Legislators visit with residents
Staff writer
Representative Don Dahl, Senator Jim Barnett, and Senator Jay Scott Emler attended the Hillsboro legislative coffee Saturday morning. The elected officials informed area residents of current legislative action and answered questions.
Rep. Dahl, a member of the Commerce and Labor Committee, said he has really come to appreciate the state of business in Kansas. He is working with the committee to foster a favorable business environment in the state.
The Senate Commerce Committee is working on the Kansas Economic Growth Act (KEG). KEG develops economic incentives for rural areas through entrepreneurship programs and a bio-science initiative.
Sen. Emler said, "It's a program that could really do something positive in the rural communities."
Emler also answered questions about school finance, and the school board's ability to raise the local option budget (LOB). He told the group that "the school board is ultimately accountable to you, the voter."
Sen. Barnett is a practicing internal medicine physician in Emporia. He fielded questions about destination casinos and their impact on the state financially and socially.
Barnett doesn't plan on supporting the issue, and said, "There hasn't been adequate research of the social repercussions of gambling."
Barnett said he was concerned there currently weren't enough votes to stop the proposition. With enough financial support, it could become a reality in Kansas. He said it would open up corruption to the state.
Chamber of commerce director Megan Kilgore asked the legislators to look into raising the trailer pull limit on state highways. Hillsboro has three of the seven manufacturers of trailers in the state, and the 65-foot Kansas length limit is lower than the surrounding states. She said that it was a problem for the local manufacturers. Rep. Dahl said that they would look into the limit, but it was probably too late in this session to get anything put through before the summer.
According to Lou Greenhaw of Greenhaw Pharmacy, money from the pharmacy board had been swept into the general fund by the governor. The board planned on using the funds for a legal battle against importing counterfeit drugs from Canada.
"There have been two cases in Hillsboro already," said Greenhaw. "One product had no active ingredients, and the another person got the wrong drug."
Unfortunately, Dahl said that this was not uncommon, and he had heard of seven other funds that had been transferred to the general fund, but had no recourse to offer.
Other issues discussed involved concealed carry weapons proposal, fire hydrants in rural districts, tax deductions for long-term care insurance, and the lack of representation of older adults on the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) board.
