by Rachel Mipro, Kansas Reflector
December 18, 2023
TOPEKA — Citing the need to inform Kansans of legislative action through snail mail, lawmakers recommended more money be allocated for their printed newsletters.
The increase could cost the Legislature an additional $875,000 in funding.
During Monday’s meeting, lawmakers on the majority-Republican Legislative Coordinating Council Committee voted to approve the allocation, following August debate.
“I know that every time I send out a physical newsletter, I’m paying $500, $600 dollars,” said Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Blake Carpenter, R-Derby. “I know that not everybody has that in their campaign accounts, and that’s just a fraction of my district. I would imagine hopefully that this will allow us to be better senators and representatives.”
As it stands, the recommendation would provide a newsletter allotment of $6,000 for representatives in the fiscal year 2025, with $18,000 set for senators. The new amount combines postage and printing costs and marks a significant increase from previous allotments — in fiscal year 2024, state representatives were allocated $1,439 for postage, and senators were provided $4,317 in postage. The 2024 printing allotment was set at $1,000 for representatives and $3,000 for senators.
The appropriation will be included as part of a legislative budget, so final approval will come after budget debate in both chambers during the upcoming legislative session.
Because many lawmakers have changed to electronic communication, such as emailed updates, only an estimated half of lawmakers — about 80-85 each year — send out printed newsletters.
If all lawmakers used their allotted newsletter funds in the current system, it would cost the Legislature an estimated $600,000 per year. The increase would cost the Legislature about $1.5 million. That would mean an additional $875,000 if everyone used the allocation.
Committee Republicans said the increase was needed so that legislators could send all households in their district updates on the legislative session. When asked if this new allocation would actually be enough to cover the costs of sending mail to all households in legislative districts, Tom Day, director of Legislative Administrative Services, said he couldn’t answer the question, but he felt the amount would cover almost all households.
“It may not be everyone but it’s pretty close,” Day said.
Rep. Vic Miller, D-Topeka, one of two Democrats on the committee, said he objected to in-committee action on the raise.
“First of all, I think the public deserves more notice than what’s been given on an item of this magnitude,” Miller said. “Secondly, I don’t know any reason why this decision should be made by this limited number of legislators, when we’re talking about impacting every one of the legislators. I think this is the kind of item that ought to be included during the regular course of the Legislature and there is time to do it.”
Committee Chair and Senate President Ty Masterson called Miller’s concerns off topic.
“I think it’s considerably off base,” Masterson said. “That’s the reason to have the approval at this level at this time because we’re going through an entire legislative session after that, and it won’t even be implemented until July 1 and effective until January of 2025.”
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