Turkey hunting

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius will appear this week on “Turkey Country,” a hunting series produced by the National Wild Turkey Federation. The show will air at 9 a.m. today, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and midnight Friday on the Outdoor Channel, Sunflower Broadband Channel 146. The show features Sebelius, Kansas Secretary of Wildlife and Parks Mike Hayden and Rob Keck, chief executive of the National Wild Turkey Federation, as they hunted earlier this year in the Flint Hills Wildlife Refuge.

Mullins named leader of anti-tax group

Jim Mullins, former president of the conservative Kansas Republican Assembly and in November an unsuccessful Reform Party candidate for Kansas Senate, has become the local chapter leader of Americans for Prosperity-Kansas. The group opposes tax increases and supports a so-called Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights effort that would limit spending increases in state government to inflation plus population growth, and refund to taxpayers any revenue collected above that amount. Also, state officials would need approval from voters before imposing a tax or fee increase. Meanwhile, Kansas Action for Children put out a recent report opposing TABOR, saying it would restrict government’s ability to deliver needed services.

Vehicle registration fees may be increased

A proposal to increase vehicle registration fees $4 to pay for state parks and also give Kansans free admission to state parks has produced a lot of heartburn among some legislators. Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence, has asked for an attorney general’s opinion on whether the proposal is constitutional. Some question whether increases in vehicle registration fees can be used for anything but transportation. “This inquiry should help us understand whether we should proceed to debate this proposal on its merits or whether it’s simply out of constitutional bounds,” Schmidt said. He said he hoped to have a response from Atty. Gen. Phill Kline within a few weeks.

Today’s schedule

1:15 p.m.: Senate Public Health and Welfare, hearing on House Bill 2284, right to breast-feed

4 p.m.: Senate Ways and Means, discussion on gaming issues