05/11/01
In the last days of the Kansas legislature, one Kansas legislature
helped derail plans for saving several Kansas rail lines by adding a controversial
'1 cent gasoline tax' measure to a bill that would have aided Kansas
rail lines.
Sen Kerr (representing Reno county) effectively stopped the rail line
bill from being approved by attaching a controversial 1 cent gas tax to
the bill.
Sen. Ruth Teichman, R-Stafford, said shortline rail is critical to
many
farmers in her district. According to the Hutchison news, Kerr was
quoted as saying " the tax bill was used in political
leveraging, but he wasn't aware it was critical this year. He expected
lawmakers to study the tax-credit proposal during the summer.
The bill was one of Kansas's first moves in helping save the rail lines
that serve the rural areas of Kansas. The majority of the lines in
Kansas were to be abandon by the Central Kansas Railway (CKR), which
owned by OmniTrax. Recently, CKR had proposed a sale to
Watco Companies - which was seeking aid from the State of Kansas in the
form of tax credits and financial assistance. The measure offered
$500,000 in annual tax credits over 20 years for the retirement of bonds
issued to restore much of the 900 miles of Kansas & Oklahoma
Railroad Co. track.
According to Watco, since the bill did not pass, they now plan to
immediately abandon some lines - specifically Protection to Coats. Mr
Kerr replied ""I think they (Watco) should be extraordinarily
cautious about abandonment because it would send a very negative message
to the Legislature by doing that before they have given us a chance to
really study the issue," Kerr said. "I'm disappointed if
that's their message."
While 'spin' power may control the damage at a political level, the
removing of rail lines is permanent. Senate Minority Leader
Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, criticized Kerr for using the shortline bill
as a bargaining chip to get House members to vote for an addition to the
gasoline tax, which the House refused.
"The problem is there's a trading of votes, and rather than looking
at
issues on their own merits they get embroiled in politics," Hensley
said. The bill had heavy House support (120 to 3) but
never had a Senate vote because of Kerr's last-minute political
maneuvers.
Kerr was introducing the 1 cent gasoline tax as the same time as the
Federal government is considering reducing the 14 cents gasoline tax.
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