Brownback, lawmakers spar over budget before finance council meeting

Gov. Sam Brownback and lawmakers are fighting over the state budget ahead of a Friday meeting where they will decide how much cash to borrow for the year ahead.

The Legislature passed the budget earlier this month and Brownback signed it over the weekend. But the governor criticized the Legislature on Monday, provoking a rebuke from lawmakers.

“This legislative session made history, but for all the wrong reasons. Passing the largest tax hike in state history, this legislature passed the biggest budget in state history – and they’ve already spent every dime,” Brownback said Monday after lawmakers held a final, ceremonial day of session.

“The Legislature – despite borrowing and delaying payments – chose to spend over $200 million in new spending on top of increased funding for schools. This budget pays for a legislative wish list on the backs of working Kansans.”

Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, called Brownback’s statement “a bit disingenuous.” Lawmakers faced a tremendous challenge in balancing the budget, she said.

“The governor promised the Legislature he would deliver us a balanced budget, and on day three (of session)…we saw the budget and it was balanced on one-time money and borrowed money,” Wagle said.

Brownback chose not to make line-item vetoes to strike down major spending in the $15.6 billion budget. He also did not use his executive power to make budget cuts himself when lawmakers returned in January and faced immediate budget problems.

When the State Finance Council, a group made up of the governor and legislative leaders, meets on Friday, it will consider authorizing a certificate of indebtedness. The certificate allows the state to use its own idle funds – which are typically invested – to pay its bills when cash flow is tight. In effect, the state is borrowing from itself.

A year ago, the council approved a record $900 million in borrowing. It is unclear if this year’s certificate will set a record but it will likely be a similarly large sum.

The size of short-term debt is usually seen as an indicator of the state’s fiscal health.

Wagle was the only member of the council to vote against the certificate last year. At the time, she compared the borrowing to “putting groceries on a charge card and praying that the money comes in.”

Brownback said then that the size of the debt reflected on the nature of what was going on in the economy and he pointed to budget problems in other states.

The 2016 meeting was tense, and this Friday’s gathering could once again prove chilly. In the year since, tensions between Wagle and Brownback have only escalated.

The budget and spending levels also remain flashpoints. In addition, lawmakers voted to force increases to income tax rates into law over Brownback’s veto. The higher taxes are expected to generate about $1.2 billion over the next two years.

“This session marks a drastic departure from fiscal restraint. I trust that future legislatures will return to a pro-growth orientation that will once again set Kansas on the path toward becoming the best state in America to raise a family and grow a business,” Brownback said.

But Rep. Tom Cox, R-Shawnee, said this year’s Legislature was the first in a long time “that was able to step up to the plate and actually start solving some of the problems.”

“We were cleaning up the mess and fixing the problems that were created by the last four years,” Cox said. “There’s not a person in there that enjoyed that tax vote.”

And Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka, championed the work lawmakers accomplished this year.

“I think this session is actually going to go down as one of the most significant because of the reinstatement of the three-tier tax system and finally overriding the governor’s 2012 radical experiment,” Kelly said. “I’m very glad to have been part of it.”

Contributing: Hunter Woodall of the Kansas City Star

This story was originally published June 27, 2017 at 7:44 AM with the headline "Brownback, lawmakers spar over budget before finance council meeting."