WAMEGO ? Wood and sawdust smells linger in the vacant spaces of 511 and 513 Lincoln Ave.

A few storefronts down, at the Columbian Theatre, a half-dozen women are reviewing paintings with “Wizard of Oz” themes and plans for exhibits of Oz memorabilia to be installed where the construction has started.

Lincoln Avenue will become — officially — “The Road to Oz.” Organizers hope the Marvelous Land of Oz Museum will open in October.

And if the Road to Oz ends at Interstate 70, an additional but equally official “Land of Oz,” will be in another corner of the state — Liberal, also to be known as the home of Dorothy, the heroine of the classic story.

A new law so designating Liberal, Lincoln Avenue and an additional 50 miles of Kansas 99 will take effect Tuesday, just one of numerous statutes legislators approved to change the lives of Kansans and their communities.

Museum organizers think the law will help lure Oz enthusiasts to Wamego, creating a new attraction and bringing tourism dollars to Kansas.

“The economic part of this in just our community is overwhelming,” said Jane Boys, project coordinator for the museum. “I just feel like it’s a boost to the entire area.”

Other new laws

Each July 1 puts into effect most of the new laws governors and legislators have conceived, and this year’s batch includes much of a package designed to keep the $10.2 billion state budget balanced through June 30, 2004.

One law says the governor can require Kansans to pay half of their property taxes in May next year, rather than in June. That change will temporarily inflate local governments’ property tax revenues — and pull $163 million to support public schools into the 2004 fiscal year, which also begins Tuesday.

Other legislation was intended to position Kansas to collect taxes on Internet purchases, should Congress allow. It requires merchants to collect retail sales taxes at the rate charged where their customers are located. A merchant in Colby delivering a package to Hays will be expected to remit the amount charged in state and local sales taxes in Hays.

Landlords who want to change lease agreements when they present notices to terminate those agreements will be required to include a statement — in bold type, at least 10 points in size — telling soon-to-be ex-tenants that they are not obligated to sign.

Driver’s license fees will increase, with the license for most Kansans older than 21 rising from $12 to $18.

Kansans will no longer be able to allege incompetence as grounds for recalling a public official, leaving as potential reasons failure to perform a legal duty or a felony conviction. Critics had complained the term “incompetence” was so broad that some officials faced recall elections because they made unpopular decisions.

Drunken drivers, even first-time offenders, will face the prospects of having a judge impound their cars for up to a year.

Yellow Brick Road

Amid the activity resulting in those new laws, supporters of the Oz museum in Wamego went to the Legislature to win the designation of part of K-99 as the Road to Oz. The designation starts at the junction of U.S. 36 and stays with K-99 as it runs through Marshall and Pottawatomie counties, through Wamego and to I-70.

Lawmakers enacted the new law to help the museum in Wamego get started, but the Legislature accommodated the existing attraction in Liberal and a 1996 decision to name U.S. 54 across southern Kansas the “Yellow Brick Road,” after the path Dorothy travels in Oz.

The first “Oz” book by L. Frank Baum tells the story of Dorothy, lifted by a tornado from Kansas into the magical land of Oz. It inspired the classic 1939 musical movie starring Judy Garland, as well as toys and other memorabilia.

If naming a highway seems a small change to many Kansans, it isn’t to supporters of Wamego’s new museum, where blank plywood dominates the interior but exhibit space is starting to take shape.

The museum plans to display items collected by a Kansas City-area resident over 40 years, Boys said. The museum’s business plan anticipates about 44,000 visitors in 2004.

“Oz people are like ‘Star Trek’ trekkies and will go anywhere to see anything new and Oz,” Boys said.