February 23, 2007
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ALEXA’S LAW
HB 2006, also known as Alexa’s law, was successfully passed by the House on Monday. This bill allows for prosecution for murder of an unborn child in addition to the murder of that unborn child’s mother.

HB 2140
The House passed a bill designating English as the official language of Kansas. We also established English as the official language competitive grant. The bill will not interfere with state agencies and localities’ essential communication in other languages, but emphasizes efforts to assist non-native English speakers to develop proficiency in the English language.

MINIMUM WAGE INCREASES
On Wednesday, Rep. Winn proposed an amendment to HB 2316, which would raise the minimum wage. This amendment was defeated after much discussion and an attempt to eliminate the minimum wage completely. I received many letters from my constituents regarding a deep concern for raising the minimum wage and I did oppose this amendment.

HEALTHCARE
Healthcare has been a major focus of mine this session. I have had the privilege to be asked to be vice-chair of a special task force on healthcare. Our task force has a comprehensive health care plan that is expected to be released sometime next week. This plan focuses on the future of health care and will allow for more accessibility, efficiency, and affordability. I am very excited about it.

HUMAN CLONING
Two bills I worked on this session involved the issue of human cloning. One bill would define human cloning and the other would prevent the expenditure of state money to fund human cloning. I support these bills because human cloning has presented no cures, and the taxpayers should not be responsible for paying for research on human cloning. Unfortunately, many of my colleagues are opposed to these bills and there is a lot of pressure to oppose these bills; therefore, it is possible neither bill will even make it to the floor for debate.

HB 2191
On Wednesday, an amendment to HB 2191 was passed, which would take away the driver’s license of individuals involved in an automobile accident who left the scene of the accident. If the driver was under 18, the driver would lose his/her license until he/she turned 21, but if the individual was over 21 he/she would lose his/her license for 5 years. I found the passage of this amendment ironic as it appears my Zero Tolerance bill, which would take an individual’s license away for providing a minor with alcohol, will not even make it out of committee due to the argument that the punishment is too harsh. However, unlike the amendment to HB 2191, my bill would only take an individuals license away for 180 days.

GRACE PERIOD FOR LICENSE
We passed a bill out of the House on the final day before turnaround that gives individuals a 45 day grace period before having to renew your driver’s license.

TEACHING CHARACTER
One of the final actions taken this week was a vote to encourage the teaching of character curriculum along with anti-bullying in school.