The ‘06 legislature session has come to a close. My second year in office allowed me to gain further knowledge about issues Kansans are facing and the political process in general. The experience I’ve gained has allowed me to more effectively represent you, the people of the 119th District. I enjoyed having visitors from my district stop by my Topeka office. The visitors included Master Educators, Leadership Dodge, AARP, High School Government Class and many others. I appreciate these visitors to the Capitol, and those who wrote and emailed me, for getting involved and using me as the avenue to have your voices heard. As your representative I can do my best when we communicate!

I would like to touch upon some of the legislation passed this session. K-12 education will receive an increase of $466 million, plus $75 million for KPERS retirement funding and $30 million to equalize local spending over the next three years. This amounts to a annual state average of approximately $11,000 per student. My philosophy on school finance aligns with USD 443 school board’s philosophy: upgrade our education system without increasing the tax burden of our citizens. Legislators will have to work hard over the next couple of years to adhere to this philosophy.

In the 2006 session, Jessica’s Law was passed to protect our children. The law increases penalties for those that cause harm to our precious kids, keeping child abusers in jail for 25 years. We also eliminated property tax on business machinery and equipment. Other states that have passed this legislation have seen an increase in jobs within a three-year period because of the reinvestment of capital. I am especially glad to report that we voted to eliminate sales tax on New Car Rebates. Representative Neufeld, myself and several other western Kansas legislators inserted provisions for western Kansas airports to possibly benefit from the $5 million “Fair Fares” proposal, initiated by the Wichita delegation.

Alternative Energy (ethanol, bio-diesel, wind) and Agriculture should benefit from incentives passed this year. I feel that western Kansas will benefit the most from these measures. We will also allow Regent Schools to keep interest earned (approximately $12 million) from tuition and other fees. This money will help cover the cost of upkeep at their campuses.

These are just a few of the measures that we passed this year. An excellent source for more information about what goes on in your Kansas government is the: www.kansas.gov website. You can look up agency and legislative contact information. Specific laws that you are interested in can be accessed by the bill number or by inserting keywords.

The National Conference of State Legislators asked me to serve on an 8-member panel and it is truly an honor to serve on this committee. Our goal is to establish a comprehensive focus for public health, public safety and public welfare aspects of substance abuse. My experience this past year serving on former Governor Michael Dukakis’ “Substance Abuse Blueprint for States” national panel has allowed me to gain extensive knowledge in this area. It is estimated that 25% of every State Budget is directly or indirectly affected by the disease of addiction. In Kansas that figure is nearly $3 billion. Even more important is the possibility of saving families and lives by tackling this serious problem.

As I mentioned in my opening, the key to gaining positive results is communication. I am very pleased that most individuals and groups that I work with feel and act accordingly. There are always a few that seem to be unappreciative no matter how much they receive. In general most everyone understands that there is a lot of need and only so much money to go around. We, the legislators, spend a lot of time listening to testimony, discussing and debating all the issues and make our decisions based on a great deal of input and communication. Even while we’re out of session this summer and fall, if you have questions or want to make your position known on issues, please feel free to contact me.

In closing I want to congratulate USD 443 on their successful “car-ticipation” parental involvement campaign. This was a collaborative effort that exceeded the expectations of everyone involved in the project. I want to thank my many volunteers and supporters. Finally, I want to extend a big thank you to my family and friends for your love and prayers. As always, you can contact me via email: george@house.state.ks.us or by mail at:

Pat George
Kansas House of Representatives, District 119
3007 Westview Ave
Dodge City, Kansas

Sincerely yours,

Pat George
Representative for the 119th District
State of Kansas
House of Representatives