5/7/2008
SARAH KESSINGER
TOPEKA - Defying another possible veto, the Kansas Legislature sent the governor a third bill Wednesday seeking to build two, coal-fired power plants.
    The measure, however, continues to lose support in the chamber. This version of the bill, which was added to legislation with other economic development measure, drew a 76-48 vote.
    That's eight votes short of the necessary 84 votes the chamber would need if leaders later attempt to override a governor's veto.
    Gov. Kathleen Sebelius vetoed two earlier bills to build the plants. Similar to those, this latest bill would also strip the secretary of health and environment of his authority to regulate carbon dioxide.
    Critics said an environmental regulator's authority in a bill considered an economic development measure was a violation of the Kansas Constitution's requirement that bills have a single topic.
    "I'd expect the governor to veto this bill, too," said Tom Thompson, lobbyist for the Kansas Chapter of the Sierra Club.
    But advocates of the measure said they felt it did conform with state law and would withstand a challenge.
    "This is that important to Kansas," said Rep. Kenny Wilk, R-Lansing.
    The Senate passed the bill Tuesday and House passage Wednesday now forwards it to the governor's desk.
    Yet Sebelius agreed that serious questions exist about the measure's constitutionality.
    Sebelius said the other provisions of the bill should have been sent to her as individual bills. Those included a bond issue for a new intermodal warehouse hub in Johnson County, tax incentives and other direct incentives for corporate expansions in Kansas, including a possible wind turbine factory in Shawnee County.


For more on this story, see Thursday's Salina Journal.