What was happening while Kansas House voted on tax plan at 4 a.m.

Only a little more than a day ago, the House ended its session at midnight because of a rule that had been passed to limit discussions to times when lawmakers could make sensible decisions according to Rep. John Rubin, R-Shawnee.

“That’s no way to make public policy, to wait until people cave by attrition.” Rubin was quoted as saying on KMUW, 89.1-FM. “It gets to be 3, 4, 5 in the morning and they say ‘oh, the heck with it. I’m going to vote yes just so we can get out of here.’ ”

But even though Lil Wayne ended by around 11 p.m. Thursday night, in Topeka it quickly became Friday morning. And after the longest legislative session in history and with the governor warning that sweeping cuts would have to come on Monday, lawmakers pressed on until past 4 a.m. when, finally, it mustered enough votes to pass a tax plan, which included a sales tax increase from 6.15 percent to 6.5 percent.

But lawmakers weren’t the only ones up working at 4 a.m. This is the same productive work hour when tow trucks were being stolen in Toronto:

The same hour when, in Chesapeake, Va., three armed thieves also felt they would be at their most productive:

Although the operators for Waste Connections of Wichita were not yet at work to answer their phones to confirm whether trash collectors were also up with the legislators, there is some strong evidence that some of the people responsible for your breakfast cereal were also awake:

If you couldn’t get any sleep, just when the bill was being passed, you could watch some chairs being smashed on “Jerry Springer” or giant boulders hoisted on the “World’s Strongest Man” competition, according to TV.com.

Perhaps the legislature in Ohio was paying attention to how lawmakers operate in Kansas, because it just proposed keeping open the bars in Cleveland until 4 a.m. for the Republican National Convention in 2016. That way, if they managed to end early, say, at 3:30 a.m., they might be able to grab a drink before heading to bed.

Just last year the Ecuadorian alternative/punk band Max Plein, sensing a commercial opportunity, changed its name to “4 a.m.” Perhaps if Kansas lawmakers had listened to some of their songs, they might have finished earlier. Their set list includes:

▪ “Prisionero del pasado” or Prisoner of the past

▪ “Corazon de Perro” or Heart of a dog

▪ “Ahora que ya no estas” or Now that you’re already gone

Or even if they had invited in Gwen Stefani to perform her ditty “4 in the Morning” they might have learned something about the kinds of decisions people make at that hour.

“Stay up til Four in the Morning and the tears are pouring /

“And I want to make it worth the fight /

“What have we been doing for all this time?

“Baby if we’re gonna do it, come on do it right.”

Her song peaked at 54 on the Billboard Hot 100, which is not too much lower a ranking than where Kansas will rank among states for lowest sales tax on food.

But the song did reach number 22 on the UK sales chart. Perhaps the new Kansas budget will be more popular over in London where at 4 a.m. it was already past 10 a.m. and office workers stopping by for a Starbucks would have to pay a 17.5 percent value added tax, almost triple Kansas’ new rate.

This story was originally published June 12, 2015 at 8:52 AM with the headline "What was happening while Kansas House voted on tax plan at 4 a.m.."