In the end Wednesday, a legislative panel put the Kansas Legislative Division of Post Audit to work on a limited survey of the existing data about the financial costs and benefits of illegal immigration, rather than the sweeping audit sought by state Rep. Nile Dillmore, D-Wichita. That’s something. And the discussion was telling, as lawmakers wrestled with how to get solid data to guide further attempts to pass laws targeting illegal immigration. The point is that any legislative action should be informed by facts, rather than fear and ignorance.
Sen. Les Donovan, R-Wichita, even cast doubt on the notion that, full audit or not, the Legislature would or could do much about illegal immigration (“Not in my lifetime,” he predicted), because federal law already requires that public schools accept undocumented children and emergency rooms aren’t going to start turning away illegal immigrants in need of help. “This is America,” Donovan said. “We don’t do that.”
After the coal wars of the past legislative session ended with Holcomb plant opponents on top, the buzz was that the advocacy groups behind nearly $1 million in ads during that fight would insert themselves in specific election campaigns. But so far it’s quiet out there, and Harris News Service reports that most of the groups involved “say they’re not planning to spend additional dollars trying to influence the outcome of legislative races.” Sunflower Electric Power Corp.’s Steve Miller did say the company planned to contribute to some supportive candidates. And in general, he said, “we are going to continue to advance the cause of getting those power plants built.”
The Kansas Energy Council has released 15 preliminary policy recommendations for the 2009 legislative session, including encouraging “policies that promote declines in greenhouse-gas emissions, not policies that merely shift emissions within or between regions,” and reducing the maximum speed limit from 70 to 65 mph on Kansas highways. The council will hold the second of two public comment hearings from 9 a.m. to noon Sept. 30 at Wichita State University’s Marcus Welcome Center, 21st Street and Mike Oatman Drive.
Though a D-plus grade hardly seems worthy of praise, it is in the case of Kansas’ formerly flunking campaign finance disclosure law. The state inched up from last year’s D grade in the annual report by the California Voter Foundation, the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles and the UCLA School of Law — which didn’t even reflect the 2008 reform law requiring more timely reporting of campaign contributions and expenditures. Kansas still ranks 34th among states but ought to show further improvement next year. Meanwhile, the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission gets credit for boosting its Web site’s usability grade from an F in 2003 to a B-plus now.
In the end Wednesday, a legislative panel put the Kansas Legislative Division of Post Audit to work on a limited survey of the existing data about the financial costs and benefits of illegal immigration, rather than the sweeping audit sought by state Rep. Nile Dillmore, D-Wichita. That’s something. And the discussion was telling, as lawmakers wrestled with how to get solid data to guide further attempts to pass laws targeting illegal immigration. The point is that any legislative action should be informed by facts, rather than fear and ignorance.
