Brief (1)
Sub. for HB 2490 creates a Legislative and Executive Officer Compensation Commission to set the pay for state legislators and to recommend the amount of pay for certain other state officers. The Commission also may provide for retirement benefits for state officers. The bill also amends the state ethics laws.
The bill creates the Legislative and Executive Officer Compensation Commission to make a study of the compensation of state officers including provisions for retirement benefits, formulas to determine those benefits, eligibility requirements, and participation and waiting periods. State officers are defined as members of the Legislature and executive officers of state government; executive officers are the statewide elected officers.
The bill authorizes the Commission to fix the amount of compensation of legislators which would become effective on July 1, 2001. The bill requires the Commission to submit a report to the Legislative Coordinating Council and the Governor by June 1, 2001. The report would have to specify the amount of compensation fixed for members of the Legislature and recommendations for the amount of compensation for the executive officers by June 1, 2001. The bill allows any state officer to decline any increase in compensation fixed by the Commission.
The Commission would consist of nine members appointed on or before April 2, 2001, by the President of the Senate, Minority Leader of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, State Treasurer, and Insurance Commissioner. Under the bill, the expiration of terms for members of the Commission would be June 30, 2002. The bill requires appointment of a Commission in the year 2008 and every seven years thereafter.
The bill updates the legislative compensation statute to reflect the current compensation for legislators and makes legislators' pay subject to a different amount set by the Commission. Under the bill, increases in compensation for members of the Legislature also would be tied to increases in compensation for persons in the classified service, which is the total of the average of step movement increases under current law and the average percentage increases of a cost-of-living adjustment to the pay plan.
Further, the bill authorizes all state agency heads to impose stricter limitations than current law on acceptance of any economic opportunity, gift, loan, gratuity, special discount, favor, or hospitality by state officers and employees.
Current law requires lobbyists to disclose the name of members of the Legislature and members of the Judicial Branch and their employees who received any gift, entertainment, or hospitality, except under certain circumstances. The bill would change that reporting requirement to include all state officers and employees except under certain circumstances.
The bill would add the following new exemptions from lobbying itemized disclosure requirements:
A public event is defined as an event:
The bill provides that the value of all gifts, entertainment, and food or beverage requiring itemization under the disclosure requirements after July 1, 2002, would be tied to the average Consumer Price Index.
The bill creates a presumption that publications published by trade associations, professional associations, foundations, and tax-exempt organizations are not given to influence a state officer or employee in the performance of official duties.
The bill increases the threshold for the amount of money from $5,000 to $15,000 in determining if an individual or an individual's spouse has a substantial interest in a business under the state ethics laws.
Background
HB 2490, as introduced by the House Committee, addressed changes in the state ethics laws. Representatives from the Governor's Office, the Insurance Commissioner's Office, and the Kansas Society of Association Executives testified on the bill as introduced. The State Treasurer also testified on the bill.
The House Committee recommended a substitute bill for HB 2490 be passed which included provisions for state officers' compensation and also included provisions of HB 2180 and HB 2164. HB 2180 concerned exempting certain publications and HB 2164 increased the amount in determining substantial interest. The provisions of HB 2180 and HB 2164 were recommended by the Governmental Ethics Commission.
No conferees testified on the substitute bill.
The Senate Committee of the Whole amended the bill to include provisions for providing retirement benefits, as part of the Commission's duties.
1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/fulltext.cgi