The second full week of the legislative session saw standing committees get into full swing, with some action being taken on bills carried over from the 2007 session and some hearings on newly filed legislation. The House took quick action to send to final action a proposal that would expand the use of mail ballots state-wide, after a pilot program in two counties proved successful.
The House Judiciary Committee heard testimony on a bill that would expand the rights of law enforcement to investigate and prosecute cases where auto accidents involving death or serious injury may have involved alcohol or drugs. We’re also planning on hearing legislation that would crack down on repeat DUI offenders. Thursday state and local sexual abuse and domestic violence program representatives were in the Capital to promote new legislation to track crimes involving domestic violence and a new bill that would reform the current stalking law. Those bills will be approved for introduction this week in the House Judiciary Committee.
After the House Judiciary Committee received good news on the status of prison bed space, the Senate Judiciary Committee took testimony on a bill that would, if passed, create a need for around 1500 prisons beds this next year alone, using up all the bed savings we’ve worked on during the past two years. The bill’s sponsor is perceived to be trying to develop pressure to build a new facility in his Senate district in SE Kansas. The House is not likely to take any action this year that would strain our current prison bed situation, although legislation is expected to pass that will have some bed space impact. We’re working on ways to be smarter about the use of expensive bed space, utilizing high cost space to house the most dangerous felons and utilizing new highly effective risk assessment tools to allow for lower security placement of lesser felons.
The State Budget picture continues to take shape after a briefing on the Governor’s budget Thursday morning. Adding updated disaster relief funding needs, we learned that the Governor’s proposed budget would put us $4.8M in the red after required expenditures over last year’s budget is taken into account. The Governor’s proposed $15M in state matching funds for disaster relief doesn’t take into account the recent ice storm damage that was state-wide in scope. The State’s 15% cost share with federal and local governments adds another $25M in expenses. Hopefully not all the funds would need to be expended in FY 2009, which begins July 1 of this year, but it points out the thin margins we are working with and illustrates why we need to revisit the base budgets of most if not all government programs. Simply assuming that agencies should automatically get at least what they got last year plus another 5% has put us into a situation where we have no margin for discretionary spending, and leaves us with less than the statutorily required 7 ½% ending balances. Look for the budget to dominate this year’s legislative session going into the fall elections where all 165 legislative seats are up for election.