TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback signed legislation Thursday that is likely to shrink the civil service system for state workers, and lawmakers gave final approval to two major energy bills.
One bill would repeal a renewable energy requirement for the state’s utilities as part of a deal with wind energy companies to avoid a new tax. The other measure requires legislators to sign off on any plan from the state to comply with a new federal rule curbing carbon emissions from power plants.
The Senate also rejected a proposal to allow grocery and convenience stores to sell full-strength beer.
The new civil service law had strong support from Republicans who control the Legislature and embodies a proposal from the GOP governor’s administration. It takes effect July 1.
Here is a look at significant legislative developments Thursday:
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CIVIL SERVICE CHANGES
Under the measure signed by Brownback, newly hired state workers won’t be covered by the civil service system and current employees will be allowed to voluntarily move into non-civil service jobs. More than 30 agencies will be allowed to convert vacant positions to non-civil service jobs.
Supporters say the changes will put state agencies more in line with private industry and make it easier to tailor jobs to staffing needs. Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Julia Lynn, an Olathe Republican, said she expects employees, particularly younger ones, to embrace it.
“It modernizes our policies, especially for the millennial generation,” Lynn said. “They expect to be entrepreneurial in their jobs.”
Critics say many of the state’s 13,000 civil service employees will lose protections against being fired for political reasons or without cause.
“It is sure to reinstate the patronage system that the civil service rules were meant to eliminate,” said Democratic Sen. Laura Kelly of Topeka.
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RENEWABLE ENERGY DEAL
The House passed the renewable energy measure, 105-16, and the Senate approved it, 35-3.
The bill repeals a 2009 law requiring wind or other renewable resources to account by 2020 for 20 percent of each private utility’s capacity to generate electricity. The mandate would be replaced by a goal that utilities hit the mark next year.
Brownback had advocated for a deal between the wind energy industry and critics of the rule. He is expected to sign the bill.
Critics of the mandate agreed to drop a legislative proposal to impose a 4.33 percent tax on the electricity produced with renewable resources.
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EMISSIONS CONTROLS
The other energy bill is a response to a new rule from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency aimed at reducing power plants’ emissions of greenhouse gases linked to climate change. States that don’t submit a plan to the EPA will have a federal one imposed upon them.
The measure authorizes the state’s health and environment secretary to draft a plan for reducing such emissions, and it could include voluntary agreements with utilities.
But an 11-member legislative committee would have to approve the plan before the state could submit it to the EPA.
The votes to approve the bill were 121-1 in the House and 35-1 in the Senate.
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ALCOHOL SALES
The Senate voted 26-11 against adding a proposal to expand alcohol sales to a bill dealing with other changes in alcohol regulations, including one to allow it to be consumed at special events at the Statehouse.
Grocery and convenience stores in Kansas now can sell only beer with 3.2 percent alcohol. Stronger alcoholic drinks can be sold only in the state’s roughly 750 individually-owned liquor stores.
Liquor store owners have strongly opposed any expansion.
The bill passed on a 31-5 vote and now goes to the House.
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KANSAS UBER ALLIES
Uber announced earlier this month that it had ceased operations in Kansas after the Legislature overrode Brownback’s veto of regulations the company opposed.
But legislative negotiations continued over a new proposal.
Republican Sen. Jeff Longbine, of Emporia, and GOP Rep. Scott Schwab, of Olathe, their chambers’ leaders on the issue, announced a deal with all interested parties.
Uber and other ride-hailing companies would be allowed to have a private company - and not the state - do background checks on their subcontracted drivers. But they would face possible lawsuits from the attorney general if drivers were found to be operating with a criminal background.
Both chambers expected to vote on the deal Friday.
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Associated Press writer Nicholas Clayton contributed to this report.
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Online:
Kansas Legislature: https://www.kslegislature.org .
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Follow John Hanna on Twitter at https://twitter.com/apjdhanna .
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