“The governor sadly remains out of touch with reality. He does not realize what happened last Tuesday was a repudiation not only of his policies but also his Republican conservative friends in the Legislature who implemented those policies,” said Rep. John Carmichael, D-Wichita.
Some Kansans are asking if the deadly Schlitterbahn accident is a sign we need stricter inspection laws in Kansas. Our state is one of a limited number that don’t require state inspectors to certify a ride’s safety.
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“I represented a ride manufacturer whose ride unfortunately caused the electrocution of a child at a traveling carnival,” said Rep. John Carmichael, (D) Wichita. That was 35 years ago. “We did have Kiddie Land and Joyland here in Wichita when I was growing up. I’m that old. And a lot of the inspections then were performed by the fire department.”
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The records of those inspections are available to any company who rents the ride. But the state hasn’t answered our questions about whether the public can see the records.
“There is no system to keep track of good operators or bad operators,” Carmichael said. “It is basically a self inspection program.”
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But Carmichael says having state safety inspectors might not be enough to prevent some accidents.
“We probably cannot expect a basic safety inspector to do a design analysis of a large mega ride,” he said.
Kansas is one of a limited number of states that don’t currently use state inspectors for ride safety. The laws we do have apply more to mobile amusement park rides like you might see at a street carnival or county fair. Carmichael believes we might need a separate set of design requirements for large, permanent rides like the Verruckt.
“Government by fiat in Kansas is done,” said Rep. John Carmichael, D-Wichita. “We are going to have to have cooperation between three factions – conservative Republicans, moderate Republicans and Democrats – in order to do anything to right the sinking ship of state that we’ve watched for the past six years.”
Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Democrat, concurred with Longbine. Polling has shown the Supreme Court to be more popular than Brownback and the Republican-led Legislature, he said.
“For good reason,” Carmichael said. “A constitutional amendment would be defeated and all the justices retained.”
“This is a win for taxpayers, students and the state,” said state Rep. John Carmichael. A member of one school board called the ruling a “big, big relief all the way around.”
Kansas state Rep. John Carmichael, D-Wichita, discusses education funding issues while Rep. Charles Macheers, R-Shawnee, watches during a joint meeting of the House and Senate judiciary committees, Friday, June 17, 2016, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. Lawmakers are debating responses to a recent state Supreme Court ruling that the state’s education funding system remains unfair to poor school districts (AP Photo/John Hanna)
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Legislature’s attempt to build bipartisan support for a court-mandated increase in state aid to poor school districts stalled Friday as lawmakers from affluent Kansas City suburbs demanded assurances that their schools won’t lose money.
A joint meeting of the state House and Senate judiciary committees previewed a potentially intense sectional fight over education funding during a special legislative session that begins next week. Republican Gov. Sam Brownback summoned the GOP-dominated Legislature back to the Statehouse to address a state Supreme Court order last month.
Lawmakers also wrestled with whether to pursue a constitutional amendment that would bar the Supreme Court from ever closing schools. Any constitutional change faces a high bar — both the House and Senate need two-thirds votes to advance any amendment, which would then go before voters in November.
Only the Senate panel voted to recommend that it introduce a constitutional amendment to restrict the court. The House committee opted not to move forward with any recommendation. Some members expressed flat-out opposition to a constitutional change, while others worried about acting too hastily.
“What effective remedy to enforce the requirements of the constitution of the state of Kansas — what remains?” Rep. John Carmichael, D-Wichita, said of a constitutional amendment. “It seems to me if that’s the circumstance, there is no effective remedy left, and we now have a Supreme Court that has been neutered and can only issue advisory opinions.”
Original plans to take that $13 million from schools general aid was a concern for some when it came to constitutionality.
“This is a good fix, because number one it makes it clearer that we are not reducing funding to public education,” Rep. John Carmichael said. “The original proposal would have reduced by a half of a percent funding for education and there was a concern the court could have found that to be unconstitutional on the basis of adequacy.”
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators were discussing a short-term education funding fix Thursday to satisfy a state Supreme Court order while also debating longer-term proposals for curbing the court’s power to force school finance changes.
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State Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Democrat, said his plan would be to fully comply with the court’s most recent order, rather than pursue constitutional changes.
TOPEKA — The House GOP’s campaign operation wants Kansans to call the state Supreme Court ahead of a special legislative session on school finance — an unusual attempt to exhort the public to lobby justices.
In a message released Wednesday, the Kansas House Republican Campaign Committee implies the Supreme Court is about to close schools. Citizens are urged to call the court and ask it “to put our kids first.”
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Rep. John Carmichael, a lawyer and the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said whoever designed the ad needs to take a civics class. The court, he said, should not be influenced by public opinion, telephone calls or political advertising.
“It’s entirely appropriate to call elected officials to try to influence their decisions in making legislation,” Carmichael said, adding the governor also is regularly approached by citizens. “When we talk about the courts, it’s an entirely different set of rules, and that’s because the courts’ allegiance is to the law.”
