2009 Kansas Legislative Agenda

Budget

We believe the current budget crisis cannot be solved without real and meaningful budget reform. Just two years ago, the Legislature had $935 million in the bank. Kansas now faces a deficit of more than $180 million for fiscal year 2009 and a little over $1 billion for fiscal year 2010. We must put a stop to over spending and force the state to live within its means. Additionally, we should:

• Create a rainy day fund to help see us through economic downturns. Only Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas and Montana operate without such a fund. Building reserves during times of tax revenue increases are crucial to weathering a drop in state revenue like the one we are currently experiencing. Taxpayers win because the likelihood of a tax increase to pay for government services during a downturn is reduced. Those who rely on government programs will know money has been saved to ensure the services on which they rely will continue during difficult economic times.
• Require local governments (cities, counties, and school districts) to participate in the state’s transparency website with uniform budget reporting.
• We must encourage the state to reduce its debt. Kansas state government debt has grown from $424 million in 1992 to almost $4 billion. During times of growing government revenues, Kansas should consider paying off some of its debt and helping lower the interest payments. The Senate has made progress by passing a Debt Affordability Act, which requires a debt affordability report each year. A limit on the amount of debt the state can issue should be considered.

Tax Policy

Kansas’ tax environment is already uncompetitive, and AFP will support efforts to balance the budget without asking taxpayers for more. In a time where the national economy is in recession and Kansas is losing private sector jobs, higher taxes will only worsen the problem, not fix it.

• AFP will oppose tax increases on tobacco. The Kansas Health Policy Authority has recommended a 50 cent per-pack increase in the cigarette tax.
• AFP supports a legislative super-majority in order to raise taxes. Currently, 16 states, including three of our four neighboring states, require a super-majority to approve tax increases.
• Kansas’ state and local tax burden is among the highest in the region. AFP will fight all attempts by lawmakers to increase taxes in order to balance the budget.

The following chart indicates the tax rates in seven states in our region:

Property Tax Reform

Runaway appraisals have driven an 83% increase in property taxes over the last ten years. Kansas ranks 15th highest in the nation in residential property taxes paid as a percent of their home value. AFP supports the property tax reform known as “Proposition K,” which replaces the appraisal system on all classes of real estate except agriculture.

• Benefits of “Proposition K”:
1. Stops appraisal-driven tax increases by creating a simple and predictable formula to set values.
2. Maintains government autonomy by placing no limits on property tax revenue or rates (mills).
3. Establishes a simple, more certain approach for valuing new construction.
4. Creates a more fair and predictable sharing of the property tax burden.
5. Applies to all classes of real property except agricultural land.

“Proposition K” is based on a policy paper published by the Flint Hills Center for Public Policy and written by Dr. Art Hall, Executive Director of the Center for Applied Economics at the University of Kansas. For more information, please visit www.propositionk.org.

Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying Reform

Currently, more than 100 lobbyists with more than 60 government entities/associations have been hired by your tax dollars, lobbying for more and more of your money. Taxpayer-funded lobbying propagates the cycle of more spending and more programs that call for more spending. Serious reform will help curb the culture of “more is never enough” in Topeka.

• Require governments that hire lobbyists simply to report how much they are spending on these services.
• Require those individuals who represent state level government entities to register as a lobbyist, just like those who represent city and county government.

Judicial Reform

Supreme Court justices are selected primarily by an insider-group of Kansas lawyers, and Kansas is the only state with lawyers completely dominating the selection process. AFP supports reforms that will open up the system, allow public input, and allow the appropriate questions to be asked before a judge is appointed, rather than later.

• Implement a legislative confirmation process for selecting judges.

Transportation

Kansas has evolving transportation needs. The challenge is to better allocate funding for future projects.

• Implement cost-benefit analysis, a well accepted analytical tool that will allow Kansas lawmakers to improve their decision making related to the prioritization of road projects – among competing road projects and other competing budget priorities. Given the large dollar amounts involved with transportation infrastructure each year, it makes sense for Kansas’s lawmakers to formalize and institutionalize a competent cost-benefit analytical capability.
• Establish a Transportation Benefit-Cost Analysis Group. Consensus Revenue Estimating Groups offer a useful model for transportation cost-benefit analysis. The Consensus Revenue Estimating Groups include personnel from the Division of the Budget, Legislative Research, and academic consultants. Similarly an apolitical body of experts could comprise the Transportation Benefit Cost Analysis Group to improve the amount of credible information for lawmakers and taxpayers.

Property Rights

Following the Kelo Supreme Court decision, the Kansas Legislature took action to bolster private property rights. Although far from ideal, the previous legislation was a win for private property rights; however, more can be done.

• Add eminent domain protections to the Kansas Constitution.
• Require that citizens have the right to vote when their property is affected by a proposed unilateral annexation through the Property Rights Protection Act.

Sunset for State Programs

AFP supports implementing a program, similar to what the federal government used to decide which military bases to close and which not, to scrutinize every program and agency, from the greatest to the least and determine where our money is being wasted.

Local Petition Process

Kansas statutes vary significantly on the number of signatures needed to change local laws. AFP supports measures to make it easier for citizens to petition for tax and spending reform.

• Require 15 percent of those who voted in the last election to sign a petition to certify a new local law. Currently, cities of the first class require 40 percent of those that voted in the last election sign a petition to certify it. All other cities require 25 percent to certify.
• Apply the general petition statute to counties.

Card Check

AFP opposes the Employee Free Choice Act at the state level. After repeated failed attempts on the national level, Labor Unions are now attempting, with some success, to pass state versions of the Employee Free Choice Act. Americans for Prosperity will oppose efforts to pass this in Kansas.

• The EFCA would first require the National Labor Relations Board certify a union after a majority of a firm's workers has signed union cards, putting an end to almost all organizing elections: "if the [National Labor Relations] Board finds that a majority of the employees in a unit appropriate for bargaining has signed valid authorizations...the Board shall not direct an election but shall certify the individual or labor organization.
• Second, the EFCA requires companies and newly certified unions to enter binding arbitration if they cannot reach agreement on an initial contract after 90 days of negotiations. Neither companies nor employees could appeal the arbitrator's ruling, and the contract would last for two years.
• Third, it would dramatically increase the penalties for unfair labor practices committed by employers, but not unions, during an organizing drive.

Union activists contend that the act would protect workers' freedom to freely choose to join a union. However, workers' best defense against harassment and intimidation by either a union or an employer is a secret-ballot election in which neither knows how any individual worker voted.

AFP-Kansas Staff