GUEST COLUMN, Dave Trabert, Kansas Policy Institute

The Kansas Legislature concluded its work of the regular session last week amid considerable controversy over an assessment limit that would protect people from unaffordable property tax increases resulting from appraisal increases of 20 percent, 30 percent, or even higher.

Earlier in the session, the Senate passed a proposal establishing a 3 percent annual assessment limit, with a 2022 base year. The House passed an alternative approach using a rolling average of valuation changes over multiple years, with several key elements left for the Legislature to establish in the future, including when the rolling average would take effect and how many years to include in the average.

MY PERSPECTIVE, Gary Damron

Last week's article introduced political thought and practice in the English American colonies, but it was clear that differences existed between theory and reality, particularly in England. Aristocrats there controlled the monarchy and both houses of Parliament, while colonists were already developing a more democratic framework of government, with a focus on balance of power. Liberties fostered here in the new land stemmed from concepts among Englishmen over many years, but even today they're not practiced universally.

Earlier we talked about William Blackstone's "Commentaries on the Laws of England" and how his writings provided the first comprehensive, systematic treatise on English common law. His work was based on John Locke's theory of government, which was built on the 1689 English Bill of Rights.

GUEST COLUMN, J. Basil Dannebohm

The seven Democrats running against Roger Marshall combined have raised under a quarter of a million dollars. Political analysts estimate that whoever gets the nomination will need $32 million to even stand a chance. By the time the primary is over, having been campaigning against each other, those seven Democrats will have exhausted what little they raised. 

The race against Ron Estes will be no different. Analysts estimate that race will cost somewhere around $11 million.

GUEST COLUMN, Shannon Francis, 125th District Representative

Last week, I met Alexander Tah-ray Yui, who serves as ambassador from Taiwan to the United States. Ambassador Yui spoke with me briefly about the estimated $20 million investment Apogee Power, a Taiwan-based energy technology company, is making in Liberal by establishing its first U.S. battery manufacturing plant here. We also talked about the possibility of future complimentary investments by other Taiwanese companies in Liberal. Taiwan is very interested in expanding on their investments in the United States. Eli Svaty and the Seward County Development Corporation have done a great job building this relationship. Hopefully, there will be more new manufacturing businesses locating here in the near future as Taiwan expands investments in our country.