May 8, 2006 Report

I had planned for this to be my last report of the session but we’re still in session and will adjourn sometime this week. We’re still trying to reach consensus on a school finance plan and have several major crime and tax policy measures to reach agreement on. Major bills passed this past week include a tough new sex offender registration law and a measure to add property owner protections when government utilizes the power of eminent domain. We considered and rejected conference committee reports on the funeral picketing bill, local government consolidation and school finance. Rejection of conference committee reports means the measures will return to conference committee for further revisions and a new compromise.
As I reported last week, our Select Committee on School Finance kicked out a new plan and we debated that bill Tuesday. Once again, a small group of Republicans and the House Democrats teamed up to hijack the House Committee plan and substitute their plan that would increase funding for schools by nearly $600M over the next three years. Even though their plan spends nearly $200M more over the next three years, almost 130 school districts would get less, including districts like Buhler in Reno County. I countered with a plan that would increase funding by around $459M over 3 years and my amendment passed on a vote of 63-62. My plan, although some $100M - $150M less expensive, would have netted Hutchinson and Buhler school districts more funds. It also would have provided better reporting of expenditures and more accountability than the more expensive plan. Unfortunately, that plan failed on final action Wednesday and so school finance is now in conference committee. On Friday the Senate soundly defeated the hugely expensive House plan offered up by the Democrats and small group of Republicans and the House soundly defeated the earlier passed $466M Senate plan that contained no accountability provisions. The Senate is expected to debate and defeat a $500M plan offered up by Senate Democrat leadership Monday, paving the way for a true compromise on school finance later in the week.
With all the recent controversy over inappropriate communication between the Court and the Senate and possible interference with the legislative process, many lawmakers are reluctant to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on K-12 unless there is some assurance that the court will agree to end the litigation and return the right to make education policy and funding decisions to the duly elected representatives of the people of Kansas. The public is growing tired of funding decisions and mandates coming from a group of 7 justices who deliberate behind closed doors.
I have been appointed to Chair a Special Legislative Investigative Committee following the conclusion of this year’s legislative session. I chaired another special legislative investigative committee some years ago involving an alleged weights and measures scandal in the Dept. of Agriculture. This investigation will focus on the question of whether the integrity of the legislative process was compromised by inappropriate communication between the Supreme Court and members of the Kansas Senate on the eve of several school finance votes. The media broke the story in April, causing one Supreme Court Justice to remove himself from the pending school finance case and the Chief Justice to order an investigation by the Kansas Commission on Judicial Qualifications. The Senate President has revealed that he had “back door” communications with the Court on school finance prior to the Senate voting on 3 separate plans, none of which passed. We now know that the Governor was advised by the Senate President of the communication in a meeting at Cedar Crest, the Governor’s Mansion, several weeks before the media broke the story. There has been concern by lawmakers all session that the Governor had inside information on what kind of plan the Court would accept. The legislature will continue to press for a compromise school finance plan but the scandal has been a distraction and we hope to have more information for the public in the coming weeks.