Climate and energy

Location: House chambers
Issue: Sunflower Electric’s proposed coal-fired plants of 1400 MW
Bill No.: an as yet unamended bill on General Orders today
Summary/ Action: As of 6:20 adjournment – NOTHING REALLY HAPPENED.

If you are a frequent reader of CEP’s live blogging feature, you might now be wondering – where in the world are all these new bills coming from???

This, apparently, is what happens at the end of the session. Interested parties start trying all sorts of ways to get their measures placed into other bills that have a chance of passing. Officially, this legislative session ends this Friday (April 4).

So the race is on, and Sunflower Electric appears to be a major competitor. Unfortunately, they weigh enough that when they throw themselves onto someone else’s little red wagon, they have enough mass to wreck it.

As we just saw happen with poor SB 471. This bill originally offered tax credit relief for the expenses of people participating in adoptions, or live organ donations. When an amendment benefiting Sunflower Electric was slid into their bill, though, it poisoned it. The House killed the bill on final action. Those folks – adoptive parents and organ donors – are just out of luck.

At any rate. We are here right now awaiting further “unexpected” amendments. The rumor right now is that the carbon tax that got defeated this morning in final action on SB 471 will come back around like a boomerang today, and appear in another later measure under General Orders.

If that does happen, I will record it below. Right now it is 10:42 and we are slogging thru a property tax relief bill for senior citizens in dangers of losing their homes.

11:05 we are going into recess :) of course. Until 3:00 p.m. (ouch!)

Then we’ll be back.

OK, I’m back anyway! There’s enough drama to post a little bit of it, while we wait and twiddle thumbs. Reminder: hit your refresh button to check for occasional updates.

1:15 p.m.

Well, I’m twiddling my thumbs. Others are twisting arms. I am hearing really – really awful stuff. Rather than repeat it per se, and thus risk feeding the rumor beast, I will more generally note:

The Sunflower Electric coal plant controversy in the legislature seems to be taking Kansas into zones where sane, moderate, pragmatic people really do not want to go. Far, far beyond the lines of appropriate civil discourse – even considering that this is about politics. Sure, politics can get a little ugly. But there’s a difference between that…

… and what we are being threatened with seeing later today, and later this week. For example, take a look at the bills that lay before us this afternoon, that Sunflower supporters could possibly try to hop aboard and hold hostage: (1) the rural housing bill that helps Greensburg tornado victims, (2) the IMPACT act, which affects Wichita (who has legislators that did not support Holcomb), (3) ethanol producers, and (4) the insurance industry.

Well, I guess (4) is not a huge concern of mine – although maybe it would be if I knew more about the bill (EDIT: it turned out to be about mental health, so I do very much care about that bill). (1) thru (3), however, are all high-impact bills that certain constituencies really, really want to pass. Keep in mind, adoptive parents and live organ donors already got dissed today. Throw in tornado disaster victims and some folks in need of job training – that’s heading toward a devil’s royal flush.

Here’s the irony, though: Kansas citizens and legislators can let themselves get torn apart over this controversy. I imagine there are enough votes out there that can be pressured. It is entirely possible that the Holcomb plants could make it through the House today, and make it thru with a veto-proof margin to boot.

And all of this torture could still be for naught. Lest we forget, it ain’t all about the legislature and the executive branch, duking it out. Anyone who forgets the judicial branch needs their head examined. Permission to build these plants actually rests with the Kansas Supreme Court’s review of KDHE Secretary Bremby’s decision to refuse the air permit.

So in the next week (or month, oh dear) or so, folks could get caught up in the legislative drama and do some pretty crazy things. They could spend political and personal capital of colossal proportions.

When the fallout settles, though, they could have nothing.

3:02 p.m.

We’re back. Currently considering SB 417, a rural affordable housing initiative which for the first two years benefits Greensburg, and the flooded areas near Coffeyville (KS had more than its shares of natural disasters last year). Then it will become a statewide initiative. Rep. Knox is carrying the bill, talking about the critical importance of rural areas, ie the machine shops in his district that help out with Cessna parts manufacture in Wichita. Need to keep business and industry in this state, and in rural areas, because rural people’s ethic is better than the city :) hey, I just write this stuff down – but housing is problematic in rural America.

Rep. Mitch Holmes – I have an amendment. explains. Wants bill to apply to people who live in counties, not just inside city limits – ie, people 2-3 miles out of Greensburg can qualify for these grants. Rep. Knox – this is a friendly amendment. Amendment moved. Voted. Ayes have it.

Minority Leader McKinney – I have an amendment. Removes language so bill can be consistent, makes grants available as statewide housing program after two years. Rep. Knox – this already is a statewide issue. Amendment moved. Voted. Division vote. Ayes have it. Motion passes.

Rep. Tafanelli – asks Knox to stand for questions. Questions about expenses. $20 million over five years for this program. Tafanelli questions this, and the governor’s discretion to ID these disasters. Re underlying bill, one of the exceptions… why are disaster areas exempt from having to have hearings on this issue? Other questions. Tafanelli brings amendments on these points. McKinney questions him on it. MH checks out mentally for a minute. Or two. Tafanelli is her state representative so she should really pay more attention. Sorry! Knox opposes at least one of Tafanelli’s amendments. So does King (?). Especially his 15% threshhold, of household destruction to qualify for relief under this bill. 15% a prohibitive number. McKinney makes a distinction on the numbers – to be effective, this number needs some discretion. Knox – this amendment would exclude all the flood areas. That is not okay. It’s just not. A lot of people find it hard to purchase flood insurance – and this was a 1,000 year flood, not a 100 year flood, it flooded in areas that were not qualified to buy flood insurance. We can’t eliminate the 2,000 homes lost in a major disaster. This is not a good amendment. Otto speaks. Amendment moved. Voted. Division. 65-37, motion fails.

King – Non-disaster parts of this bill important, especially in terms of economic development. ED in KS for past five years has been 1.5 billion. Will continue to grow at rate of $400 million per year. We need to target ED efforts at highest rates of return. Ie, Cessna wants to expand, but can’t due to lack of workforce housing. Same with Amazon.com, who has to bus workers in. This bill is an ED commitment to solve our housing crisis. Knox closes. (MH: Yay! no amendment on this bill from Sunflower supporters! Yay and touch wood.) Bill moved. Voted. Ayes have it, even though loud noes. Bill passes, awaits final action tomorrow.

IMPACT bill gets skipped, put off till General Order tomorrow (MH – there were rumors that might happen, due to need to cut some deals). EDIT: Remember, it could also reappear today – they are allowed to skip around however they want within the items on General Orders.

3:43 p.m.

Sub for HB 2694 – ethanol tax credit bill, which now includes hybrids, E85, etc. (as under federal language). Rep. Goyle supports this bill, which came out of taxation committee and was meant to make citizens actually use the alternative fuel tax credit, which they weren’t. Goyle also has amendment.

HA!! They put the live organ tax donation tax credit back in, from the bill SB 471 that the Sunflower supporters got axed this morning!!!! Live organ donors may get out of this with some relief yet (for their unreimbursed expenditures of organ donation)! If this goes thru that will make me happy. A lot of organ donors are family members.

Brown speaks. He has ethical questions abut monetary benefit from organ donation. Sloan: asks Goyle questions. Does this agree with federal law? Goyle – our testimony does indicate that yes. We will not be in violation of any federal law. Sloan – I think the federal law is still a problem, anyway. Goyle closes. Motion moved. Voted. Division vote. Ayes have it, motion passes, 72-36, organ donors covered in this bill now.

Back on the bill. Rep. Holland – I have an amendment. He brings back in the adoption tax credits! yay! Brown speaks. This will cost a lot of money, adoption and organ donation tax credits. Problematic.

MH has panic attack. Will we see the purported carbon tax back now, too…? I see a set-up (if I were setting it up).

Holland closes on amendment. Division vote. Ayes have it, 71-25, motion passes, adoption credits now also part of HB 2694.

Kiegerl brings an amendment. Drivers license amendment (that I think we’ve seen before). Germaneness is challenged. Rules chair and committee convene. (MH:”germaneness” is legislator-speak for “relevant.” An amendment is supposed to be relevant to the existing contents of a bill, before it gets tacked on there.) They debate. They consult books. It is germane. There’s an amendment. Brown speaks – we need to strike some language to make next generation fuels possible, like an E20 or 30 blend in next ten years or so. Goyle supports amendment. Brown closes and makes joke about no carbon credits in his amendment. Motion carries.

Back on bill. Hodge speaks, asks Brown to explain flex fuel incentives. Brown really, really explains. Talks about incenting good behavior, incenting cutting edge technology. Hodge – uncertain as to his vote – it seems well-intentioned but we as nation, state, are incentivizing less efficiency corn-based ethanol, it will rise prices on food, poor people’s fuel. I may not support this legislation. Moxley – questions for Brown. Then Moxley wants to send the bill back to committee (Taxation). Minor drama. Dillmore – don’t. do. this. don’t send it back to committee. Goyle – yeah. Don’t! But much more smoothly put. Brown explains some techno stuff (I think he likes that best). Also – I summarize greatly – DO NOT SEND THIS BACK TO COMMITTEE. Wilk – ditto. Knox – leave this issue to free enterprise and technology don’t legislate it market needs to solve our problem I support sending this back to committee. Moxley closes. “It does pain me to do this… hate to trash the bill at this late stage… If I’m wrong it’ll get resurrected put into law at later time.” Voted – noes have it. Nope, division called. Noes do have it. Motion to kick bill back to committee fails. Now back on the bill. Fueurborn has questions for Brown. Technical ones, oh dear. MH thinks there is big-time stalling going on. She checks out. Brown closes. He believes this is a good bill. HB 2694 passes, awaits final action tomorrow.

4:30 p.m.

HB 2601 - insurance bill – insurance reimbursement for mental health related expenses. Only one company doesn’t voluntarily provide this coverage. could really help mental health services in rural areas. MH will check out a bit on this one.

Hey, if you have time on your hands – check it out, the short-lived (so far) supposed carbon tax that crashed this morning made it into Forbes online! Kansas really is famous.

More happened. It got later. At 6:20 we adjourned. Not much happened in the afternoon session! Maybe because the morning was busy enough.

 

— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org