Area lawmakers visit with Holton-area constituents

Tax cuts, special education funding and judicial reform were just some of the topics covered by local lawmakers during a legislative forum held Saturday morning at the Jackson County Courthouse meeting room. 

About 80 area residents were present to hear updates from Kansas Reps. Ron Ellis, Sean Willcott and Francis Awerkamp and Sen. Craig Bowser during a forum that was hosted by The Holton Recorder and lasted an hour and a half.

The forum started with each of the lawmakers introducing themselves and sharing some of the bills they had been working on since the start of the session.

Rep. Ellis, who locally represents Mayetta and Hoyt, is in his ninth year in the Legislature and reported on several bills he has co-sponsored this session, including a bill aimed at assisting veterans.

“If you are a 100 percent disabled veteran, you’d get a 75 percent break on property taxes,” Ellis said. 

He also discussed a bill that would not allow foreign ownership of land within 100 miles of a military institution.

Ellis is a member of the committee on health and human services, and the committee is sponsoring a bill that would expand the power of the inspector general to investigate reported abuse in state cash, food and health assistance programs.

He also said he’s in favor of House Bill 2159 that would create a grant fund to help law enforcement personnel purchase Narcan to treat opioid overdoses.

This is the first session for Rep. Willcott, who represents Nemaha, Brown and northern Jackson counties.

Sen. Bowser is serving his first year in the Senate and represents all of Jackson, Atchison, Brown, Doniphan and Nemaha counties, as well as portions of Jefferson, Leavenworth and Marshall counties. 

“Property tax reform is probably my number one issue,” Bowser said. 

He outlined three bills he’s working on to help with additional tax relief.

Senate Bill 10 would eliminate tax on certain personal property, including motorized wheelchairs, side-by-sides, snowmobiles and motorized bikes.

The senate is also looking at passing a bill that would discontinue a 1.5 mill state property tax which helps state universities maintain their buildings. 

For more on this and other stories, please log in to your holtonrecorder.net account and select "Feb. 26, 2025" under "E-Editions."