Welcome to the fifth edition of Ronnie’s Report – a weekly update for the 2008 Legislative Session. I will hit the highlights of the Legislature and point out issues that may affect us in District 24.

Town Hall Report
We had another good town hall with great input and conversation. It is always good to hear from a team of interested neighbors, working together in conversation to make our district and Kansas better.

Our next “Town Hall” Meeting will be at Lucky Brewgrille , 5401 Johnson Drive in Mission on Saturday, March 1, from 8:30 to 9:30 AM. A few of our friends have joined Susan and me in providing complimentary coffee and pastries.

District 24 Survey Update
Over 4,500 postcards were mailed last week to our neighbors in District 24. The postcard is an invitation to participate in a legislative survey regarding issues coming this session. I have posted several questions regarding key legislative issues in an on-line survey that you may take through my website.

If you have a few minutes, please go to: www.ronniemetsker.com and look for the button that says “Constituent Survey.”

Most special email of the week
I heard from Christopher Waldschmidt, a soldier from a Johnson County who is deployed with a unit of fellow Kansans in Operation Iraqi Freedom, made a special request -- a Kansas flag to fly honorably at their working area. I just talked to our Lt. Governor, Mark Parkinson, and he is going to help me “fill that order” for Christopher.

Four Legislative Pages
Thank you to four students from Antioch Middle School who served with me last week; Samuel Shreve, Chase Scott, Christopher Bilyk, and Victoria Kee. They were a great help! I enjoyed spending time with them and their parents talking about the legislative process, teaching about how a bill becomes law, and applying that teaching to current bills in the House.

2008 Kansas Academic Decathlon winners
Students from SM North received the following awards in the 2008 Kansas Academic Decathlon: Kevin Hazelwood placed second in math and third in the essay category in the Varsity level competition. Kalen Petersen placed third in overall points in all categories. Petersen also received first in the art and written super quiz competitions, as well as second place awards in the categories of science and language and literature. The competition was held at K-State.

SM North 2008 Grammy
Trivia of the week -- Someone at Shawnee Mission North won a 2008 Grammy. Who is it -- and what did they win? Answer next week.

This week in the Legislature

Elections and Governmental Organization Committee

Annexation
We held two days of hearing on a bill that would change the laws on annexation. There has been virtually no annexation law change since 1988. The bill is a response to the proposed Overland Park annexation of 15 square miles in southern Johnson County . There is always a natural conflict between landowners and cities when cities grow as a result of economic development, population expansion, and the needs of the collective public.

Many feel the laws have been adequate and continue to be fine for today. Current statutes offer protection to the landowners through their elected officials on the County Commission . Overland Park submitted its application to the Johnson County Commission seeking approval from the body to annex. The Commission is currently considering the measure and is expected to make a ruling soon. Passage of this bill would supersede any decision of the Commission.

While it was apparent the bill is aimed at the current Overland Park issue, at least eleven other cities and counties, across Kansas , presented testimony in opposition. According to their testimonies, this bill would effectively reverse many years of sound public policy in Kansas . Annexation decisions would be taken away from publicly elected city and county officials and delegates the power to the individual landowners who may not have the welfare of the general public at heart.

I have been appointed to a sub-committee to study the issues more deeply and make a recommendation to the committee.

Campaign finance reporting
We considered a measure requested by the Government Ethics Commission (GEC) to require election campaign finance reports for certain individuals to include the contributor’s name, occupation, and employer. The committee offered an amended version that would require the contributor’s name, occupation and industry. GEC officials seemed acceptable to the proposal.

Transportation Committee

Gold Star Mom license plate
This bill would allow the Mothers of fallen war heroes to request and be granted a special motor vehicle license plate honoring the mother of the fallen soldier. As soon as we deal with a few minor logistics, the bill will likely pass without objection.

Patriot Guard Highway
About 30 members of the Patriot Guard requested the committee to pass a bill naming a six mile stretch of K-53 Highway just west of Mulvane -- the Patriot Guard Highway . A highly unusual but appropriate four standing ovations from the committee, gallery and staff reflected the intensely emotional, patriotic testimonies. We worked the bill favorably the same day.

Passed in Final Action on the House Floor

HB 2617 Amends the law regarding driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The bill requires a request by law enforcement officers to test drivers of alcohol or drugs in all accidents for a person operating or attempting to operate a vehicle and the vehicle has been involved in a serious injury or death. This bill was in response to a Leavenworth County tragedy where a young woman was killed by a driver who was not tested for drugs and alcohol after the accident.

HB 2730 Creates the Kansas taxpayer transparency act and requires the Secretary of Administration to post on the internet an extensive, searchable data base of state government operations and expenditures. The result will give greater access to and accountability of state financial activity. There will be no cost to the government or the taxpayer from this act.

HB 2621 Addresses child custody issues after military deployment, mobilization or temporary duty. This corrects current problems where certain rights previously granted are not easily restored upon returning from serving a tour overseas. Service member’s deployment may not be used against him or her in change of custody hearing.

SB 49 Requires service providers of interconnected voice over internet protocol (VoIP) to contribute to the Kansas Universal Service Fund (KUSF). Current law requires every telecommunications public utility and wireless telecommunications service provider that provides intrastate telecommunications services to contribute to the KUSF on an equitable and nondiscriminatory basis. In essence, this places financial burden on this relatively new and growing portion of the industry to also contribute to the KUSF.

HB 2637 25,000 Johnson County low income residents will automatically receive low phone bills. The bill benefits low-income Kansans. All incumbent carriers, and many other service providers, offer discounted basic telephone service for low income customers. For example, AT&T's Kansas Lifeline Service offers local calling for $4.70 per month, compared to the normal price of $22 per month. The discount is funded partly by the federal universal service fund, (FUSF) and partly by the Kansas universal service fund (KUSF).

This bill implements an "automatic" enrollment process to help qualifying low-income customers receive the lifeline discount. The SRS developed a process for generating a list of customers that are eligible for the lifeline discount, based on their enrollment in low income programs. Under auto-enrollment for Lifeline, low income Kansan's will pay $17 less each month for basic phone service. That's a savings of over $200 per year. According to Johnson County United Community Services, 25,000 constituents in Johnson County will benefit, since more than 25,000 residents in Johnson County are below the federal poverty level. Statewide, that number is more than 58,000.

Again, it is a pleasure to serve you.

I have lived in District 24 for over 50 years, and truly believe it is not what I think, but what you think that matters. This is the essence of representation. I am looking forward to seeing and hearing from you. Please feel free to forward this e-mail to others you know in our District.