By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The 2023 Kansas legislative session will kick off Monday in Topeka with several local legislators saying they would like the body to address property tax relief.
Rep. Barbara Wasinger, R-Hays, will be on the taxation committee this session and said she would like to see further tax relief for Kansans.
Gov. Larua Kelly has promoted immediately dropping the food sales tax to zero. Wasinger said she is a fiscal conservative and would like to see a lot of taxes trimmed.
Sen. Rick Billinger, R-Goodland, will be the chairman of the Senate budget committee.
"We are going to try to approach the budget again this year similar to the way we did last year, which is to look at it from an aspect that we have no money rather than we have excess money that everyone is wanting a piece of," he said.
"We will start out looking at ways we can pay off debt and reduce our liabilities."
Billinger said in his district, which includes Ellis County, voters are interested in reductions in property tax.
"Property tax is getting to where it's going to be very hard on senior citizens. It's going to be very hard on young people. It's going to just be hard on the working class because valuations have gone up so much in the last couple of years," he said.
With a recession looming, Billinger said he did not favor speeding up the cuts to the food sales tax as the governor has proposed.
Rep. Jim Minnix, R-Scott City, said he also is not in favor of the food taxes going to zero. He said he would like the reduction to stop at 2 percent. The state would retain about $170 million on an annual basis at that tax level.
Minnix said he would like to see those funds go to reduce local property taxes.
Funds for special ed, mental health
Two areas Billinger said he thought might receive additional funding are special education and mental health services.
Billinger said an additional 50 adult mental health beds are being considered for Sedgwick County.
Wasinger also said she would like more funding to go to mental health services, but she did not point to any specific programs she would target.
"When we spend more time and attention and money on mental health services, we end up being able to save money within the jail system," she said. "Right now, unfortunately, a lot of our jails are basically mental health clinics because we don't have any other place to put them.
"I think we need to look back and reopen some mental health institutions that we had."
Higher ed
Wasigner is also vice-chair of the higher education budget committee. The written report on the potential restructuring of the Kanas Board of Regents system was set to be released on Friday as the state's major universities, including Fort Hays State University, have experienced recent declines in enrollment.
"I think Emporia saw the writing on the wall that they are going to have to figure out how to do the job in a different way," Wasinger said, "because clearly, they're losing enrollment.
"We can't continue to do business the way we've done it before because it's clearly not working the same way it was.
"There are lots of things we need to visit about to try to get Regents schools, as well as our private religious schools, to all succeed in Kansas. I think we all need to come together to figure out what the best course of action is."
Billinger, who will chair the Senate higher education subcommittee, said he would like to see funds spent on the $1.2 billion in deferred maintenance at the Regents schools.
Water
Minnix represents the 118th District, which includes WaKeeney. He is on the House water committee this session.
He said he did not anticipate any water bills coming out of the House this session. Much of the committee is new this year and the Senate does not have a similar committee on water.
However, he said he hopes to see major water reforms considered in 2024.
In the meantime, he would like to see Kansans in both the eastern and western parts of the state and in both rural and urban areas work to reduce water consumption.
Local Enhanced Management Areas, also known as LEMAs, have been successful in some areas in reducing water consumption. Citywide water conversation efforts in Hays have local residents using half as much water on a daily basis than their peers in other parts of the state, Minnix said.
He said he wants to keep water conservation and control at the local level.
"I can see the variance in the Ogallala Aquifer from one small area to 10 miles down the road," he said.
Rep. Ken Rahjes, R-Agra, also supported the continuation of local control of water.
"I don't think eastern Kansas would want someone in Morton County telling someone in Johnson County what to do watering their yard much like I don't think someone from Topeka needs to tell someone in western Kansas whether they should or shouldn't irrigate," he said.
Rahjes said managing water resources is a complicated issue that won't be dealt with in a single session.
"We are looking at the long game," he said. ... "There is no silver bullet."
Rahjes, who will be on the ag committee, said there also is a need in Kansas for more large-animal veterinarians. He said the ag committee also will likely continue to address hemp production in the state.
Medical marijuana legislation, if it is discussed in the House, would likely come from the federal and state committee. Rahjes said whether he would consider supporting medical marijuana legislation would depend on how the bill was written.
Both he and Billinger said they would not support any move to legalize recreational marijuana in the state.
Minnix is also on the transportation committee and said he does think he will see action there.
"Since the 'bank of KDOT' is now closed and the state is not robbing from their funds," he said, "there should be more available funds and accentuate the highway repairs here in the state of Kansas.
"I think there will be a push to come up with more comprehensive long-term plans for transportation, especially freight corridors."
Wasinger said she would also like the constitutional amendment on rules and regulations rewritten. She has been named chair of the newly created legislative modernization committee as well as chair/vice chair of the joint administrative rules and regulations committee