FROM THE GALLERY
State Legislation

Last week was fairly slow at the Kansas Legislature due to the Easter break. It was a welcome respite for all of us, including the legislators, I am sure. The next two weeks will be the time for committees to finish their work and then on to the floor debates which come hot and heavy in the last days---last year the massive gambling bill (84 pages) seemed to drop out of the gallery onto the desks of the legislators during those last days of the session. Incredibly, the bill passed without any committee hearings so it is time to double up the prayer efforts and the citizen lobbying. The legislators want to get home with their families, and the strain of the past months will be taking its toll so don't let up on your prayers. They need your prayers for strength and wisdom to resist the pressures that inevitably will be brought upon them, and they need your encouragement. Don't slack off on your Encourage-A-Legislator postcards. They also need your polite input on the issues you find important. The old saying that you will catch more flies with honey than with vinegar is an apt one during these last harried days of the session.

Abortion
House Substitute for SB 389, CARA, passed the House last week with a veto-proof majority; it now moves to the Senate. Several House members voted for the bill this time, but there is no guarantee that they will again if the governor vetoes the bill. This often happens; the legislators can tell their constituents they voted "pro-life" on the bill, but fail to mention they did not vote "yes" when it came time for an over-ride of the veto. It can be a clever smoke screen to insulate the legislators from public censure. You need to contact your legislator, thank them for their yes vote and urge them to continue to vote yes. Democrats voting against the bill: Ballard, Carlin, Davis, Dillmore, Faust-Goudeau, Flaharty, Flora, Garcia, Goyle, Hawk, Henderson, Holland, Kuether, Lane, Loganbill, Mah, McCray-Miller, McLachlan, Menghini, Neighbor, Rardin, Ruiz, Sawyer, Storm, Tietze, Treaster, Trimmer, Ward, and Winn. Republicans voting no: Gordon, Hill, Huntington, Johnson, Pottorff, Quigley, Roth, Sloan, Spalding, Kay Wolf and Worley.

The bill is currently in a conference committee. It could come up for a vote in the Senate anytime. It is imperative that you call your senators and ask them to support this sensible bill that protects women seeking an abortion as well as strengthening the enforcement of current law.

Talking Points: (Excerpted from Kansans For Life's Information Sheet) As you can readily see, this bill tightens up enforcement of already-existing abortion law in Kansas while adding safeguards for women seeking abortions and protecting under-age teens from those who sexually abuse them and try to cover up the crime by abortion.

Action: Let your senator know that you want him/her to support this bill. Other bills may come to the forefront but this bill is comprehensive and sensible. There is NO reason not support it.

Immigration:
The House Federal & State Affairs Committee advanced House Substitute for SB 329 last week that would add the following reforms according to the bill sponsor, Rep. Lance Kinzer (R-Olathe). A few of these reforms:
The other bill that remains alive is Substitute for SB 458.

Sexually-Oriented Business:
A bill that would limit sexually-oriented businesses HB 2835 was heard in the House Federal & State Affairs Committee this past week. Phillip Cosby, executive director of the Kansas City office of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families testified:

"Chairman Siegfried and honorable members of the Fed & State Affairs Committee, my name is Phillip Cosby. I am a native of Kansas and currently the Executive Director for the Kansas City office of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families. I am honored to have the privilege to speak to you in support of HB 2835 "The Sexually Oriented Business Act".

"These past five years I have spoken to thousands of Kansans concerning the deleterious effects of Sexually Oriented Businesses (SOB) in our communities. Today I am providing each of you summations of negative secondary effect studies of forty-two cities. With these summations is a CD containing 1,500 pages of detailed court recognized studies of twenty cites and in addition twenty-two court cases all awarding municipalities the right to regulate and reduce negative secondary effects. Deleterious effects which constitute a harm which the State has a substantial government interest in preventing and/or abating.

"Two famous examples, among dozens are (1) the cleaning up of NYC's Times Square and the subsequent decrease in crime and increase of tourism, and (2) the current reputation of Atlanta, Georgia, as the sex trafficking capital of the US. These are not my words but the words of Atlanta's current mayor, Shirley Franklin. (Atlanta Journal- Constitution March 21st 2007) Strip clubs promised Atlanta, Georgia, prosperity as they expanded to accommodate the International Olympics. What Atlanta inherited was a series of strip clubs that breed prostitution and sex trafficking or sexual slavery. Sex trafficking has now become the international #2 moneymaker for organized crime, right behind illegal drugs.

"The evidence of harm is not anecdotal; the lawful regulation of the sex industry is based on real negative effects on communities and has been constitutionally upheld for thirty years. (Reference attachment) Those documented effects are primarily increased crime, increased STD's, blight, property devaluation, prostitution, human trafficking and drug trafficking. One judge recently commented in his ruling 'it is not just the evidence of negative effects, it is common sense.'

"We all sense it. Every day the news reports the latest story of abductions, molestations, human trafficking, solicitations, fantasy driven rape and murder. Our sense of safety and innocence is evaporating. When you and I were in grade school, we played freely with our friends on any Saturday in our neighborhoods and beyond. Our parents did not have to be unduly fraught with concerns for our personal safety. The rule generally was when those street lights come on you better be home. Those days of experiencing such freedom and safety have long since gone for today's children. Outside of organized and supervised sports where are those groups of playful youngsters today?

"Today's parents and communities in general are overwhelmed or intimidated by an industry that boasts that their annual U.S. revenue is greater that ABC, NBC & CBS combined. The SOB's profits are greater that all combined professional sports, football, baseball and basketball.

"Many counties in Kansas are not zoned, and multiple communities in Kansas have no zoning in place to protect themselves. SOB's often open up in unprotected rural areas along the interstate system or cities and boldly declare that there is nothing the community can do, and if they try, they will be sued and bankrupt. This intimidation more often than not works. Constitutional SOB zoning law is not an area many smaller city and county attorneys are familiar with or are confident to tackle. SOB's behave like water seeking the lowest level; if a community is fortunate enough to be protected by a sound constitutional ordinance, that SOB will seek out and ambush a weaker target.

"Legislative bodies on many levels are behind the curve in recognizing and reacting to the cause and effect relationship of the sex industry and its related negative secondary effects. These brick and mortar sex businesses may be the tip of the iceberg of a larger problem of accessibility to pornography and obscenity, but at least it is a place the courts have driven a stake that you can make a constitutional stand and begin to address this growing public safety and health issue.

"Now we are inundated with internet and new mobile technologies that eclipse the printed page. As wonderful as technology is in its application it is equally fearsome in its ability to quickly dispatch innocence and act as a catalyst fueling fantasy driven criminal behavior. I believe there is much work to do to in providing protection from this predator but such action is necessary at the Federal government level, and it seems paralyzed to do so. If the state legislature is truly the furnace where good public policy for a nation is forged and tested, let be so in Kansas.

"This is a real pocketbook issue; in Kansas one third of the inmates are incarcerated for sexual crimes at a cost of $30,000 per prisoner annually. As a matter of KDOC policy and common sense, inmates are not provided with sexualized materials. You cannot raise enough taxes, build enough prisons and buy enough ankle bracelets for this tsunami. Last week the Center for Disease Control reported that 26% of teen girls are now infected with a sexually transmitted disease. The list of STD's has grown to over twenty- nine. What we have ladies and gentlemen is an epidemic, and we must act.

"Just this week USA today released this story; "USA TODAY: A growing number of cities and counties are using zoning, licensing regulations and other techniques to discourage strip clubs without running afoul of the businesses' First Amendment rights."

"This ordinance model was provided by one of the most successful constitutional SOB ordinance attorneys in the nation. That attorney's name and contact information is Law Office of Scott D. Bergthold, P.L.L.C. 8052 Standifer Gap Rd. Suite C Chattanooga, TN 37421. 423.899.3025 Office 423.899.3029 Fax 423.802.9459 Cell."

As you can see, there are many issues still at stake in the Kansas Legislature. Do not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we shall reap a harvest, if we do not lose heart. (Galatians 6:9)

Concerned Women for America of Kansas
P. O. Box 11233
Shawnee Mission, KS 66207
Phone/Fax: 913-491-1380
Email: director@kansas.cwfa.org
Web site: kansas.cwfa.org