The past week of the legislature saw the concern over Covid 19 increase significantly. While we started the week aware of the issue, by the end we were more focused on it.

One legislator became ill with some symptoms and was tested. As the concern for her mounted through Friday, everyone was relieved to learn she did not have the virus.

Other issues for the week included our civil discourse meeting on Monday evening. The speaker was Tim Shaffer from the Kansas State University Institute for Civil Discourse and Democracy.

One of his topics considered debate versus dialogue.

Part of the difference, he suggested, is that debate assumes there is a right answer and that you have it. Dialogue assumes many people have pieces of the answer and together they can craft a solution. Fortyeight attended the event, and we tentatively set our next meeting time as March 30.

The appropriations committee worked through several budgets. We added dollars to the judicial branch to bring salaries of both staff and judges higher. Judges salaries have not been increased in several years. We will determine the final increase as the house and senate budgets come together.

A major topic of discussion was the transportation plan. Several committees and the department of transportation have worked extensively to determine a plan and priorities over the last year. The house appropriations committee made a few amendments to the department’s plan.

These included accelerating completion of existing T-works projects, determining that dollars need to be spread consistently across the entire state system and setting aside $5 million to help short line railroads and elevators with repairs to rail and sidings.

By the end of the week, the Covid 19 concerns had grown considerably. One outcome was having the house appropriations committee focus on passing a budget Friday. This was to make sure government functions could continue to operate should we need to shut down the legislature suddenly. The next steps are action among the full house and senate which will be our focus in coming days.

The education committee had a full week hearing several bills that came over from the Senate. We will begin taking action on those next week.

Tax committee also heard several bills. Many of them were related to local tax issues. We heard two bills from the senate and gathered more information on all their hard work relating to a new way to approach property taxes which I mentioned last week.

One enjoyable side note, I took a few minutes in the evening to join one of our security guards who will be retiring this month on his night rounds of the capitol.

Hearing the history he has observed in the building and having him point out details will make working there even more special. Next time you are in the capitol, ask me to point out something he showed me during this month!

The word for this week is gratitude. While we have great concerns, we also have a great deal for which to be thankful. Among many other things, I am thankful to live in this part of the world, especially right now!