Insurance fund surplus

The state employee health insurance fund has a reserve of approximately $200 million, which is the highest it has ever been, state officials said.

But Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ budget director Duane Goossen said that reserve isn’t a pot of money that can be used to cover other expenses during tight budget times.

He said the funds should be used to enhance insurance benefits for state employees. The reserve has built up over the past several years through the use of several cost-cutting strategies, such as increased drug utilization for treatments and purchasing generic drugs, he said.

Water bill flowing

A measure designed to keep Public Wholesale Water Supply District No. 25 from condemning land to obtain water rights is traveling through the Legislature.

State Sen. Roger Pine, R-Lawrence, has authored the bill at the request of several farmers in the Kansas River valley between Eudora and Lawrence who said they feared the fight for water would affect their operations.

The measure was sent back by the Senate to committee for further work, then approved by the committee and full Senate. It now goes to the House for consideration.

Wheat idea half-baked?

American Bakers Association has called for a temporary halt to the export of wheat because the price of wheat has reached record highs in recent months.

Not surprisingly, Kansas legislators, some of whom grow and sell wheat that ends up going overseas, like the high price and don’t think much of the bakers association’s proposal.

“I can’t think of a worse idea,” said Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton.

Wheat prices have been in the $12 per bushel range in recent weeks. Kansas, which is known as the Wheat State, produces approximately one-sixth of the U.S. wheat crop.

Kansas, Texas prisons

State Sen. John Vratil, R-Leawood, and Texas state Sen. John Whitmire, a Democrat from Houston, teamed up to write a column in the March 20 Washington Post that urged states to follow the lead of Kansas and Texas in getting control of the increasing prison population. The column also was published in Saturday’s Journal-World.

Both states have instituted programs that have been recognized nationally for reducing recidivism. The programs have focused on treating substance abuse and increasing local community corrections supervision. In Kansas, the number of inmates has actually decreased over the past several years.

The programs prove less expensive than building new prisons both in the short- and long-term, the lawmakers argue. “Rather than claiming new victims, these offenders have a decent shot at rejoining society, paying taxes and supporting their children,” the two legislators wrote. View the article by clicking here.

Quote of the week

“Where she leads me I will follow.”

– State Rep. Ted Powers, R-Mulvane, sung to the tune of a church hymn when urging House colleagues to follow state Rep. Sharon Schwartz, R-Washington, on her budget proposal.

What’s next

Several major issues will be debated in the House and Senate this week, including health care reform and immigration, although a definite schedule hasn’t been determined.

10:30 p.m. today: Senate Ways and Means Committee hearing on SB 660, proposing a statewide prohibition on smoking in indoor public areas, Room 123-South, Capitol.