Next speaker to face budget shortfall, more diverse Kansas House

Kansas Republicans will nominate a new House speaker next month, a decision that will have a major impact on the direction of the next legislative session.

The speaker wields significant power over the legislative process in the House, controlling committee assignments and deciding which bills to bring to the floor for a vote.

House Speaker Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell, will retire from the Legislature at the end of the year. Three Republicans are vying to succeed him: House Majority Leader Jene Vickrey of Louisburg, Rep. Ron Ryckman of Olathe and Rep. Russ Jennings of Lakin.

Vickrey has served in the House since 1993 and has spent four years as majority leader. Ryckman and Jennings both joined the House in 2013.

The Republican Party, which controls 85 seats in the 125-member House, will make nominations by secret ballot in December before an official floor vote including Democrats takes place at the start of the session in January.

The speaker is third in the line of succession for governor behind the lieutenant governor and the Senate president.

Whichever candidate prevails will face a more ideologically diverse chamber after moderate Republicans and Democrats made gains in the recent election. Jennings is the favored candidate of the House’s more moderate members, though he generally avoids using the label.

“I allow my voting record to define me. I am generally a conservative. I am open to being swayed in one direction or the other based on information,” Jennings said. “So if making informed decisions based on facts makes me a moderate, I guess so be it.”

The next speaker will also face the pressing question of how to right the state’s finances.

The state has a projected $349 million budget hole for the current fiscal year, which lasts through June. Gov. Sam Brownback has decided to wait until the Legislature convenes to present a plan for fixing it. The budget gap is expected to grow to $583 million the following year.

“There will be decisions that are probably not popular but will be necessary to make sure we stay in the right side of the column sheet,” said Ryckman, who has spent two years as budget committee chairman.

Ryckman, a Johnson County businessman, pointed to June’s special session – when lawmakers from both parties worked together to pass a school finance bill to satisfy a Kansas Supreme Court order and prevent a school shutdown – as a template the Legislature could follow next year.

“We accomplished something in two days that people thought would take over three weeks, so I’m confident we can bring that same attitude and spirit of collaboration to solve our budget issues,” Ryckman said. “I think we’re trying to take the jerseys off and the labels, and put on the jersey of what’s best for Kansas.”

Vickrey, a small-business owner, said the budget shortfall has not deterred him from seeking the speakership. “I am all in,” he said in an interview last week.

Vickrey said lawmakers need to look for ways to deliver services to Kansans at a lower cost. He said he expects the new Legislature will likely review income taxes but added that sales tax has reached a tipping point and an additional increase should be avoided.

“There’s no easy solution for where you take money from. … It’s going to be a process that we work through,” Vickrey said, noting that new members will join both the House and the Senate and will need time to study the budget.

Jennings, who oversaw the state’s Juvenile Justice Authority from 2007 to 2011, said there will be “no painless fixes” for the state’s budget problems. He said he wants to be inclusive in finding the best solution, contending that House leadership in recent years has failed to do that.

“I think the environment and the culture needs to change in a way where we are open to listening to and hearing what others have to offer and not being dismissive just because who offered the idea,” Jennings said. “My leadership approach would be let the process work and develop a solution that people buy into without having their arms broken getting there.”

This story was originally published November 15, 2016 at 4:28 PM with the headline "Next speaker to face budget shortfall, more diverse Kansas House."