1) 2007 Legislature in Session

The Kansas Legislature is back in session! LKM will keep you updated and informed through this weekly email newsletter and through occasional alerts. It is important that city officials follow the happenings in Topeka and weigh in when you see issues that are of interest to your community. In addition, we hope that you will consider joining us for City Hall Day at the Capitol on Thursday, January 25th. For more information about City Hall Day or the Legislature in general, go to our website at www.lkm.org and click on the “Legislative” link.

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2) SB 20 Places Costly Mandates on Water and Sewer Utilities

308 cities will be impacted by Senate Bill 20. This proposed piece of legislation would mandate participation in the Kansas One-Call program for all water and sewer utilities. One-Call is the State’s call before-you-dig program for underground utilities. This bill will be considered by the Senate Utilities Committee at 9:30 a.m. on January 18, 2007 in Room 526-S of the State Capitol.

Currently, membership in One-Call for water and sewer utilities is voluntary. However, this bill would force your city to join the program and bear all the costs associated with membership. These costs would include:

• All costs associated with locating existing water and sewer lines and producing a reliable map for locate requests.
• A yearly $25.00 membership fee.
• A $1.14 charge every time the One-Call Center receives a request from within your jurisdiction to support overhead of the system.
• Additional staff time and equipment costs associated with locating and marking underground water and/or sewer lines when requests are made to the One-Call Center. This cost is estimated by existing voluntary members at approximately $15 per locate.
• The legislation would significantly reduce the liability of excavators that damage water and sewer lines. This would result in the costs associated with damages to be passed on to utility ratepayers.

In most jurisdictions that are not already voluntary members of Kansas One-Call system, the cost of complying with this mandate will far exceed the annual damage caused by excavation.

Action requested: It is important that city officials who are interested in this issue contact members of the Senate Utilities Committee and ask them to oppose SB 20. Even if your Senator is not a member of this Committee, we request that you contact Committee members and let them know your position on this issue.

Members of the Senate Utilities Committee:

For more information on this issue, please contact Kim Winn at kwinn@lkm.org or Mark Tomb at mtomb@lkm.org or by phone at (785) 354-9565.

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3) City Hall Day at the Capitol to be Held Thursday, January 25

LKM’s City Hall Day at the Capitol is an annual event designed to increase the visibility of local government issues. Now in its sixth year, the event will feature speeches by legislative leaders and Governor Kathleen Sebelius has been invited to participate as well. The event will also include a legislative lunch, exhibits in the Statehouse highlighting various cities, and the announcement of the winners of the "If I Were A Mayor..." Youth Essay Contest.

City Hall Day participants can also use the opportunity to meet personally with their legislators, while others will testify in Legislative committees regarding issues important to local government.

There is still time to register for this important event. A brochure about this event can be found at www.lkm.org/register/cityhallday/2007-city-hall-day-brochure.pdf. To register, please go to www.lkm.org/register/cityhallday/2007cityhalldayreg.aspx. The event costs $25 and includes lunch.

We hope that you will use this opportunity to see state government in action and take time to visit with your legislators about issues that are important to your community.

Presentations will include briefings by legislative leaders and League staff beginning at 9:30 a.m. and ending by noon. Lunch will be provided from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the State Capitol in Topeka in the first floor rotunda.

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For a PDF Version of the League News, Click Here