Adventures in the Statehouse: Governor restores military exemptions back into budget

By Melanie Meier
Posted Jan 31, 2012 @ 10:58 PM
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We have completed the third week of the session which means we are a quarter of the way through the normal session already.

 

Deadlines for introducing bills are coming up. Monday was the last day for an individual legislator to request that a bill be drafted and Feb. 6 is the last day for a committee to request that a bill be drafted.

Governor’s tax proposal update
After working on his tax plan for almost a year with his own tax committee, the Governor’s plan was finally printed and put on the kslegislature.org website last Friday. It was introduced in the House as HB2560 and also in the Senate as SB339. I printed it out this weekend and worked on deciphering it. This coming week we will get summaries from Legislative Research and the budget folks.
From my initial review it appears that your comments and contact with the Governor were successful, because the exemptions for military, federal government, city, railroad, and board of public utilities retirement are still there! I had heard that when the Military Affairs Council (MAC) in Junction City had asked the director of the Governor’s Military Council the same questions that the Leavenworth/Lansing MAC had asked the Governor the week before, that they got different answers. The director stated that the Governor was mistaken about the military retirement exemption and did not intend to end it, despite what he had told the Leavenworth/Lansing MAC the week before. Thank you for taking action and being heard.
I highlighted several sections of the bill published Friday that had significant proposed changes to Kansas current tax law. (see rest of Melanie Meier’s column online at leavenworthtimes.com/opinion).

Keep in Touch
If I can ever be of assistance to you, please feel free to contact me at home or in Topeka. My office is still in the Docking State Office Building on the 7th Floor, Room 722. You can also reach me at 785-296-7668 or call the legislative hotline at 1-800-432-3924 to leave a message for me. E-mail me at melanie.meier @house.ks.gov.
Follow the legislative session at www. kslegislature.org.

We have completed the third week of the session which means we are a quarter of the way through the normal session already.

 

Deadlines for introducing bills are coming up. Monday was the last day for an individual legislator to request that a bill be drafted and Feb. 6 is the last day for a committee to request that a bill be drafted.

Governor’s tax proposal update
After working on his tax plan for almost a year with his own tax committee, the Governor’s plan was finally printed and put on the kslegislature.org website last Friday. It was introduced in the House as HB2560 and also in the Senate as SB339. I printed it out this weekend and worked on deciphering it. This coming week we will get summaries from Legislative Research and the budget folks.
From my initial review it appears that your comments and contact with the Governor were successful, because the exemptions for military, federal government, city, railroad, and board of public utilities retirement are still there! I had heard that when the Military Affairs Council (MAC) in Junction City had asked the director of the Governor’s Military Council the same questions that the Leavenworth/Lansing MAC had asked the Governor the week before, that they got different answers. The director stated that the Governor was mistaken about the military retirement exemption and did not intend to end it, despite what he had told the Leavenworth/Lansing MAC the week before. Thank you for taking action and being heard.
I highlighted several sections of the bill published Friday that had significant proposed changes to Kansas current tax law. (see rest of Melanie Meier’s column online at leavenworthtimes.com/opinion).

Keep in Touch
If I can ever be of assistance to you, please feel free to contact me at home or in Topeka. My office is still in the Docking State Office Building on the 7th Floor, Room 722. You can also reach me at 785-296-7668 or call the legislative hotline at 1-800-432-3924 to leave a message for me. E-mail me at melanie.meier @house.ks.gov.
Follow the legislative session at www. kslegislature.org.

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