Legislative Update Week 7
SB 148, "proprietary" specifications in school design and construction, will not move forward & Podcast about Rural Revitalization
The AIA Kansas Governmental Affairs Committee drafted a letter in opposition to SB 148, which would amend requirements for school district board requests for proposals for construction or repair projects. The letter was emailed and hand delivered to the Education Committee members who were scheduled to have discussion and take action on the bill on Monday. However due to the opposition, SB 148 was not worked in committee. The Chairman was not comfortable moving forward with the bill. Monday was the last day for non-exempt committees to take action on bills to send them to the floor. Since no action was taken, the bill no longer has the chance to become law this session. To read the letter,
click here
. This is a great win for the profession.
Turnaround Day was Thursday. The House and Senate were busy on the floor in the days leading up to Thursday and passed more than 60 bills. Those bills will now be considered by the opposite chamber. The House sent about twelve bills to exempt committees, and the Senate sent four bills. This allows those bills to stay alive and be worked, because exempt committees do not abide by the same deadlines. The Legislature is taking a long weekend and will come back to Topeka on March 6th.
Housing, hospitals and broadband the focus for Rural Revitalization
Representative Don Hineman, Rural Revitalization Committee Chairman, speaks about the committee's recent work on rural revitalization on a political update podcast: Statehouse Kansas Blend. The committee is primarily focused on housing, hospitals and broadband.
Click here
to hear the podcast.
Bills of Interest
SB 148
was not taken up for discussion and final action in committee. Additional organizations opposed the bill (including the Kansas Roofing Association), and the Chairman was not comfortable moving forward with the bill. Since no action was taken and it didn't move out of committee, the bill no longer has the chance to become law this session. The similar bill in the House (
HB 2207
) also did not meet the Turnaround deadline.
HB 2115
, which requires verification of certain hours billed by contractors under certain contracts, was introduced in the House Federal and State Affairs Committee. This is an exempt committee so the turnaround deadline does not apply to this bill. We will continue to monitor it.
The companion bill to HB 2115 (
SB 56
) was introduced by the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee. Upon recommendation, the bill was moved to the Senate Ethics, Elections and Local Government Committee. It did not have a hearing and no final action was taken. It will not move forward in the legislative process.
Similarly,
HB 2026
, that was about fire sprinkler installation licenses, also will not move to the Senate. The Commerce, Labor and Economic Development Committee did not discuss it or take final action.
HB 2006
(requiring the department of commerce to create a database of economic development incentive program information) was amended (requiring a report on each program every three years) and passed the House floor. It passed the House (yeas - 122 and nays - 0). The Senate will now hear the bill.
The review of tax credits, tax exemptions and economic development programs bill (
HB 2043
) is on the general orders in the House.
Lastly, HB 2147
was passed by the House (yeas - 123 and nays - 0). It is the bill that will increase bond maturity limitations in the Kansas rural incentive district act. The Senate will now hear the bill.
If you have any questions regarding these bills, please
email Terry
.
