As Kansas legislators continue to face the fire of disgruntled voters for their inability to wrap up the legislative session — they are now 22 days past the 90-day limit — a growing concern is that their reputations have fallen a notch or two. THE TROUBLE comes when ultra-conservative groups reward legislators for enacting laws that eviscerate our state. The goal of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, Americans for Prosperity and other like-minded groups is to shrink government to the point it no longer is of the people, by the people or for the people, but rather a select few.
And when Doonesbury, a nationally syndicated comic strip, ridicules Gov. Brownback’s misaligned theory of trickle-down economics, you know it’s not good.
Because the one thing that does trickle down, is leadership. If it’s good, it attracts. If it’s bad, it offends.
How a legislature governs tells a lot about its collective personality.
And if recent legislation is any indication, we have some housekeeping to do.
Examples include:
1. A new law that includes absurd parameters on how welfare recipients can spend their stipends. In the mood to micromanage, legislators deemed recipients cannot spend their monthly benefits on cruises, trips to a public swimming pool, video arcades, nail salons or tattoo parlors, among other things.
Also in the law’s language is that ATM withdrawals can be no more than $25, as proposed by our own Sen. Caryn Tyson, R-District 12.
The law has garnered national attention not only for its mean-spiritedness, but also because it most likely violates federal law which would make Kansas ineligible to qualify for federal grants.
Seems welfare recipients are people too, federal law states, and should not be denied adequate access to their benefits. Try paying a utility bill in $25 increments, with each withdrawal incurring additional fees. The money shrinks.
Only because of the federal threat to withhold funds are state officials reconsidering the wisdom of the law.
2. In their effort to patch a $400 million budget hole, Kansas senators proposed raising the state sales tax from 6.15 to 6.55 percent, with a slight break on food sales — down to 4.96 percent — to occur, conveniently, just before the August 2016 primary election.
Gov. Brownback has said he prefers the sales tax to be raised to 6.65 percent.
The bill would also eliminate or reduce tax breaks currently provided to renters and those who have a mortgage on their homes.
Food and shelter are our most basic needs. To fund the budget by significantly raising taxes on these two items — and not income taxes — is especially punitive to the poor and middle classes.
3. Undoubtedly the biggest failure of the current administration and legislature is that it has burned through all of the state’s cash reserves and we now face a massive deficit. Conservative estimates put the deficit at $400 million, but that’s by relying on one-time solutions of raiding the highway fund and enacting other fees and transfers. A more realistic estimate puts the deficit at $800 million with no plan in sight to make long-term solutions.
Time was, legislators insisted the state set aside 7.5 percent of its budget as a “cushion.” We are a far cry from making budget, much less having that extra $500 million for an emergency.
Plain and simple, this is mismanagement.
Legislators need to reset their moral compasses to get back on the right track. When they do, they will attract other good-deed doers.
If not, then hope for the state grows dimmer.
— Susan Lynn
Legislators need to reset moral compass to steer Kansas right
