Virgil's View 02-08-10

Last week was the annual Kansas Chamber of Commerce dinner, when 1,000-1,200 business and political leaders from all across Kansas get together to exchange ideas and visit about the current legislative session. As a part of the event we are privileged each year to hear from some of America's best known political and/or motivational speakers. This year's speaker was Joe Scarborough, a former United States Congressman and host of "Morning Joe" on MSNBC and "The Joe Scarborough Show" on ABC radio stations nationwide.

I guess I would summarize his speech by saying, he made it clear that he has become acutely aware that it is vitally important for political leaders at the state and federal level, whether they be on the extreme left or right, to work together for the good of our constituents. Something he is not currently seeing happen at the federal level.

A few bills have started to make their way through the process. Last Thursday, February 4th, on a 74 to 44 vote, the House passed a somewhat controversial measure designed to save tax dollars and free up prison bed space. The bill, HB 2412, would create a new procedure for release of a terminally ill inmate whose medical condition is believed by a medical doctor to cause death within 30 days.

The process would be initiated with an application made by the Secretary of the Department of Corrections to the Kansas Parole Board (KPB) for the release of an inmate deemed by a physician to have a terminal medical condition. A KPB member may grant the release after examining the case and determining that the inmate did indeed have a condition likely to cause death in the next 30 days. It must also be determined that the inmate does not represent a future risk to public safety. The decision of the KPB member would be final and not subject to review by any administrative agency or court. The KPB would have the authority to revoke the release, if the illness of the released inmate significantly improves or they do not die within thirty days.

Notification of the application for release is not provided to the prosecutor, court, victim or victim's family. However, they are notified if a release is granted to the terminally ill inmate.

Some legislators are starting to push back against the group of Kansas Public Schools who are members of the so-called "Schools for Fair Funding" lawsuit.

On the Senate side of the Capitol, Senator Dick Kelsey, R-Goddard, sponsored SCR 1621 which states that taxpayer money provided to a government entity cannot be used to sue the State in order to receive a higher level of funding.

In the House I have joined several other members in agreeing to have a bill, HCR 5031, with similar language introduced, in our chamber. It's really disappointing that during these extremely difficult economic times, the government schools would think it a good idea to use your money (tax dollars) to sue you to take more of your tax dollars.

During an Appropriations Committee meeting last week Representative Joe McLeland, R-Wichita, in an effort to keep furloughs from shutting down Kansas courts for several extra weeks in the spring, made a motion to transfer $5 million of funding from the 74 school districts currently suing you, to the courts. McLeland said, "If they can find the dollars to fund a lawsuit, I don't think they're in as bad a shape as they say they're in". Schools for Fair Funding's lead attorney, John Robb, said the motion was, "A mean-spirited attempt to punish school districts that are attempting to exercise their constitutional rights to receive adequate funding". I guess it all depends on a person's definition of "adequate funding". I don't think adequate funding equates to millions of dollars more than taxpayers can afford.

Don't get me wrong, I understand the cuts the Legislature has had to make to education are not pleasant for schools to deal with. But, as I have been saying for the past six years, the level of funding promised by the Legislature to K-12 education is higher than Kansas taxpayers can financially support.

The reason for the discussion regarding money for the court system is it was discovered after the 2009 session, in which the normal legislative budget process was bypassed by the democrats and a few rouge republicans, that an error was made in the amount of appropriation made to the courts. Information released by the Kansas Supreme Court said that the judicial branch faced an $8 million shortfall in its FY ?10 budget. The Court devised a plan to furlough court employees a week at a time for up to a total of 30 days between mid February and the end of June for all courthouses. However, in a letter to court employees, Justice Lawton Nuss indicated that a hiring freeze in place since 2008 and other measures have produced enough savings that furloughs could be avoided for February. He added that with a $5 million appropriation, the court would need only four days of furlough.