Charlotte O'Hara's newletter page

Click on THIS LINK to see statewide statistics on student performance in Kansas schools. This is a PDF file.

Session begins on the RIGHT note

January, 2012
Well, we are in the second week of the 2012 Legislative Session and have heard Governor Brownback’s State of the State address laying out his budget and agenda for this session.
On the budget front, Governor Brownback has proposed a modest decrease of .6% (approximately $39 million) for the 2013 State General Fund beginning July 1. Our 2012 budget increased 7% ($400 million) over the 2011 budget. The 2013 cut is minimal, but the good news is we’re heading in the RIGHT direction!
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Reflections on the upcoming Kansas Legislature

As the Christmas season rolls around I start thinking about the next legislative session and challenges we face as a state. Here is a quick rundown on last session and an update on the issues we are facing next session, including school finance, budget, KPERS, Medicaid and redistricting. Read entire column…

Mo-Kan border war: The real loser?

Well, the border war is alive and well between Kansas and Missouri.

The latest prize: Kansas has captured is AMC and its 400 employees. What a boost to the Kansas economy_ 400 new jobs! Except, wait, those 400 jobs were only 12 miles down the road.

So, there probably won’t be a mass migration of families moving over to Kansas. And how many of them already lived on the Kansas side? And the price tag? $47 million in tax breaks and incentives. Not bad, not bad at all!
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Are energy incentives worth the loss of tax dollars?

Kansas Gov. Brownback’s administration hosted the Governor’s Economic Summit on Energy October 4th at the Hyatt Regency in Wichita. The summit was the eighth in a series of summits the governor’s administration is holding that focuses on growing the Kansas economy and creating jobs.

I applaud the governor’s energy summit. However, with the recent events and controversy swirling around the issue of renewable/green energy initiatives at the federal level (Solyndra), we in Kansas need to step back and analyze whether our current tax incentive packages for green energy is based on sound economic principles or rather an attempt to embrace “green” energy for politically correct reasons.
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O'Hara wants answers on health exchange funding

I was curious as to what KHPA's (Kansas Health Policy Authority) estimate on costs were to implement K-Med (Obamacare's Health Exchange).

So I asked the question to Dr. Andrew Allison, the head of KHPA. Here is his response, remember the blood pressure medication before reading this. It's an alarming example of why we, the taxpayers, can no longer afford government as usual.
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Attacking Obamacare in Kansas takes ironic turn

With Kansas joining the lawsuit challenging Obamacare and the governor signing Kansas Health Freedom Act, you would think that Kansas must be one of the best states in union as far as being protected from the implementation of Obamacare.

But wait, what is happening at the Insurance Commission, headed by Republican Sandy Praeger and KHPA (Kansas Health Policy Authority) headed by Dr. Andrew Allison?
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Budget increases despite spending cuts

How can Kansas with a Republican Governor and Republican control of both the House and Senate pass budgets that have a 6.7% increase in the State General Fund?
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Budget information you'll find interesting

Once upon a time in the land called Kansas, the difference between reality and insanity was quite clear. Reality was based on living within revenues raised in Kansas versus the insanity of deficit spending by being addicted to federal dollars rolling into our state coffers.

How can Kansas be guilty of deficit spending? Well, for every dollar we take from Washington, nearly half (42 cents) is borrowed, printed and or stolen (from the Social Security Trust Fund)( Boy is that a misnomer).
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Where KDOT gets its money for state highways?

This week I promised a little background on KDOT (Kansas Department of Transportation). So, that is the subject of this week’s column. Can you believe it, a politician that has kept her word! So on to the subject, generally KDOT’s revenue stream is from:

1. Motor fuel’s tax
2. Vehicle registration tax
3. Bonds issued (currently $1.9 billion, source: Kansas Fiscal Facts Aug. 2010)
4. Sales tax
5. Federal Highway Funds
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A word (or two) about last year’s sales tax increase

To continue our conversation on tax policy in Kansas, I want to give you some background on our state sales tax.

First implemented in 1937 at 2% (currently the rate is 6.3%), our state sales tax remained constant for 21 years until 1958, when a special session raised it to 2.5%; increased in 1965 to 3%; to 4% in 1986; to 4.9% in 1992; to 5.3% in 2002 (which .3% was to sunset June 1, 2005) and finally 6.3% of which .6% is to sunset in 2013 and .4% is to go to KDOT.

A tax was instituted, now what happens? You’ve got it. We (legislators) get to give out the exemptions. And how many exemptions do we have?
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Why a New Funding Formula?

(Note: Rep. Marc Rhoades of Newton is chairman of the Kansas House Appropriations Committee)
At the last school board meeting, I was asked: "...why a (school funding formula) proposal was needed in the first place -- if the state would be able to fund the current formula at a level that would be considered sufficient."
My answer in the Kansan's recap addressed the last half: "We do not have enough money to fund it (the current formula)."
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A tale of deficit spending in Kansas

So, technically, the State of Kansas has to balance our budget, but we do it with dollars that are borrowed by our federal government. Neat trick, don’t you think?
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Working for you during my first legislative session

Since being sworn in early in January as the new State Representative of the 27th District, it has been a flurry of activity acclimating to this new position of representing you.
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A closer look at Obamacare in Kansas

Well, I continue to dig into the details of the “new” 90/10 CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services) grant for IT development Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer announced on August 31st which would not require Kansas to build a Health Exchange.

Actually this 90/10 funding has been in place and according to Dr. Andrew Allison (in an email he sent to me in June) an additional funding source the administration had planned to utilize prior to the return of the Early Innovator Grant.

That pretty well shreds the “new” funding source narrative of the Brownback administration’s “new” KEES plan. (Note: I have provided links at the end of the newsletter for documentation.)

Well, I can’t call KEES new, since in all of the documentation for the contract with ACCENTURE refers to K-Med instead of KEES.
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Why the lack of generic drugs in Kansas Medicaid?

Last week I promised a look into Medicaid in Kansas with the main question on use of generic drugs. However, before we jump into that horrendously convoluted universe, I must share the world of oxymoron in Topeka. Consider the following from the Speaker’s weekly update:

“Reduction of Agencies and Commissions – The House and Governor have worked together to push several Executive Reorganization Orders (EROs) to eliminate eight government organizations. By eliminating or reorganizing these eight agencies, the state would save approximately $9.2 million.

Last week the House voted to establish the Kansas Streamlining Government Commissions which will review agencies to make recommendations for efficiencies and to reduce waste before the Commission sunsets on December 31st of 2012.
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