Several Salina area residents spent a part of their Saturday morning at the Visit Salina annex of the Salina Chamber , getting an update from the Salina representatives in Topeka for an update on what is happening at the state house.
Questions to legislators covered topics that included corporate taxes, KPERS, education, environmental issues, and health care.
The most spirited exchange during the update came during a question from Salina resident Bob Bowser, who asked Senator Pete Brungardt why he did not support a bill that would have put to a vote of the public in November, whether or not residents supported or opposed what is known as Obamacare.
Brungardt said the vote would amount to an opinion poll that would cost money. The Health Care signed into law in 2010 is before the U.S. Supreme Court, with arguments in March and a decision by the high court is expected in the Summer.
Brungardt says that federal law trumps state law, and what prevents states from voting on other federal issues like Social Security, Internal Revenue Service, and international treaties. The senator said the vote on health care is a moot point.
On the question of the statewide smoking ban the legislators said that while smoking is still allowed in state owned casinos, and not private businesses, that in the long term smoking will be banned in the casinos.
The Topeka delegation also said they didn’t know if the issue of the school funding formula would be completed in this session.
At the end of the update each legislator gave closing comments.
71st District Representative Charlie Roth says he thinks the session will go past the 90 day deadline, and that the redistricting issue will be taking up a lot discussion in the last half of the session. But to this point not much has been done in Topeka to this point.
69th District Representative Tom Arpke said that along with the issue of redistricting, the budget, immigration, taxes, and KPERS will be addressed. Arpke also believed the session will end in 90 days. The one issue that the legislator has completed concerned water rights and that there will no longer be a “use it or lose it” set of standards for water in the state.
108th District Representative Steven Johnson said he hopes the session does not go longer than 90 days, and that on the issues that need to be addressed in the final 1/2 of the session include energy, medicaid, education and KPERS. Johnson says that the state needs to avoid crisis, apply resources that results in balance and to get it right.
24th District Senator Pete Brungardt says that redistricting will be a part of what does or does not happen in Topeka. Brungardt says he thinks the last half of the session will go past 90 days and be very contentious. The senator says that since the state is coming out of recession that the legislature needs to back fill some of the cuts made in the past three years to education, mental health, KPERS and community corrections. He also said that Governor Brownback and his supporters are working on changing the look of the senate and that there will be wedge issues by design come up.
The next legislative update in Salina will be Saturday March 24th.