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

The Governor's Budget

Last night, January 12th, Governor Sebelius gave her State of the State Address. This is a speech in which the governor details the current state of affairs to the state legislature as well as discussing her ideas for the state budget. The Governor's budget is a report that details where state funding comes from, the governor's goals for the following year, what each state agency has previously received and should receive as funding from your state taxes. Governor Sebelius is releasing her published State Budget today, January 13th at 10:00 am. See the resources below to find out more about state appropriations and financing and how your tax dollars are being used:

Full text of the Governor's State of the State Address:
http://www.governor.ks.gov/news/sp-stateofstate2009.htm

Full text of the Governor's Budget will be at:
http://budget.ks.gov/gbr.htm

Governor's homepage:
http://www.governor.ks.gov/

As the Legislature works the state appropriations, you can find out details at http://skyways.lib.ks.us/ksleg/KLRD/Appropriations.html

Information on current state revenues:
http://skyways.lib.ks.us/ksleg/KLRD/Revenue&Tax.htm

Review audits of current state agency functions at:
http://www.kslegislature.org/postaudit/

To tell your legislator your thoughts on the Governor's Budget call the legislative hotline at 1-800-432-3924 and the staff there can relay your message to your legislator. Your representative's or senator's emails will be available at www.kslegislature.org shortly. If needed, you can find out who your legislator is at http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-legisportal/redistricting.do