The Topeka Capital Journal

 By Tim Carpenter

The status of 156 Topekans with profound mental disabilities will hang in the balance today when a state commission examines the potential of closing residential facilities in Parsons and Topeka.

The 11-member Facilities Closure and Realignment Commission convenes at the Statehouse to hear from advocates of Kansas Neurological Institute, 3107 S.W. 21st, and of Parsons State Hospital, which concentrates on people with developmental disabilities. The commission is on a quest for ways of streamlining delivery of state services and to reduce expenditures. The movement is driven by erosion of the state's tax base and the potential of making large spending reductions during the 2010 legislative session.

Testimony is slated for 1:30 p.m. today in room 545-N of the Statehouse, where an additional hearing will be conducted at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, will be among nearly two dozen people today testifying on behalf of KNI. He doesn't believe it would be prudent to shutter the institute.

"It would be very traumatic, not only for the patients but their families," Hensley said. "I don't know if there would be a lot of savings."

Advocates of Parsons are scheduled to offer their perspective to the commission. In addition, advocates of community-based services will express a view that disabled people should live in the least restrictive housing.

If KNI or Parsons were to close, not all residents could be transferred to the surviving state facility. State analysts reported that a majority of residents would be expected to live in smaller community facilities because neither Parsons nor KNI has bed space to significantly expand. For example, KNI could accept 39 of the 200 residents at Parsons. It would take as much as 22 months to complete the transfer of residents from Parsons to KNI. Parsons could accommodate 40 of 156 KNI residents and the transfer would consume 17 months.

A group of Shawnee County legislators toured KNI on Friday to get a better sense of the mission and organization of a facility that provides 24-hour care for residents. A team of direct-care, medical and occupational staff serve a challenging group of adults. Three of four people at KNI are older than 40, 98 percent have either a severe or profound intellectual disability, two-thirds are unable to walk, 82 percent can't speak and nine out of 10 have lived at KNI for more than a decade. Still, about 130 of the residents hold down jobs.

Barney Hubert, superintendent at KNI, said closure decisions would be followed by intense deliberations about where to move these individuals.

"No one is going to go on the street," Hubert said.

In addition to quality-of-life issues regarding residents at KNI, the closure would cause an economic ripple in Topeka through elimination of 520 jobs. The residential complex funnels about $25 million into the local economy. The personal and economic fallout in Parsons would be comparable in southeast Kansas.

"The future includes closing one of these institutions," said commission chairwoman Rochelle Chronister, a former state legislator and one-time secretary of the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.

In January, then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed an executive order creating the commission and assigning members the task of assessing the future of at least six state facilities. The panel also is evaluating the potential of shutting down Rainbow Mental Health Facility in Kansas City, Kan., the Kansas School for the Deaf in Olathe and the Kansas School for the Blind in Kansas City, Kan.

The Beloit Juvenile Correctional Facility was on the governor's list, but the Kansas Department of Corrections closed that complex in August. About two dozen juveniles were transferred to Topeka, and the state expects the downsizing to reduce expenditures by $4 million annually.

KOSE would like to congratulate the new stewards from Thursday's training; Gilbert Gonzales, Kimberly Wells, Wendy Traphagen, Susan Simmons, Mary Vogel, Tammy Monk, Karla Crith, and Theresa Carter.

KOSE President Lisa Ochs attended EARN Conference in Detroit Sep. 20-23 as a member of the budget crisis task force. The conference was called to address the budget crisis affecting many states as well as to work on pragmatic solutions. Other discussions included the effect of the National Recovery and Reinvestment Act is having on states as well as the defined benefit pension and its relationship to state economic development.

KOSE Meetings:

October 2, 3, 4: Master Bargaining Team Training

October 8th: Wichita SRS Labor Management Meeting

Upcoming Legislative Meetings:

Sep 29 783-Docking 10:00 a.m. Joint Committee on Energy and Environmental Policy Water-energy nexus

Sep 30 -Docking 09:00 a.m. Joint Committee on Energy and Environmental Policy Water-energy nexus

Oct 1 446-N 10:00 a.m. Kansas Electric Transmission Authority KETA business.

Oct 2 535-N 9:00 a.m. 2010 Commission Presentation by Dr. Alexa Posny on Race to the Top funding.

Newly Elected Bargaining Team:

Unit 1

Sherry Martin: 

Patrick Staab:

Bruce Miller:

Ted Vogan:

Unit 2

Susan Simmons:

Kathy Arbogast:

Unit 3

Scott Towery:

Cindy McKenzie:

Gary Patillo:

Dennis Doerschlag:

Unit 4

Jo Ann Voyce:

Wanda Handy:

Unit 6

Greg Bontrager:

Richard Short:

Laura Calhoun:

Jayson Garcia:

Unit 16

James Fay:

Appoint.

Ray McNeal

Michelle Walters

From the Lawrence Journal-World:

Topeka — Elected leaders have made sweeping cuts to state government during the past few months that have resulted in thousands of lost positions in schools, shuttered correctional facilities and a reduction in social service programs.

It also has sent agencies searching under the seat cushions for spare change to try to keep the budget balanced.

Reductions in travel, purchases and hiring have become the norm as officials keep a wary eye on the struggling Kansas economy and tax revenues.

Some have argued that some of the savings may be penny-wise and pound foolish.

Kansas Department of Transportation recently reduced the maximum annual reimbursement for personal protection equipment from $250 to $150 in an attempt to save money.

Jane Carter, executive director of the Kansas Organization of State Employees, said the decision will make work sites less safe.

“Although we all know times are tough, once again state employees are being used to make ends meet, this time with great risk to the worker,” Carter said.

The State Board of Education last week decided to cancel its tradition of holding one of its monthly board meetings in another district. Board members said while the meetings in local districts are often informative, canceling the visit would save both staff and travel time for the board and the hosting district.

And while legislators often say attending out-of-state conferences with their colleagues is a way to find out about new ideas, they have restricted that travel.

Eight legislators traveled to the American Legislative Exchange Council conference in Atlanta, and nine people — eight legislators and one staff member — are going to the National Conference of State Legislatures meeting in Philadelphia this week.

No one who is going is eligible to be reimbursed for their travel by the state unless they serve as a chair, vice chair or executive committee member on the organizations’ various panels. In past years, dozens of legislators have gone to these conferences on the state’s dime.

But an in-state conference apparently will be well attended by Kansas lawmakers. The regional meeting of the Council of State Governments will take place in Overland Park from Aug. 9-12.

More than 80 Kansas legislators have signed up to attend, and each is eligible to receive his or her legislative pay and per diem. Legislators receive $88.66 per day that they are on the state’s clock, and $109 in daily expenses. The state also will reimburse for registration, which is $300 per person.

But lawmakers have reduced the number of meeting days for interim committees.

From the Topeka Capital Journal

Gov. Mark Parkinson must make some more cuts to the state budget after Kansas ended the fiscal year $126 million short of expectations.

Parkinson planned to outline his budget-cutting plans at a news conference Thursday. He has the authority to cut the budget by whatever amount he feels is necessary to balance it, and he has been conferring with legislative leaders to get their input.

“The final reports on state revenues are just coming in and we are reviewing them,” said Parkinson spokeswoman Beth Martino.

The 2009 fiscal year ended Tuesday, and preliminary Department of Revenues show the state collected $126 million less in tax revenue than had been expected. Parkinson wants to ensure that the state doesn’t carry the deficit into the 2010 fiscal year, which starts today.

Kansas' governors and legislators over the past 15 months have done a credible job of balancing the state's expenditures against declining revenues.

The job they have done hasn't been easy, or appreciated by all those it has affected, but they acted out of necessity and we think the results have been well received by the majority of Kansans.

But the heavy lifting isn't done, as evidenced by the state's latest revenue collections, and we would urge caution when elected officials turn their attention later this year to the work of a special commission formed to explore the closure, consolidation or relocation of state facilities for cost-saving measures.

From the Topeka Capital Journal

A legislative session certain to leave a lasting impression on Kansans was colored by an agonizing budget debate, the massive federal windfall, a covertly negotiated coal deal and the governor’s departure.

The 2009 Legislature adjourned early Saturday after resolving a state deficit, threading millions of dollars in emergency federal aid into the fabric of government and confirming a jaw-dropping pact that could deliver a new coal plant to western Kansas. Through it all in the House and Senate, partisan loyalty battled practical necessity.

Gov. Mark Parkinson, who made cross-party cooperation his mission after replacing Kathleen Sebelius in April, said the session put the state on a path to recovery.