How south-central Kansas lawmakers have voted on taxes, school financing and more

1. Income tax cuts

2012: HB 2117 reduced income tax rates across the board, eliminated the top income tax bracket and exempted the owners of LLCs and some other businesses from income taxes entirely. Since then the state has continually missed budget projections. Supporters, including Gov. Sam Brownback, say the changes will spur economic growth in the long run.

2. Sales tax increase

2015: HB 2109 and SB 270 together raised the state’s sales tax from 6.15 percent to 6.5 percent and reduced or eliminated most income tax deductions.

3. Tax repeal

Repeal LLC tax break, 2016: SB 63 would have put the owners of limited liability companies and some other businesses back on income tax rolls. The bill failed in the House; the Senate did not vote on it.

4. Spending

Unbalanced budget, 2016: The Legislature narrowly passed SB 249, a budget bill that required Gov. Sam Brownback to cut more than $100 million on his own for the state to end the fiscal year with a balanced budget.

5. School block grants

Block grant funding, 2015: SB 7 eliminated a school finance formula that allocated money to schools based on such factors as the number of at-risk students and replaced it with block grants for two years. The Kansas Supreme Court ruled the block grants unconstitutionally inequitable earlier this year, forcing the Legislature to pass a fix in June.

6. School amendment

Constitutional amendment, 2016: The Senate fell one vote short of passing SCR 1602, a constitutional amendment that would have barred the Kansas Supreme Court from closing schools in future funding disputes.

7. Abortion

Dilation and evacuation abortion ban, 2015: Kansas became the first state in the nation to ban dilation and evacuation abortions, commonly performed in the second trimester and called “dismemberment” abortions in the law. A court has blocked SB 95 from taking effect as it considers a legal challenge to it.

8. Guns

Constitutional carry, 2015: SB 45 made Kansas one of a handful of states that allow people to carry a concealed firearm without a permit or training.

9. Gay marriage

LGBT rights/religious freedom, 2014: HB 2453 would have enabled public and private employees to not serve same-sex couples based on religious views on marriage. The House passed it; the Senate did not vote on it.