The Kansas Legislature convened on January 9, 2006, with the Governors’ annual State of the State speech. The speech was preceded by legislators unpacking boxes in their new offices at the Capitol and in the Docking State Office Building.

Governor Sebelius, in her fourth State of the State, took credit for a turnaround in state finances, in job creation and general prosperity, and proposed some relatively low-buck programs for the upcoming Legislature.

In her remarks the theme was "continued fiscal restraint, cooperation with the Legislature on a multi-year school finance plan, and tougher punishments for sex offenders." There was NO budget delivered with the speech, but the governor offered several key proposals for the Legislature:

• Health insurance coverage for all Kansas children from birth to age 5 who don’t have health insurance now. That’s about 15,000 children at a cost of $3.5 million.
• The Bill Snyder-led Kansas Mentors program.
• Doubling sentences for sex offenders who prey on children and lifetime electronic tracking of repeat sex offenders after they’re out of prison. That’s about 225 offenders under a lifetime 24-hour electronic surveillance.
• The elimination of property taxes on manufacturing machinery and equipment purchased after January 1, 2007.
• Development of a program to help parents protect their children from age-inappropriate video games, movies and Internet activities.

Education will once again be on everyone’s mind this session. A recent study that the legislature requested indicates that Kansas taxpayers may be forced to reach into their pockets once again to fund the $400 million shortfall that is apparently lacking in the education system. But, the governor has not laid out how this deficit will be paid.

Even though it is an election year, and revenues have been coming in higher than anticipated, tax increases still loom on the horizon.

ETHANOL COUNCIL LEGISLATION PROPOSED

The Kansas Association of Ethanol Processors introduced a bill in the Senate Agriculture Committee that would create a Kansas Ethanol Council. This would be a seven-member council appointed by the governor representing all of the stakeholders in the ethanol industry. They would be:

Ag producer At-Large

Corn/Sorghum Growers