Representative Marti Crow Kansas House of Representatives 41st District Home | Biography | Committees | Newsletters | Links | District Information | Email

Useful Information
 

Tax Information

Insurance Information

Stop Junk Mail and Phone Solicitation

Kansas Postsecondary Education Savings Plan

Useful Toll-Free Numbers

 

Dear Neighbors, I am using this page to inform you of useful information about state government and other useful information that I pick up as I serve as your State Representative. May through December, I can be reached by calling my home at 682-1544 or my office at 682-0166.  I will be going ver to Topeka a few days a month to serve on interim committees and the Joint Committee on Claims Against the State.  Please feel free to call me if you have concerns or questions, or if you need help dealing with a state agency. My home e-mail address is marticcb@lvnworth.com.  I am here to work for you, so do not hesitate to contact me. It is my pleasure and honor to represent you and work on your behalf in the Kansas legislature.

Tax Information:

Kansas Taxpayers can dial 1-800-259-2829 anytime, day or night, to get tax questions answered. A refund status hotline, 1-800-894-0318, can be dialed to find out when to expect your income tax refund. You can download Kansas tax forms straight from your computer. The address is http://www.ink.org/public/kdor.

The Kansas Insurance Department has a number of insurance booklets to assist you in addressing your insurance needs and answering your questions.

• The Health Insurance Guide includes information about individual and group health insurance coverages. It also contains information about long term care insurance, which insures against nursing home costs.
• Life Insurance Basics describes the basic types of life insurance plans, explains what happens when you apply for coverage, and gives easy to understand definitions for policy terms.
• Kansas Homeowners and Renters Insurance and Kansas Auto Insurance provide information on basic auto and property insurance coverages, examines factors that influence your insurance rates, and discusses discounts.
• The Department also publishes four shoppers' guides: Kansas Medicare Supplement Insurance Shopper's Guide, Kansas Auto Insurance Shopper's Guide, Long Term Care Insurance Shopper's Guide, and Homeowners and Renters Insurance Shopper's Guide. These guides compare the rates of different companies selling these types of insurance in Kansas.

For a free copy of these booklets, call the Insurance Consumer Hotline, 1-800-432-2484, or order one through the Kansas Insurance Department homepage at http://www/ink.org/public/kid.

You can also call the hotline with questions or complaints about insurance. The e-mail address for the Department is ksebelius@ins.wpo.state.ks.us.

Healthwave is a program for children in families with limited incomes to provide health insurance at little or no cost. To qualify, the child must:

• live in Kansas;
• be under age 19;
• live in a family with a monthly income under
• $1,809 for a family of 2,
• $2,275 for a family of 3,
• $2,742 for a family of 4,
• $3,209 for a family of 5,
• $3,675 for a family of 6;
• have no other health insurance; and
• live in a family which doesn't qualify for state employee insurance.

For more information or to apply, call Healthwave, 1-800-792-4292.  Kansans Covering Kids is another resource at http://www.kansascoveringkids.org.

You can stop many phone solicitations and junk mailings. Tell each unsolicited phone caller/seller that you want to be removed from their telemarketing list. Also, you can write to the following address and request that your name be removed from lists for national phone and mail marketers like catalogs, credit card offers, discount coupon offers, magazine subscription offers, and sweepstakes offers. Write to:

Mail Preference Servic
Direct Marketing Association
P.O. Box 9008
Farmington, NY 11735-9008

Within a few months, you should see a marked reduction in the junk mail and phone calls you receive. Your name will remain off the list for five years.

 
In 1999, the Kansas Legislature created a program to offer a tax-deferred way to invest for a child's education.  I served on the subcommittee of the House Education Committee that worked with the Kansas State Treasurer to design the legislation.  The program, sometimes called a 529 plan (for the section in the Internal Revenue Code), provides tax incentives to someone who wants to contribute to an education account.  It offers important advantages over other college investment plans.

• Up to $2,000 deduction from Kansas adjusted gross income per student account, per year.
• No state or federal income taxes on the growth of assets in the account until they are withdrawn.
• No income limits for those opening an account.
• Contributions for each student up to the average expenses of 5 years at a Midwestern institution ($127,000 for this year); no limit on the total account value.
• No federal gift tax on contributions for each student up to $50,000 per contributor per year.
• Withdrawals taxed at student's tax rate and only on earnings.

Contributions can be made beginning on July 1, 2000.  American Century in Kansas City will manage investments for the program and provide customer service.  American Century calls the program "Learning Quest."  Contributions to the account are made after-tax, so that portion of the withdrawal is not taxed.  Unlike some other investment options, the Kansas Postsecondary Education Savings Program allows you to maintain control over the assets of the account.

Anyone can open an account: parents, grandparents, sibblings, even the student who is saving his/her earnings.  Anyone can be named the beneficiary of an account, Kansas resident or not.  The only limitation is that withdrawals may not begin until two years after opening the account.  Students may attend any accredited university or college, or an approved vocational program, anywhere in the United States.

Account owners have the choice of three diversified investment portfolios, depending upon the level of risk:  aggressive, moderate and conservative.  American Century will tailor these portfolios to the number of years until the student needs the money for higher education.  The portfolios will be automatically rebalanced into more conservative investments as the student gets closer to using the account to pay expenses.

You can change the account beneficiary if the original student doesn't attend school or doesn't need the entire amount in the account.  The new beneficiary must be a family member of the first beneficiary or a penalty is assessed.  If the funds are not used for education expenses, you can take the money, but you will pay a penalty plus any required taxes.  There is no penalty if the withdrawal is due to the death or disability of the beneficiary.  If your student receives a scholarship for higher education expenses, you can withdraw an amount equal to the value of the scholarship without penalty.

For Information call 1-800-579-2203 or visit http://www.treasurer.state.ks.us/savings/index.ihtml or http://www.americancentury.com/services/types/ks_ed_savings.jsp

• Consumer Assistance 1-800-432-2703
• Consumer Product Fraud 1-800-424-5454
• Consumer Product Safety 1-800-638-2666
• Kansas Department on Aging 1-800-432-3535
• IRS Information & Counseling 1-800-432-1040
• Elderly Abuse Reporting 1-800-392-0210
• Child Abuse Reporting 1-800-400-8864, or 1-800-332-6378
• Older Kansans Employment 1-800-922-5330
• Green Thumb Program 1-800-362-0274
• Housing Discrimination Reporting 1-800-424-8590
• Social Security Benefits 1-800-772-1213
• Poison Control Center 1-800-332-6633
• Welfare Fraud Hotline 1-800-432-3913