Capitol Comments
January, 14 2000
This week I saw big concerns brought to the committees I serve on as Wildlife and Parks Secretary, Steve Williams, brought his report, as well as frustrations, to the Committee on Natural Resources on the increase in deer population. My committee members loudly voiced their frustrations also. The committee also heard of the high sulfate content of the Arkansas Basin water coming from the Colorado state line and continuing down to Arkansas City due to the increased water consumptive use in Colorado. KDOT gave an overview to the Transportation Committee as to where we stand on the 2000 Comprehensive Transportation Plan, the Judiciary Committee heard an appeal from the Governor’s office for an expansion of the Kansas seat belt law, Attorney General Stovall reviewed the ongoing water problems we continue to have with Colorado and Nebraska. Attorney General Stovall gave the committee an update on the progress of our litigation.
SPECIAL EDUCATION FUNDING A PRIORITY
My mail box became overflowed this week as constituents, including parents and school administrators, voiced their grave concerns over the cut in the Governor’s budget for special education funding. Of all the cuts which the Governor recommended, by far the cut of special education funding hit families in our school districts the hardest. Facing this year’s deficit, the Governor had to choose between the educating of our special children and funding other state services. Special education funding came in second. If ever a time existed, now is the time that Kansas needs the Federal government to step up and fund the up to 40% of the special education costs which they pledged in 1975 when they mandated this program. With that not likely to happen, I will continually strive to make this funding issue my priority for those students in our special education programs. They deserve no less. When legislators restored the $13 cut recommended by the Governor to the base per pupil funding but allowed his special education funding to be cut by $5 per special education student, the net result was only an $8 increase in the base. Those who voted for the recommended cuts have very little to be boasting about.
JUDICIARY COMMITTEE TACKLES SEAT BELT LAW
Hearings were held in my Judiciary Committee on the Governor’s recommended change in Kansas law to make our state a primary seat belt state. Emotions ran high as the committee heard story after story from family members who lost loved ones due to their not wearing a seat belt. Opponents to the measure want government to stay out of their lives. Proponents countered that government has a say in all vehicle driver’s lives, i.e. requiring a driving license, mandatory vehicle insurance, certain age restrictions, etc. Law enforcement brought convincing testimony to the committee that this is the only present law on the books in Kansas that no one has to respect but instead a driver can just pay the $10 fine when they are stopped on another traffic infraction. This is the second year I have heard this issue debated in Judiciary. No matter what the outcome of this bill, there will be people who will not be satisfied with the law. The many constituents I have heard from appear to be evenly divided on this issue.
CONCERNS ISSUED ON PRISON POPULATION GROWTH
What might be considered as the largest budget issue looming this session, is how we can slow down the growth of the population in our adult prisons rather than be forced to build another prison. The Governor has recommended that $17.3 million be spent for new and expanded prison projects. The Sentencing Commission, of which I am a member, dealt with this issue intensively throughout the interim and as a result of our actions, has introduced three bills in the Senate Judiciary which hopefully will slow the prison population growth. After careful study, the 16 member Commission, comprised of District and Appellate Judges, District Attorney, Attorney General, Secretary of Corrections, Parole Board Chairperson, Court Service Officer, Appellate Defender, Community Corrections Officer, two Senators and two House members, believes there are steps which the legislature can take that in no way will jeopardize public safety but would allow alternative sanctions to our prison system. Some of these recommendations would call for - (a) an extension of the provision for 30 days incarceration in a county correctional facility which will impact the number of conditional probation violators that are revoked that are now placed in a state correctional facility; (b) establish a low-cost minimum security facility to house either or both conditional probation and parole/post-release violators; (c) modify the current periods of post-release supervision to coincide with the same periods as when sentencing guidelines were passed; (d) as well as stipulating that no conditional probation violator be sentenced to the Department of Corrections to serve their underlying prison sentence without a prior placement in a Community Corrections program. With the excellent local Community Corrections programs Kansas has in place, I certainly feel it would be more fiscally responsible to allow funding to come to the local level to care for certain offenders rather than use scarce state resources to construct more prison beds.
The answer is complex as to why we are seeing a decline in crime rates and the corresponding rise in prison population levels. There are several variables interacting with each other. As policy makers, we have a great challenge of balancing the need for public safety with allocation of limited state resources. There were other commission proposals which could be very effective in controlling the prison population growth but with this being an election year, the political environment may be such that the votes to bring about changes to decrease our prison population may be scarce as legislators could be looked at as getting soft on crime.
IN CONCLUSION
It was a pleasure to have Nathan Weimer, John Frahm, and Erin Birney from the Winfield Middle School in Topeka this past week to act as pages for the Senate. They represented my district well in their duties. Della Rowley, Sumner County Appraiser, and Carl Mills from Cowley County also were Topeka visitors. I appreciate the input I receive from local constituents on the many issues facing legislators.
As the legislative pace escalates as the session progresses, I am out of the office a great amount of the time. Betty, my most capable administrative assistant, is always eager to help with constituent concerns. Please feel free to visit with her in my absence. You can reach me via E-mail at ggoodwin@ink.org. Or Goodwin@senate.state.ks.us. My address is State Capitol, Room 403-N, Topeka, KS 66612, telephone (785) 296-7381 or l-800-432-3924. You can visit my web page at members.tripod.com/~Ggoodwin.
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