Industry & League Updates
Kansas City Power & Light Electric Service Standards Changes for 2007
Effective March 1, 2007 on New Installations and Designs
Click Here for Details

The Electric League board of directors wanted to make you aware the League has been involved in the past with the following legislative bills affecting the electrical industry. Some of you may not be familiar with the results achieved in the past, so here they are:

SB 33 Prompt Pay Private Contracts 2005 Session *

SUMMARY: Eliminate egregious acts: prohibiting legal action, prohibiting filing of liens or bond claims, prohibiting subrogation your insurance company vs. theirs. Payment schedule owner to general 30 days; general to sub 7 working days; sub to supplier 7 days. Stop work if not paid with 7 day written notice. If court action required loser pays amount due, interest at 18%, court cost and reasonable attorney fee. Venue – county where project is located in Kansas.

SB 333 Prompt Pay Public Contracts 2007 Session *

SUMMARY: Same as above, plus no payment for delay clauses are void. Max retainage is 10%.

During the next legislative session, SB379 will be discussed. The bill is very simple and addresses the current practice of the owners and others requiring you to name them as additional insured’s on your auto and liability insurance. This transfers the risk of a claim from the upper tier contract participants to the lower tier participants. Your board of directors is currently evaluating the League’s participation in this piece of legislation.

If you have any comments about this piece of legislation or any other issues, please don’t hesitate to contact me or reply to this email.

Jane Male, CAE

Executive Director

816.561.5323

(posted 10-22-07)

Minimum Wage Increase - Signed Into Law (posted 6-22-07)
President Bush signed the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Care, Katrina Recovery & Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act on May 25, 2007. Attached as riders to this law are the Fair Minimum Wage Act and the Small Business & Work Opportunity Act.

The Small Business & Work Opportunity Act includes:
• An increase in the tax code Section 179 equipment expensing limit to $125,000 a year and the phase-out threshold to $500,000 through 2008 with indexing to inflation through 2010.
• A threee-and-a-half year extension of the work opportunity tax credit and waiver of alternative minimum tax limits on the credit.
• Six changes to subchapter S corporation rules including eliminating capital gains from sales or exchanges of stock as passive investment income.
• Allowing unincorporated businesses owned jointly by married couples to pay taxes as sole proprietorships.

The Small Business & Work Opportunity Act includes cost offsets as follows:
• Increasing from under 18 to under 19 the age at which a child’s unearned income in excess of $1,700 is taxed at the parents’ rate.
• Doubling to 36 months the time before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) must stop imposing fees and penalties on taxpayers who have not been noti-fied of a deficiency.
• Eliminating the requirement that the IRS conduct a collection due process hearing before issuing a levy on delinquent employment taxes.
• Changing the timing on corporate estimated tax payments.
• Permanently extending IRS user fees.
• Expanding tax preparer penalties.

Senate Bill 333 Is Now Law (posted 5-07)
The Electric League of MO & KS, along with other interested parties, supported this Act through letter writing and financial assistance. The League appreciates the hard work of Ken Keller, recently retired from Western Extralite, for his diligence in following this bill through. The League also appreciates his communication with the Board of Directors on the status of this bill while it was working its way through the various committees before being signed by Governor Sebelius into law. Ken Keller has submitted a summary of the SB 333 so League members are familiar with what transpired.

Summary of SB333 Kansas Fairness In Public Contract Act
• Rights and duties provided by this law shall not be waveable under the terms of the contract. This is important because if it is not stated in the law, then the terms of the contract will prevail in court and any other laws would be meaningless.

Legislative Committee
This committee tracks important legislation on both the state and national level. The committee actively works to promote favorable legislation for small business as well as blocking legislation that is detrimental to League members.

The Electric League needs the participation of its members. Members interested in serving on a committee are asked to contact the Electric League office.