By Amelia Arvesen

KU Statehouse Wire Service

TOPEKA – Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach expressed Thursday in a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting that hefty fines for voting crime imposed by Senate Bill 34 would greatly deter violators. The bill would also give the state office the authority to prosecute such crimes instead of the county attorneys.

Kobach said voting crimes prosecutions fall to the wayside because county attorneys are overworked, especially in smaller counties, and devote their attention to other serious cases such as arson, property crimes and rape.

“We set the standard for the country in what we do to stop election crimes, however, there are some election crimes you cannot stop by photo ID or proof of citizenship,” Kobach said. “The only way to stop them is to deter them and the only way to deter them is to impose big penalties and that’s what this bill is about and making sure the case is actually being prosecuted which in most instances isn’t happening right now.”

In the 2014 election, approximately 125,000 people were registered in both Kansas and a neighboring state, increasing the likelihood of double voting, or voting in two jurisdictions, Kobach said.

He said double voting is the most common form of voter fraud occurring in Kansas today even after securing the system with voter ID and proof of citizenship. He did not provide the number of violations that occurred in the 2014 election, however, he said 18 cases occurred in the 2010-2012 session of which only seven resulted in legal action.

Micah Kubic, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, said the bill could potentially penalize individuals who make mistakes unintentionally during the voting process.

“Voting-related crimes are exceedingly, exceptionally rare and even then are most often the result of mistakes like voting in one’s old precinct after having moved to a nearby neighborhood, rather than a willful attempt to subvert an election, but if they occur, should be taken seriously,” Kubic said in his written testimony.

Stephen Howe, Johnson County District Attorney, agrees with the high fines but disagrees with the diversion of prosecuting authority. He said the bill would create the need for separate investigatory and prosecutorial personnel within the Secretary of State’s office.

“This increase and devotion of resources appears again, to be unnecessary and wasteful given there are already officials more appropriately positioned and resourced to deal with such matters,” Howe said in written testimony.

According to the bill’s fiscal note, the Secretary of State indicates SB 34 would cost approximately $15,000 in 2016 and $10,000 in 2017 for trial preparations and travel expenses.

Currently, no other state grants voter fraud prosecuting power to a Secretary of State.

The bill will likely appear on the agenda of the Judiciary Committee sometime next week.

Amelia Arvesen is a University of Kansas senior from San Ramon, Calif., majoring in journalism.

By Mike Sherry

Faced with a surprise pregnancy – and then feeling the pressure of transitioning from an independent woman to a new mom – Erica Hardin struggled mentally and financially after the birth of her daughter.

Much to her relief, Kansas City had a program aimed at reducing disparities in infant mortality and post-birth complications between minorities and the general population.

Known as Healthy Start, home visits through the program provided Hardin with everything from moral support to diapers and instructions on applying for food stamps.

In giving parenting tips, program staff impressed Hardin by including her boyfriend, the father of the little girl they named Markayla, who is now 7 years old.

“They made me feel like we are more so your friend than someone who is coming in to investigate your home and see if everything is up to standard, and then we are going to report you or something,” says Hardin, a south Kansas City resident. “No, they showed you, ‘Well you can use this and this to help you and improve your situation.’ They were really good support.”

When Hardin and her boyfriend discovered early last year that they were going to be parents again, Hardin quickly reconnected with the Mother & Child Health Coalition, the Kansas City, Mo.-based nonprofit that has operated Healthy Start since 1997 with funds from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
A dismayed Hardin learned, however, that the services might be unavailable because the coalition was in danger of losing its Healthy Start grant – funding that made up nearly 90 percent of the coalition’s $1.7 million annual budget.

That didn’t happen – HRSA renewed the coalition’s Healthy Start grant in November – but not before MCHC and its clients endured a year of uncertainty due to a “seriously flawed” application process, as members of the U.S. Senate termed it when they wrote to the HRSA administrator in September.

In the letter, Missouri Sens. Roy Blunt, a Republican, and Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, joined with colleagues from Wisconsin and Maryland in urging the agency to reconsider its determination that longtime grantees, including MCHC, had missed the cut for the new five-year funding round.

HRSA’s subsequent grant to MCHC delighted Susan McLoughlin, its executive director. “We were just relieved and excited to get moving,” she says.

The coalition, however, will have to do more with less this time around.

High infant mortality

Data released in September by the National Center for Health Statistics, which examined figures from 2010, ranked the U.S. last among developed countries, with an infant mortality rate of 6.1 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Separate data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that Missouri and Kansas had infant mortality rates above the national average in 2010, at 6.6 and 6.2 per 1,000 live births, respectively.

The Mother & Child Health Coalition serves 16 low-income Zip Codes in Jackson and Wyandotte Counties through Healthy Start, which also funds the local Fetal Infant Mortality Review (FMIR) Program.

McLoughlin credits the FMIR program with identifying a significant infant mortality problem in the 64132 Zip Code of Jackson County, which prompted the coalition to add that area to its Healthy Start service area for this new grant period.

In this new cycle, the coalition expects to serve approximately 4,000 participants over five years with a grant of about $4.9 million – about a third less than the $7.4 million provided in the previous grant cycle.

Coalition officials are unsure what drove the decrease in the funding level for the grant.

Revamping the program

Begun in 1991, Healthy Start is open to communities with rates of infant mortality at least 1½ times the national average.

In its September announcement, which did not include the Mother & Child Health Coaltion and other organizations added later, HRSA said it had awarded $65 million in grants to 87 organizations in 33 states.

The agency revamped the program to focus more on the overall health and wellness of women before, during and after pregnancy. It’s the “healthy women, healthy baby” concept, McLoughlin says.

Two of the key changes: a requirement to follow the family until the child reached 2 years of age and a de-emphasis on home visits in favor of connecting families with community health centers.

The latter meant switching from longtime community partners, including Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics and Truman Medical Centers, to Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center and Swope Health Services. Truman and Children’s will stay involved in a different capacity.

“There are so many good aspects to the new Healthy Start that are in line with what Mother & Child Health Coalition promotes with healthy lifestyles, and health promotion and prevention, and access to care. It’s definitely a good initiative,” McLoughlin says.

Samuel Rodgers welcomed the new relationship as well, says Linda Zimmerschied, the health center’s chief quality and clinical officer.

As a federally qualified health center, which makes Samuel Rodgers eligible for benefits including enhanced Medicare and Medicaid payments, Zimmerschied says the health center must report performance data to HRSA.

Getting pregnant women in for care during their first trimester is one quality measure, which she says is a key to ensuring a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby.

And as envisioned by the new Healthy Start program, Zimmerschied says the interaction with Samuel Rodgers establishes a medical home for the family and the infant.

“This just feeds right into our mission of providing quality health care for everyone,” she says.

Despite the decreased funding level, HRSA is expecting Kansas City Healthy Start to serve more than double the number of participants during the next five years compared with the previous five years.

Partnering with high-volume health centers like Samuel Rodgers is one way the coalition expects to serve more clients, McLoughlin says. She also says the program should be more efficient, since Healthy Start can take advantage of personnel such as nurses already on staff at the health centers.

Yet these partnerships almost didn’t happen because of the application snafu.

Near death experience

The difficulties with the new grant cycle began early on, in late 2013, McLoughlin says, when HRSA gave applicants only about a month to apply for the retooled program.

HRSA reopened the application process when the first round did not produce enough submissions, McLoughlin says. With more time, she says, coalition officials felt like they had nailed their application.

HRSA, however, stunned coalition officials by informing then in late August that MCHC had not made the cut.

MCHC suspected the agency had somehow overlooked its second application, and with the help of Sen. Blunt and Sen. McCaskill, it got HRSA to review the process and discover the error.

In the meantime, however, as the uncertainty stretched from spring into summer, the coalition was turning away potential participants and letting experienced staff pursue other work opportunities, according to McLoughlin.

Hardin, the south Kansas City mom, worried that women lacking transportation might find it difficult to participate in a Healthy Start program that revolves more around community health centers.

Yet, she is thankful the program is still around to help her with a son, Marcus, that she delivered in October. She is applying the lessons she learned with her daughter, and is eager to learn new skills as well.

And she has big dreams for her children.

“I want them to be 10 times greater than what me and their father is,” Hardin said. “I want them to go to college, and get their degrees, and become whoever makes them happy. I want them to go far in life – not just be followers. That’s all I want for my babies.”

Mike Sherry is a reporter for KCPT television in Kansas City, Mo., a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.

TOPEKA — Kansas residents can access information on state government, legislation, public policy issues and more by calling (800) 432-3924.

Calls are answered by experienced reference/research librarians at the State Library of Kansas and kept confidential. Lines are open weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Callers can also leave brief messages to be delivered to legislators as well as request copies of bills, calendars, journals, committee agendas, voting records, and other legislative documents.

In addition to calling the hotline, residents can also text questions to (785) 256-0733 (standard text message rates may apply), instant message at www.kslib.info/ask-a-librarian, or visit the State Library. The State Library is located in the north wing, on the third floor of the Kansas Capitol Building.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — State lawmakers from Missouri and Kansas are pitching similar legislation to restrict firearms for persons with domestic violence or stalking restraining orders or convictions.

Republican Kansas Rep. Barbara Bollier of Mission Hills and Democratic Missouri Rep. Stacey Newman recently introduced the bills in Topeka and Jefferson City, but Missouri lawmakers say there’s little chance of either gaining traction.

The Kansas City Star  reports Bollier and Newman discussed their bills at a news conference on Friday outside Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker’s office in Kansas City.

Rep. Rick Brattin, a Harrisonville Republican, called the legislation a “publicity stunt” with no chance of passage.

Rep. Joe Don McGaugh, a Carrollton Republican, said Newman’s bill is unconstitutional because it doesn’t include enough protections for gun owners.

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KANSAS CITY (AP) — State representatives and other officials from Kansas and Missouri are announcing legislation aimed at reducing gun and domestic violence in both states.

Missouri Rep. Stacey Newman, a Richmond Heights Democrat, and Kansas Rep. Barbara Bollier, a Mission Hills Republican, will discuss their legislation at a news conference Friday afternoon outside Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker’s office in Kansas City, Missouri.

The measures would allow for firearm restrictions for those with domestic violence or stalking restraining orders or convictions, and would let law enforcement and family members restrict gun possession by those in crisis.

Bollier and Newman are founding members of the new, nonpartisan coalition, American State Legislators for Gun Violence Prevention. Their model legislation will be introduced this year in other states by coalition members.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback’s office is refusing to disclose the names of potential candidates who were passed over by him for a seat on the Kansas Court of Appeals.

Brownback’s office Friday rejected an open records request from The Associated Press for each application, letter or email to the governor’s office from any person applying to be or expressing an interest in the position.

The request was filed Tuesday. Two days later, Brownback nominated Kathryn Gardner of Topeka for the position, subject to state Senate confirmation.

Brownback has said releasing the names of all candidates for such positions would discourage qualified people from seeking them.

In rejecting AP’s request, his office cited a provision of the Kansas Open Records Act allowing state agencies to keep personnel records confidential.

KANSAS CITY – Three people were injured in an accident just after 5 p.m. on Friday in Wyandotte County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2004 Chevy Trailblazer driven by Cedric Jarod Young, 21, Kansas City, was northbound on Interstate 635 at State Street.

For unknown reasons the driver lost control and struck a 2001 Honda Accord driven northbound by Flavio Raso, 35, Olathe. The Chevy then struck the median barrier wall.

Young, a passenger in the Chevy Chnora Garrlington, 24, Kansas City, were transported to KU Medical Center. A 5-year old passenger in the Honda was transported to Children’s Mercy.

The KHP reported the occupants of the Honda were properly restrained at the time of the accident.

NEW YORK (AP) — Consumers may see improved networks after AT&T and Verizon, the two largest U.S. wireless companies, spent billions in the government’s latest airwaves auction.

The new spectrum will allow wireless companies to offer more capacity for mobile data services, helping ease congested networks.

The auction, which ended Thursday, will raise $41.3 billion for the U.S. Treasury and various federal programs.

AT&T Inc. bid $18.2 billion and Verizon Wireless $10.4 billion. T-Mobile US Inc. had $1.77 billion in winning bids.

Sprint Corp. did not participate.

Beyond the national carriers, Dish Network Corp. won $10 billion worth of spectrum through two companies it invested in. Dish has ambitions to offer wireless broadband service.

To get the spectrum, companies must make their payments by March 2.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas says its tax collections fell $47 million short of expectations this month.

The worse-than-anticipated collections are likely to complicate efforts by Gov. Sam Brownback and legislators to eliminate projected budget shortfalls.

The state Department of Revenue reported Friday that the state collected $513 million in taxes in January when it had anticipated taking in $560 million. The shortfall is 8.4 percent.

The state’s tax collections since the start of the current fiscal year in July were $59 million short of expectations, or 1.8 percent. The state anticipated collecting $3.3 billion during the period and took in about $3.2 billion.

The state faces projected budget deficits totaling more than $710 million for the current and next fiscal years, but the figures are pegged to revenue estimates made in November.

By Kelsie Jennings

KU Statehouse Wire Service

TOPEKA — Some disabled Kansas veterans and legislators are working on a bill that would allow disabled veterans to have free access to public parking garages and public parking lots with attendants.

The House Veterans, Military, and Homeland Security committee heard testimonies Thursday from disabled veterans for House Bill 2006, which would allow veterans, who are 50 percent or more disabled, to park in public spaces without being charged.

There are 5,354 vehicles in Kansas that are registered with disabled veteran license plates, according to the Division of Vehicles.

One disabled veteran David Brader, once had to go to the KU Medical Center emergency room because of a blood clot in his leg, but wasn’t able to find an available handicap parking spot. He had to park in the parking garage across the street. Although the availability of handicap spots can’t be controlled because they’re first-come first-serve, Brader hopes HB 2006 will make parking easier for disabled veterans.

“A lot of people look at me and think I’m healthy, (but) I’ve definitely got issues,” Brader said.

Brader is also the department adjutant for the Kansas Department of Disabled American Veterans. He said disabled veterans can park in handicap parking spots if they have a placard that hangs from the vehicle’s rearview mirror or if they have a handicap tag. The new license plates would indicate the vehicle belongs to a disabled veteran.

Another disabled veteran who spoke at the hearing, Commander Blas Ortiz of the Disabled American Veterans of Kansas, said some veterans travel to conventions several times a year and can’t afford to have their car parked at the airport.

During the committee hearing, one legislator said that if the veterans are using their placards, then there shouldn’t be a problem with parking in the handicapped spots, but the vice chairman of the committee, Rep. Les Osterman, (R – Wichita), who is also a disabled veteran, said he still has to pay for parking at airports even though he has a placard. He’s also had to pay for handicapped parking at arenas such as Intrust Bank in Wichita.

“If you don’t pay your $10, you don’t get to park there,” Osterman said.

Despite the trouble that disabled veterans have had with pay parking, Osterman said the city of Wichita is working with them.

Osterman said that metered parking is already free for disabled veterans because of a previous law, but that this bill would cover parking garages and public parking lots. He said the committee will likely discuss the bill further next Thursday.

Kelsie Jennings is a University of Kansas senior from Olathe, Kan., majoring in journalism.