Economic Lifelines is excited to bring you a presentation from Senator Mike Petersen and
Representative Shannon Francis
on Thursday, October 17th
The Economic Lifeline’s October membership meeting provides an early glimpse of the 2025 legislative session and possible topics related to infrastructure funding and transportation policy. We are honored to have both transportation chairs join us for this session, House Committee on Transportation Chair Shannon Francis and Senate Committee on Transportation Chair Mike Petersen. Both guests are seasoned veterans of transportation policy and serve on the Kansas Turnpike Authority board.
Senator Mike Petersen has been serving in the Kansas State Senate since 2004 and is currently in his fifth regular session. He chairs the Senate Committee on Transportation, Joint Committee on Information and Technology, and Kansas Security Committees, while also serving as Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Utilities and the Kansas Turnpike Authority Board. He is also a member of the Senate Committee on Assessment and Taxation and Senate Committee on Federal and State Affairs.
Senator Petersen’s professional experience includes 43 years as an Industrial Electrician and Adult Education Instructor in Local Area Networking and Fiber Optics. He is a graduate of both the George C. Meany Institute of Labor Studies (Negotiations Class) and National Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee’s National Training Institute.
Shannon Francis is a lifelong resident of Liberal Kansas and in his tenth year in the Kansas Legislature. He is the Chairman of the House Transportation Committee, Vice-Chair of Joint Legislative Post Audit Committee, a member of House Appropriations, Tax, and Rules committees, and serves on the Board of the Kansas Turnpike Authority. He also serves as the Co-Chair of the National Conference of State Legislature’s Alternative Transportation User Fees Foundation Partnership.
Previously, Representative Francis served four years as Chairman of the Kansas House Transportation Budget Committee and on the Kansas Joint Legislative Transportation Vision Task Force that developed Kansas’s current ten-year transportation plan.
Before his election to the legislature, Representative Francis was a Seward County Commissioner for eight years and the President of the Kansas Association of Counties. He has a Finance and Marketing Degree from Kansas State University.
Representative Francis’s private sector experience includes construction, finance, real estate development, agriculture and retail.
Don't miss this opportunity to hear the latest!
There is no RSVP or registration needed,
simply click here to join the Zoom meeting.
Meeting ID: 816 8455 1235
Passcode: 525305
We look forward to having you join us!
Mark your calendars now for the next meeting!
Wednesday, November 20th - 2:00 PM
Dr. Bob Beatty and Tim Carpenter, Department of Political Science at Washburn University will be with us to discuss the Fall 2024 state elections in Kansas featured an attempt by Kansas Governor Laura Kelly to break the Republican supermajority in the Kansas legislature. Was she successful? How will the results of the election play out in the spring when the legislature convenes and what issues are likely to predominate? Kansas politics experts Tim Carpenter and Bob Beatty will analyze the politics of Kansas after the election.
