Daily Archives: May 5, 2010

House passes bill aimed at reducing infant death rate

May 5, 20108:07 p.m.

infantTOPEKA — The House of Representatives has given final approval to a bill to allow health surveyors to gather more data from mothers to try to cut dismayingly high infant-mortality rates in Kansas and especially Sedgwick County.

House Bill 2454 will allow the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to access birth-certificate information to find and survey mothers of infants that die in the first year of life.

The idea is to gather data on issues such as nutrition and access to medical care, said Rep. Pat Colloton, R-Leawood, who carried the bill on the House floor today.

“We’d like to find out what are the factors leading to this high infant mortality rate in an otherwise healthy state of Kansas,” Colloton said.

The national infant mortality rate is 6.6 deaths in the first year of life per 1,000 live births.

In Kansas the rate is 7.2 per thousand.

Overall, Sedgwick County has a rate of 8.93 and among African-American county residents, it’s 21.57 per thousand.

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By Dion Lefler | Filed under Uncategorized | Comments

House approves bill to continue tax on phones to pay for cell-finding 911 systems

May 5, 20105:02 p.m.

TOPEKA — The House has given final approval to continuing a tax on telephone services to fund 911 emergency systems that can locate mobile phones.

House Bill 2582 sparked some bad feelings between the House and Senate in part because senate negotiators wanted to change the way the tax is collected on prepaid mobile services.

At present, providers estimate the amount of tax owed for the prepaid services.

Under the Senate’s proposal, the tax would be paid at the point of sale, like a sales tax.

On Tuesday, Sen. Terry Bruce said the estimation in the current law leads to substantial undercollection of taxes. Changing to a more precise point-of-sale system would nearly triple income from the tax to about $1.2 million a year, he said.

He said the income is critical for small counties that can’t afford the high-tech gear needed to allow emergency responders to find accident victims by their cell-phone signal.

At one point, Bruce compared House confreres to 2-year-olds who couldn’t get along in day care. He later retracted the remark and apologized, and the Senate passed the bill 40-0.

The House passed it today on a 121-2 vote, which will send it to the governor for signature or veto.

If no action had been taken, the tax would have sunseted later this year.

By Dion Lefler | Filed under Uncategorized | Comments

UPDATED: Senate begins its budget debate

May 5, 20104:17 p.m.
Sen. Ty Masterson, R-Andover, presents his proposal to balance the budget without raising taxes.

Sen. Ty Masterson, R-Andover, presents his proposal to balance the budget without raising taxes.

TOPEKA – The Senate slogged into the budget melee Wednesday afternoon, debating a measure that would rely on some cuts but also about $350 million in new taxes.

The Senate proposal eliminated from the governor’s initial proposal about $8.5 million that would have gone to bring state employee pay up to market rates and also eliminated $55.3 million that would have boosted per pupil state aid by $50. It would also cut the salaries for top state officials by 5 percent.

Some of the $500 million budget gap for the more than $13 billion budget would be filled by money lawmakers hope to receive in fiscal year 2011, which starts July 1. The anticipated funds include $131 million from federal Medicaid match funds, which have not been approved. Another $27 million is expected from a pilot program to recover Medicaid costs.

The budget also anticipates $25 million from a gaming facility in south central Kansas.

The $350 million tax package, which will be debated later, would rely on a three-year, 1 cent sales tax increase starting July 1 and would eliminate a tax deduction for certain industries in the state worth about $17 million.

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How Kansas senators voted on abortion override attempt

May 5, 201012:24 p.m.

From the Associated Press

TOPEKA — The 26-14 vote Wednesday by which the Senate failed to override Gov. Mark Parkinson’s veto of a bill rewriting state laws restricting late-term abortions.

A “yes” vote was to override the veto and enact the bill into law. A “no” vote was to sustain the veto.

A two-thirds majority, or 27 of 40 votes, was required to override the veto.

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By Marcia Werts | Filed under Uncategorized | Comments

House votes to increase penalty for guard/prisoner sex

May 5, 201012:16 p.m.

TOPEKA — The House of Representatives today gave its final approval to increasing penalties for guards and other corrections employees who illegally have sex with prisoners.

On a 123-0 vote, representatives approved a House-Senate conference report on Senate Bill 434.

The centerpiece of the bill raises illegal sex with an inmate from a level 10 felony to level five. The practical effect increases the sentence from a presumption of probation to a presumption of prison time.

The bill also increases penalties for corrections workers who smuggle weapons, drugs or other contraband into a facility.

The bill also would require the Parole Board to review the cases of some prisoners who were incarcerated before 1993, to determine whether they would be eligible for release under sentencing guidelines that have been revised since then.

By Dion Lefler | Filed under Uncategorized | Comments

Abortion veto override vote falls one short in the Senate

May 5, 201011:22 a.m.

UPDATED with comments from the governor and Planned Parenthood.

TOPEKA – The Senate narrowly missed overturning the governor’s veto of a bill altering reporting requirements for late-term abortions.

On a vote of 26-14, the bill fell one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed to overturn a veto Wednesday.

“Now that this issue is resolved, I hope legislators will turn their attention to crafting a responsible budget,” said Gov. Mark Parkinson, a Democrat, in a written statement.

Many lawmakers said it was a difficult vote for them, and one said he was changing his vote to a yes to end the divisive debate.

“This issue modifies everything that we do, it has become the most divisive issue in America,” said Sen. Roger Reitz, R-Manhattan, a physician. “It is certainly a divisive issue for this body and across the hall.”

Others noted that, while the override fell short, next year could see a new governor sitting in the executive seat — one who opposes abortion, if Republican U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback is elected.

“We will have a change in governor, we will get this passed, it is just a year away,” predicted state Sen. Ralph Ostmeyer, R-Grinnell.

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