Stephen Morris

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Stephen Morris
Kansas State Senate District 39
Incumbent
In office
1993 - present
Term ends
January 14, 2013
Years in position 19
PartyRepublican
Compensation
Base salary$88.50/day
Per diem$123/day
Elections and appointments
Last electionNovember 4, 2008
First elected1992
Next electionNovember 6, 2012
Term limitsN/A
Education
Bachelor'sKansas State University (1969)
Military service
Service/branchUnited States Air Force Reserve
Years of service1974 – 1991
Service branchUnited States Air Force
Years of service1969 – 1974
Personal
BirthdayJanuary 4, 1946
Place of birthGarden City, Kansas
ProfessionOwner/Operator, S and B Farms
ReligionMethodists
Websites
Office website
Campaign website

Contents

Stephen Morris is a Republican member of the Kansas State Senate, representing the 39th District since 1993. He has been the President of the Senate since 2004. Previously, from 1977 to 1993, he was the President and Vice-President of the Unified School District 210 Board of Education.

Committee assignments

2011-2012

In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Morris has been appointed to these committees:

2009-2010

In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Morris served on these committees:

Issues

Sen. Morris does not list his issue positions on his website.

See: Stephen Morris's issue positions from Project Vote Smart

Recent legislation sponsored or co-sponsored by Sen. Morris includes:[1]

  • An amendment to create a budget stabilization fund[2]

Political positions

Debt negotiations

Morris is one of the members of a bipartisan group organized by the National Conference of Legislatures called the Task Force on Federal Deficit Reduction (TFFDR). Consisting of 23 state lawmakers from 17 states,[3] the group went to Capitol Hill on September 21, 2011 to urge the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to cut the nation's debt but not impose severe budget cuts on the states.

TFFDR urged the Committee to consider new revenue as a possibility, instead of just focusing on budget cuts as House Speaker John Boehner has proposed. The group specifically proposed passage of the "Main Street Fairness Act," which would allow states to tax online retailers.[4]

Education spending

Morris said one of the few options for legislators is to start cutting services that in the past had been off limits. In Kansas, about 85 percent of the state’s general fund budget is spent on education and Medicaid and another 6 percent goes to fund public employee pensions.

Morris said everything else is funded with the remaining 9 percent and many of those other functions, such as prisons, have very little flexibility.

Some cuts have been made in programs, including * Education, but deeper cuts are inevitable, Morris said.

“At least in the near term, we will see reduced levels of services in most states and most programs,” Morris said. “The economy is improving, but it hasn’t improved to the point where there’s very much difference.”[5]

Elections

2012

See also: Kansas State Senate elections, 2012

Targeted

Morris is one of eight Republican incumbents that the Kansas Chamber of Commerce Political Action Committee has targeted for defeat in 2012. It sees the eight incumbents as being impediments to private sector job creation and has made $1,000 donations and in-kind contributions to the Republican challengers.[6]

2008

On November 4, 2008, Morris was re-elected to the 39th District Seat in the Kansas State Senate with no opposition. [7] He raised $184,420 for his campaign. [8]

Kansas State Senate, District 39 (2008)
Candidates Votes Percent
Stephen Morris (R) 18,215 100%

Campaign donors

In 2008 Morris collected $184,420 in donations.[9]

Four of his largest contributors were:

Donor Amount
AT&T $2,250
Kansans for Quality Mental Health Services $2,000
High Plains Telecommunications $2,000
Kansas Association of Realtors $2,000

Scorecards

Kansas Economic Freedom Index

The Kansas Economic Freedom Index is a project of Bob Weeks, creator of the blog Voice For Liberty in Wichita. The purpose of the Index "is to identify Kansas legislators who vote in favor of economic freedom — and those who don’t."[10] Legislators receive a rating from 0-100 percent based on their votes on bills promoting economic freedom.

2010

Stephen Morris received a rating of 7% on the 2010 Kansas Economic Freedom Index.[11]

Recent news

This section displays the most recent stories in a google news search for the term Stephen + Morris + Kansas + Senate

All stories may not be relevant to this legislator due to the nature of the search engine.

Stephen Morris News Feed


External links

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References

Political offices
Preceded by
'' 		Kansas Senate District 39
1993–present 		Succeeded by
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President of the Senate
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