Chamber Policy Position Member Engage Elected Officials | Government Relations The Voice of Business The greatest expense for most businesses, after compensating employees and covering their benefits, is the cost associated with taxes and government regulations. The Chamber's number one government affairs goal is to successfully advance the business interests of the state's largest metro area. Providing a business friendly environment so your company is positioned to grow is critical and during the legislative session, the Chamber aggressively puruses legislative priorities that benefit our members. The Chamber provides you candidate and issue education, and numerous opportunities for you to interact with elected officials. The political connections of the business community foster strong economic growth and cultural growth. Every business owner needs to be proactive and tell elected officials what is important to his or her business. The Chamber provides the best opportunity to make the connection. 2010 Legislative Initiatives The Legislative Agenda of the Wichita Metro Chamber this year is to keep Kansas competitive and business friendly. With the addition of our new lobbyist, former representative Jason Watkins, we intend to aggressively pursue legislative priorities that benefit our members. We all understand the critical budget situation our state faces and we also understand that many policymakers in Topeka are looking to raise taxes. We know that raising taxes will not benefit our business members, so our first priority for 2010 is our belief that we must hold the line on taxes. We want the Wichita metro region and Kansas to be competitive and business friendly and we can’t do that with increased taxes. The elimination of certain tax exemptions and credits would in effect be a tax increase. At this time, our businesses cannot afford any increase in taxes -- layoffs, earnings and state tax receipts certainly reflect this truth. Second, we are in support of the Unified Legislative Agenda – as usual, it includes issues critical for our region. A couple of issues included are continued funding for NIAR, NCAT and Affordable Airfares. NIAR and NCAT are critical to our aerospace industry – a huge resource for our state. Despite layoffs, the aviation manufacturing cluster still employs thousands of Kansans and still contributes over 20% to the State General Fund. Affordable air service to Wichita is absolutely essential to all business operations. Without affordable air service we lose not just large employers, but we also lose the up and coming high growth employers that will sustain our future. The Affordable airfares program has provided a $105 million return on investment over the past four years to the State General Fund. During this time, the state has invested $20 million and for every dollar invested the state receives $5.25 back. Finally, we want to ensure that our region receives equitable funding for economic development projects. The Chamber, Visioneering Wichita and REAP (Regional Economic Area Partnership) have provided a brief Economic Development Report for our south central Kansas legislative delegation. There is a huge disparity in what South Central Kansas contributes and receives for economic development projects compared to other regions in the state. The Chamber intends to work together with our legislators to address and remedy this problem. 2009 Chamber Legislative Initiatives Support for Unified Legislative Agenda
Economic Development
Taxation
2009 Legislative Summary South Central Kansas Legislators Work Hard in Tight Budget Year By the last quarter of 2008, we knew that 2009 was going to be a tough year. We all knew that the legislature would face difficult budgetary decisions. In light of that fact, we are thankful for the legislative accomplishments that have a direct impact on south central Kansas. For the past four years, the Visioneering Wichita Unified Legislative Alliance has provided the Unified Legislative Agenda or ULA which includes key community issues with benchmarks that affect job growth, education and per capita income. Two critical infrastructure components, key to the future of our region’s aerospace industry, were included on the ULA. We are happy to report that this year, the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University will receive nearly $5 million and the National Center for Aviation Training at Jabara will receive $2.5 million. To insure our future physician pipeline, our legislators also worked hard to get $3.5 million for the Wichita Center for Graduate Medical Education with the potential for additional federal funds. The City of Wichita will receive $600,000 for the innovative Aquifer Recharge project. As you all know, Wichita’s Mid-Continent Airport is the state’s largest airport and it has succeeded in providing affordable and convenient service for three-fourths of the state, as well as parts of northern Oklahoma. Once again this year, our legislators worked hard to keep the Affordable Air Fares program funded at $5 million. Affordable Air Fairs is a proven economic development program that has demonstrated a defined fiscal benefit for our entire state. We know if we lose our low-cost carriers, travel expenses for us all will increase dramatically – both from a leisure as well as a business standpoint. We appreciate the support of our legislators to continue to oppose increases in business taxes that would negatively impact the competitive environment in Kansas. Also, efforts to continue to support the planned phase outs of the franchise tax and estate tax are deeply appreciated. These are all amazing accomplishments in a tight budget year. |  |
