The regular portion of the state’s legislative session is coming to a close, and Emporia’s lawmakers gave a status report on the session as part of the latest Legislative Dialogue at Flint Hills Technical College on Saturday.
17th District Senator Jeff Longbine of Emporia is pleased with the budget as recently passed by the chamber.
The House hasn’t passed its version yet, and the House budget may not be finalized until the end of the regular session April 1 or the veto session. 60th District Representative Mark Schreiber says one key component involves the sale of the Earl Center at Emporia State University.
Schreiber is also pleased about the possible creation of a statewide dyslexia coordinator for education, as well as possibly funding that position through state general funds instead of being floated by school districts. Schreiber’s wife, Angie, operates Cradle to Career Literacy Center, which focuses on dyslexia and other challenges to literacy.
Both Longbine and Schreiber voiced issues with a handful of bills awaiting action by the Legislature, including bills forcing teachers to post their entire year’s curriculum before classes start in August. Longbine says bills to allow voters to approve Kansas Supreme Court justices, physicians to prescribe ivermectin while letting parents opt out of vaccinations for religious reasons, disallowing health officer authority to quarantine people in cases of future pandemics and others are bad policy.
Longbine also said he was OK with his new Senate district boundaries, which remove his current territory in Pottawatomie and Wabaunsee counties while adding all of Morris and Geary counties. The House is still looking over maps at this time.
Legislative Dialogues are organized by the Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce Government Matters Committee and the Emporia League of Women Voters. This year’s Dialogues have been sponsored by AT&T and Flint Hills Technical College.
