Print edition: 
TOPEKA — The House cut pay for elected officials and cabinet secretaries by 5 percent Wednesday before giving tentative approval to a bill reducing current spending by more than $92 million.
The pay reduction would save a little more than $1.5 million.
"This is a small step but this sends the message clearly to the public that we are serious," said Rep. Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls. "We are going to cut our pay and cut all our elected officials' pay."
The average lawmaker earns about $18,000 in the course of a 90-day session.
The measure, Senate substitute for House Bill 2222, includes cuts to the current budget proposed by Democratic Gov. Mark Parkinson.
It also includes some small boosts such as $5 million more for the Judicial Department, which will help fend off almost 24 days of furloughs for court employees, said House Appropriations Chairman Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Overland Park.
The bill also cuts payments to Medicaid providers such as doctors, nursing homes and hospitals by 10 percent.
An amendment by Rep. Mario Goico, R-Wichita, to restore the cuts failed on a voice vote. Goico expressed worry that cuts to Medicaid, which offers health insurance to low-income people, would harm nursing homes or cause them to close down, particularly in rural areas.
The Medicaid cuts were part of Parkinson's original recommendations to balance the 2010 budget.
The Senate passed the bill two weeks ago with few changes.
As in the House, lawmakers spent relatively little time discussing the bill and there were few changes.
Yoder praised the governor's work on the cuts and called it a "good first step."
Approving cuts to the 2010 budget, which ends June 30, will allow lawmakers to focus on next year's budget, he said.
Lawmakers already know they need to fill a $400 million shortfall in the 2011 budget, and the revenue picture is getting worse, Yoder said. Revenue since the November consensus revenue estimate, which the budget is based on, is running $40 million behind expectations.
"I don't think we will have a problem with too much money on hand," Yoder said.
The House probably will have a final vote on the bill today. It then would go to a conference committee to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions.
