Welcome to the sixth 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.

These last two weeks my schedule has been so jammed packed, I did not have time to get my usual weekly report out to you.

Town Hall Report
Saturday March 1, we had another good Town Hall with great input and conversation. It is always good to hear from a 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 15, from 8:30 to 9:30 AM. (A few of our friends have joined Susan and me in providing complimentary coffee and pastries – thanks!)

This last week was turn-around week. “Turn-around” is a term for a deadline for Committees to finish up hearings on their bills, work the bills in an effort to pass them out favorably for passage to the “committee as a whole” - all 125 Representatives. The deadline requires that a bill must be finished up in its house of origin. Both the Senate and the House face this deadline. With a few exceptions after this deadline, the House hears only Senate bills and the reciprocal is true too.

The result, we had a log-jam of bills churning and spilling out of every committee. On Thursday and Friday, we worked intensely to beat the clock. On Thursday alone, we worked 28 bills. You will be glad to know I will not seek to summarize all of the bills in this email. But along the way, I will try to keep you posted on matters we have not talked about.

Annexation
You may have heard about the Annexation bill HB 2747, which has mostly turned in to a bill regarding the Overland Park Annexation of 15.6 square miles. The bill was assigned to our committee and over the last two weeks, we held two days of hearings.

As introduced, the bill would effectively end annexation in Kansas as we have known it and would require a vote of the people in the area to be annexed, regardless of the type of annexation. The bill would end unilateral annexations and it repeals the procedure where you petition the county commission for the ability to annex territory.

The Chair appointed me to serve on the 5 person subcommittee in which we held two more days of hearings. At the end of the second day, I weighed in as opposing the bill. I pointed out that Kansas annexation law had remained virtually unchanged for about 20 years and I did not think the current law was flawed.

Meanwhile, in the news back home, we know the Johnson County Commission has ruled to approve about 56% of the tract for annexation by Overland Park. This issue is not over in the Legislature or in the courts. I will keep you posted.

Other Measures…
In other action in Election and Government Organization, we held a hearing on a bill that would have banned cities from collecting a licensing or inspection fee on rental property. Mission has 51% of its housing stock in rental units. Because of public outcry, Mission, Roeland Park, and other cites in NE Johnson County have instituted measures to license and inspect properties. This is a program to make sure properties are maintained in good condition. Clean, well groomed safe neighborhoods are extremely important to our area. From a practical position, this is an issue that needs to be administrated by local control through our city governments.

We had several conferees on the bill, among them Mission City Administrator Mike Scanlon and Mission Neighborhood Services Director Leslee Fonseca, who delivered convincing testimony. We killed the bill because the committee concluded Mission and other cities were appropriate in their action.

Holcomb power plant update
Since I last wrote, the House Utilities committee passed a measure to allow the Holcomb power plant to be built. This has been a point of great contention since last summer. I have studied this issue very intently for 8 months or so and I have also listened to the members of our community and sensed a strong voice of opposition to this bill. The feedback has not been unanimous, which is not unusual; but very strong indeed in opposition.

Therefore, I voted no on the most recent vote of House Substitute SB 327, as I believe is true representation of the strong majority of our district. However, the bill passed the House with 77 votes. Since the Senate had already passed its version, the next step was a Conference Committee of the House and Senate. As of yesterday, they had not yet found agreement. When they do, it will likely be confirmed and sent to the Governor. She is expected to veto.

Keep in mind, this issue is not over. It will resurface again. The next time the issue comes before us it may look different in its scope. I will continue to watch it and represent the voice of our District.

Final Action in the House
HB 2805 is the Kansas Emergency Communications Preservation Act and guarantees Ham Radio Operators reasonable accommodations to operate their radios. The proponents argue we need the volunteer Ham radio operators to assist in the event of an emergency such as the Tornados in Greensburg, or the flooding in SE Kansas. The only communication available in such emergencies is Ham operators. Hospitals and other emergency services have set up radios in their operations.

I had the benefit of hearing all the testimony and I voted yes in Committee and in Final Action. We need these citizens and their services. The bill would prohibit a city or county governing body from taking any action; they would have to give reasonable accommodation to the operators and their radio antenna facilities. However, the covenants of a Homeowners association would preempt the bill, restricting size and placement of antennas.

HB 2802 creates a new 11 member Kansas Performance Measurement Commission. The commission will contract a private consultant to design a performance measurement management system for our state. The system must include an assessment of the current efficiency an effectiveness of state programs. The report will be due January 1 2009, in time for the next legislative session.

HB 2315 provides for registration and certification of real estate inspectors for the purpose of insuring that they are subject to minimum requirements of education, competency, and credentials in order to perform inspections on a purchase that can constitute hundreds of thousands of dollars to the consuming public. There is not a requirement for licensure. The requirements are simply high enough to insure minimum competency, and are not set unduly high in order to keep anybody out of the business or to inhibit competition in any way.

HB 2758 adds electronic bullying or cyber-bullying to required school district policy on bullying in a bill we passed last year.

HB 2847 deals with examinations for Plumbing, Electrical and HVAC Tradesmen licensing and amends current law to provide for the use of standard examinations from the International Code Council (ICC), the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO) or Prometric, a subsidiary of Educational Testing Services. It does not make any changes in the current optional licensing requirements now in effect. It removes the reference to “Block and Associates” as the testing agency -- Block and Associates has not been in business for more than 5 years.

Recent Emails:

Thank you for voting against the coal plants in Holcomb! I appreciate you representing the wishes your people in the district.
Kay

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I appreciate all the good and hard work that you perform and know that your votes always entail through research. Thank you. A.F.

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It's great to have a representative who listens to his constituents. -- Pat

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I just wanted to thank you again for the awesome time that my family had yesterday. Dianna and I appreciate the sincerity that you had not only with the kids (pages) but with the parents as well. I could see it in your eyes; you were very inspirational to me. Andy
(I really enjoy being able to host student pages and their families in Topeka. If you would like to come and visit me in Topeka, please don’t hesitate to call.)

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Local Happenings

Overland Park Chamber of Commerce
I recently was the speaker for one hour before the Government Affairs Task Force. The committee of about 50 oversees the Chamber’s Government affairs activities at all levels of government – federal, state, county and city.

St. Pius Green Committee
Last week, I went as a guest to view a showing of Kilowatt Ours at St. Pius Church sponsored by the St. Pius Green Committee. The documentary was 65 minutes long and explained some of the negative environmental aspects of coal, from mountain top removal to air pollution. It also included some outstanding material to give us hope about using renewable energy and conservation. I was pleased to bring a brief greeting with my comments regarding energy issues in Kansas.

The series continues and the public is welcome to attend at St. Pius, 5500 Woodson, Mission in the Glowacki Room (down the stairs and take a right) at 7:00 PM
Here are the topics:
March 3 – “Water, the drop of life: A price to pay”
March 10 – “Blue Nuns go Green”
March 17 – “The true cost of food & The Meatrix”

Trivia Question from the last Ronnie’s Report
Someone at Shawnee Mission North won a 2008 Grammy.
Who is it -- and what did they win?

Answer
SM North can boast a little Grammy gold now because Choral instructor Patrice Sollenberger is part of a group that won the 2008 Grammy for Best Engineered Album. The Grammy-winning compact disc Grechaninov: Passion Week features the Kansas City Chorale and the Phoenix Bach Choir in a recording made at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Kansas City, Kan. Sollenberger serves as artistic assistant for the Chorale. Congrats Patrice!

Shawnee Mission North initiates Coaches Hall of Fame
Recently, I was honored to be part of the first Coaches Hall of Fame in the Shawnee Mission District, the SM North Coaches Hall of Fame. Charter inductees were Coach Larry Taylor, Coach Merlin Gish (accepted by his widow Mrs. Myril Gish), Coach Beverly Plump, and Coach Bernadette Wagner. These coaches are renowned throughout the state of Kansas as well in Shawnee Mission for their state championships in football, track, girl’s softball and volleyball, and gymnastics and diving, where these fine coaches had multiple unprecedented winning seasons while at Shawnee Mission North High School.

In fact, the field in our new District Stadium at SM North is the Larry Taylor Field and the track is the Merlin Gish Track. (I was a student at Shawnee Mission North when Coach Taylor twice led our football team to state championships and when Coach Gish won a state championship in track.) Congratulations to each of these wonderful individuals who taught and coached at Shawnee Mission North with passion, integrity, and made a difference in the lives of hundreds of students.

District 24 Survey
You are still welcome to participate in my legislative survey regarding issues coming this session. I have posted several questions 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 on the left that says “Constituent Survey.”

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.