State lawmakers meet with local voters

Note: This is part one in a two-part series on the recent legislative forum held at the Fort Scott Inn on Tuesday.

Three area lawmakers weighed in on the outcome of the recent legislative session and discussed vital state issues during a special forum Tuesday evening.

District 13 Sen. Jim Barone, D-Frontenac, District 4 Rep. Shirley Palmer, D-Fort Scott, and District 2 Rep. Bob Grant, D-Cherokee, talked about issues ranging from property taxes to expanded gaming in Kansas during the "Issues After Hours" legislative forum conducted at the Fort Scott Inn.

Lawmakers also fielded questions from the public during the forum, which was attended by about 25 people and sponsored by the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce Legislative Committee.

During opening statements, Palmer, a retired teacher who worked for nearly 40 years in the USD 234 district, talked about her first year serving on the Kansas Legislature after being elected to the position in November.

"It was a learning experience," Palmer told the audience. "Stressful at times, rewarding several times. I will continue to represent you in a way that would make you proud. I will listen to my constituents."

Palmer said she introduced two new bills this year; one being the Riverfront Authority Bill that Gov. Kathleen Sebelius recently signed that will create a wildlife and recreational area near the Marmaton River on the north edge of Fort Scott. That bill only received three negative votes from legislators, two of whom did not give good reasons why they voted against it, Palmer said.

There are quality people behind the Riverfront project, she said.

The other bill Palmer introduced this session changes existing state law concerning sexual relations between K-12 teachers and students. The bill stipulates that no teacher in the state may be involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with students. That legislation passed unanimously, Palmer said.

Previous state law said that unlawful sexual relations may only be charged when the student is 17 years of age or younger. The revision expands the charge to apply to students 18 years of age and older as well.

Grant, a Cherokee businessman, said there were no major issues -- such as the K-12 school finance issue that legislators had debated the last few years before the matter was settled last year by the Kansas Supreme Court -- that lawmakers had to deal with this year.

"It was an unusual year," Grant said. "Not as bad a year as I've seen in the past."

Barone, a small business owner in Frontenac, agreed with Grant about the recent session, and said that the Riverfront Authority Bill will be beneficial to Fort Scott, especially 10 to 15 years down the road.

"We weren't staring down the gun barrel at anything really," Barone said.

One possible bill that was up for debate this year would cut about $85 million each year in unemployment taxes paid by Kansas businesses, Barone said. An already-approved bill will phase out about $35 million each year in equipment and machinery taxes paid by those businesses, he said.

Barone explained the Homestead Property Tax Refund Act which, according to a Senate committee report, has a new residential valuation ceiling that prohibits any homeowner with a residence valued at $350,000 or more from participating in the program.

Barone also said he is not happy with the state budget, as Kansas saw nearly $340 million more in expenses than revenue this year.

During the question-and-answer period, Fort Scott City Commissioner Gary Bukowski asked the legislators how revenue sharing for recently approved destination casinos in Kansas could possibly affect Bourbon County. Currently, only certain Kansas counties will share the revenues from casinos due to a recently approved expanded gaming bill that passed in April.

While a casino will most likely not be located in Bourbon County, local residents could still benefit from traffic created by other casinos in Southeast Kansas, especially after the project to expand U.S. Highway 69 into a four-lane freeway is completed later this year, Palmer said. New restaurants built on the south edge of Fort Scott could create jobs, and expanded traffic could mean more business to the area, she said.

Barone said that one of his constituents told him recently that Fort Scott and Bourbon County should get involved in the casino and gambling business; after the bill had already passed, which left him with no recourse. When people are interested in an issue that could affect their hometown, Barone said lawmakers should be made aware of it or nothing will get done.

"If you're interested in something, bang on us early and let us know," he said.

Grant agreed with Barone and Palmer, adding that traffic will increase in every Kansas county that is affected by casinos, and the benefits will be visible.

"We fought like hell to get it (gaming bill) passed," Grant said.