Owen Donohoe - Kansas State Representative 39th District

January 2009

Leadership in the Kansas House

Legislative Updates

Rep. Donohoe is working on four key committees in the Kansas legislature.

Before the 2009 legislative session began, we held leadership elections and Mike O'Neal of Hutchinson, Kansas was chosen as the Speaker of the House for this session. He replaces Melvyn Neufeld who was the Speaker for the last session. It is rather unprecedented that a new speaker would be chosen after two years but due to the dissatisfaction with leadership that many members felt after the last Session, Speaker Neufeld was challenged and subsequently lost his position. Ray Merrick was retained as Majority Leader and Arlen Siegfried was chosen as Speaker pro-tem, replacing Don Dahl who had retired.

Rep. Donohoe helps set policy on four committees

Last session I was on the Education Committee, Federal and State Committee and Economic Development and Tourism Committee. I anticipated that I would remain on those committees but few changes were ultimately made.

Initially I was on the Appropriations, Federal and State, and Economic Development and Tourism (as Vice Chairman) committees. Since most of the action in this session will be centered around the budget and that's what the Appropriations Committee deals with, it was decided that I should also serve on the Budget Committee which would give me additional insight into the budgetary process.

This committee conflicted with Fed and State timewise so I am no longer on the Fed and State committee. Economic Development and Tourism only meet twice a week this year so I was added to the Committee on Long-Term Aging which also meets two times a week. The bottom line is that I am on four committees this year, Appropriations, Gen. Budgetary, Economic Development/Tourism (Vice Chair) and Aging. I will have broad responsibilities as your representative on these key committees.

We are going to have to make the cuts to bring the current budget into balance and this is done in the Appropriations Committee. Obviously every interest group and state government department has told us that it is not possible to cut any more in their specific areas. Obviously many of you, my constituents, will be contacting me requesting that I do not vote for cuts in specific areas. Again, it is obvious that I cannot please everyone, but as I go forward and make those choices I will communicate the rationale employed to arrive at what I considered to be the best options.

I plan to publish updates on this website frequently so you can keep informed of my work in the legislature. I will provide additional resources and reference information that detail the issues. Please sign up for email updates and receive these updates via email.

Read more about state budget considerations for FY 2009 and 2010 >>