Thank you for having me here today. When Tracey Osborne and Kent Eckles asked me to be one of the three speakers today, I was both honored and flabbergasted – because the Johnson County Legislative Delegation is made up of many bright and articulate speakers – so thank you Tracey and Kent for this honor.
I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to the Overland Park Chamber of Commerce – which provided both the gateway and the pathway for my entry into public service as a state representative. You see, it was three years ago this month that I attended the Chambers’ Leadership Overland Park 2004 graduation and I remember leaning over and telling my wife Susan – “I want to do this.” I was nominated, applied, and accepted. During the year I learned a bundle every single day of the program. And, much of what I learned through that program has assisted me greatly during this past legislative session. So, again, thank you to the Chamber Board, the staff and the whole membership for providing Leadership Overland Park – It’s a fabulous program and I highly recommend it.
I just finished my “rookie season.” What a whirlwind. On December 1st, Ed O’Malley resigned his position as state representative and I decided to run as his replacement. I was elected by a precinct committee vote December 21st and I have been running every since. It all happened very fast. Sometimes I have awakened in the morning and said – “what in the world have I gotten myself into? Did I really sign up for this?!” – And then I remember our community – It’s the people – I love people! I’m passionate about people and their needs.
District 24 is made up of western Roeland Park, all of Mission, and the northern portion of Overland Park from about 75th Street to the Wyandotte County/ Johnson County Line.
I serve on three committees, Health and Human Services, Commerce and Labor, and Elections and Government Organization.
Senator Allen has done a splendid job of summarizing most of the key issues and concerns of the Chamber and the business community.
Let me make a few comments about a few other issues we dealt with and my perspective on those issues.
In the 2006 session, a law was passed allowing concealed carry handguns. Several cities subsequently adopted ordinances to further restrict conceal carry in a variety of places in their cities. This year, the legislature passed a bill designed to preempt the cities from these ordinances that they had enacted. Because all three cities I represent had passed these ordinances, I voted no. The Governor vetoed, then the legislature overrode the governor’s veto. Again I voted no – you see, I’m a proponent of local control – whether we are talking about schools, conceal carry, or other issues. I feel our local governing bodies can make better decisions for our community than folks that don’t live here.
New topic We don’t know exactly why, but autism over the last few years has seen a rapidly increasing presence among our population. There was an interim committee appointed last summer – the results of which was a recommendation for the establishment of the Kansas Autism Task Force to study and conduct hearings on issues related to the autism community. The Task Force will bring a report to the legislature next year and we will move forward accordingly.
One of the first issues I heard about at the beginning of the session was the deferred maintenance of our state universities. I was a part of the higher education caucus which only further compelled me to help. I learned that we had $727 million in deferred maintenance and that the average age of buildings on our state university campuses exceeds 50 years -- many of them are in desperate condition. In the end, we were not able to develop a comprehensive plan – but we did make a significant down payment with a $440 million dollar allocation over the next several years. This issue will not go away – we will have to deal with this more in the future – which is problematic because we have some pretty significant concerns with our growing state budget; but that is a topic we will hear about from Representative Siegfreid.
We also laid the foundation for Health Care Reform. We can commend Representative Dr. Jeff Colyer – another rookie legislator this year who is leading the charge. This is an overwhelming task that is going to take a lot of work and we are only beginning. Everyone agrees – this issue must be addressed! And, we will definitely hear more about this in the near future.
I’ll mention one more health care issue. Preventative care is one of the wisest initiatives we could invest in. In particular, let’s talk about new born screening. Presently, we are testing statewide, every baby born in Kansas for 7 known diseases. For a relatively small amount of money, we can screen for all 27 known treatable diseases. Many of these diseases can be beat, or at least controlled relatively inexpensively if caught soon. This year, we passed a bill that mandates infant screening for all known treatable diseases. That was a big step and a wise investment. To take this a step further, a future debate could be centered on mandating testing for the known untreatable diseases, which would mean we test for a total of something like 51 treatable and untreatable diseases. Our health care expenses will be greatly reduced in the long run with these measures.
Another issue we need to address in the future is the problem of the declining rural population. It would be easy for us in Johnson County to ignore the issue, but we can not. We need to pay attention to our rural issues. We have many counties with populations of only 1,400 -2,500 and the average age of the residents is 67. This is a real problem. We either need to re-green the areas, or talk about consolidation. But, consolidation does not happen successfully unless it is driven from the local residents. Many of the counties are having a hard time finding people who are willing to serve in the various elective offices and boards. We need to pay attention to innovative ideas for commerce and industry that can be placed in the rural areas. If we do not put our heads together and think forwardly, this issue will continue to get worse each year and other counties that are currently not in such dire condition will go the way of so many others.
I could talk about a lot of other issues – but let me tell you of some surprises that I experienced – being new to the legislature.
I can’t say thank you enough to my fellow legislators who have mentored me with great patience, and endured a plethora of questions from me. Thankfully, there are nearly 30 legislators from Johnson County and I was able to glean from all of them and hopefully not wear out my welcome with any of them.
I was surprised that some issues are never dead until “sine die” -- that is the official last day of the session. Some of these bills are like a cat with nine lives – able to spring up anywhere anytime. And they do.
Being a freshman was a huge learning curve – and there are many “seasons” within a session – just about the time you think you’ve got it figured out – the season changes and new issues and processes pop up.
My proudest moment was hosting, honoring, and introducing the 2007 National Drill Champion NJROTC from Shawnee Mission North High School – These students came and presented colors for our pledge of allegiance in the veto session. I just couldn’t help myself. I am a SM North Alum, and a national championship team just had to be honored at the State House.
My most Middle School moment – came when we had a tornado warning at the Capitol and they sent us all to the basement to wait out the storm. There I was minding my manners when House Minority Leader Dennis McKinney grabs fellow legislator Kenny Wilk and me and took us past the forbidden “do not enter” doorway to the Capitol restoration construction area. I had this questioning look, and McKinney said, “It’s okay, I’m on the committee … let’s go check it out.” We proceeded to climb down ladders, sneak through tunnels, over pipes and wire raceways. What an adventure. Three grown men in dark business suits and dress shoes exploring tunnels built out of rock connecting the Capitol to adjacent Government offices. It’s true. We emerged in time to hear the all clear signal and got back to work. Little did we know that in less than a week, Representative McKinney would lose his home, business, and entire town of Greensburg.
My most emotional moment was in January, the first time I stood by my desk on the House floor and said the pledge of allegiance -- realizing the overwhelming responsibility that had been entrusted to me. You see, we have a motto in our home – its three simple words – we raised our children with these words --- “serve others gladly” – and now these words are more real than ever to me.
As a freshman, I get asked, “So, Ronnie, how does it feel to be a politician?” That’s foreign to me – I don’t consider myself to be a politician. I know that I’m in the world of politics – but I see myself as a servant of the people. My job is to listen and serve – engaging with the people – to make the best decisions possible in the “people’s House” in Topeka.
I love the following quote by William James – which sums it all up: “The great use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts it.”
