I’m doing a monthly Kansas Legislature update as issues affecting Prairie Village governance arise. I’ll be using the Prairie Village 2020 Legislative Platform as my guide. Let me know if you have any issues of concern to PV residents that aren’t on here:

• Repeal Of The Property Tax Lid – SB294
• State Funding Of Public Education 
• Non-partisan Elections 
• Local Gun Control 
• Maintain Local Control Of Revenue And Spending 
• Limits On Appraised Valuation Growth 
• Tax Policy & Dark Store Theory
• Internet Sales Tax Collections – HB2513, HB2537
• Sales Tax Exemption 
• Oppose Unfunded Mandates 
• Statutory Pass-through Funding 
• Abandoned And Blighted Housing 
• Comprehensive Transportation Plan 
• KPERS Funding – HB2503 & SB321
• Kansas Open Records And Open Meetings Act 
• Legislative Participation 
• Local Control Of Right Of Way 
• Statewide Energy Policy HCR6031
• Medical Marijuana 
• Statewide Expansion Of Medicaid – SB252
• Return State Funding Levels For Social Safety Net 
• Non-discrimination – SB250
• Development Of A Comprehensive Budgeting Plan 
• Addressing The Climate Crisis As Public Policy Priority – HB2625

You’ll notice that I’ve highlighted some of the issues above. These are issues that have been discussed or presented with links to active bills. And below are just a couple more with a little detail added for you:

Climate Crisis/Local Control – Just as PV is nearing the presentation of a draft proposal by our Environmental Committee to ban plastic bags per our goal to reduce our city’s carbon footprint, HB2625 was introduced in the House pre-empting bag bans. The bill has been referred to the Commerce Committee, and we’ll see what happens from there. Obviously, it is still unknown whether or not the PV City Council would even pass a bag ban policy, but regardless of where we land on the draft proposal, this bill is another way the state is chipping away at “local control”, and in my opinion, we would likely be against it on those merits alone.

HB2703 is also attempting to usurp local control on a different topic: building codes.

Statewide Energy Policy – During Week 5, Gov. Kelly issued an Executive Reorganization Order (HCR6031) to create an independent Kansas energy office tasked with developing the comprehensive energy plan. On that same Tuesday, despite no hearing and no opposition cited, a House Committee recommended the House block the reorganization.

Tax Lid – SB294 was introduced, which would remove the tax lid that currently exists, but it would be replaced by a particularly onerous and costly process. This bill may still be amended on the floor and other, separate proposals are being discussed, so we don’t know quite yet where we’re going to land on this bill. As a reminder, the reason PV supports a repeal of the tax lid is that the unintended consequence of this law is that now cities are hesitant to LOWER our mill levies because the tax lid basically prohibits us from raising it back up if needed due to various economic reasons. At the very least, PV wants the current statute amended to include a “hold harmless” provision that would allow local governments to lower property tax rates and, within the subsequent five years, return the property tax rate to the prior level if necessary.

I’m going to embed the most recent Loudlight.org videos below.

If you’re not familiar with Loud Light, here is your introduction. Loud Light is a non-partisan, local, organization whose mission is to engage, educate, and empower communities in the legislative process, particularly those that may be underrepresented in the capital. Please share these!

If you don’t want to watch/listen to the videos, you can find the video scripts HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE with links to the various bills that have been filed.

Take care and reach out if you have any questions or concerns,