74% of lobbyist spending on Kansas lawmakers unaccounted for | Wichita Eagle

Lobbyists seeking to influence state laws have spent $380,000 feeding, entertaining and giving gifts to legislators in the first three months of this year.

But you will never know how three-fourths of that money was spent because the state disclosure law doesn’t require it.

Records obtained from the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission show that more than 74 percent of lobbyist spending, almost $285,000, was reported as “unitemized” on state forms, meaning that it can’t be linked to any particular lawmaker or event.

BROWNBACK TAX PLAN: WORST TAX BILL IN AMERICA From day one, the Kansas Democratic Party, tax policy experts, and Kansas workers have decried Gov. Sam Brownback’s ill-conceived 2012 tax bill that threatens education funding and core services while blowing a projected $2.5 billion hole in state budget by 2018. This special interest giveaway to big business and the wealthiest Kansans deserves all the scorn that has been heaped upon its festering back, but even we were surprised to read this quote in Governing magazine’s article “What’s wrong with Kansas’ tax reform: At a recent Urban Institute forum, two policy analysts who follow state and local finances were asked a simple question: What’s the worst and best tax bill a state passed this past year? Without hesitation, both Nick Johnson, an economist with the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and Joseph Henchman, a lawyer with the right-leaning Tax Foundation, gave the same answer. Kansas, they said, was the worst. Economists on the both sides of the aisle agree: Sam Brownback got it exactly wrong. That helps explain why over the past few weeks, Governor Brownback has made it a habit to lie about his policies and ignore the economic realities facing Kansas. Worst of all, Brownback is doubling down on the worst tax plan in America, arguing for bigger tax breaks for the richest Kansans while trying to raise our sales tax, kill tax relief for hard working Kansas homeowners, and slash the Earned Income Tax Credit, the best work promotion policy in Kansas. Let Governor Brownback know he must stop balancing his budget on the backs of Kansas’s working families. Call 877-579-6757 or click here to email his office.
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BROWNBACK TAX PLAN: WORST TAX BILL IN AMERICA

From day one, the Kansas Democratic Party, tax policy experts, and Kansas workers have decried Gov. Sam Brownback’s ill-conceived 2012 tax bill that threatens education funding and core services while blowing a projected $2.5 billion hole in state budget by 2018. This special interest giveaway to big business and the wealthiest Kansans deserves all the scorn that has been heaped upon its festering back, but even we were surprised to read this quote in Governing magazine’s article “What’s wrong with Kansas’ tax reform:

At a recent Urban Institute forum, two policy analysts who follow state and local finances were asked a simple question: What’s the worst and best tax bill a state passed this past year? Without hesitation, both Nick Johnson, an economist with the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and Joseph Henchman, a lawyer with the right-leaning Tax Foundation, gave the same answer. Kansas, they said, was the worst.

Economists on the both sides of the aisle agree: Sam Brownback got it exactly wrong. That helps explain why over the past few weeks, Governor Brownback has made it a habit to lie about his policies and ignore the economic realities facing Kansas. Worst of all, Brownback is doubling down on the worst tax plan in America, arguing for bigger tax breaks for the richest Kansans while trying to raise our sales tax, kill tax relief for hard working Kansas homeowners, and slash the Earned Income Tax Credit, the best work promotion policy in Kansas.

Let Governor Brownback know he must stop balancing his budget on the backs of Kansas’s working families. Call 877-579-6757 or click here to email his office.

Brownback, Kansas GOP pushing to raise taxes on middle-class Last year, Governor Brownback and Republican legislators passed a bill that handed tax breaks to the extremely wealthy and big businesses, eliminating income taxes for most businesses and drastically reducing income taxes on the richest Kansans. This year, Governor Brownback, the Kansas GOP Senate, and the Kansas GOP House have all introduced different tax proposals to help cover the massive tax breaks signed into law last year. They all differ in their design, but they all share one thing: they drastically and disproportionately raise taxes on middle-class Kansans. Don’t believe us? Rep. Paul Davis, D-Lawrence, asked the non-partisan Kansas Legislative Research Department to run the numbers on all three plans. Here they are in all their gory detail (numbers in millions) [See photo] All three plans raise taxes over the next five years and all three plans do it by taxing hard working Kansans, not big businesses or the richest Kansans. But it’s not surprising given the fact that Governor Brownback’s 2012 tax plancreated a $2.5 billion deficit - something needed to fill the last revenue from that round of tax breaks for top earners and business owners - and Brownback and the GOP think your hard earned dollars should be that something. What’s worse, these tax increases won’t even cover the hole. That’s why Gov. Brownback and GOP legislators are proposing cutting higher ed, reducing the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for struggling working families, and sweeping funds from parks and other self-sustaining programs. Check out exactly how cutting the EITC epitomizes the GOP’s approach to tax policy - paying for tax breaks for those who need them the least by raising taxes on working Kansans struggling to make it. Gov. Brownback and his GOP allies are demonstrating exactly what they care about and it’s not schools, working families, wage earners, highways, or parks. It’s tax cuts for a narrow band of wealthy Kansans who will benefit personally while the rest of Kansas suffers.
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Brownback, Kansas GOP pushing to raise taxes on middle-class

Last year, Governor Brownback and Republican legislators passed a bill that handed tax breaks to the extremely wealthy and big businesses, eliminating income taxes for most businesses and drastically reducing income taxes on the richest Kansans.

This year, Governor Brownback, the Kansas GOP Senate, and the Kansas GOP House have all introduced different tax proposals to help cover the massive tax breaks signed into law last year. They all differ in their design, but they all share one thing: they drastically and disproportionately raise taxes on middle-class Kansans.

Don’t believe us? Rep. Paul Davis, D-Lawrence, asked the non-partisan Kansas Legislative Research Department to run the numbers on all three plans. Here they are in all their gory detail (numbers in millions) [See photo]

All three plans raise taxes over the next five years and all three plans do it by taxing hard working Kansans, not big businesses or the richest Kansans. But it’s not surprising given the fact that Governor Brownback’s 2012 tax plancreated a $2.5 billion deficit - something needed to fill the last revenue from that round of tax breaks for top earners and business owners - and Brownback and the GOP think your hard earned dollars should be that something.

What’s worse, these tax increases won’t even cover the hole. That’s why Gov. Brownback and GOP legislators are proposing cutting higher ed, reducing the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for struggling working families, and sweeping funds from parks and other self-sustaining programs. Check out exactly how cutting the EITC epitomizes the GOP’s approach to tax policy - paying for tax breaks for those who need them the least by raising taxes on working Kansans struggling to make it.

Gov. Brownback and his GOP allies are demonstrating exactly what they care about and it’s not schools, working families, wage earners, highways, or parks. It’s tax cuts for a narrow band of wealthy Kansans who will benefit personally while the rest of Kansas suffers.

The far right Kansas Senate okayed a bill today that will require people receiving unemployment insurance or state assistance to take drug tests to receive benefits. http://bit.ly/Y2KajC Ignoring the fact that this is an offensive bill that makes nasty, unfounded assumptions about people who receive state aid, it’s a complete waste of money. Florida tried implementing this policy and wasted millions of dollars for no benefit.Tell your state representatives to get back to work protecting public schools and bringing jobs to Kansas, not testing Kansans pee and wasting their time and our money.
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The far right Kansas Senate okayed a bill today that will require people receiving unemployment insurance or state assistance to take drug tests to receive benefits.

http://bit.ly/Y2KajC

Ignoring the fact that this is an offensive bill that makes nasty, unfounded assumptions about people who receive state aid, it’s a complete waste of money. Florida tried implementing this policy and wasted millions of dollars for no benefit.

Tell your state representatives to get back to work protecting public schools and bringing jobs to Kansas, not testing Kansans pee and wasting their time and our money.

Bill Asks Kansas Teachers to Question Climate Change

A bill introduced in the Kansas House would require the state’s schools to provide evidence in classrooms questioning the existence of climate change.

The bill, introduced last week, says instruction about scientific controversies should include evidence for and against the theory. The only controversy identified in the bill is “climate science.”

No hearings have been scheduled for the bill before the House Education Committee.

The bill comes at the same time the Kansas State Board of Education is preparing to vote on new science standards, which are still being developed.

Another bill currently in the Education Committee would require the State Board of Education to replace and English standards that it adopted in 2010.

Governor’s numbers come under question

In recent months, Gov. Sam Brownback has blamed his predecessor for a $2 billion spending hike that never happened and taken credit for spending cuts he didn’t actually make.

Brownback has also touted — and lamented — a statistic that only 54 percent of the money spent on education in Kansas actually finds its way into the classroom, a figure at odds with the 61.9 percent that Kansas reports to the federal government.

Those inaccuracies and some other technically accurate – but potentially misleading – numbers are contained in a PowerPoint presentation that Brownback has delivered for months to opinion leaders throughout the state, including a recent presentation at the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce.

Brownback’s numbers matter because they’re being used by his administration and the Legislature to guide and justify state spending policy decisions, especially in education. The governor has used his presentation to drum up public support for plans to cut income taxes and to resist a recent court decision that found the state isn’t meeting its constitutional mandate to provide adequate funding for schools.