news1@ulyssesnews.com
With the completion of the most recent Legislative session in Topeka April 11, State District 124 Representative Marty Long (R-Ulysses) gave his final update on the bills which passed and failed during the final Legislative Coffee of the year April 19, at Grant County Fire Department.
State District 39 Senator Dr. William Clifford – who normally presents in addition to Long – was absent because of the Easter weekend.
The Ulysses News highlighted some of the Bills that were passed in last week’s paper, but Long also highlighted some of the bills which failed.
One of the bills Long said was to make Daylight Savings Time permanent. The bill failed because of Kansas City.
“Many of you are sick of changing times, and I am, too,” Long said. “We had a bill that said we would switch to daylight savings time if the state of Missouri did.”
Kansas City is in both states and if Missouri didn’t switch, it would create headaches with banking hours.
“They don’t care about Syracuse and Goodland out here on this time zone having to deal with that issue,” Long said. “I think this is an issue that will keep coming up. This may be a federal issue that’s taken care of that we don’t even have to mess with.”
Another bill which failed would require employers to use the eVerify system that Kansas already uses, but it’s voluntary.
“I started to have problems with this in my district,” Long said. “We have a lot of dairies; we have a lot of immigrants working in this community that help our economy immensely, we need these people.
“Do we have illegal immigrants? We probably do. Do we have illegal immigrants that are breaking the law and need deported? I’m gonna say not many.”
The eVerify would cause a headache for the local economy, Long said.
For other bill action:
•Film companies wanted to come to Kansas – particularly Dodge City and Abilene – and wanted a tax credit. Surrounding states provide a tax credit, but the bill did not pass.
•A property appraisal cap failed. The Senate wanted a four percent cap on home appraisals and the House version wanted a six-year rolling average on home appraisals.
“The biggest part of property tax is the budget, it’s the county budget, the city budget, school budget,” Long said. “That’s what dictates how high your property taxes are, not your home appraisal. Your home appraisal is a part of that equation.”
•A bill to provide incentives to bring more attorneys to rural Kansas failed.
“That will be back next year,” Long said.
•A bill to raise speeding fines for drivers traveling in excess of 100 mph failed.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here