The South-Central Legislative Delegation holding a public forum Saturday at WSU

This Saturday at 9:00am, the South Central Legislative Delegation of the Kansas Legislature will hold a public forum in the Suderman Room of the Wichita State University Metroplex on the corner of 29th and Oliver. This is your opportunity to speak out and be heard by our State Legislators. Please, come out and join us as we call upon our Representatives to reject the onerous Kansas "Health Care Freedom" Amendment.

We will also be calling on our Legislators to adequately fund education here in the State - with a 1 cent sales tax if necessary. It is simply unconscionable that we would be faced with dramatic cuts to education, public safety, and basic services; not because it is genuinely unavoidable, but rather because our Legislature is wedded to a simplistic dogma that says that "all taxes are bad" so they refuse to take the necessary steps even in the face of a massive $500,000,000.00 shortfall. They are attempting to address our economic woes using a 'Holistic' approach; one that somehow presumes to solve a multi-million dollar budgetary shortfall without the use of money.

Now this is the point when some would cite the adage, "you don't raise taxes in a recession, blah blah shoobedoo". Spare me... An economy of this scale is infinitely more complex than the simple wisdom gleaned from the preface of an Econ 101 textbook or some crazy tele-pundit's chalkboard. If the "cuts create growth" mantra were anything more than a basic theory (false as often as true), then the tax cuts of 2003 should have mitigated our Iraqi military expenditures and forestalled the recession. BUT I DIGRESS...

We also offer our Public support to the following pieces of legislation:

(We support) H2533 – Kansas Act against Discrimination; this bill changes the language regarding disabilities, making it clearer and more concise.

(We support) H2628 – Directs the Boards of Education in each district to implement policies prohibiting bullying.

(We support) H2629 – Allows that whenever a child is taken into temporary custody, the parents should be allowed to submit the names of three people whom they would like to be considered for the granting of custody.

(We support) H5003 – A proposed Constitutional Amendment declaring the equal rights of Men and Women.

(We support) S0018 – Prohibits the deprivation of Rights under the color of law and establishes such deprivation as a Felony Offense.

(We support) S0054 – Would commission a mural depicting Brown Vs the Board of Education, be placed within the Capital building. The bill states that no public funds can be used for the creation or installation of the mural

(We support) S0109 – Amends the Grandparents as Caregivers Act and removes the age limit.

(We support) S0169 – Adds Sexual Orientation and Gender identity to the Kansas Act against Discrimination.

(We support***) S0179 – The Racial Profiling Bill, contains new definitions of Racial Profiling more consistent with the legislations original intent. We support the bill BUT we oppose the Racial Profiling Task Force’s recommendation for a moratorium.

(We support) S0191 – Requires that any new electronic voting machines also provide an auditable paper trail.

(We support) S0125 – Amends the Grandparents as Caregivers Act to strike the requirement for legal guardianship.

(We support) S0511 – Would create a Small and Disadvantaged Business program that would establish minority participation ‘goals’ for State contracts.