The completed legislation continues:
SB 235 makes changes to the Employment Security Law statutes. The bill clarifies that individuals who are owner-operators of a motor vehicle leased or contracted to a licensed motor carrier are not considered employees of the licensed motor carrier, unless the lease agreement or the contract specifies that the owner-operator is an employee of the licensed motor carrier. The bill requires the owner-operator to pay their own federal social security tax, federal unemployment tax, and federal withholding tax when they are not considered employees of the licensed motor carrier.
HB 2036 amends two statutes regarding energy efficiencies of certain commercial, industrial, and residential buildings. In regard to commercial and industrial buildings, the bill replaces the 2003 International Energy Conservation Code with the 2006 version of that same code as the energy standard for new buildings. In regard to residential structures, the bill amends prior law to limit the requirement for disclosure of energy efficiency information to single family units and multi-family units of four or fewer units.
The bill requires disclosure of energy standards present in the new structure, and the bill creates a new residential energy efficiency disclosure form, which shows a comparison of the home energy standards and the two climate zones requirements within our state.
SB 63 amends a statute that is part of the Pharmacy Act of the State of Kansas. The amendment deletes authority for the refill of a prescription written to authorize “at will” after the expiration of one year from the time the prescription was issued if the prescriber determines continued refilling does not present a medical risk. Pursuant to the amended statute, the authority to refill a prescription is limited to the date stated by the prescriber or one year from the date of issuance, whichever occurs first.
SB 2181 reduces the continuing education required for a social worker to obtain licensure renewal from 60 hours to 40 hours.
SB 252 conveys approximately 59.3 acres of land on the north side of the campus of KSU from the Board of Regents to the US government, Department of Homeland Security. The transfer is contingent upon the Dept of Homeland Security selecting a site on the tract as the location for the National Bio and Agro Defense facility. This is a proposed facility that promises to bring many jobs and some of the best and brightest scientists together to develop defenses against bio-terrorism.
A Presidential directive has charged the Department of Homeland Security with coordinating “countermeasure research and development of new methods for detection, prevention technologies, agent characterization, and dose relationships for high-consequence agents”. I think that sounds a little scary. Kansa has a great chance at getting this facility. The facility to be built is $451 million, 500,000 square foot structure that will provide adequate containment, security equipment, and infrastructure to meet the requirements of the directive. HCR 5009 pledges the support of the legislature to bring this structure to Kansas.
Substitute for HB 2108 gives the insurance commissioner the authority to adopt rules and regulations to protect service members of the US armed Forces from Dishonest and predatory lending practices by identifying and declaring certain practices to be false, misleading, deceptive or unfair.
SB 51 requires the State Registrar of the department of Health and Environment furnish to the clerk of the district court of each county, without charge, a list of deceased residents of the county who were at least 18 years of age and for whom death certificates have been filed.
District court clerks are authorized to use this information to update or correct juror records but are not allowed to disseminate the information to the public.
SB 53 requires a district court judge to release a judgment of record after it has been dormant for at least 2 years.
HB 2374 allows the Director of Vehicles of the Kansas Department of Revenue to provide an employer with an employee’s motor vehicle driving record, if the employee is required to drive in the course of his or her job. The employer to ensure driver behavior, performance, or safety will use the records.
The above listing is just a small smattering of the issues that were passed into law; remember there is probably 70% to 80% of proposed legislation that never gets passed some never even get a committee hearing.
There is another issue that recently came to my attention and that is that of “boot-leg” or illegal tattoo parlors and operations. Legitimate operations are licensed and inspected by the State Board of Cosmetology. License requirements are strict and compliance to strict health codes is rigidly enforced. The artist must have had an apprentice training, experience, and completed a course of instruction. The paramount concern is that those under 18 are getting tattoos and body piercing without required safety precautions. Hepatitis and other diseases can be spread by unclean facilities.
The annual license fee is $100.00 a room or person for each facility. The fine for illegally performing this craft without a license is $5,000.00. The illegal work is usually easy to spot, poor quality, infection, and normally performed on a minor.
Think about this one! It is short but very interesting! I received this over the Internet last week.
A car company can move its factories to Mexico and claim it’s a free market.
A toy company can out source to a Chinese subcontractor and claim it’s a free market.
A shoe company can produce its shoes in Southeast Asia and claim it’s a free market.
A major bank can incorporate in Bermuda to avoid taxes and claim it’s a free market.
We can buy HP printers made in Mexico; we can buy shirts made in Bangladesh. We can purchase almost anything we want from 20 different countries.
But, heaven help the senior citizen who dare buy their prescription drugs from a Canadian or Mexican pharmacy.
That’s called un-American.
Next week I am to meet with the County Commissioners on Tuesday and the administrators and school boards from EHS, Circle, and Remington. On Wednesday I fly to Washington D.C. for 3 days of meetings as one of 8 Kansas delegates to the National Conference of State Legislators.
As always I want to know what you think, I consider it an honor and privilege to serve as your representative. During the interim period please contact me at 1115 Rim Rock Road, El Dorado, 321-2087 home phone www.johngrange.net, johng@carlisleinc.net, or grange@house.state.ks.us. The state website at www.kslegislature.org is the place to track all bills, current or proposed legislation and locate state agencies.
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