LEGISLATIVE UPDATE #52 -- December 24, 2008
As we head into the New Year we are all looking forward to some good news about almost anything. Believe me the good news is there you just need to search it out and if necessary create a little of it yourself. A short personal note that I hope some will appreciate and count their own blessings. Last week I was exercising at the El Dorado YMCA and encountered a little chest pain that migrated downward in my left arm. I quit exercising and after a brief rest I went home. Later in the day the pain returned and I called Dr. Tipton, with whom I discussed my symptoms and he requested I come in for a visit. The short story is that within the next few days I had to go to the Kansas Heart Hospital where they performed a heart catherization and ended up putting in a couple of stints to open a clogged artery. The moral to this story is to pay attention to the warning signs and when they appear take action. My cardiologist said I was very close to a heart attack. Get yourself checked out. The Kansas Department of Commerce (DOC) underwent an audit by the Legislative Post Audit Division and the results were published last week. Each agency is reviewed regularly as well as any agency or entity that receives State of Kansas funds is eligible for an audit of their operations. The Department has nearly quadrupled in staff since 2004, when it took over all workforce development programs for the Department of Labor (DOL). In January 2004, the Governor issued Executive Reorganization Order 31, which resulted in the transfer of 300 employees from the DOL to the DOC. Most of the transferred employees were placed within the Department’s Business and Workforce Development Divisions, but a few were placed in other areas such as legal, fiscal, and human resources. The auditors compared management levels within DOC to five other agencies. Although no two agencies are identical, they tried to select State agencies that had programs that were at least moderately complex and those with a similar number of employees as the DOC. The Department has a higher proportion of management-type positions than any of the five comparison agencies. About 15 percent of the Departments staff is management, compared to only 4 to 9 percent in other agencies. The Department had more than triple the percentage of staff in management positions than both the Department of Wildlife and Parks and the Department of Agriculture. On average, managers in the Department have fewer people reporting to them, and are lower in the organizational structure than in the comparison agencies. In general, a low number of people reporting directly to a manager can indicate that an agency is management heavy. The Department’s average of 3.7 subordinates reporting directly to each manager was the lowest of our comparison agencies. I received my committee assignments for the upcoming session. I have been selected to be the Vice-Chairman of Commerce and Labor a committee I have served on my previous 4 years. I will continue on the Agriculture and Natural Resources Budget Committee, and I will move to one of the few non-lawyer positions on the Judiciary Committee. The final appointments of the joint committees will be released later.

We begin our session on Jan 12th with the official swearing in ceremony and later in the evening the Governor will present her State of the State Address. As a whole we are anxious to get started, as we know there are some severe tests ahead for all of us. As you might expect I have been receiving a steady stream of requests by every agency and department for leniency on cutting their budgets.

Being this late in the year I expect we have to wait and see the Governor’s recommendation on expenditures. It serves no purpose to speculate on where we are headed on working the budget. I appreciate those suggestions many of you have sent me and I will carry them forward for consideration by the body as a whole.

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.” Albert Einstein.

I hope you had an exceptional and rewarding Christmas and I wish you all the best in the upcoming New Year. I consider it an honor and privilege to be your Representative in Topeka and I want to know what you think. My contact information remains the same: home 316-321-2087, 1115 Rim Rock Road El Dorado 67042, email johng@carlisleinc.net and grange@house.state.ks.us, or www.johngrange.net.

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