revenue Committee Chairwoman Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn said on the eve of the public hearing.

Read more: https://journalstar.com/legislature/tax-reform-package-heads-to-rare-three-committee-public-hearing/article_1eddcaaa-a1e9-5cb9-86bf-750bc467644e.html
(Lincoln Journal Star)

April 24, 2019

How Emporia, Kansas, Fights Rural Brain Drain: 'Broadband Is The New Railroad'

A small city in Kansas is determined to prove The Onion wrong.

Folks in Emporia, Kansas, weren’t laughing when the satirical paper named it “best town to escape from” in 2017. In fact, the “brain drain” from rural areas has been a problem across the country for decades. Since 2000, Emporia's population has declined more than 7 percent. It's now home to 24,724 people.

“We understood that nobody was going to invest in us if we didn’t,” says Casey Woods, executive director of Emporia Main Street, a non-profit that advocates for local businesses and heritage.

Woods and other city leaders think they have a solution. They plan to make Emporia a rural tech hub built with local investment in a fiber network, assistance from the Rural Innovation Initiative, and a long-held entrepreneurial spirit.

Emporia was, after all, “named after the marketplace, the emporium,” says City Commissioner Rob Gilligan said. “Business and enterprise was always that founding idea.”

Read more: https://www.kcur.org/post/how-emporia-kansas-fights-rural-brain-drain-broadband-new-railroad#stream/0

April 24, 2019

KU And Saint Luke's Hospitals' Suit Says Liver Allocation Policy Will Cause Hundreds To Die

Two Kansas City area hospitals joined 12 other transplant centers this week in a lawsuit over a new liver allocation policy that they say will result in “hundreds of liver transplant candidates needlessly dying.”

The University of Kansas Hospital and Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City are plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed in Atlanta against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the United Network for Organ Sharing, or UNOS, the private organization that contracts with the government to manage the nation’s organ transplant system.

The new policy, set to take effect at the end of April, changes the regional system for allocating livers to one that gives priority to the sickest patients.

That has hospitals such as KU and Saint Luke’s upset because their region has a higher rate of donor registration than others.

Read more: https://www.kcur.org/post/ku-and-saint-luke-s-hospitals-suit-says-liver-allocation-policy-will-cause-hundreds-die#stream/0

April 24, 2019

Former U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda considers campaign for Kansas seat in U.S. Senate

Former Congresswoman Nancy Boyda said a national political environment steeped in partisan rancor offered opportunity to a candidate for U.S. Senate eager to open bipartisan conversations on challenging public policy issues.

Boyda, a Baldwin City Democrat who represented the 2nd District of eastern Kansas in Washington, D.C., said she was considering a run for the seat to be vacated by U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, a Republican. An official candidacy wasn’t a certainty, Boyda said Tuesday during an interview, but she intended to begin sharing her vision for productive dialogue.

“I can’t describe how abundantly clear staying out of the political scene and enjoying my life wasn’t going to be an option any longer,” she said. “I think Kansans are really, really tired of all the drama nationally and certainly in our state in the past eight or nine years.”

A robust collection of prominent Republicans have discussed entering the primary field in 2020, but former U.S. Attorney for Kansas Barry Grissom stands as the most well-known Democrat committed to the race.

Read more: https://www.cjonline.com/news/20190423/former-us-rep-nancy-boyda-considers-campaign-for-kansas-seat-in-us-senate
(Topeka Capital-Journal)

April 24, 2019

'I've been there, done that': Laura Kelly navigates GOP skepticism to score early wins

TOPEKA -- As Laura Kelly waited in the wings of a Johnson County auditorium before a town hall last month, the moderator introduced the 48th governor of Kansas by invoking Daenerys Targaryen, the dragon-riding queen from Game of Thrones.

Kelly wasn’t “the mother of dragons,” but instead “defender of education.”

Forget “breaker of chains.” Kelly was “victor in four hard-fought races” for state Senate.

Kelly will mark 100 days Wednesday in her crusade to reverse what she views as the damage inflicted by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback. Already, she can point to major victories.

Lawmakers approved $90 million in new money for public schools. The House passed Medicaid expansion. She successfully blocked a Republican-driven tax bill that she said would have been unaffordable.

Read more: https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article229430384.html

April 24, 2019

Kansas author Sarah Smarsh met with Schumer about possible U.S. Senate run in 2020

WASHINGTON -- Sarah Smarsh, author of a bestselling memoir about growing up poor in rural Kansas, is considering a Democratic candidacy for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat in 2020 after weeks of public and private encouragement.

But she’s in no hurry to join the race.

Smarsh, 38, a 2018 National Book Award finalist for “Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth,” confirmed Tuesday that she met with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, last month to discuss the race.

The book’s success and its focus on class has sparked speculation about a political future for the author for months.

“Conversations have made it clear that, as a proud product of rural America, a longtime chronicler of Kansas for a national audience, and a progressive woman who was raised in a moderately conservative environment, I am a cultural bridge person who would offer voters a unique option in the race,” said Smarsh, who spoke at Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s inauguration in January.

Read more: https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article229574329.html

April 24, 2019

Kansas cracks down on nursing home operators with shaky finances

The state of Kansas had to take over 22 financially struggling nursing homes last year — the most anyone connected to the industry could remember.

Officials with the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services said they had no choice. Nursing home managers — most of them from out of state — had fallen behind on bills for basics like food and utilities, putting residents’ health and safety at risk.

Now the Republican-controlled Legislature and Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly have come together on a plan to keep it from happening again.

Lawmakers this month passed a bill requested by the Kelly administration that will require much more financial information from people who apply for licenses to operate nursing homes.

Read more: https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article229387249.html

April 24, 2019

'Free speech zones' on campus: Oklahoma House split on whether they promote or stifle free speech

'Free speech zones' on campus: Oklahoma House split on whether they promote or stifle free speech, sends bill to governor


OKLAHOMA CITY — Members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives exercised their First Amendment rights for 75 minutes Monday afternoon before passing a measure that opposing protagonists argued may or may not encourage free speech on college campuses.

Senate Bill 361, by Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, would prohibit the state’s public colleges and universities from interfering with “noncommercial expressive activity on campus … , as long as the person’s conduct is not unlawful and does not materially and substantially disrupt the functioning of the public institutions of higher education.”

It would outlaw campus “free speech zones,” which in the estimation of the bill’s proponents limit rather than encourage open discourse.

House sponsor Mark Lepak, R-Claremore, said the measure is needed to keep students or administrations from infringing on the rights of those with views outside prevailing sentiment. The bill and ones similar to it in other states have grown out of conservatives’ belief that they face discrimination on college campuses.

Read more: https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/government-and-politics/free-speech-zones-on-campus-oklahoma-house-split-on-whether/article_c7aaabb3-906c-5141-a008-da33b0232b8d.html

April 24, 2019

U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin denounces 'Green New Deal' as socialism, says Democrats are 'OK with

U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin denounces 'Green New Deal' as socialism, says Democrats are 'OK with deceiving the American people'


HENRYETTA — U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin spoke extensively against a Green New Deal on Tuesday, calling it “socialism” and alleging that the proposal has nothing to do with climate change.

Mullin, R-Okla., also questioned the motives behind it.

“The Green New Deal, which is about climate change, right?” Mullin said. “It has nothing to do with climate change. It has all to do with socialism.”

The proposed Green New Deal, House Resolution 109 and Senate Resolution 59, would establish a series of economic and environmental goals and projects through a 10-year national mobilization.

Read more: https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/government-and-politics/u-s-rep-markwayne-mullin-denounces-green-new-deal-as/article_12529dbc-4802-5a9e-9034-c2225fe0fde2.html

April 24, 2019

Oklahoma Legislature approves ban on taxing plastic bags

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma Legislature has approved a bill to prevent cities and towns from imposing a fee on single-use plastic and paper bags and it will now proceed to the governor's office.

The measure aims to bar local governments from prohibiting or taxing "auxiliary containers" used for carrying groceries, carryout and other bought items.

The Journal Record reports that the Oklahoma House passed Sen. James Leewright's proposal Tuesday. The measure was already approved in the Senate.

The bill proposal came after officials in Norman considered imposing a 5-cent tax on plastic bags in an effort to explore ways to limit a chief source of litter and pollution.

Read more: https://newsok.com/article/5629100/oklahoma-legislature-approves-ban-on-taxing-plastic-bags