Legislators Are Coming Back

On January 11 the 2010 Legislature will return to Topeka to represent you in the Kansas House of Representatives and Kansas State Senate. On Monday, as required by the Kansas Constitution, Governor Mark Parkinson will present his State of the State speech in which he will lay out his goals for the state and the current status of state functions to the legislature. Check your local listings to see when the Governor's State of the State address will be televised.

Previous Governors' State of the State addresses and other messages can be found online at:
http://www.kslib.info/messages/index.html

Section of the Kansas Constitution requiring the Governor to deliver a message to the legislature:
http://www.kslib.info/constitution/art1.html

Interesting facts:

*The State of the State address has been given 128 times.
*The first message delivered in person, Governor Carney, 1863.
*First radio broadcast of the message was Governor Woodring, 1931:
http://www.kslib.info/messages/1931.html
*From the House Journal, March 30, 1861, pg. 43: "Resolved, That the Secretary of State be directed to have 2,500 copies of the Governor's Message printed for the use of this House, 500 of which to be in the German language."

The following are recommendations to communicate with your elected officials
Find your legislators' contact information at:
http://www.kslegislature.org/

Find out who your state legislators are by entering your address at:
http://www.ipsr.ku.edu/ksdata/vote/

Click on either House or Sentate and then on the roster in the middle. Select the name of your legislator; this will bring up a picture and the contact information for your legislator
OR you can call the Legislative Hotline, a service of the State Library, to leave a message for your legislator at 1-800-432-3924.

Talk to your legislators about what concerns you:
1. When emailing or writing a letter to your legislator address him or her as Honorable Representative or Honorable Senator
2. Be sure to include how your concern affects people in your area
3. Offer background information to support your argument
4. Offer to testify to your argument

Find out more about your legislators:
Directories:
http://www.kssos.org/forms/communication/legis.pdf
Histories of elected officials:
http://www.kssos.org/forms/communication/history.pdf
Legislators Past and Present:
http://www.kslib.info/legislators/index.html

Article contact: Kim Harp