Recent Kansas editorials

The Wichita Eagle, April 27

The Legislature keeps using ’gut and go’ - and it could cost Kansas millions

On March 24, 2015, the Kansas Senate unanimously passed a bill relating to retail sales tax in Bourbon and Thomas counties. Gene Bicknell could’ve never guessed Senate Bill 280 could someday make him $42.5 million richer.

Yet somehow, here we are. “Gut and go” strikes again.

This latest example of the Legislature’s ambivalence to transparency and accountability is maddening and supports the need for lawmakers to thoroughly examine its process - not just keep assuring the public things will get better.

Back in 2015, the Senate sent the bill to the House, which shelved it for the rest of the session. A year later, the bill was gutted for new contents.

An 18-page Senate bill became 42 pages in the House. Sales tax authority in Bourbon and Thomas counties instead became a statewide measure allowing citizens to take their appeals past the state Board of Tax Appeals, plus amending more than 30 existing statutes.

It passed 123-0 in the House, and once senators got a look at the gutted bill, the Senate passed it 40-0 and it went to then-Gov. Sam Brownback. He vetoed it, saying the Board of Appeals should be the last word on tax obligations (Bicknell was also a campaign contributor and Brownback took the high road). Both chambers voted to override with one dissenting vote.

The new law enabled Bicknell, a two-time gubernatorial candidate, to file suit last fall in Crawford County District Court, reviving a six-year-old fight over whether Bicknell lived in Kansas or Florida in 2006, when he sold National Pizza Co., the nation’s largest Pizza Hut franchise holder.

Bicknell disputed a $42.5 million tax bill from the Kansas Department of Revenue, yet paid it in 2013 and began the fight to get it back. Last October, the Board of Tax Appeals concluded Bicknell was a Kansas resident in 2006.

Bicknell’s lawyers put SB 280 into action a month later.

To be clear, the core of the refurbished bill was worth debate. Should a Kansan be able to make his or her case to a district court if unhappy with a Board of Tax Appeals ruling? The 2016 Legislature decided nearly unanimously it was.

In an interesting turnabout, the Department of Revenue now argues in the Bicknell case that stuffing the bill with new language included violating the state constitution by covering more than one topic in the legislation.

Last year’s Kansas City Star series on secretive Kansas government - a Pulitzer Prize finalist - spurred promises of better transparency during the current legislative session. But the improvements haven’t overtaken traditional problems such as stripping bills and inserting new language, and submitting bills without an author’s name.

Rep. Jason Probst, D-Hutchinson, introduced a bill in February that would ban gut-and-gos. It sits dormant in the Appropriations committee. Not shocking, but disappointing.

Regardless of where Bicknell lived in 2006 and regardless of how a district court rules, Kansas government has an ongoing problem. It may not cost $42.5 million, but it’s continuing to cost lawmakers in terms of trust with their constituents.

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The Topeka Capital-Journal, April 28

Shortcomings demand scrutiny of DCF funding boost

One of the best comments attributable to the gubernatorial campaign of Kris Kobach came last week at the start of the Legislature’s wrapup session.

Kobach’s running mate, Wink Hartman - himself an early candidate to become the Republican nominee for governor - took into account recurring problems with the Kansas Department for Children and Families. Hartman then noted a recent request by DCF for almost $24 million, as well as the ability to add 200 additional unlicensed workers to help with investigative work conducted for the potential placement of children in foster care.

“As a business owner,? Hartman said, “I would never put up with the mismanagement we’ve seen at DCF. If an employee consistently fails to do their job, hides from accountability and then asks for a raise so they can continue to do more of the same, most private-sector businesses would probably fire them on the spot.?

This is the climate first-year DCF Secretary Gina Meier-Hummel has been tasked with changing. She has apparently gained the trust of Gov. Jeff Colyer, who supports the funding proposal. The additional funding would conceivably help attract applicants to fill vacancies Meier-Hummel said totaled “30 percent of our child protection services.? Raises for licensed social workers on staff would also be administered as part of the funding package.

Nonetheless, Hartman makes a valid point. DCF has not yet earned the trust of Kansans after as many as 90 children in the foster care system were found to be missing. Most alarming, accounts surfaced of deaths of some children going unreported, as well as inappropriate alterations made to some documents.

Skepticism regarding DCF exists within both political parties. A Democrat running for governor, House Minority Leader Jim Ward, made a strong point last month when he demanded an accounting of previous misconduct.

“There is a systemic cancer that has been going through that agency for the last seven years. I think some incredibly bad things have happened that we don’t know about,? Ward said.

Even if Meier-Hummel is on the right track attempting to correct flaws found at DCF, a large appropriation to the agency seems reckless. Of particular concern is the use of unlicensed workers involving themselves with the DCF caseload. While it would be beneficial to reduce the strain that licensed social workers face, those with less training could be prone to making poor judgments.

Some training would at least be provided for the additional unlicensed workers, who Meier-Hummel said would be accompanied by licensed supervisors. In addition, those who are hired would be required to have four-year degrees in fields similar to social work. Still, how many such workers would be willing to work for a Kansas agency with such a troubled reputation?

There is little doubt DCF has been underfunded, just like many programs that were hurt by tax cuts imposed in 2012 as part of an economic plan endorsed by former Gov. Sam Brownback.

That is where Hartman, and the candidate (Kobach) he was quick to support after dropping out of the race after the first Republican forum, are wrong. They embrace the renewed implementation of tax cuts, a notion also tossed around at the wrapup session by conservative legislators.

Accountability, however, is another matter and a sensible approach when it comes to funding DCF. This is particularly true because Meier-Hummel supports legislation seeking legal protection for faith-based groups in child placement decisions. The legislation would potentially make it more difficult for gay couples to become foster parents.

A discriminatory bill excluding families from child placement does not seem like the best option for an agency that sometimes encounters problems locating homes for kids and that could potentially see an increase in foster children if granted more personnel to assist with a burdensome caseload.

Licensed state social workers deserve raises for the stressful and somber work they perform visiting homes with children who need to be placed in foster care. Additional funding is needed for DCF. However, the agency needs to prove it can be trustworthy and accountable before an increase the size of the current proposal can be endorsed.

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The Kansas City Star, April 29

Gov. Jeff Colyer is not Sam Brownback 2.0, and Kansas is better for it

Jeff Colyer insisted that he would strive for something new on that day in January when he became Kansas’ 47th governor.

“I will set a tone and insist on an environment of openness, honesty and respect,” Colyer said.

By many reckonings, the Republican has achieved all that as he crosses the three-month line. On key issues, he’s demonstrated steady and productive leadership. Lawmakers describe him as approachable, friendly, willing to listen.

He helped pave the way for the long-awaited resolution of the state’s school-finance crisis. He’s championed the cause of a more open state government in the wake of a Kansas City Star series that concluded that Kansas ranks as perhaps the most secretive state in the nation. He’s advocating bold and sorely needed investments in the state retirement system, in Medicaid, in social workers and in the state’s chronically challenged foster care system. Much of that comes courtesy of a welcome bump in tax revenue.

Frankly, we didn’t know what to expect when Colyer took the reins after a record-setting tenure as the state’s longest-serving lieutenant governor. He had established an unblemished record as Gov. Sam Brownback’s loyal sidekick, never challenging the boss in a public way even on Brownback’s most controversial proposals. That included those much-criticized tax cuts that sent the state reeling.

Under Brownback, Kansas became a national example of the wrong way to manage tax policy. That Colyer failed to protest was concerning. So was his authorship of KanCare, the state’s privately operated Medicaid system that’s been rightly criticized.

In the months leading up to his governorship, Colyer said next to nothing about his plans, and that, too, created a sense of unease. That Colyer is a hard-right social conservative who began his career as a state lawmaker fighting abortion also generated doubts.

Colyer had one big thing going for him: There was no question that Kansas was in desperate need of new leadership following Brownback’s trying tenure. The state was eager to embrace someone new and breathe in that proverbial fresh air. That Colyer has filled that gap while simultaneously mounting a campaign to win the office for himself is a notable achievement.

By refusing to engage his chief rival, renegade Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the new governor has taken an unorthodox tact. “I don’t know what his strategy is to win this gubernatorial primary,” Kobach said after Colyer signed a new school finance bill that some conservatives criticized. “But it does appear that he’s taking the stance of a tax-and-spend Republican.”

Whether that’s a winning strategy remains to be seen. But it does suggest that Colyer is determined not to inject election-year politics into a tough session. That’s to be applauded.

Colyer’s been most impressive on transparency, signing orders that set up new accountability websites and signing a bipartisan bill that requires certain people seeking to influence executive branch officials to register as lobbyists.

“The people of Kansas have the right to know who is behind getting a bill passed, how they are trying to influence that bill and where the money is coming from,” Colyer said.

He’s also eased the way for resolution of the school-finance crisis. He announced early that he could support increased spending of more than $500 million over five years and declared that public schools would not close under his watch.

It’s a good start. Moving off his long-standing opposition to Medicaid expansion would help even more.

Still, the state is better off with Jeff Colyer at the helm.