| Dear Friends and Supporters:
Season greetings to all! I hope this newsletter finds you healthy and thankful for the many blessings we enjoy at this holiday season.
INTERIM ACTIVITY
The summer was filled nearly every day with numerous meetings and events vital to keeping in touch with individual taxpayers and key constituency groups. Early in the summer there were parades in Olathe, Lenexa and De Soto where many of you helped walk and wave to show your support for my efforts in Topeka. I had several speaking engagements including Aberdeen Village, the De Soto VFW Memorial Dedication, and the Building Owners and Managers Association in Kansas City where I was the only Kansas elected official invited to speak! Believe me; I had fun at that one! I participated in numerous business and economy sessions including an economic overview at the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, MAMTC, KTEC, Kansas Bio Tour, Transportation Planning meetings, Olathe, Overland Park, De Soto and Lenexa Chambers, the Medical Society, Fair Tax Advocacy leaders, local Law Enforcement, District Judges, Council of Mayors, Dr. Art Hall on Economic Development and Tax proposals, groundbreakings at JCCC and Olathe Medical Center, and the K-State Innovation Campus. I have also met with local public school leaders and have also attended several meetings at JCCC regarding funding and policy issues.
I spent a considerable amount of time on Children's Issues impacting the quality of life in Kansas. I continue to work with a group of grassroots advocates in the area of in-home child care regulations. These advocates have lost children in in-home daycares that either violated standards or require tougher standards for supervision, inspections or training. I have partnered with Kansas Action for Children in offering legislation that will address at least some of the issues in safety for in-home day care.
I served as Vice Chair of the Joint Interim Committee on Children's Issues alongside Chairman Mike Kiegerl to look at irregularities in our foster care system and facts behind removal of children and the accountability of contract providers and SRS. I also questioned SRS Secretary Don Jordan on an allotment of $710,000 discretionary allocation for Extraordinary Funding for the disabled that possibly violated a contractual agreement. See the video of my questioning of SRS Secretary Don Jordan at View Video and read coverage of these meetings at Kansas Watchdog. Also, please reference the coverage from the Kansas Health Institute on the committee meetings. Needless to say, the hearings were heart wrenching.
I also served on a sub-committee for the Judicial Council regarding legislation concerning statutory oversight of local Homeowners Associations. The committee dissected a uniform law enacted in South Carolina and adopted in several states. The law addresses language to improve homeowner rights as well as elected boards' responsibilities and legal authority in common interest communities of 15 or more homeowners. This legislation is currently being drafted and will be introduced in both houses this legislative session. I will be happy to forward a copy of this legislation if you are interested when it receives a bill number later in January.
KANSAS BUDGET WOES CONTINUE
As you may have read in the media, our state continues to confront an ongoing budget crisis.
This has been brewing for several years. Simply put, when the Kansas economy was more stable, our legislature continued to spend more money than we were taking in. This resulted in an expansion of government programs funded through a variety of mechanisms including a "borrowing from Peter to pay Paul" approach to covering promises made legislatively. This came to a head last year. Facing a perfect storm of national and local economic downturn the legislature enacted over $400M in across the board cuts to all agencies to get to a statutory requirement of a balanced budget. All agencies were hit including K-12 and higher education, social services (including the disabled, elderly, and mental and community) health, local community corrections and prisons, the judicial branch, aid to local governments and much more.
I continue to hear from many constituents and advocacy groups regarding the effect of these cuts. When I took office in 2006 I made it clear that as bills come across my desk I ask the following questions:
1. Is this something State Government should be involved with?
2. How much is this going to cost taxpayers?
3. Are the funds available and do we have sufficient income to pay the cost?
4. Finally, is it sustainable?
As the economy continues to tailspin, our enacted cuts made last year were not enough. Through a process known as "allocations", Governor Parkinson made two additional cuts totaling $283.3M. Even with these cuts as we convene the 2010 Session we are facing at least a $568M hole and the figure could be higher even after the holiday retail season. Much of this is a result of unprecedented unemployment which is approaching 10%. The charts below reflect where our tax income is generated and our spending priorities.
I've heard from many constituents over the past weeks regarding late payments of unemployment benefits. Let me illustrate how the state unemployment fund has been hit over the past year. Last year at this time benefits ran at $5M per week. This year benefits are $13 million per week and growing. As you can see from the charts individual income tax and corporate tax are the major drivers for our budget. When these decrease drastically as they have in recent months our Department of Labor has relied on federal stimulus dollars to fund the gap. Those funds are expected to be gone by January. Secretary Garner has indicated that Kansas will be one of 25 states requesting more funds to get us through this crisis.
As we go into the 2010 Session there will be many proposals brought forward to solve our budget problems. We will have two choices. Either we continue to do "business as usual" by applying our current models of budget process and appropriations, or we collectively decide that old models aren't working anymore and we must look at other solutions. As I serve on Commerce and Tax Committees I will resist attempts to make revenue adjustments, i.e. tax increases on individuals and business to fill our bucket. I will also be resistant to attempts to rescind tax incentives for business and economic development. I believe we need major changes in how we approach spending in all our major categories. This includes consolidation of services in education and county government. Kansas has the highest number of taxing entities in the nation. We simply cannot tax ourselves into prosperity. Instead, we must have the collective will to begin a discussion about different models of doing business. Kansas needs a model for long-term stability; not a model driven by special interests.
I am concerned that the State of Kansas doesn't have a "data-driven" culture. I believe that we can improve performance by agencies and programs through measuring what we do and putting in place a monitoring system that holds agencies and legislators accountable. Our problems are multiple and complex with many inter-relationships and much fragmentation. Fiscal notes attached to a bill are not enough. Leadership is required to prepare a pathway towards changing our culture from one that is politically-driven to data driven much like any business - big or small in our state. I also believe we need to engage in a state auditing system that is comprehensive. Our current audits although thorough are by request and go through an approval process. We simply do not have a consistent picture of performance of tax dollars in our state.
Our tax policy is increasingly complicated and driven by special interests. I have been studying the Fair Tax, a simple solution which could not only produce revenues fairly, but be an economic development magnet if implemented. We also have tremendous resources in Dr. Art Hall, Professor and Director of Applied Economics at KU. He will be giving a presentation on his research of the Kansas Tax Code on Thursday December 17 at 7pm at the KU Edwards Campus. His presentation is sponsored by FairTaxKC. Go to the link for more information and see you there! FairTaxKC.org
DOING GOOD THINGS - My CAUSE PAGES(http://www.senatorjulialynn.com/causes.php)
I am pleased to work with the Lenexa VFW Post #7397 and Sid Linver on the Platoons Forward -
Afghanistan program. On November 20th we held an event in Lenexa called "Party with a Purpose" to raise donations of items and money for this wonderful cause. Platoons Forward is a program that provides basic supplies to units which don't have access to Mess Halls and Post Exchanges. As a result of our event and the generosity of many wonderful friends, close to 50 boxes of items were sent to the 2nd Battalion 12th Infantry in
Afghanistan and nearly $1,500 was raised to buy boot warmers for the unit. Visit the Lenexa VFW website for more information on how to support our troops.
Lenexa VFW Post #7397
Another program I am involved with is from the Salvation Army and called Hope for the Homeless. This is a campaign in Johnson County to raise the funds to build another homeless shelter. There is only one shelter now in Johnson County and the condition of the building is inadequate to meet the needs of the growing numbers of families without homes. Please see the video at Hope for the Homeless Video . For more information about the campaign click here. Checks can be made to the Salvation Army and sent to Olathe Corps, 420 E. Santa Fe, Olathe, KS 66061 or you may donate through a secure, online form - DONATE
I am also concerned about one of Johnson County's oldest landmarks, The Pickering House. Located in downtown Olathe, the house has been home to early settlers in our area including a Kansas Governor. Restoration of the home is in peril. Go to http://www.savethepickeringhouse.org to learn more.
Please be safe over the holidays and feel free to contact me if you need help or further information.
Warmest regards,
Julia Lynn
KS State Senator, 9th District
18837 W. 115thTerrace | Olathe, KS 66061 | 913.832.5311 Julia@SenatorJuliaLynn.com | 
