PLEASE DO WHAT YOU CAN TO STOP THIS…PLEASE….

At this very moment the House T&I Committee is debating legislation that would boost truck weights to 97,000 pounds for 6 axles and long doubles and triples up to 126,000 pounds in a committee hearing.

We think this is nuts. The only real beneficiaries will be the largest shippers and truckers – at everyone else’s expense. The committee vote could happen any minute now. The last time truck weights and lengths increased, by the time all the smoke had cleared, the federal taxes and fees paid by truckers had tripled. Plus, the taxes and fees you paid to states doubled.

Call your member of the House T&I committee right now and tell them to say NO to bigger and heavier trucks. They are voting within the hour. Please call your representative NOW!

SALINA – Kansas senior citizens could be required to purchase hunting and fishing licenses after this year.

For decades residents 65 and over have been exempt from the annual permits that currently sell for about $18, each.

At a Thursday meeting of the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism Commission, Chris Tymeson, the department’s attorney, said the agency will soon ask the legislature to remove the exemption.

Tymeson said the request is being made to insure continued funding for the agency as the average age of sportsmen continues to increase.

Those currently exempt would not be grandfathered in and would be required to pay no matter their age. Exemptions and reduced rates for landowners would continue.

As well as increased direct funding, the additional number of hunting and fishing licenses sold would qualify the department for more federal funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Currently federal excise taxes are charged at the sale of most hunting, shooting and fishing equipment. Those funds are distributed to states based on their number of hunting and fishing licenses.

The federal funds are often given on a matching basis of about 3 to 1. They currently pay for most of Kansas’ 1 million-plus acre Walk-In Hunting area program.

Tymeson had no figures about the number of hunters and anglers currently exempt from state licenses.

Mike Miller, Wildlife and Parks information chief, said the number is tough to track but added that since 2006 the number of Kansans 65 years old and older purchasing deer permits has increased 25 percent.

The department will also request Kansans 65 and older no longer get reduced rates or exemptions for state park fees, too.

Tymeson said the agency will seek legislative permission to create an annual vehicle “Kansas Park Passport” to be sold to residents when they annually renew their vehicle permits.

The passes would be optional and valid until the vehicle’s permit is renewed the following year.

In the past, Robin Jennison, department secretary, said if 10-percent of Kansans purchased the passes it could double park income.

With ideal legislative support, Tymeson said the agency would like to see the state park changes begin as early as July 1. The removal of exemptions for hunting and fishing licenses would begin in 2013.

He admitted things could change.

“What you start with and what you end with are often two different things,” Tymeson said.

Read more here: http://blogs.kansas.com/outdoors/#storylink=cpy

This must be stopped as the seniors are getting tired of carrying the ball because of bad leadership for this country. I have worked hard and paid taxes, bought licenses looking forward to this day and again you attempt to more or less tax us to death. Please do what you can to stop this bologna