(Syndicated to Kansas newspapers July 20, 2015)
Wonder what’s coming at us from the next Kansas Legislature, when members of the House and Senate are going to be trying to think up things that will make us remember them fondly when it comes time to vote the following fall?
Well, the just-approved list of interim study committees which will meet this summer and fall may give us—and them—an idea of the support and the opposition to ideas that they’ll consider.
Interim committees, generally seven- to 11-member panels of representatives and senators, have dozens of topics to take a look at, and those committees make recommendations to the full Legislature for next session. There won’t be as many of those interim committees this year, to save money, but some of the issues that they’ll take a look at are intriguing. Oh, and some aren’t.
The concept: Those small panels look at ideas to see whether they should become bills for the upcoming session and to learn enough about the topics to make reasonable suggestions for those bills.