Ken Collins Kansas State Representative-Second District The Kansas Legislature is now adjourned sine die which is Latin for “with no appointed date for resumption” meaning that barring a special session we will not meet as a legislative body again until next year. With that being said our budget for FY 2025, 2026 and 2027 was in Senate Bill 125 of which Governor Kelly has the power of line-item veto. Of the line items that were vetoed by the governor the Senate bundled 15 of them together and voted to override before sending them to the House for consideration. The House failed to override on the first vote but a motion to reconsider was brought up the next day and as a result the 15 line item vetoes were eventually passed. I’m generally not a fan of bundling votes and especially 15 at once, had the line items been voted on individually there are some that I would have voted for and some against, so I did vote in favor of the bundle. One that stands out to me that I believe is much needed is funding for the biolab at Kansas State University. I have toured the facility there and I can say that their current situation needs significant upgrades, The lab handles biological testing for livestock and pets from throughout Kansas and beyond and if there were to be a disease outbreak that affects our food supply, we would be easily in crisis mode without them.
Another bill of interest that we passed was Senate Bill 82 which among other things created the ASTRA fund which will provide incentives to local authorities to not exceed an established taxing limit. Some local government organizations were reaching out in opposition to this bill and there were valid concerns, but I voted for it because I see the need to try to keep local taxes down.
I have recently been appointed to serve out the remainder of an unexpired term on the Mulberry City Council. I have been on councils before in both Mulberry and in Edgerton, Kansas when I lived there. Local government has been a passion of mine going back almost 40 years. This does not affect my position in the State Legislature as I will be serving both concurrently. This will likely be the last edition of Thoughts from Under the Dome for a while being that we aren’t in session so if anyone has any questions or concerns feel free to give me a call at 620-240-0778.
