Greetings! I am very excited to serve as your President for the next two years and I thank you for the opportunity to do so. With that being said, I apologize in advance for the length of this initial letter. However, I want to share with you the wide array of advocacy, activism, and social aspects of the organization that you are a part of. Trust me, such a lengthy letter will be an anomaly.
For those who have not joined us for Tuesday Topics, I extend a personal invite to you to join me along with our regular attending members on May 6. You will be in for a real informative treat as we hear updates from the staff of the Kansas Reflector. Tuesday Topics are always filled with interesting speakers and subjects from diverse areas of perspectives in our community.
Since transitioning to the president’s role in April (ironically, April Fool’s Day), I have certainly hit the platform moving full speed ahead starting with the submission of testimony in opposition of Evergy’s proposal to the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) requesting a $196.4 million (8.62%) rate increase for Kansas Central customers.
The LWVTSC supports continued wind and solar energy efforts of which there remains plenty, rather than building new costly infrastructure and gas plants. My sincere appreciation to our awesome Climate Study committee members for their diligence and effort in making this a targeted matter. Per the KCC’s website, a public hearing on this proposal will take place Monday, June 16 at 6 p.m. You may register to attend via Zoom and the Commission will accept written comments on the proposed rate changes, review the KCC’s Public Hearings and Comment Periods page (https://www.kcc.ks.gov/your-opinion-matters) for
details and to submit your comments.
All were invited to our Social meet and greet on April 6 and a wonderful time was had by all! Don’t worry, if you missed it, plans are underway soon to have another one. We will keep you posted. New members, current members, prospective members, families, and friends were all welcome to come and eat, drink, play games, and get to know each other! This is a great time to also extend a hearty welcome to our new members:
Susan, Bert, Kimberley, Irene, and Amy!
We are glad you have joined us and we look forward to working with you!
On April 9, our Climate Study lead and I attended and provided comments before the Citizen Governmental Review Committee as they worked to review the effectiveness of the city governance structure.
On April 10, the Vote 411 Terrific Trio of Jan Martens, Angel Romero, and Lissa Staley and their support crew from Topeka Voter Collaborative entertained visitors about creating voting plans and educated the public about upcoming local elections all while customizing voting buttons. If you haven’t seen how buttons are made, you need to add it to your list of things to do. The kids loved it as well as the adults. Many thanks to the Vote 411 crew and the awesome graphics.
On April 26, The State Convention meeting brought in newly elected board members. The League of Women Voters Topeka Shawnee County was well represented at state convention in Salina.
The SAVE Act was passed by the House and you are encouraged to contact your representative in Washington regarding their vote. Also, unfortunately, the Kansas legislators overrode the governor’s veto, eliminating the 3 day grace period for voters to mail in ballots. This option was available to Kansans since 2017 and quite honestly the defeat feels like a step back into the past decade. As many of you are aware, this has been a very active and
challenging legislative session.
I look forward to working with such a diligent league of voters carrying out the mission of the League. I am just as excited to work with a dedicated and worthy team. They include:
Teamwork makes the dream work.
Best regards,
Dr. Glenda Overstreet Vaughn
President
Legislative Session Resource. I encourage you to contact members of the Shawnee County legislative delegation, by phone or email, regarding proposed or passed legislation. Included below is their Statehouse contact information.
- Brenda Dietrich Room #223-E 785.296.7648Brenda.Dietrich@senate.ks.gov
- Rick Kloos Room # 418-E 785.296.7645Rick.Kloos@senate.ks.gov
- Patrick Schmidt Room #135-E 785.296-7372 Patrick.Schmidt@senate.ks.gov
- Kenny Titus Room #124-E 785.296.7656Kenny.Titus@senate.ks.gov
- John Alcala Room #173-W 785.296-7371 John.Alcala@house.ks.gov
- Jesse Borjon Room #512-N 785.296.7374Jesse.borjon@house.ks.gov
- Ken Corbett Room #187-N 785.296-7679 ken.corbet@house.ks.gov
- Kirk Haskins Room #43-S 785.296.7673Kirk.Haskins@house.ks.gov
- Kyle McNorton Room #561-W 785.296.7460Kyle.McNorton@house.ks.gov
- Tobias Schlingensiepen 785.296.7669 Room #174-W Tobias.Schlingensiepen@house.ks.gov
- Alexis Simmons Room #43-S 785.296.7632Alexis.Simmons@house.ks.gov
- Virgil Weigel Room #451-S 785.296.7104virgil.weigel@house.ks.gov
Furthermore, you may access the Kansas Legislative website at http://kslegislature.gov to review bill status and content, house and senate calendars and committee schedules. Through this website you may listen to or via video streaming follow committee hearings and General Session proceedings.
An additional resource is the State Library. You may access their services in the following ways:
- Phone:800-432-3919 or 785-296-2149
- Legislative Hotline: 800-432-3924
- Email: infodesk@ks.gov
- Download the Ask a Librarian app to your mobile device.
