Climate and energy

Governor Sebelius was less than pleased that Republican leadership blocked an attempt at sine die to rescue some of the economic development initiatives that they had bundled in with the third coal bill, which she vetoed as she did the first two (TCJournal).

One of those initiatives was the extension of tax credits for a wind turbine manufacturer considering coming to Kansas. The project could bring 950 permanent jobs to the state, as well as support ongoing wind development.

The vote was 49-47 against. 63 votes are needed for passage. 96 legislators were present at sine die, an unusually high number. (There seems to be a delay in the posting of the House Journal today, so CEP can’t yet post the official recorded vote.) Quotable:

But following Thursday’s vote, Neufeld said that bringing up new measures in the sine die session is out of line with normal procedure. “The majority of folks came here saying we weren’t going to do business, and they didn’t want to do business,” he said.

Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka, criticized that logic, saying legislators “don’t normally take hostage an economic development bill, either.”

“This was a unique situation where lots of games got played during the session,” Kelly said. “And (today) was an opportunity to move forward on an important economic development.”

There also seems to be a glitch in the Governor’s website where her comments are posted, so CEP cannot link to them directly – but luckily WIBW has posted some of them as well. Most notably, Sebelius pointed out that the Kansas Chamber of Commerce (a vocal supporter of the coal bills) did not back these other economic development initiatives. Quotable:

“It is also unfortunate that the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who was part of the coalition to promote the coal legislation, was not insistent that these measures be considered on their own merit before the legislature adjourned. Despite knowing that two previous vetoes had been sustained, the Chamber agreed to a strategy to include key economic development legislation in a package with the coal bill, which they knew was likely to be vetoed. Even though there was an opportunity to pass the stand- alone legislation today, neither the Chamber, Republican leaders or legislators worked for a successful outcome.

“It is unfortunate that Kansas business owners, their employees and the state’s economy will be the victims of this legislative decision made on the final day of the 2008 legislative session.”

As of yet, there is no response posted on the Chamber’s website. WIBW also posted Speaker Neufeld’s response:

“Despite what some have said, Kansas lawmakers worked hard this session and passed dozens of good laws. For anyone to say this session was all about coal and nothing else refuses to look at the entire work of the Kansas Legislature….

“An overwhelming majority of Representatives and Senators serving all 105 Kansas counties voted in support of comprehensive energy legislation this session, but the Governor refused to listen and vetoed our efforts to return regulatory certainty to Kansas and guarantee reliable and affordable electricity for all Kansans… And while we were unable to come to an agreement on immigration reform, we had serious debate about how our state should address this very important issue.”

“I expect both of these issues to be back in front of the Legislature next year.”

— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org