Senator Bowers would like to get back to work

Elaine Bowers would like to get back to work representing the 36th District in the Kansas Senate, but knows that is unlikely.
The Kansas Legislature recessed on March 19, and was set to reconvene on Monday.
On Wednesday, the Legislative Coordinating Council (LCC) postponed resumption of the session to protect the high number of lawmakers that are considered at risk of being infected with COVID-19.
Of the 40 senators, 30 are considered at risk for contracting COVID-19, along with 78 of the 125 representatives.
The LCC will meet again in two weeks to discuss having lawmakers return to Topeka to wrap up the 2020 session.
“I knew it was going to be hard to go back next week, especially since it (COVID-19)  had peaked,” Bowers, a Republican from Concordia, said, “And May 3 was the new date the governor said for stay at home, so I wasn't one bit surprised.”
Prior to recessing in March, the legislature handled the one thing it is required to do, and that is pass a balanced state budget.
“We did that. It was the very last bill we voted on. So constitutionally, our job is done,” Bowers said.
What hadn't happened during the session was the conference committee process during which three senators and three representatives meet to put together several bills dealing with the same topic and then take them back to the bodies to vote on.
Bowers said none of the bills she was working on from the Ethics, Elections and Local Government Committee that she chairs had yet been conferenced. So there will be none to go to Governor Laura Kelly for her signature if the legislature does not return to work.
“I personally feel like we have left unfinished business, and I would like to go back and finish,” Bowers said.
Bowers said that there are also a number of small bills that are important to certain districts on which work has not been completed, including one for renaming a highway in Marshall County after two soldiers killed in Viet Nam.
“It is a simple little bill to rename the highway, but it is important to those folks,” Bowers said.
The budget that was passed by the legislature was based on revenue projections prior to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With businesses across Kansas being shut down and unemployment surging, the state's tax revenue projections over the next two years were downgraded by $1.3 billion.
Economists and analysts projected the tax collections for the fiscal year ending June 30 would be down by $815 million, and the tax revenue for the fiscal year starting July 1 would be down $549 million.
“We are still fine for the end of this fiscal year, it is the next fiscal year that is going to be bad,” Bowers said.
Kelly has instructed all state agencies to eliminate discretionary spending, shelve requests for salary increases and leave job openings not required during the pandemic open.
“She (governor) can make cuts herself. I have seen that through my years in Topeka,” Bowers said, “She was looking at all different angles, and she wasn't taking anything off the table, she said. Even education.”
Bowers said that she believes that the state officials and the people of Kansas have handled the current crisis very well.
“The governor was the first in the nation to close schools,” Bowers said, “And I am very proud of Dr. (Lee) Norman, the KDHE (Kansas Department of Health and Environment) secretary. Our daily updates are very good, very responsive.”