Local Politics

[SubGod22]

Baby steps

KAKE - Kansas House unanimously adopts bipartisan bill cutting property, income and sales tax burden

Kansas House Democrats and Republicans joined forces Wednesday to unanimously approve a bipartisan bill slicing hundreds of millions annually in state income, sales and property taxes with an eye toward dodging a veto by Gov. Laura Kelly.

During debate on the package Tuesday evening, lawmakers affirmed reductions in income tax rates paid by earners in three brackets - a deliberate avoidance of the Kansas Senate GOP’s preference for a single-rate, flat-tax plan opposed by the Democratic governor. Kansans earning less than $7,000 would no longer pay state income tax, while people making $7,000 to $30,000 would see rates fall from 5.25% to 5.2% and those taking in more $30,000 would have their rate cut from 5.7% to 5.65%.

Under Senate Bill 300, the standard deduction on state income taxes would be raised 3% and tied to changes in the annual rate of inflation. Personal exemptions to state income tax would be elevated and linked to inflation, but with a two-year sunset to allow for adjustment if the economy faltered.

The state income tax on Social Security benefits would be eliminated starting in the 2024 tax year rather than phased out over four years per the original House bill. An amendment to the House bill would terminate the state’s 2% sales tax on food on July 1 instead of Jan. 1.

The legislation would lower the state’s property tax for K-12 public education from 20 mills to 18 mills. In addition, the residential exemption on this piece of state property tax would be raised from $40,000 to $100,000. The original version of the bill would have doubled that exemption to $80,000.

The bill endorsed 123-o by the House moves to the Kansas Senate, where its fate was uncertain. House Speaker Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, urged Kelly to sign the bill if it reached her desk.

“I don’t know if you all are having the same feeling I am,” Hawkins said. “But I gotta tell you, I am really proud of the House of Representatives. Really amazing what happens when everybody works together. I don’t have any other words to say, except, thank you. You guys are awesome.”

In my mind, it's never enough, but I'll take small steps in the right direction. Hopefully the Senate doesn't **** this up.

[Atxshoxfan]

I don't live in Kansas anymore, but in my experience, property tax reductions are often followed by property appraisal increases to offset the loss of revenue.

[SubGod22]

I don't live in Kansas anymore, but in my experience, property tax reductions are often followed by property appraisal increases to offset the loss of revenue.

We've already seen those increases over the last few years. It's been beyond ridiculous

[WuDrWu]

That's a big part of the reason the state is running a surplus.

[SubGod22]

That's a big part of the reason the state is running a surplus.

A pretty massive surplus at that.

[Shockm]

That's a big part of the reason the state is running a surplus.

The Covid money which helped create the surplus is running out. That's one of the reasons that our (259) school district is having to "cut" so much money from the budget. The Covid money from Biden which he sent to the states and schools, (which created so much inflation) is running out, and now they have to pay for all of the extra facilities they built, and the teachers they hired, etc.

[SubGod22]

Here's another long overdue step in the right direction.

Kansas Reflector - Kansas Legislature brings gavel down on civil asset seizure powers of law enforcement

Last week, the Kansas Legislature voted 120-0 in the House and 35-0 in the Senate to send Gov. Laura Kelly a bill transforming the asset seizure statute. It was hailed by Republicans and Democrats, and by conservative special-interest groups, as a triumph against a law that distorted the justice system.

“This is a day many of us have been waiting for for seven years,” said Rep. Susan Humphries, a Wichita Republican and attorney who chairs the House Judiciary Committee. “There have been many meetings, hearings, interim committees, judicial council committees — a lot of work by many folks, including our dear colleague Gail Finney.”

Leawood Sen. Kellie Warren, an attorney and the GOP chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the bill headed to Kelly’s desk should be considered a significant step in the incremental process of addressing imbalances in processing civil asset seizure and forfeiture cases.

“We found a good position to help bring guardrails to this system, to protect Kansans’ liberties — who were having their assets seized without the proper ability to raise a defense and get their seized property back,” she said.

Kansas Highway Patrol Col. Erik Smith, who worked at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for 20 years, warned legislators it would be folly to curtail seizure of illicit assets controlled by criminal enterprises given a majority of drug trafficking was associated with Mexican cartels and Chinese syndicates. Likewise, KBI director Tony Mattivi said special-interest groups inaccurately asserted Kansas civil asset forfeiture laws were deployed to coerce resources from innocent property owners. Mattivi said data didn’t support the conclusion law enforcement abused the system.

Sam MacRoberts, general counsel of Kansas Justice Institute, said the 30-year-old statute facilitated government overreach by financially incentivizing law enforcement agencies to strip property from innocent people.

This has been absolutely abused all over the country and innocent people end up being forced to spend thousands of dollars to get their property back even when never charged or found not guilty of the accusations made. Law enforcement makes millions every year doing this and a lot of it comes at the expense of poor, innocent people.

The legislation directed state courts to determine whether forfeitures sought by law enforcement was constitutionally excessive. The government’s attorney would have the burden of establishing with “clear and convincing evidence” the forfeiture was proportional to seriousness of the alleged offense associated with the forfeiture.

The bill would require the seizing law enforcement agency to forward to a county or district attorney a written request for the forfeiture within 14 days. Current law sets that clock at 45 days.

If a local prosecutor rejected the request, the law enforcement agency would have 14 days to seek intervention by a state law enforcement counsel or the attorney general’s office to defend a forfeiture action. If state assistance was declined, the seizing agency must return property to the owner within 30 days. The exception would be seized dangerous drugs or hazardous materials that would be destroyed rather than returned.

The bill would prevent the seizing agency from requesting, inducing or coercing a person who asserted rights as an owner or interest holder of property to waive, in writing, such property rights until forfeiture proceedings began.

Significantly, the legislation limited the ability of local and state law enforcement agencies to pass seizure cases to federal authorities, a tactic that made it more difficult for owners of property to challenge the taking. Federal attorneys could take the case if it involved a joint task force investigation or seizure; if property seized by an agency was subsequently linked to a federal warrant obtained from a federal court; if property seized related to a “serious public safety” concern; or if the gross estimated value of the property seized was in excess of $25,000.

In the future, the bill would require an affidavit describing probable cause supporting forfeiture to be filed. The seizure proceedings could begin only after a state judge determined there was legal cause to believe the property could be subject to forfeiture. The notice of a pending forfeiture action sent to the owner would have to include the affidavit.

Nothing here is unreasonable to expect from government/law enforcement.

Civil Rights matter.

I need to look into if the guy who had his classic car seized ever got it back. I believe it was seized because of some simple procedural error/miscommunication but it's been awhile and I can't recall it all. I know he was having to spend tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight to get it back and I think his only "crime" was having it tagged incorrectly or some such.

[SubGod22]

MSN - Marijuana pilot program scheduled for hearing in Kansas

A medical marijuana bill is set to get a hearing at the Kansas Statehouse. It’s the first hearing scheduled on a marijuana proposal this session.

Kansas lawmakers scheduled Senate Bill 555 for a hearing on Thursday, March 28 at 8 a.m. The bill is currently in the Senate Committee on Federal and State Affairs.

The proposal is backed by Kansas Natural Remedies, a hemp cultivator based in Wichita. It establishes a medical cannabis pilot program for limited cultivation, processing and dispensing of medical cannabis and medical cannabis products.

I doubt anything will come of this, but this is about as far as anything marijuana related has gotten in Kansas. I can't recall any legislation ever actually getting out of committee but I could be wrong about that.