The 2021 Kansas Session
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Dear Constituents, It is an honor to serve as your State Representative from District 38 in Leavenworth & Johnson Counties. This includes Basehor, DeSoto, Gardner Lake, and a tiny portion of Bonner Springs. I reside right in the middle of this district. We have now reached the conclusion of the session and will not return until next January for the 2022 session. We have passed a flurry of legislation aimed at bettering the lives of Kansans. Many of these new laws took effect July 1, 2021. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to e-mail me at timothy.johnson@house.ks.gov. Below are some key issues that were acted on this session by the Kansas legislature. Rep. Tim Johnson |
Speaker Appoints Rep. Johnson to Joint Senate-House Committee
Key issues I campaigned on in 2020
(items in red were components Rep. Johnson helped carry)
K-12 Education Funding and Policy Bill Receives Overwhelming Support
As a member of the K-12 Education Budget Committee, Rep. Johnson battled for the best deals for kids and education. The Legislature passed the Committee bill HB 2134, fully funding K-12 education. The report also includes policy provisions aimed at increasing educational opportunities for Kansas school children. It passed the Senate with a vote of 35-4 and passed the House with a vote of 107-9. Key provisions are:
As a member of the K-12 Education Budget Committee, Rep. Johnson battled for the best deals for kids and education. The Legislature passed the Committee bill HB 2134, fully funding K-12 education. The report also includes policy provisions aimed at increasing educational opportunities for Kansas school children. It passed the Senate with a vote of 35-4 and passed the House with a vote of 107-9. Key provisions are:
- Fully funding school finance law for the current year, next year, and following year.
- Increasing the number of students who can be served by the Tax Credits for Low Income Students Scholarship Program. Qualified students will now be those on free and reduced lunch, a change from current law which only allows students on free lunch. Another change was students can be from any K-8 public school. Currently, they have to be from the one of the lowest 100 performing elementary schools.
- Requiring an annual Foster Care report card be published by the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE).
- Directing KSDE to expend $10 million in federal COVID aid, if allowed, for the Safe and Secure Schools grants ($5 million), expanding the Mental Health Intervention Team Pilot Program ($3.9 million), and funding the Communities in Schools program ($100,000).
- Recommending expenditure of $500 in employee compensation from federal COVID funds, if allowed, by local school boards. The $500 compensation would be for teachers, paras, and other hourly employees. Brought in committee by Reps Estes and Johnson in support of fellow teachers for their work during Covid.
- Improving student achievement with budgeting requirements for local school boards. Local boards would be directed to allocate funding to achieve the Rose capacities.
- Extending the High-Density At-Risk weighting, which provides additional funds to school districts with the highest percentages of low-income students. The statutory weighting was set to expire and was extended to June 30, 2024.
- Having Legislative Post Audit conduct an at-risk funding audit to look at how school districts are spending their at-risk funds, along with looking at the academic outcomes of students receiving at-risk services.
- Allowing school districts to pay all or a portion of postsecondary tuition and fees for high school students who are enrolled in a dual or concurrent course.
- Restricting how much time school districts operate in remote learning, along with designating how much time an individual student can be in remote learning.
- Expanding free ACT, ACT-WorkKeys, and pre-ACT assessments to include students enrolled in accredited private schools. Currently only students enrolled in public schools are eligible to receive these free services.
Republicans Override Kelly Veto to Deliver Common-Sense Tax Relief
In April, Governor Kelly vetoed Senate Bill 50, a comprehensive bill focused on tax relief that puts Kansans and Kansas businesses on par with taxpayers in other states. This marks the third time the governor has vetoed tax legislation in recent years that would have provided much needed relief for working families and job creators.
House and Senate Republicans successfully overrode the governor’s veto. In addition to increasing the standard deduction for all Kansans, the bill allows individuals and small businesses the option to itemize on their state tax returns regardless of whether they itemize on their federal tax return. It also levels the playing field for Kansas brick-and-mortar businesses by requiring online retailers who are located out-of-state to remit sales tax to the state on purchases ordered for delivery to Kansas. The bill will also protect victims of identity theft from owing Kansas income tax on unemployment compensation that was fraudulently obtained by criminals.
Protecting Kansas Children in Foster Care
As a member of the House Children & Seniors Committee, Rep Johnson worked hard for the needs of foster care. The Legislature sent the Committee Report for House Bill 2158 to the Governor. The bill makes important steps in addressing the unsettling stories on multiple placements (one child having 130 placements), children sleeping in offices overnight, children running away from placements with the state having no idea where a child was located, and foster care children aging into the corrections system. In fact, a 2019 survey found that 1 in 3 Kansas inmates had been in foster care. HB 2158 does the following:
In April, Governor Kelly vetoed Senate Bill 50, a comprehensive bill focused on tax relief that puts Kansans and Kansas businesses on par with taxpayers in other states. This marks the third time the governor has vetoed tax legislation in recent years that would have provided much needed relief for working families and job creators.
House and Senate Republicans successfully overrode the governor’s veto. In addition to increasing the standard deduction for all Kansans, the bill allows individuals and small businesses the option to itemize on their state tax returns regardless of whether they itemize on their federal tax return. It also levels the playing field for Kansas brick-and-mortar businesses by requiring online retailers who are located out-of-state to remit sales tax to the state on purchases ordered for delivery to Kansas. The bill will also protect victims of identity theft from owing Kansas income tax on unemployment compensation that was fraudulently obtained by criminals.
Protecting Kansas Children in Foster Care
As a member of the House Children & Seniors Committee, Rep Johnson worked hard for the needs of foster care. The Legislature sent the Committee Report for House Bill 2158 to the Governor. The bill makes important steps in addressing the unsettling stories on multiple placements (one child having 130 placements), children sleeping in offices overnight, children running away from placements with the state having no idea where a child was located, and foster care children aging into the corrections system. In fact, a 2019 survey found that 1 in 3 Kansas inmates had been in foster care. HB 2158 does the following:
- Establishes the Joint Committee on Child Welfare System Oversight. To examine several topics related to the child welfare system. The Committee will provide oversight, ensuring that eyes remain on the administration’s management of the system and on long-term improvements for children in foster care.
- “Adrian’s Law,” which requires visual observations during investigations of child abuse or neglect.
- Adds an exemption to the 20-hour-per-week work participation for adult caretakers of a child in custody of DCF in out-of-home placement and needing childcare assistance
- Requires a 6-month period to elapse after a juvenile adjudication before the DCF Secretary could license a family foster home. This would provide DCF with the discretion to license a family foster home, helping some youth to achieve permanency and facilitate placements of foster youth.
