Governor Mark Parkinson

June 25, 2009 at 2:17 p.m.

Micheal thanks much for this question.

I know first hand the challenges presented by autism. Our long time business partner has a grandchild who is autistic and has worked hard on behalf of her grandchild. Thanks so much for your leadership in creating this coalition and bringing the issue to the forefront of our legislators.

The issue with insurance mandates is always costs. The question that legislators will ultimately ask themselves is how much this will increase the cost of insurance for everyone. Provided that the increased cost is modest, I suspect you will have a good chance in moving this forward.

Great ideas often take time. So, don't be discouraged by your progress so far. Often getting legislation passed is a multi-year process.

I have not had an opportunity to sit down with you or anyone else from the coalition to discuss the costs of the mandate. Provided that they were modest and help would be provided to children who suffer from autism, I would be inclined to be supportive. But, without specific information I can't make a commitment at this time.

Thanks again for your work.

Mark

Governor Mark Parkinson

June 25, 2009 at 2:21 p.m.

This is a question that we are getting from many Kansans, so I'm glad that you asked it.

First, let me say that everyone that submitted their state taxes on time and without any mistakes has already received their refunds.

Unfortunately, there are still some Kansans who have not received their refunds. Our fiscal year ends next Tuesday and shortly after that I will go to the State Finance Council and ask for certificates of indebtedness. I anticipate that this request will be approved and we'll be able to send out the remaining tax refunds in early July.

I apologize that you have had to wait.

Mark

Governor Mark Parkinson

June 25, 2009 at 2:26 p.m.

Great question. As you know we will redistrict our four Congressional seats, 40 State Senate seats, and 125 State House seats after the 2010 census. The good news is that our population has increased so I anticipate that we'll hold on to all of our four Congressional seats.

We absolutely have to take the politics out of redistricting. There are some issues that are so important that we really need to minimize the impact of politics as we evaluate them. The basic right of Kansans to be fairly represented is certainly one of them.

I'm pleased to report that there seems to be bi-partisan support to do all we can to take the politics out of this process. I hope the momentum for this continues and that after the redistricting following the 2010 census, all Kansans are in districts based on logical reasoning and not political convenience.

Mark

Governor Mark Parkinson

June 25, 2009 at 2:33 p.m.

I certainly agree with your observation that many people are hurting right now. This is a really tragic time and I know that people are losing their jobs, their homes, their health insurance, and are worried about their retirements.

Given that I certainly do support the stimulus plan. Without it we wouldn't have been able to balance our budget without crippling vital state programs. And we wouldn't have been able to announce four major state highway projects that are already beginning construction. The recovery act will also result in additional payments for the unemployed, new energy efficiency programs, and many other positive benefits for Kansans. So, I really don't understand the Governors who have wanted to turn the money away.

As far as health care I know that we need to reform our current system. We spend more money per person than any other country on health care and yet our life expectancy trails many countries. We also have 47 million persons who don't have insurance. We need change and I'm closely following the federal debate.

Thanks for the question, Mark

Governor Mark Parkinson

June 25, 2009 at 2:38 p.m.

The worst thing that we can do is panic. Panic causes poor decisions and I assure you that we will make our decisions calmly and after reviewing all of our options.

Raising taxes is not a good thing to do in a recession because it drains money from the system at a time when the system needs money flowing to keep the economy going. That's why I'm pleased that we were able to balance our budget, even with all the challenges, without raising taxes.

I'm also pleased that over the last 20 years we have lowered many taxes at the State level and are now consistently rated as one of the top States in the country to do business in.

There may come a time when revenues are so bad at the state level that we have to look at raising taxes. We are no where near that point yet. I'm hopeful that we won't get there and it will be our option of last resort.

Thanks, Mark

Governor Mark Parkinson

June 25, 2009 at 2:45 p.m.

Thanks for asking about the blog. This is something I've wanted to do for a long time and I'm pleased that we are finally getting it going.

The purpose of the blog is to give people and inside look at what it's like to be Governor and a more in depth discussion of policy issues that we face. We'll also have some input from staff and Cabinet Secretaries that should be interesting.

One fact you may find interesting is that we normally have 4,000 visits a day to our web page. On Monday, the day the blog started we had 11,000 visits! Incredible.

I've received lots of input that to be a real blog we need to make it interactive. We're looking at that possibility right now. I would love to know what people are thinking but we have to balance that with the very real fact that there are inappropriate postings all over the web. We're trying to figure out if there is a way to make the blog interactive and still keep it at least PG rated.

Mark

Governor Mark Parkinson

June 25, 2009 at 2:49 p.m.

As part of the recovery act the Federal Government did not give the states money for this category. There may be money available from the federal government and the two web sites that you should visit are recovery.gov and grants.gov

Another federal agency to talk with is the Small Business Administration. One area where loan volume has stayed pretty steady has been SBA loans.

Good luck with your business idea. I hope that you get it going and that it is a success!

Mark