Kansas House set to debate budget bill

The Kansas House plans to debate a bill to close the state’s budget hole on Wednesday.

SB 161 would fix a projected budget deficit by making cuts and moving funds. It would also provide more money for the state’s psychiatric hospitals and protect K-12 education from cuts.

Some lawmakers have expressed concern that the budget doesn’t do enough to shore up the state’s finances. Under the bill, the state is projected to have about $6 million left in its general fund at the end of the 2016 fiscal year and $87 million left at the end of the 2017 fiscal year.

The state would spend about $6.4 billion from its general fund in the 2017 fiscal year, which begins in July, and spend more than $16 billion from all funding sources, including federal dollars.

Bill highlights

▪ Sweep $27 million total from the Kansas Department of Transportation for 2016 and 2017 fiscal years.

▪ Reduce state contribution to State Children’s Health Insurance Program by $25.5 million in 2017. That would be offset by an increased federal contribution.

▪ End KanCare health homes program to save $13.4 million in 2017.

▪ Cut funding for the Kansas Bioscience Authority in 2016 and 2017 to save $12 million.

▪ Add $3 million for state hospitals in Larned and Osawatomie.

▪ Add $2.4 million to the Department of Corrections for pay raises for correctional officers.

▪ Cap KDOT’s debt spending at 19 percent of its budget.

▪ Empower the governor to make targeted budget cuts and delay payments to the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System in 2016. If he delays pension payments, he would have to pay those back the next year.

▪ Suspend payments to KPERS death and disability plan for the first three quarters of 2017 to save $37.5 million.

▪ Sell the Bioscience Authority’s assets to the private sector for an estimated $25 million. This would require additional legislation.

▪ Enact step therapy for Medicaid patients to save $10.6 million. This would require additional legislation.

What Republicans say

Conservative Republicans said they still have concerns that the budget spends too much but that they plan to vote for it.

“I see it all as necessary evils, I guess. Do you know what I mean? It’s not ideal,” said Rep. Marc Rhoades, R-Newton, a member of the House Appropriations Committee. “… I don’t look at it and go ‘yay,’ but it’s kind of like, let’s get this done.”

Rhoades said he’s hopeful that lawmakers will pursue efficiency reforms recommended by the consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal after passing the budget bill as a first step. Alvarez & Marsal made numerous recommendations in January that it says could save $2 billion over five years.

Rep. Jerry Lunn, R-Overland Park, said he would like to have seen more spending cuts but plans to vote for the budget proposal.

Moderate Republicans say they are torn.

“There are some good things in there. This is going to be a difficult vote to make,” said Rep. Melissa Rooker, R-Fairway. She supports capping KDOT’s debt spending and increasing mental health funding but does not like allowing the governor to delay KPERS payments or moving transportation money to the general fund.

Rep. Don Hineman, R-Dighton, said he was uncertain but was “strongly leaning ‘no.’ A lot of the things that are enticing, the additional funding for corrections and state hospitals … is largely an illusion,” he said. “It’s a one-time source of money that is not sustainable.”

What Democrats say

Rep. Kathy Wolfe Moore, D-Kansas City, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said she likes some aspects of the bill but can’t vote for it because of the delayed payments for KPERS.

She said the state needs to undo the tax plan it passed in 2012, which cut individual income tax rates across the board and exempted hundreds of thousands of business owners entirely.

“You can’t keep bailing water as long as there’s this big hole in the ship,” Wolfe Moore said. “And there is a big hole in the ship. And I think we need to stop, take a step back, plug the hole and then see where we are.”

This story was originally published February 9, 2016 at 4:21 PM with the headline "Kansas House set to debate budget bill."