I was speaking with a group of grade school teachers and administrators this past week and they asked me to remind you to encourage your children to read and otherwise exercise their brain this summer. “Brain Drain” is the term used to describe the condition many find occurs over the 3 months of summer vacation.
The educators reported to me that during the school year the emphasis is on learning and during the summer the emphasis is often directed to ‘taking it easy”. The learning process and knowledge achieved during the previous school year has to be re-instated when the students return in the fall. Many are finding the students have actually regressed over the summer hiatus and I am trying to alert you to take charge and ensure your child is prepared for next school year.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) has released, “Tobacco Use in Kansas 2007 Status Report”. The report says tobacco use remains the most preventable cause of death and disease in Kansas with approximately 3,900 Kansans dying from smoking related diseases annually.
Paula Marmet, Director of the Office of Health Promotion, at 785-296-8916 or pmarmet@kdhe.state.ks.us, is the person to contact for further information. The KDHE web site is www.kdheks.gov.
According to this report half of all long-term smokers die prematurely from smoking-related causes. Before cigarette smoking became common, lung cancer was a rare disease. Now lung cancer is the leading cancer cause of death for both men and women. The related diseases include heart disease, lung cancer, emphysema, and bronchitis and oral cancer.
Kansans spend approximately $927 million each year in smoking-attributable medical expenses, including an estimated $196 million on smoking-attributable Medicaid expenses. Kansans loses an estimated $863 million each year in lost productivity from an experienced work force that dies prematurely.
The summary and description of each completed bill that was proposed is available at www.kslegislature.org/klrd. Action completed by the legislature this year includes:
SB 531 addresses school finance by establishing a Base State Aid per Pupil rate of $4,492 for the 2009-2010 school year and beyond. We pre-funded this plan without a tax increase through 2010. The bill also establishes the Special Education Funding Task Force consisting of 12 members of whom 4 are appointed by the legislative leadership, 1 by the KNEA, 3 by the United School Administrators, 3 by the Association of School Boards, and the Commissioner of Education.
This task force is charged with the responsibility to look at all aspects of special education funding and make recommendations regarding Medicaid reimbursement to school districts, and provide a report to the legislature by Jan. 14th in 09 and 2010. The Task force will be sunset in 2010.
SB 669 is the Virtual School Act. This bill gives general supervision and regulation of all virtual schools to the Ks. Dept. of Education. For each year a district has a virtual school they will be eligible for aid. The formula is calculated by multiplying their enrollment by a percentage of the base state aid.
SB 196 addresses the campaign finance and elections topics of reporting on various contributions and expenditures, the use of contribution money, and the use of public resources for express advocacy. Basically the campaign reports will be required of candidates for state or local office to file a campaign contribution report, listing donors and amounts that have been contributed 11 days prior to an election.
The bill addresses the restriction of use of public money and property to expressly advocate for the nomination, election, or the defeat of a clearly identified candidate. The bill expands the current restriction to include, public funds, vehicles, machinery, equipment, and supplies, by a public official or employee to all municipalities, school districts, townships, junior colleges, county hospitals, fire districts, etc. In a nutshell you cannot use public dollars or equipment to advocate for or against any candidate.
Senate Substitute for HB 2390 authorizes a one-time post retirement payment of $300.00 to certain KPERS and Ks. Firemen’s Retirement System, and retired judges. If you have been retired before July 1, 1998 or have 10 or more years of service credit, you are eligible for this payment. (One-time).
HB 2504 deals with the inspection and regulation of amusement rides. The bill requires amusement rides operated in the State of Kansas to have a valid certificate of inspection. No amusement ride can be operated unless non-destructive testing of the ride by standards of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) has been documented. And this comes just in time for the County Fair Season.
The bill further requires the operators to have satisfactorily completed training, which includes instruction on operation procedures, duties of the operator, safety and emergency procedures, and demonstration of physical operation of the ride.
The bill requires patrons (you), by participation to accept risks inherent in such participation by exercising the judgment of and acting in a manner of an ordinary prudent person, obey all instructions and warnings, and refrain from participation in an amusement ride while under the influence of drugs and or alcohol. (No standing up on the roller coaster and then suing when your hands or head gets lopped off.)
I will be providing you with weekly updates on passed legislation in the weeks to come. I want to thank the El Dorado Times for allowing me to provide this service to the residents of the 75th District I hope some of the information appeals to you and if you have any comments, special requests or questions please do not hesitate to ask.
I am very appreciative of the opportunity you have given me and I do consider it an honor and privilege to be your Representative in Topeka for the past 4 years. I do want to know what you think. Please contact me at home 1115 Rim Rock Road, El Dorado, 321-2087, or johng@carlisleinc.net, or grange@house.state.ks.us, or view my previous updates at www.johngrange.net. Thanks again, John.
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