State Representative Ed Bideau and Senator Caryn Tyson were in Iola briefly Monday evening to update members of the Farm Bureau Association of the current session of the Kansas Legislature.
For Bideau, the big flag on his radar will be the constitutional committees beginning debates amending the constitution.
On Jan. 13 a ruling was made on the school-funding lawsuit, Gannon v. State of Kansas, with the state found guilty of underfunding its schools and in violation of Article 6 of the Kansas Constitution to adequate fund state schools.
Attorney General Derek Schmidt appealed the decision immediately.
Rather than follow the recommendation of the courts to increase funds to schools, Schmidt is pursuing to amend the constitution to take education equality out of the hands of the Supreme Court and to allow legislators to determine what a good quality education is.
“My concern is I don’t want this to have unintended consequences,” Bideau said.
Bideau said he wants to ensure the constitutional right of all students to receive equal opportunity in education remains intact.
Tyson’s agenda is slightly different in the Senate. These are some of the hot topics she and Bideau will be visiting in the upcoming legislature session:
Gun control
Tyson said she had not yet read the new bill on gun control but would be reading it this week.
“I get about 20 emails a day about that bill,” Tyson said. “I haven’t read it yet, but everyone is saying support it.”
Alcohol in Kansas
Alcohol integration into grocery stores and gas stations is something Tyson said is of great concern.
“Liquor stores have rules that they have been playing by. If alcohol is sold in convenience and grocery stores it will put the mom-and-pop liquor stores out of business,” Tyson said. “In the past it has never gotten out of committee on the House side.”
Tyson said she would be interested to see how far it goes this session because of how hard the movement is being lobbied.
Real v. property tax
Tyson feels strongly that language must be “sharpened up” in regard to property tax. She said there is a large gray area as to what classifies personal versus real or “trade” property.
In 2012, the Kansas Court of Tax appeals overturned property tax guidance. This has resulted in Kansas counties attempting to classify machinery and equipment as “real” property rather than “personal” property because real property is taxed at a higher rate.
The new bill would create fixtures for property.
Bideau does not share the same view and said “Caryn and I will have to agree to disagree on this one.”
Bideau said he is not “convinced yet that it is broken” and wants to leave the classifications up to the courts and not the legislature.
Corporate Ag Law
Corporate Ag Law is a major concern for Kansan farmers. The current law aims to prevent large corporations from putting in bids that would knock local farmers out of the running to buy land.
Both Bideau and Tyson agree the new proposed bill would only hurt local Kansan farmers and the concern is that large corporations would eventually own most of the farm land in Kansas.
“New York City corporations are not a good idea, especially for eastern Kansas,” Bideau said.
Kansas’ Agriculture Secretary Dale Rodman has called for the repeal of state laws restricting corporations’ involvement in agriculture, saying it hinders the growth of agriculture and recruitment of new agribusiness to Kansas.
Kansas law generally limits corporate ownership of agricultural land to family farm corporations, family partnerships or corporations with 15 or fewer stockholders, who must all be Kansas residents with at least one partner living on the land or be activiely engaged in its supervision.
Illegal immigration
Bideau and Tyson said illegal immigration issues mostly concerns farmers in their areas.
Darrell Monfort, Allen County Farm Bureau policy chair, said farmers try to hire documented workers and even check the E-verification system, but many times illegal immigrants don’t show up in the system.
“Businesses and farmers shouldn’t be the police,” Monfort said.
“The system is broken,” Bideau said. “It needs to be addressed from a federal level.”
Legislator sheds light on upcoming challenges
