Our Legislative Action Committee hosted our first Legislative Coffee this past Saturday morning (picture here). A great crowd met and talked with our four local legislators. The Ottawa Police Department Municipal Courtroom was the location for the event, as well as streaming online on Facebook. If you want to watch that back, you can do so online (click here). You can also view all four of our legislator's constituent areas here (click here).
They started the coffee by talking about what committees they would all serve on this year. With their first day in the capitol being the Monday before the coffee, no real bill activity had been solidified at that point in time. A few items that will look different this year is the fact that adjournment is planned for April 12, which, if followed through, is an early release than in past years. Another new element is that Republicans have grown their supermajorities in both houses of the legislature, as they now have 88 of 125 members of the House and 31 of 40 members in the Senate.
There were plenty of conversations about taxes that morning, which will be an ongoing theme throughout the entire session (specifically property and income taxes). This year, Republican leadership is taking a different approach to the state budget. Instead of waiting for the Governor’s budget and then making adjustments, a committee has been working for several months on a budget and it was shared that there are expectations that state agencies should be on the lookout for as much as a 7.5% budget cut. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, especially given the supermajorities previously mentioned. Regardless, with any new methods, there will be growing pains for all those involved.
Before finishing up, legislators shared a bit about the state's work around the new industry giant, Panasonic, located in DeSoto. They gave some insight into how things have moved along from their perspective on this deal and where they are concerned moving forward. All in all, it was great to have all of our Franklin County senators and representatives present for this monthly meeting. You can see them again on February 15th at the Municipal Courtroom or online.
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I will be out of the office for the next couple of weeks, hopefully headed to someplace a little warmer. If everything goes to plan, I should be somewhere in the Gulf around when this email gets sent out. For that reason, I will not be able to get reached until February. For any pressing matters, my team will still be available while I’m gone. An email to chamber@ottawakansas.org or calling 785-242-1000 should get you some support. I look forward to sharing some of our journey once I return! But for now, I’m enjoying the 80-degree weather ?
Chat with you soon!
Ryland Miller
President/CEO
Ottawa Area Chamber of Commerce
ryland@ottawakansas.org
785-242-1000
