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Minutes for SB273 - Committee on Transportation
Short Title
City of Wichita license plate.
Minutes Content for Wed, Jan 24, 2018
Chairperson Petersen opened the hearing on this bill. Scott Wells, Office of Revisor of Statutes, provided an overview. This bill provides for a City of Wichita distinctive license plate effective January 1, 2019. Jill Shelley, KLRD, noted there are 37 different Kansas license plates. Senator Hilderbrand asked if it will represent additional work for the county treasurers, and Mr. Wells said no, county treasurers already do this work for the other specialized plates.
Senator Oletha Faust-Goudeau provided testimony (Attachment 2) in support of the bill. When this issue was first brought to her attention, she said, she did receive a little negative feedback that the flag looked like the Confederate flag. She said the U.S. flag uses red, white, and blue as does the Wichita flag for which Wichita is proud. The flag is an accumulation of Wichita's history and culture and symbolizes prosperity and reconciliation and has no relationship with the diluted confederacy. The red and white rays symbolize the path of freedom to come and go; the blue represents happiness and contentment; and the Native American hogan symbol signifies permanent home. The flag was designed by local artist, Cecil McAlister, in 1937 during a city flag contest. Some of the funds from the sale of the plate will benefit Pawnee Prairie Park in Wichita for bike trails and horse trails.
Bryan Frye, Vice-Mayor, City of Wichita, provided proponent testimony (Attachment 3). Mr. Frye said he represents the City Council and all Wichita citizens who embrace this flag. The idea behind this license plate is to improve Wichita parks; the bill would dedicate logo fees to support the parks. Mr. Frye has served on the Wichita Parks Board. On October 12, when pledges were first solicited to buy the plates, the goal was to get 500 pledges by the end of the month. Those were received by the end of the day. Sixteen hundred pledges have been received to date. Becky Fields and Laura Rainwater, Community Relations staff, City of Wichita, provided the idea, and Mr. Frye thanked them for their work on the idea of a flag license plate. On behalf of the Mayor and City Council, and the Wichita Parks Foundation, Mr. Frye asked for support of this bill.
In response to a question, Mr. Frye said the logo use fee is expected to be $50, and 85% will go to physical assets that are not identified in the current capital plan, supplementing city funds. The Wichita Parks Foundation can identify other things that need attention. Fifteen percent will go towards administrative costs in the early part of the program to get it running. After it is launched, the city hopes to reduce that to 10% or less.
Many different options to the design of the flag plate were considered. There is space at the bottom of the plate, but the design was kept as basic as possible.
Chairperson Petersen said the flag has become very popular in Wichita and large families go to the park for gatherings, that Pawnee Prairie Park is a crown jewel to the community for many activities.
A concern raised by several senators was that the flag might be confused with the flag of Kansas by those not familiar with the flags. Mr. Frye said adding "I love Wichita" or something specific to Wichita at the bottom of the plate had been considered.
There was no testimony in opposition or any neutral testimony.
The hearing was closed.
