Sunflower State Journal

As hospitals struggle to recruit nurses and the demand for nursing heightens, the University of Kansas is starting a new initiative to tackle the mounting healthcare labor issue in Kansas. The university's School of Nursing is forming a new center that will address shortages of nurses and nursing faculty in Kansas. The university's announcement comes as Kansas hospitals are coping with their highest vacancy rates for registered nurses and licensed practical nurses in more than 20 years. Source: Sunflower State Journal

Johnson County government is locked in a dispute over whether Sheriff Cal Hayden can independently bring litigation against an Overland Park man accused of making hundreds of harassing phone calls to sheriff's office deputies and employees. The county this week asked a Johnson County judge for permission to intervene in the lawsuit brought by the sheriff against Leonid Khayet, who according to the court records called the sheriff's office 503 times during the last four months of 2022. During that same time frame, the sheriff's office said that Khayet sent 381 emails to 21 deputies. Source: Sunflower State Journal

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach is warning the city of Wichita that it's not adhering to a state law regulating the placement of political signs during an election. Kobach last week sent a letter to Mayor Brandon Whipple flatly stating that the city's sign code was illegal. The letter points out that under state law, a city may not prohibit the placement or the number of political signs on private property or in the right of way for 45 days before an election and two days after the election. Source: Sunflower State Journal

Gov. Laura Kelly on Friday vetoed a broad tax bill that prohibited governments from running businesses that compete with the private sector, a measure that critics said was intended to help one statewide business. The vetoed bill had 18 tax provisions, including one that would provide real and personal property tax exemptions for some businesses in cities where a government facility competes against a similar business. Source: Sunflower State Journal

Cities and counties came out Wednesday against a proposal by Senate President Ty Masterson to fill a budget hole caused by a bill that would eliminate millions of dollars in local sales taxes on groceries. While they liked the intent of the Masterson's proposal, they said they were disillusioned by years of promises from the Legislature to reinstate revenues that it's taken from local government. Source: Sunflower State Journal

They came with stark choices. Cut police. Cut fire. Cut roads. Cut employee benefits. Or raise taxes. Local government officials presented lawmakers with those untenable options as they implored them Monday to keep local sales taxes on groceries. The House tax committee on Monday began debating a that was already passed in the Senate that eliminated state and local sales tax on groceries by next year. As the bill originally came out of a Senate committee, it would have only exempted state and local sales taxes on healthy food products. Source: Sunflower State Journal

Cities and counties turned out in force to fight a bill stopping them from regulating any consumer products and services allowed under state law, saying it would keep them from limiting fireworks, tobacco, massage therapists and land use. They urged the House commerce committee Monday to reject a bill pushed by the Kansas Chamber of Commerce that was introduced after Wichita officials considered - but later dopped - a ban on retailers from selling dogs and cats. Source: Sunflower State Journal

A proposal to expand a lucrative tax incentive for landing mega economic development projects similar to Panasonic and Integra is in serious doubt with the legislative session past its midpoint. If passage of a tax incentive package for Panasonic wasn't difficult enough last session, it's proving to be even more of an uphill fight to provide more incentives requested by the Commerce Department last month. "I can tell you a lot of people regret voting for it," Republican state Rep. Sean Tarwater said of the incentives approved for Panasonic that were later used in the Integra deal. Source: Sunflower State Journal

The mayor of Kansas City Missouri is asking Kansas to kick in $5 million to help bring a new direct international route to its newly opened $1.5 billion airport. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas sent a letter to Gov. Laura Kelly in early January asking Kansas to match a $5 million contribution from the state of Missouri. The request, still standing, comes after the Missouri General Assembly last year approved $5 million in federal stimulus money to help Kansas City recruit an international carrier. Source: Sunflower State Journal

A bill barring local governments from regulating plastic grocery bags and other material ran into a roadblock in the Senate on Thursday morning. The Senate Commerce Committee voted down the bill that had been backed by the business community, including the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, the state restaurant association and the National Federation of Independent Business. It was the second consecutive year that the ban ran into difficulty although it has had widespread support from lawmakers in the past. Source: Sunflower State Journal