1. 2013 City of Wichita State Legislative Agenda
Dec. 4, 2012
Dale Goter
Government Relations Manager
ISSUE CATEGORIES:

2. Open Carry
ISSUE: A recent Attorney General’s opinion has resulted in the legalization of “Open Carry” within Wichita city limits. The City Council considers this outcome as an “unintended consequence” of previous state legislation.
RECOMMEND: The Wichita City Council supports the restoration of local control over the open-carry of loaded firearms within the city limits.

3. Concealed Carry/Public Buildings
ISSUE: Legislation is expected to be introduced that will parallel the recent City of Wichita and Sedgwick County actions allowing concealed carry in certain public buildings that do not have electronic screening of entrants.
RECOMMEND: The Wichita City Council requests that local governments that have taken action to allow concealed carry in appropriate public buildings be exempt from the proposed state legislation.
The Wichita City Council also supports clarification of bill language to ensure that law enforcement officers are not prohibited from carrying weapons in City Hall.

4. Equus Beds ASR funding
ISSUE:  The state has provided funds for the Equus Beds ASR project for the past five years. A $2 million request for FY2014 funding was initiated by the City of Wichita before the Kansas Water Authority (KWA) this past summer.
RECOMMEND: The Wichita City Council supports the KWA’s $2 million recommendation. It includes $500,000 in fee funds and $1.5 million from the state general fund.

5. State Water Fund
ISSUE: Governance of the state’s water resources has not undergone a comprehensive review since the 1980s.
RECOMMEND: The Wichita City Council encourages a re-evaluation of state Water Fund governance, collection and distribution. This issue is continued from the 2012 City of Wichita legislative agenda.

6. Set-Off program
ISSUE: Uncollected debt can be enrolled in the state Set-Off program. The state charges an percent collection fee, recovering funds from tax refunds or other state funds due to a delinquent filer.
RECOMMEND: Wichita City Council requests legislation allowing Set-Off collection fees to be assessed against the debtor.

7. Suspended License look-back
ISSUE: Current law provides for jail sentences on third offense convictions. However, there is no cut- off date for previous convictions. A fixed cutoff period would be similar to current law regarding Proof of Insurance.
RECOMMEND: The Wichita City Council supports a defined “look-back” period of five years for Driving While Suspended/Revoked cases prosecuted in Municipal Court.

8. Passenger Rail
ISSUE: Passenger rail service through Wichita could result from future federal/state funding.
RECOMMEND: The Wichita City Council encourages the State to closely monitor future federal funding opportunities for existing and new passenger rail service throughout the state of Kansas, including the proposed Northern Flyer route from Oklahoma City to Wichita.

9. RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations)
ISSUE: The Wichita Police Department has sought legislative approval of this crime-fighting tool for the past several years. Unified Government of Wyandotte County is also supportive of the measure.
RECOMMEND: The Wichita City Council supports enactment of a RICO-like state statute.

10. Economic Development
ISSUE: Existing economic development tools are essential for the continued growth and prosperity of our community.
RECOMMEND: The Wichita City Council supports continuation of its 2012 legislative agenda item, calling for protection of existing economic development tools for local public-private partnerships. Among those are Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts, Community Improvement Districts (CIDs), Industrial Revenue Bonds (IRBs) and Sales Tax Revenue (STAR) bonds.

11. Taxation
ISSUE: The tax cut passed by the 2012 Kansas Legislature may put considerable pressure on the state budget, which could translate into a shift of funding responsibility to local governments.
RECOMMEND: The Wichita City Council discourages any shift of state program funding responsibilities to local governments and local property taxes.  
The Council also opposes any legislative attempts to restrict the taxing and spending authority of local governments.

12. Immigration
ISSUE: Immigration reform is expected to return to the state legislative agenda.
RECOMMEND: The Wichita City Council opposes any state immigration reform measures that place unreasonable burdens on local government.

13. Affordable Airfares, NIAR, NCAT
ISSUE: Lead advocacy for these annual carryover issues is vested with the local Chamber of Commerce and Wichita State University. The requests for NIAR and NCAT were doubled to $10 million each during the previous legislative session, but were only funded at the $5 million level, the same as Affordable Airfares.
RECOMMEND: The Wichita City Council supports continued state funding for the Kansas Affordable Airfares Program, National Institute for Aviation Research and the National Center for Aviation Training.

14. Community partner agendas
ISSUE: Community partners include the Regional Economic Area Partnership (REAP), Visioneering Wichita and the League of Kansas Municipalities. Each develops its own annual state legislative agenda.
RECOMMEND: The Wichita City Council supports our community partners’ agenda, provided the specific positions are consistent with Council policies.