By CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN

Around 20,000 state employees in Kansas now qualify for paid parental leave.

Baby steps, say groups that advocate for families and women. They’re celebrating, but they really want Kansas to join the six states and Washington D.C. that make private-sector companies give paid leave, too.

The Women’s Foundation and Kansas Action for Children want paid family leave that Kansans can use for everything from bonding with babies to taking an elderly mom or dad to a doctor’s appointment.

“Even a few weeks’ flexibility,” lobbyist Adrienne Olejnik says, can help parents in line for coveted slots at infant daycares. “It can then allow parents greater choice in where they end up putting their infant.”

Her organization, Kansas Action, is revving up for a concerted push in the Statehouse in 2020. This year, staff will crisscross the state, talking to families and businesses in search of a sweet-spot proposal that could win broad support.

Critics will likely fight back.

In an email, Kansas Chamber spokeswoman Sherriene Jones-Sontag said the group’s members “oppose any efforts to put Kansas employers at a disadvantage by placing costly mandates which go above and beyond what is required by federal law.”

“Government should not,” she added, “set personnel policies for (the) private sector.”

Here’s what Kansas does now, and what other states are doing:

On his way out the door, then-Gov. Jeff Colyer — quietly, some would argue — signed off on parental leave for more than 17,000 executive branch jobs. Up to six weeks of full pay. The judiciary followed suit.

Gov. Colyer’s executive order.

The judicial branch’s follow-up.

Expect word from public universities as early as next month on whether they’ll jump on the bandwagon. That would more than double the number of public employees in Kansas with access to paid leave.

Colyer’s move puts Kansas in the company of six states with similar rules: Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri and Virginia. Arkansas and Ohio offer their state employees a more limited version. That’s according to the Women’s Foundation, which lobbied for Kansas to come on board.

Six states and D.C. have extended paid leave to the private sector:

• Rhode Island requires four weeks.
• California and New Jersey, six weeks.
• New York and D.C., eight weeks.
• Washington and Massachusetts, 12 weeks.

Of course, there’s fine print. Not everyone qualifies, and the amount of reimbursable pay varies.

Nationally, most jobs come with unpaid family leave, though many families say they can’t afford to use it. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates 15 percent of private-sector jobs come with a paid version.

Advocates of paid leave like to point out that the United States is the only industrialized country without a law requiring it. The Obama-era Department of Labor argued it could boost economic activity by $500 billion a year because more women would get jobs.

Free-market researchers differ.

The Cato Institute warns workers could end up with lower wages, employers might lean toward hiring men, and families could redistribute more household work onto women. Women, employers might assume, are more likely to use the paid leave.

Cato also suggests far more companies may already offer paid parental leave than the federal government realizes.

No word yet from newly minted Gov. Laura Kelly on whether she would support a law on private-sector paid leave. Nor from the heads of the Kansas House and Senate.

But the Legislature could extend paid parental leave during this legislative session to its year-round employees (of which there are fewer than 100).

“This is important to us,” House Speaker Ron Ryckman said at a recent legislative meeting on the logistics. “We’re ready to take action when all of our i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed.”

Recording of the legislative discussion (starting at 9 minutes 40 seconds).

Celia Llopis-Jepsen is a reporter for the Kansas News Service. You can reach her on Twitter @Celia_LJ.

STONE COUNTY — One person died in an accident just before noon Saturday in Stone County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2004 Honda Accord driven by James D. Haase, 30, Reed Spring, was westbound on Route OO one mile west of Kimberling City.

The driver lost control in the snow. The vehicle slid into the path of an eastbound 2016 Dodge Ram driven by John A. Williams, 55, Reed Spring.

Haase was transported to Cox Branson where he died. A passenger in the Honda Britany A. Haase, 25, Reed Spring, was transported to Mercy in Springfield. Williams was not injured.

Britany Haase was not wearing a seat belt

JOHNSON COUNTY — A Kansas Department of Transportation employee died in an accident just after 6:30a.m. Saturday in Johnson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2011 Freightliner truck driven by Stephen N Windler, 25, Paola, was southbound on U.S. 69 Highway in the outside lane just south of 207th Street.

My heart is breaking for the family of this dedicated employee. Our KDOT personnel work very hard, at all hours, in dangerous conditions to make our roads safe for their fellow Kansans. My thoughts are with his family, friends and the entire KDOT family. https://t.co/DpjUn65d6s

— Governor Laura Kelly (@GovLauraKelly) January 19, 2019

The vehicle traveled to the right traversing the shoulder, traveled into the grass, rotated counter-clockwise and became broadside as it started to tip.

The truck overturned, emptied its salt load, ejected the driver and rolled on top of the driver.

Windler was pronounced dead at the scene and he was transported to Frontier Forensics, according to the KHP.

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JOHNSON COUNTY  —Authorities are investigating the cause of a fatal crash in Johnson County that took the life of a Kansas Department of Transportation snow plow driver just after 6a.m. Saturday on southbound U.S. 69 south of 207th Street in Johnson County.

On their twitter account, Kansas Secretary of Transportation Julie Lorenz said, “our thoughts and prayers go out to the family members and the co-workers of our driver. KDOT is one big family, and we know there are many people impacted by this.”

No other vehicles were involved in the crash. The KHP has not released the driver’s name.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the partial government shutdown (all times local):

President Donald Trump is offering to extend temporary protection for people brought to U.S. illegally as children in a bid to secure border wall funding.

Trump has struggled to find a way out of a four-week partial government shutdown over his demand to construct a wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

Trump promoted his plan Saturday as a way to “break the logjam and provide Congress with a path forward to end the government shutdown.”

Trump is also offering to extend protections for immigrants who came to the U.S. as a result of war or natural disasters in their home countries.

Trump says Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will bring the proposal for a vote in the Senate this week. But Democrats, who control the House, are already saying they find the president’s offer unacceptable.

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KANSAS CITY, KAN. – Troy L. Bechtel, 49, of Overland Park, Kan., is charged in a federal indictment with two counts of major program fraud against the United States and two counts of lying to federal investigators, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

The indictment alleges that from August 2009 to April 2013 Bechtel aided and abetted other persons unlawfully to obtain more than $12.7 million from a contract with the Department of Defense.

The indictment alleges Bechtel and other persons falsely represented that United Medical Design Builders, LLC, of Merriam, Kan., was controlled by co-defendant Joseph David Dial, Jr., a disabled veteran of the U.S. Army.

In fact, UMDB was a pass-through company that Dial did not control. The company received a contract through the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business program that was awarded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the design and construction of healthcare facilities at Langley AFB, Andrews AFB, Hanscom AFB, and McGuire AFB.

The indictment alleges Bechtel ran the daily operations for UMDB and made project decisions without reporting to or consulting with Dial. Dial was rarely in the office. He also signed a blank sheet of paper that was scanned for use on official letters and correspondence.

Co-defendant Dial pleaded guilty to one count of major program fraud and one count of wire fraud. He is set for sentencing Jan. 28.

If convicted, Bechtel faces up to 10 years in federal prison on each count of defrauding the government and up to five years on each count of lying to investigators, as well as fines and forfeiture judgment representing the amount of proceeds obtained by committing the offenses set out in the indictment. Investigative agencies include the Small Business Administration – Officer of Inspector General, General Services Administration – Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the Army CID Major Procurement Fraud Unit.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Now that Missouri is entering the medical marijuana industry, two Democratic lawmakers from Kansas City want to give businesses owned by women and minorities a slight edge in entering the market.

The  virtually identical proposals by Rep. Barbara Washington and Sen. Kiki Curls give minority- and women-owned businesses a 10 percent bonus when the state scores license applications on a variety of measurements.

Advocates of the bills say affirmative action is appropriate since studies have shown that marijuana-related arrests have typically fallen disproportionately on black and Latino users, even though white people use marijuana at about the same rate.

Missouri voters in November approved medical marijuana. The constitutional amendment requires the state to issue at least 24 licenses to sell medical marijuana in each of the state’s eight congressional districts, or 192 total.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services probably won’t decide who gets licenses until the end of 2019. But the department has already accepted more than $2 million in application fees from more than 250 people hoping to start medical marijuana businesses, so competition appears to be strong.

Efforts by Washington and Curls face big hurdles since Republicans have large majorities in both chambers.

Rep. Nick Schroer, an O’Fallon Republican who has introduced other medical marijuana legislation, said he’s a believer in the free market.

“I don’t think anybody should get a leg up one way or the other,” Schroer said.

Legal challenges are likely, even if one of the bills passes.

An Ohio judge in November declared unconstitutional a bill mandating that the state award at least 15 percent of its medical marijuana business licenses to racial minorities.

A similar bill in Maryland was recently altered, now instructing the state licensing commission to use other methods to increase minority licensees, such as community outreach.

Still, there is evidence of racial discrimination in some states with established legal marijuana industries. A 2016 Seattle Times investigation found that black and Latino businesspeople, and women, were underrepresented in Washington’s marijuana trade.

Julita Latimer, a black woman interested in starting a medical marijuana business in Kansas City, said that when she goes to marijuana-related business conferences in other states, she sees mostly white males. She hopes the bill proposals get hearings.

“We all know that women make less than men that are doing the same jobs. That same disparity happens in all types of industries, and the cannabis industry is no different,” Latimer said

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CAMDEN COUNTY— One person died in an accident just after 12:30a.m. Saturday in Camden County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2008 Polaris RZR driven by Michael J. Fox, 48, Sunrise Beach, was traveling on Route F just south of Route TT. The ATV traveled off the road and overturned.

Fox was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Alee-Holman Funeral Home.

By MADELINE FOX

Kansas goes further than any other state in kicking local and state government out of decisions about nutrition labels and portion sizes, leaving that and other food policy up to federal lawmakers.

In a recent study, New York University researcher Jennifer Pomeranz said Kansas did more to limit local control than the 13 other states that passed similar laws.

A 2016 Kansas law keeps counties, school districts, councils and other lower levels of government from enacting restrictive policies around food sales. So even if a city with a really high obesity rate wants to require calorie listings, it can’t.

Food policy preemption bills have been cropping up across the country. In 2013, Mississippi — which then had the highest rate of obesity in the country — banned its cities and counties from preventing restaurants from selling super-sized soft drinks or forcing eateries to post nutritional information about meals.

Kansas is among 14 states to pass new laws restricting municipalities’ food and health efforts. But Kansas went further than others by also limiting the state Legislature’s power, Pomeranz said.

“The state basically handed over to the federal government control of these issues,” she said. “It’s basically saying ‘we’re not acting, and the locals can’t act either.’”

The Kansas law, which went into effect in July 2016, prevents local authorities from restricting portion sizes, taxing soda and sugary drinks, and banning “incentive items” — such as toys in a Happy Meal. The bill was mostly cribbed from the American Legislative Exchange Council, an organization of conservative state legislators and representatives from the private sector who draft and share state-level legislation. 

For health advocates in Kansas, the bill felt like a solution in search of a problem.

The legislation seemed to reflect national anxieties about efforts elsewhere — such as when former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg famously tried to ban super-sized sodas. But, Missty Lechner, community advocacy advisor for the American Heart Association in Kansas, said it didn’t reflect what advocates and food policy councils were actually trying to do in Kansas.

“No one was talking about wanting to ban soda sizes,” Lechner said.

What localities have considered includes requiring park concession stands to provide healthy options alongside hot dogs, nachos and other typical snack foods. But Lechner says some have been scared off by the state law.

The language of the law has also created confusion. Based on ALEC’s model, it lacks some definitions that would specify what the legislation means in Kansas. When Pomeranz, the NYU researcher, analyzed the testimony on Kansas’ bill, she found that both proponents and opponents talked about issues the bill didn’t address, such as labeling for genetically engineered foods.

Adam Mills is president of the Kansas Restaurant and Hospitality Association, which testified in favor of the bill at the time. He said his organization, working with the Kansas Department of Agriculture and the state regulatory department, was trying to avoid a patchwork of federal and local rules dictating how restaurants and hotels can serve food.

“Safe food delivery is extremely important to our industry as we continue to comply with complex food safety regulation,” he said in an email.

State lawmakers did ultimately add in allowances for some policies Kansans have been pushing, such as ensuring healthy concession foods. The 2016 law also protects the popular Double-Up Food Bucks program, which provides a dollar-for-dollar match for the value of food stamps at participating grocery stores and farmer’s markets.

Otherwise, attorneys say it’s not always clear what local rules are and aren’t permitted. Natasha Frost, an attorney at the Public Health Law Center, said it’s had a “chilling effect”,  with local authorities steering clear of policies they think might not be allowed.

“Where we’re concerned is where innovative ideas might be stifled,” Frost said.

Madeline Fox is a reporter for the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio covering health, education and politics. Follow her on Twitter @maddycfox.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is considering running for the U.S. Senate in 2020.

He told The Associated Press on Friday: “I am seriously considering it.”

Four-term Republican Sen. Pat Roberts announced earlier this month that he would not seek re-election. Kobach said he does not have a timetable for deciding whether to seek the GOP nomination.

Kobach is out of political office after eight years as Kansas secretary of state after losing the governor’s race last year. Kobach has been a vocal ally of President Donald Trump and had Trump’s endorsement.

State Treasurer Jake LaTurner already is running for Roberts’ seat. Other Republicans who’ve expressed an interest include western Kansas congressman Roger Marshall, former Gov. Jeff Colyer, Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle.