JANUARY 29, 2004 NEWSLETTER
Governor's Transportation Plan
Governor Sebelius and Transportation Secretary Deb Miller announced their
proposal to reorganize the state's Comprehensive Transportation Plan.
The $13 billion, 10-year plan was enacted in 1999. However, in recent
years, transportation funding has been diverted to other necessary government
programs due to the decline in statewide revenues.
The proposal would free up $300 million in funding, and make sure the
entire plan is completed. The money would come from the construction reserves
that are carried over from year to year. Currently, KDOT does not sign
construction contracts with out enough money in the bank to pay for it
in full. Under the new proposal, the work will be completed relative to
the amount of funding available for that year. Other savings will come
from restructing debt at lower interest rates and reduced bids on system
enhancement projects. The Governor also plans to ask the Legislature to
approve issuance of $465 million worth of bonds between 2006-2008.
The Kansas Economic Growth Act
This week Republican legislators Senator Nick Jordan and Representative
Kenny Wilk rolled out a much-anticipated $500 million plan to commercialize
bioscience breakthroughs and to help small businesses. The initiative
is expected to generate more than 20,000 bioscience company and research
institution jobs, and have a multi-billion dollar economic impact in Kansas.
The 10-year plan focuses on two facets of economic growth, and is intended
to help Kansas businesses from main street rural Kansas to the high-tech
laboratory.
The entrepreneurial initiative will: establish a Kansas Center for Entrepreneurship
that will be a resource center for entrepreneurs in Kansas; start a Kansas
Community Entrepreneurship Fund to provide see money for start-up companies;
create a Kansas Downtown redevelopment Act to stimulate the development
of vacant downtown properties; and provide tax credits for investors who
assist start-up businesses.
The bioscience initiative will: create a Kansas Bioscience Authority
charged with recruiting outstanding research scientism; develop collaborative
research programs to encourage Kansas-based bioscience companies to engage
in joint research projects; promote construction and ongoing maintenance
of bioscience research facilities at Kansas universities; encourage commercialization
through a technology transfer program, a business assistance and acceleration
program; and create investment programs that provide incentives for investment
in the biosciences.
Report on the Economy
The Senate Commerce Committee and the Senate Ways and Means Committee
were presented with an interesting update on the Kansas economy this week
by Bill Keeton, Assistant Vice President and Economist from the Federal
Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
Among their findings were:
- Employment in Kansas has edged up recently and is back above levels
of a year ago
- Durable manufacturing has been in a slump, but greater reliance on
food processing has helped nondurables
- Smaller manufacturers in the region report increased activity
- Farming sector reports a good wheat harvest, but mad cow disease
has depressed cattle prices
- Historically low global supplies sets the stage for higher grain
prices in 2004
- Despite the risks, most economists predict the recovery will continue
Paperless Utilities Committee
The Senate Utilities Committee is going paperless. The Utilities Committee
is part of an experimental "virtual committee" along with the
House Health and Human Services Committee. Both committees are attempting
to conduct all of their business via special tablet-style laptops. These
laptop computers were purchased for lawmakers with a $200,000 grant from
the Information Network of Kansas using privately collected dollars. The
hope is that the "virtual committee" will be more accessible
to the public, and in turn encourage more public involvement with the
legislative process. The committee notes, minutes, and even testimony
are all available online.
To view the meetings live or to read the minutes go to the Utilities
web page at www.kslegislature.org/committeeminutes/03-04/senate/sutils/s_utils.shtml.
Simply click on the "watch or listen in" link and you can see
the committee in action. The committee meets at 9:30 Monday thru Friday.
Death Penalty Moratorium (SB 158)
A moratorium on the death penalty was introduced last session. The proposed
legislation would create a two year moratorium on the imposition of death
penalty sentences and stay any scheduled executions for the same period.
Additionally, the legislation would create a seven member death penalty
study commission. The commission would be charged with reviewing five
issues and making recommendations. The issues outlined in the bill address
the following questions: Do defendants charged with capital murder actually
meet the statutory criterial for capital murder? What is the total cost
of capital murder cases to state and local government? Are capital murder
cases handled similarly in all areas of Kansas? Are changes needed in
the laws or in the way in which capital murder cases are processed to
ensure that no innocent person is ever sentenced to death in Kansas? Finally,
does the race of the victim or the defendant play a role in charging and
the disposition of capital murder cases.
Seven individuals provided testimony in support of the moratorium. They
included representatives from the Board of Indigents' Defense Services,
the Kansas Catholic Conference, former Senator Tim Emert, the Kansas Coalition
Against the Death Penalty, Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation,
Amnesty International USA, and Richard Ney of Ney, Adams & Sylvester,
Wichita, KS.
Expediting Judge Bullock's Appeal (SB 324)
Senator Schmidt discussed the details of Senate Bill 324. The proposed
legislation is designed to expedite the preliminary order issued by Shawnee
County District Court Judge Terry Bullock in the Montoy vs. State of Kansas
school finance case. The narrowly crafted bill seeks to amend K.S.A. 60-2102
and create a new path for an immediate appeal of the Montoy case before
the Kansas Supreme Court. The bill was passed unanimously by the Judiciary
Committee on Thursday, January 29.
Kansas Health Bioterrorism Program
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) recently finished
its second CDC site visit to review progress toward preparedness for a
Bioterrorism event. The CDC noted several accomplishments in the program:
- Kansas is considered a leader in its relationship between the state
health agency and the local health departments.
- 104 Kansas counties have formed 15 regions for Bioterrorism preparedness
and response, which allows resource sharing and collaboration toward
protection for Kansans statewide.
- The Smallpox Vaccination Program resulted in the creation of 46 smallpox
response teams in 23 counties as of May 2003. Staff are working to develop
existing teams.
- The Public Health Information Exchange (PHIX) system enables secure,
two-way communication for exchange of alert messages. All 105 counties
participate in PHIX.
- Through CDC funding, the state public health laboratory has been
upgraded, and can now handle testing on biological agents much more
safely, securely, and rapidly.
- A volunteer staffed, toll-free telephone hotline has been established
to enable 24/7 disease reporting. 36 counties, representing 90 percent
of Kansans, now submit information on cases of disease through a Web-based
disease surveillance system called HAWK.
- Local public health officials have been trained on critical topics
such as epidemiology, outbreak surveillance, and risk communications.
Additional training will continue this year.
- The state's ability to distribute the Strategic National Stockpile
(SNS) continues to improve, and during the recent CDC visit, Kansas
rating increased from Amber to Amber Plus, qualifying our state to conduct
a full-scale SNS exercise.
In the Kansas Hospital Bioterrorism Program, KDHE has worked with the
Kansas Hospital Association to improve preparedness in hospitals throughout
the state. Grant funds provided to the six regions in 2002 were used to
develop hospital Bioterrorism plans, and purchase equipment, supplies
and training for the plans. In 2003, KDHE focused on increasing Bioterrorism
preparedness, and response capabilities in 128 community hospitals. Now,
90 percent of the state's hospitals use PHIX to communicate with other
public health and laboratory officials. In the last visit, the CDC praised
the public health and hospital programs for being very strong and commendable.
Federal funding is being used to upgrade the health and laboratories.
In the coming year, HRSA funds will be used to combat the standing issue
of airborne isolation facilities, which will result in every community
hospital having at least one airborne isolation room.
In December 2003, Trust for America's Health (TFAH) released a report
titled "Ready or Not? Protecting the Public's Health in the Age of
Bioterrorism." The report used ten indicators to identify the strengths
and weaknesses of state Bioterrorism programs throughout the United States.
In the indicators, Kansas scored fairly low, 3, with ten being the highest.
However, it should be noted that no state scored higher than a 7, and
that the state was not consulted on its ability to satisfy the indicators,
nor were any states aware of the indicators before the report was released.
While the TFAH report contends that Kansas scored low in the indicators,
a closer analysis done by the KDHE shows that Kansas probably should have
scored closer to a 6 or 7.
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