CURRENT EVENTS
We are halfway through the session
and are in what is called 'first turn around'. That means that the bills that
have been passed by the House now go to the Senate and vice versa. There are a
few bills that have been 'blessed' meaning that they can still be passed, but
all others are dead this year except that they can be amended into other bills.
As has been said before. No bill is safe and no bill is dead until the session
is over and everything has been signed by the governor.
So far the biggest effort has been
on the rescission bill, that is the money cut out of this year's budget. We each
spent a lot of time meeting on every aspect of it. The biggest disappointment
was the money taken out for shortening the waiting list for the developmentally
disabled that the House had included. The greatest relief was that K-12
education budget was cut less than one percent. The cuts for next year will be
much greater and school districts across the state are making plans.
BILLS IN THE
PIPELINE
There are a number of bills on a
variety of subjects that we will be addressing including a variety of abortion
bills, rules for city annexation, graduated drivers licenses, a statewide
smoking ban, more coal plants and flexible funding initiatives for school
districts to help them through these tight budget times. If you are particularly
interested in one or more of these go to the Kansas Legislative web sight and
click on bills. You can search by subject and read the actual bills and/ or the
summaries and find out where they are in the system.
MY PARTICULAR
DUTIES
This year I am on the Education
Committee, Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee and Government Efficiency
Committee. So far I have chaired a sub-committee in Government Efficiency and
will chair a sub-committee in Education on Dyslexia.
In addition another legislator and
I put together the agenda for what is called the Legislative Study Group. We get
speakers to come talk to all republicans who are interested in learning about
legislation that is upcoming. That way those legislators who are not on an
education committee, for example, get to hear from Dale Dennis and others about
what drastic cuts mean for our school districts. We have been meeting once a
week. Next Monday we will hear about the stimulus package and where the money is
targeted and how much flexibility we will be allowed. I will write more on that
at a later date.
Also another legislator and I are
co-chairs of a newly formed Women's Caucus. We meet for lunch every other week
to get to know one another better (this is bi-partisan) and I hope that
eventually we will begin working on issues and ideas important to us
all.
Outside regular legislative duties
comes the honor of speaking to and meeting with a number of groups. Last week,
for example, I had the privilege of speaking to the graduating class of
Leadership for Tomorrow which is sponsored by the Kansas Association of School
Boards. It was great fun being with that group and seeing old friends again. The
theme was making connections so you can lead from any position.
As always it is a pleasure to serve
you. If I may be of assistance on any issue please call 785-296-7644 or
email me at Sheryl.Spalding@House.ks.gov
Thank you,
Representative Sheryl
Spalding
District 29
ps You get a more direct and
quicker response by using my personal email address.
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