What’s the best option for state’s new tax law?

Written by Rep. Bob Brookens Tuesday, 05 June 2012 16:01

This may be my last column for the session. Sine Die was Friday, June 1, and the session is officially over.

However, if maps that redistrict the Kansas House and Senate, Congress and the state school board are not set by the time you read this, Kansas may have to extend the filing deadline for candidates, as well as possibly move back the date of the primary election from the first Tuesday in August.

We might even need a special legislative session to set that date. Watch this newspaper to inform you about the primary election. It’s likely to hit the front page. Don’t fail to vote in the primary!

I had thought the House redistricting map was finalized, agreed-to, and that I knew the 70th District’s new boundaries, even though...

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Loss of colleague means loss of wonderful friend

Written by Rep. Bob Brookens Tuesday, 29 May 2012 14:40

It is with great sadness that I write of my good friend and fellow legislator, Bob Bethell, who died in a car wreck Sunday evening, May 20, on his way home after the close of the legislative session. His funeral was Thursday.

Bob was a resident of Alden in Rice County. He had worked through the years as, among other things, a nursing home administrator, including a stint at the Peabody Memorial Nursing Home in the early 1980s. His wife, Lorene, worked as a nurse at St. Luke Hospital in Marion, primarily in what we used to call the West Wing.

Bob also was a longtime American Baptist pastor, and served more than 30 years in the churches at Alden and Raymond—and was still serving them at the time of his death.

Bob was a strong advocate...

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No point in belaboring ‘tax bill’ for time being

Written by Rep. Bob Brookens Tuesday, 22 May 2012 15:22

What a week! We started May 14 and finally put the 2012 legislative session to bed Sunday the 20th at 6:42 p.m. Yup, Sunday. Here’s a huge thank-you to my wife, Anita, and to Suzanne Thole for leading the choir in my absence.

“That tax bill” I referred to in last week’s column is found in HB 2117 and is sitting on the governor’s desk. He states he will sign the “pro-growth tax formula” and that it will leave $1.5 billion in the hands of Kansas taxpayers in the next two years. That’s how much of a cut he predicts.

Nearly everyone was hoping an alternative tax cut plan could be developed that would provide an economic stimulus and yet not be so reckless as HB 2117. Gov. Brownback even had indicated he would prefer a less...

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District maps, final budget still unsettled matters

Written by Rep. Bob Brookens Tuesday, 15 May 2012 14:39

Days 86 through 90 of the session flew by, with little good accomplished. We’re now on overload. Consti­tu­tionally, we meet for 90 days, but a resolution was passed earlier to give us through May 31. I hope we don’t take that long. The story is we could be back home Wednesday, May 16. Don’t count on it.

Well, the House and Senate have each now passed their respective budgets. The joint conference committee has been meeting, trying to hammer out the differences. They’re not done.

That’s the one thing we must pass before we adjourn.

However, the real monkeys on our backs remain the governor’s wish for a tax plan to be passed this year, and the matter of getting redistricting maps passed.

We still have no congressional...

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