The Net #15
Kansas Legislative Network News
May 10, 2009
Tom Thompson
Legislative Coordinator
Sierra Club Kansas Chapter
5001 Rock Creek Lane, Mission, KS 66205
Phone: 913-236-9161; cell: 913-687-2405;
email: tomnthompson@sbcglobal.net

Lose – Lose on Holcomb

Rather than having the veto of 2014 sustained after writing last week’s KLN#14, Kansas was handed a lose-lose agreement.  Last week Kansas lost the opportunity to take the lead in renewable energy and the fight against global warming was set back by up to a reported 6.672 tons of carbon dioxide a year.

Last Monday, May 4, started out quietly with legislators anticipating a budget bill battle and some veto override motions. I spoke to a number of legislators who all said they expected Senate Substitute for Substitute for HB 2014 to have a veto override motion made in the next couple days. They expected those in the past who had consistently voted against Holcomb to continue doing so. The veto of 2014 was going to be sustained.

I went to visit Sen. Marci Francisco about 2295 the bill replacing 2121 having to do with dairy labeling. She was not in but Sen. Steineger, whose office is nearby yelled to me to join him. It was 3:25 p.m. He handed me a sheet of paper titled Comprehensive Energy Settlement. We both started looking it over before he said there was to be a press conference at 3:30. We both looked at our watches and ran up to the Governor’s office in time for Gov. Mark Parkinson with CEO of Sunflower Electric Earl Watkins to give us the news of the settlement.

Very little if any warning or notice had been given. Some other lobbyists interested in 2014 were also surprised by the press conference and announcement. Some missed it as a result.

The next morning Gov. Parkinson spoke to the Democratic House Caucus before the House went into session. He later did the same for the Democratic Senate Caucus. That afternoon the Governor’s Chief Council, Sally Howard, met with the House Democrats to answer any questions they might have about the agreement. In some cases she was not able to answer questions because they had to do with issues in the agreement instead of the agreement itself. I believe the Republican Caucuses discussed the agreement among themselves with the aid of staff.

At this point there was no bill although a bill was needed to meet a contingency for the agreement to move forward. It was not possible to tell Sierra Club leadership or others what bill to react to. At Tuesday’s Democratic Caucus, Rep. Kuether told people that she was told the vehicle for the legislation would be HB 2115. This did not happen.

On Wednesday May 6 at 1:00 p.m. the Senate Utilities Committee scheduled a meeting for a briefing of the settlement. The agreement was presented with a new bill, SB 339. 339 was handed out along with a comparison of it to 2014 the vetoed Holcomb Bill. Similarities and differences were discussed. Most differences were items taken from Gov. Sebelius’ original Comprehensive Renewable Energy bill that was HB 2127. Primarily these items had to do with net metering and RPS. Most of the balance came from 2014.

Since the Senate was intermittently recessing and reconvening as bills came out of conference committees, the Utilities Committee did the same. Eventually, to meet rules and to avoid having to have a hearing, 369 was amended into SB 265 that already had a hearing. A number of minor amendments were then made.

The bill was then amended into another bill. This time HB 2369 was the vehicle, which could then be passed by the Senate and go to conference committee.

I did not describe the agreement or the bill. Instead I recommend that you go on line to the Sierra Club web pages. Specifically go to:

http://kansas.sierraclub.org/Wind/Parkinson-Coal.html

On this page you will find the agreement, 2369, a fact sheet, a comment by Chapter Chair Frank Drinkwine and other items concerning the past week.

HB 2369 became Senate Substitute for HB 2369 because 2369 was gutted and replaced with the new bill. The full Senate then debated the bill on Thursday May 7. Sen. Francisco made a valiant but unsuccessful attempt to amend 2369. This was strongly opposed because any change to 2369 could have jeopardized the Governor’s agreement. The bill was then passed from General Orders and later Final Action to be sent to the House to concur. The vote was 37-2 and can be found below.

The next morning, Friday May 8, the House concurred  with the Senate version by a vote of 103 to 18 sending the bill to the Governor who had the bill written to begin with. Again, you can find the vote at the end of the newsletter.

On a Brighter note

In past KLN’s I have reported on the rGBH milk-labeling bill, HB 2121. Gov. Sebelius vetoed this bill before leaving to be US Secretary of Health and Human Services. It was thought there might be an override attempt because other items in the bill were needed. However, the original bill dealing with dairy labeling, HB 2295 was amended with the needed legislation without the dairy labeling aspects. This bill passed both houses and was sent to Governor Parkinson. There was no veto override attempt of HB 2121.

We Must Move Forward

For me this has been a long and disappointing session. The agreement made in the last week is often called a compromise. If it is, I don’t see it. This action added the adjective depressing to long and disappointing.

However, it is important to move forward. The Kansas Government has failed to act to decrease global warming and to make Kansas a leader in renewable energy. This means we need to continue our quest. Furthermore, progress toward energy efficiency and conservation needs to be made.

I hope all of us continue to thank legislators who voted against 2014 and to especially show support for those who voted against 2369. The latter are super heroes who followed their convictions to the last day of the session.

Pressure needs to continue. Letters to the editor are needed to sway public opinion. Attend public forums especially if they include legislators and ask questions about the energy future of Kansas. This was going to be neither an easy battle nor a short one.

Until next year Tom Thompson Kansas Chapter Sierra Club Legislative Chair

Votes on 2369 with Super Heroes voting no in bold italics   S Sub for HB 2369, An act concerning energy; relating to conservation and electric generation, transmission and efficiency and air emissions; amending K.S.A. 19-101a, 55-1,117, 65-3012 and 66-104d and K.S.A. 2008 Supp. 65-3005, 65-3008a, 66-1,184, 74-99d07 and 74-99d14 and repealing the existing sections; also repealing K.S.A. 19-101a, as amended by section 7 of 2009 Senate Bill No. 336, and 19-101m.

On roll call, the vote was:
Yeas 37,
Nays 2,
Present and Passing 0,
Absent or Not Voting 1.

Yeas: Abrams, Apple, Barnett, Brownlee, Bruce, Brungardt, Colyer, Donovan, Emler, Faust-Goudeau, Hensley, Holland, Huelskamp, Kelly, Kelsey, Kultala, Lee, Lynn, Marshall, Masterson, McGinn, Morris, Ostmeyer, Owens, Petersen, Pilcher-Cook, Pyle, Reitz, Schmidt D, Schmidt V, Schodorf, Steineger, Taddiken, Teichman, Umbarger, Vratil, Wagle.

Nays: Francisco, Wysong.

Absent or Not Voting: Haley. The substitute bill passed

MOTIONS TO CONCUR AND NONCONCUR On motion of Rep. C. Holmes, the House concurred in Senate amendments to S. Sub. for HB 2369, An act concerning energy; relating to conservation and electric generation, transmission and efficiency and air emissions; amending K.S.A. 19-101a, 55-1,117, 65-3012 and 66-104d and K.S.A. 2008 Supp. 65-3005, 65-3008a, 66-1,184, 74-99d07 and 74-99d14 and repealing the existing sections; also repealing K.S.A. 19-101a, as amended by section 7 of 2009 Senate Bill No. 336, and 19-101m. Call of the House was demanded.

On roll call, the vote was:
Yeas 103;
Nays 18;
Present but not voting: 0;
Absent or not voting: 4.

Yeas: Aurand, Benlon, Bethell, Bowers, Brookens, A. Brown, T. Brown, Brunk, Burgess, Burroughs, Carlson, Colloton, Craft, Crow, Crum, DeGraaf, Dillmore, Donohoe, Faber, Feuerborn, Frownfelter, Fund, Garcia, D. Gatewood, S. Gatewood, George, Goico, Gordon, Goyle, Grant, Hayzlett, Henry, Hermanson, Hill, Hineman, C. Holmes, M. Holmes, Horst, Huebert, Huntington, Jack, Johnson, Kelley, Kerschen, Kiegerl, King, Kinzer, Kleeb, Knox, Landwehr, Lane, Light, Lukert, Mah, Maloney, Mast, McLeland, Merrick, Morrison, Moxley, Myers, Navinsky, Neighbor, Neufeld, O’Brien, O’Neal, Olson, Otto, Palmer, Patton, Pauls, Peck, Peterson, Phelps, Powell, Prescott, Proehl, Quigley, Rhoades, Roth, Sawyer, Schroeder, Schwartz, Seiwert, Shultz, Siegfreid, Sloan, Spalding, Swanson, Swenson, Tafanelli, Talia, Trimmer, Vickrey, Ward, Watkins, Wetta, Whitham, Williams, B. Wolf, K. Wolf, Worley, Yoder.

Nays: Ballard, Carlin, Davis, Finney, Flaharty, Furtado, Henderson, Kuether, Loganbill, Long, McCray-Miller, Menghini, Pottorff, Ruiz, Slattery, Svaty, Tietze, Winn.

Present but not voting: None. Absent or not voting: Grange, Hawk, Rardin, Schwab.

EXPLANATION OF VOTE MR. SPEAKER: While I can support the politics of this decision, I cannot support some of the policies within this legislation.
1. Altering the authority of the Secretary of KDHE (Kansas Health and Environment).
2. Allowing the deregulation of large cooperatives. I truly believe that these two policy issues take us down a very wrong path, and are wrong for the people of Kansas. I vote no on S. Sub. for HB 2369.—
ANNIE KUETHER, JUDITH LOGANBILL, DOLORES FURTADO, MELODY MCCRAY-MILLER, BRODERICK HENDERSON, GAIL FINNEY, MARGARET LONG, VALDENIA WINN, JULIE MENGHINI

Votes on 2014 with SC preferred no votes in bold

Senate Conference Committee vote on 2014:

Yeas: Abrams, Apple, Barnett, Brownlee, Bruce, Brungardt, Colyer, Donovan, Emler,  Haley, Huelskamp, Kelsey, Lee, Lynn, Marshall, Masterson, McGinn, Morris, Ostmeyer,  Owens, Petersen, Pilcher-Cook, Pyle, Reitz, Schmidt D, Schmidt V, Taddiken, Teichman,  Umbarger, Vratil, Wagle.

Nays: Faust-Goudeau, Francisco, Hensley, Holland, Kelly, Kultala, Schodorf.  
Absent or Not Voting: Steineger, Wysong.

House Conference Committee vote on 2014:

Yeas: Aurand, Bethell, Bowers, Brookens, A. Brown, Brunk, Burgess, Carlson, Colloton,  Craft, Crum, DeGraaf, Donohoe, Faber, Feuerborn, Fund, George, Goico, Gordon,  Grange, Hayzlett, Hermanson, Hineman, C. Holmes, M. Holmes, Horst, Huebert, Jack,  Johnson, Kelley, Kerschen, King, Kinzer, Kleeb, Knox, Landwehr, Light, Lukert, Maloney,  Mast, McLeland, Morrison, Moxley, Myers, Navinsky, Neufeld, O’Brien, O’Neal, Olson,  Otto, Palmer, Patton, Pauls, Peck, Phelps, Powell, Prescott, Proehl, Rhoades, Roth, Schroeder, Schwab, Schwartz, Seiwert, Shultz, Siegfreid, Swanson, Tafanelli, Vickrey, Wetta, Whitham, Williams, B. Wolf, Yoder.

Nays: Ballard, Benlon, T. Brown, Burroughs, Carlin, Crow, Davis, Dillmore, Finney,  Flaharty, Frownfelter, Furtado, Garcia, D. Gatewood, S. Gatewood, Goyle, Hawk, Henderson, Henry, Huntington, Kuether, Lane, Loganbill, Long, Mah, McCray-Miller, Menghini, Merrick, Neighbor, Peterson, Pottorff, Quigley, Rardin, Ruiz, Sawyer, Slattery, Sloan,  Spalding, Svaty, Swenson, Talia, Tietze, Trimmer, Ward, Watkins, Winn, K. Wolf, Worley.  

Present but not voting: None.  Absent or not voting: Grant, Hill, Kiegerl.

House Conference Committee vote on 2121 (rGBH Dairy labeling bill with SC preferred no votes in bold)

On roll call, the vote was:
Yeas 82;
Nays 42;
Present but not voting: 0;
Absent or not voting: 1.

Yeas: Bethell, Bowers, Brookens, A. Brown, Brunk, Burgess, Carlson, Craft, Crum, DeGraaf, Faber, Feuerborn, Fund, D. Gatewood, George, Goico, Goyle, Grange, Grant, Hawk, Hayzlett, Henry, Hermanson, Hineman, C. Holmes, M. Holmes, Horst, Huebert, Jack, Johnson, Kelley, Kerschen, Kiegerl, King, Kleeb, Knox, Light, Lukert, Maloney, Mast, McCray-Miller, McLeland, Merrick, Morrison, Moxley, Myers, Navinsky, Neufeld, O’Neal, Olson, Otto, Palmer, Patton, Pauls, Phelps, Pottorff, Powell, Prescott, Proehl, Rhoades, Roth, Sawyer, Schroeder, Schwab, Schwartz, Siegfreid, Sloan, Swanson, Swenson, Tafanelli, Talia, Trimmer, Vickrey, Ward, Watkins, Wetta, Whitham, Williams, B. Wolf, K. Wolf, Worley, Yoder.

Nays: Aurand, Ballard, Benlon, T. Brown, Burroughs, Carlin, Colloton, Crow, Davis, Dillmore, Donohoe, Finney, Flaharty, Frownfelter, Furtado, Garcia, S. Gatewood, Gordon, Henderson, Huntington, Kinzer, Kuether, Landwehr, Lane, Loganbill, Long, Mah, Menghini, Neighbor, O’Brien, Peck, Peterson, Quigley, Rardin, Ruiz, Seiwert, Shultz, Slattery, Spalding, Svaty, Tietze, Winn.

Absent or not voting: Hill.

Tom

Tom Thompson
Legislative Coordinator
Sierra Club Kansas Chapter