Pub. 4 2015 Issue 2

l e a d i n g a d v o c a t e f o r t h e b a n k i n g i n d u s t r y i n k a n s a s 10 KBA’S HAROLD A. STONES PUBLIC AFFAIRS CONFERENCE K BA CHAIRMAN KELLY MASON WELCOMED over 100 Kansas bankers to the Topeka Country Club for the 2015 Harold A. Stones Public Affairs Conference on Wednesday, February 4, 2015. During the conference, the 2014 Bank Leaders of Kansas (BLOK) class received recognition for completing the BLOK training regimen and were presented the traditional BLOK award from Chairman Mason. The 2015 BLOK class attended the conference as a segment of their first training session of the year long program. Special guest James Ballentine, Executive Vice President Congressional Relations and Political Affairs for the American Bankers Association greeted Kansas bankers and discussed industry changes over the past five years. He cautioned bankers about expecting too much from this new Congress and added that he believes they will take a steady approach to address banking issues but probably won’t be able to make drastic changes. Ballentine stated that he believes this Congress understands business and will work to reconcile old regulations prior to creating new ones. Ballentine stated that one of ABA’s top priorities at the federal level in 2015 is to address liability issues and reimbursement costs associated with security breaches. He added that ABA will also continue to press for Congressional oversight hearings for the Farm Credit System. Jonathan Williams, American Legislative Exchange Council, gave a talk titled “Rich States, Poor States and the Kansas Uprising.” The presentation outlined the movement of people and capital based on reporting from the IRS over a 15 year period. According to Williams, the number one reason people move from one state to another is job opportunity and the highest in-migration states were Texas, Florida and North Carolina, all of which have no state income taxes. He referenced Kansas as a flash point in the ongoing national debate between states with lower income taxes and smaller state government and higher tax states with rapidly growing state governments. Williams closed his talk by sharing that Kansas currently ranks 2nd in the region, only behind Colorado, with strong economic growth indicators, including positive private-sector job growth. Following lunch, attendees heard from a legislative panel focused on state budget and banking issues that included Senate Ways & Means Committee Chair Senator Ty Masterson; Senate Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee Chair Senator Jeff Longbine; House Appropriations Committee Chair Representative Ron Ryckman, Jr.; and House Financial Institutions Committee Chair Representative Pete DeGraaf. The dominant topic outlined by the respective budget committee chairs was the state revenue shortfall. State revenues falling woefully short of estimates made back in November of 2014, coupled with dramatically rising costs associated with funding K-12 education and the state’s portion of Medicaid, have created big challenges for the state legislature this year. Senator Masterson shared that state agencies have already received across the board funding cuts to help address the budget shortfall, but indicated that additional cuts will be needed to balance the FY-2016 budget they are just now beginning to work on. Senator Masterson and Representative Ryckman both outlined the proposed BLOCK Grant funding proposal for K-12 and expressed the need for this action to allow the legislature time to address flaws in the current school funding formula that now reward affluent school districts while penalizing others. Senator Longbine and Representative DeGraaf discussed the Office of the State Bank Commissioner’s state banking code recodification proposal that will soon surface in the form of legislation. They also agreed that it would be unwise to consider modifications to the Uniform Consumer Credit Code governing payday lending issues, when the Consumer Financial Protection Board is expected to announce new federal standards for payday lenders later this year. Doug Wareham, KBA’s EVP –Government Relations, provided bankers with an update on KBA’s state legislative priorities including legislation designed to address frivolous patent claims and the need to protect the OSBC from fee sweeps during this difficult state budget year. Following Wareham’s comments, conference attendees transitioned to the Statehouse where they were addressed by Governor Sam Brownback. The Governor highlighted his recommendations for addressing the state revenue shortfall and expressed his continued support for the income tax reductions that he believes will put Kansas on a long-term path for economic growth and prosperity. The Governor acknowledged that resetting Kansas tax policy hasn’t been easy, but necessary for Kansas to compete with other states for jobs and capital. Following the Governor’s address, bankers were given the opportunity to call on their respective state legislators and discuss KBA’s legislative agenda. The action-packed day concluded with a special legislative reception for bankers and state legislators at the Topeka Country Club.