Legislators are back in session

On January 10, the 2011 Legislature returned to Topeka to represent you in the Kansas House of Representatives and Kansas State Senate. As required by the Kansas Constitution, Governor Sam Brownback presented his State of the State speech in which he laid out his goals for the state and the current status of state functions to the legislature.

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

The Governor is also required to present a budget plan for the state:
http://budget.ks.gov/gbr.htm

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 Senate and then on the member's name. 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

Call the Legislative Hotline with any questions regarding Kansas government, the status of bills going through session, bill numbers for certain policy issues, legislative history assistance, or how to contact your legislator: 1-800-432-3924.