State Rep. Jim Ward introduced legislation this week that will exempt the most vulnerable Kansans from efforts to privatize state Medicaid services. Ward’s proposal, House Bill 2457, would keep the developmentally disabled waiver population as part of KanCare’s managed care for medical purposes, but their long-term care non-medical services would be carved out of the program and continue on a “fee for service” model (caretakers, residential care, etc.). Continue reading
Governor’s tax proposal draws new questions from lawmakers
Story posted on Kansas.com questions the costs of Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax propsal. Projections now show the plan, which decreases individual income tax rates while axing many deductions and credits, would cost nearly $90.million in the 2013 fiscal year. That seems to challenge the notion Brownback embedded in his State of the State address a week ago that it would not cost much, if anything, and would fully fund the 2012 budget.
The new figures also spoil Brownback’s insistence that his budget would lead to a 7.5 percent surplus next year.
Read more at Kansas.com.
Posted in Legislative News
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Democratic Rebuttal to Governor’s State of the State
House Minority Leader Paul Davis, D-Lawrence, along with other democrats offered an alternative to Gov. Sam Brownback’s school finance reform plan Tuesday. Speaking in front of a few hundred K-5 students at Topeka’s Lowman Hill Elementary School, Democratic leaders outlined a three-year plan that would hand $180 million back to schools in the next three years, rather than overhaul the school funding formula, as Brownback has proposed.
Link to Capital Journal report on the Governor’s State of the State Democratic response.
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Boeing Turns Back on Wichita
This is a very sad day for Wichita and Kansas. It is heartbreaking that 2,100 highly skilled workers lost their jobs today. It is outrageous we will not be getting the 7,500 jobs promised by Boeing when they got the Tanker contract. Make no mistake Wichita will survive. Kansas will survive. We will be stronger.
Boeing is the poster child for corporate tax incentives. This company has benefited from property tax incentives, sales tax exemptions, infrastructure investments and other tax breaks at every level of government. These incentives were provided in an effort to retain and create thousands of Kansas jobs. We will be less trusting in the future of corporate promises.
Posted in Community Issues, Jim in the News
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Legislative Forum
More than 150 people attended a legislative forum Tuesday night to let law makers know their top priorities. Members of the local Occupy Wall Street movement made up a large portion of the crowd.
Participants gave lawmakers their ideas, concerns and requests ahead of the 2012 legislative session that starts Monday in Topeka.
Posted in Community Issues, Jim in the News
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Kansas Jobs First
A collaborative effort by democratic legislators and Kansas citizens, “Kansas Jobs First” includes 14 pre-filed bills that Democratic legislators plan to introduce during the 2012 Legislative Session. These priorities will keep Kansas jobs from being exported, protect unemployed workers against workplace discrimination, strengthen work training and post-secondary/technical educational programs, and stop unscrupulous hiring practices, among others.
“For far too long, partisan battles in Washington D.C. have overshadowed any action to get our state economies moving again,” said Davis. “It’s time for partisan politics to take a back seat, and for our state legislature to make job growth our top priority this session.” Continue reading
Meet Meadowlark Neighborhood Hero
Kerin Smith
Being active in her community is a gift that Kerin Smith has given to the Meadowlark Neighborhood for 19 years. She attended the very first neighborhood association meeting in 1993 and has been active in the organization since that time. Her first neighborhood involvement was delivering newsletters; but it ballooned to include serving as secretary, vice-president and president (2 times). Her duties for the association included overseeing the neighborhood cleanup and serving on the neighborhood patrol. Continue reading
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Meet Fabrique Neighborhood Hero
Charlotte Foster
Every successful endeavor has at least one person that has stepped up to provide leadership, energy and commitment. One of the heroes of the Fabrique neighborhood is Charlotte Foster.
Foster has been a resident of the Fabrique neighborhood since 1952. Since that time she has seen many changes in the area. In her own words: “ in 1999 the neighborhood was going down… and I asked myself ‘What can I do about it?’”
Single-handedly, Foster decided to start a neighborhood assocaiton. “How are we going to get people to the first meeting? I gave myself a month to walk the neighborhood, set a date for the first meeting … and people showed up.” Continue reading
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2012 State of State Speech
Governor Brownback presents his 2012 State of State speech. Tickets are required for attendance.
The State of the State address will be televised live by KPTS-TV Channel 8 in Wichita.
Date: January 11, 2012
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Place: Kansas State Capitol
10th & Jackson-3rd Floor
Posted in Events Calendar
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