P.J. Griekspoor: Kansas is not required to balance its budget?

I learned something shocking at the Kansas Commodity Classic in Manhattan earlier this year. It seems that, really, there is no constitutional requirement in Kansas for a balanced budget.

Barry Flinchbaugh, a Kansas State University professor emeritus, opened the door to this revelation when he questioned Attorney General Derek Schmidt. Schmidt had already defended the state’s loss in a Kansas Supreme Court ruling that the current school funding formula is “not equitable.” The question of “adequate” still looms.

Referencing recent legislative activities that include giving unlimited borrowing authority to the Kansas Department of Transportation, then sweeping the money into the general fund, Flinchbaugh questioned why the practice was not unconstitutional.

“This is pretty obviously deficit spending,” Flinchbaugh said. “Why is this not an unconstitutional action?”

Schmidt responded with this: “Actually,” he said, “if you read the letter of the law in the Kansas Constitution, it doesn’t say there has to be a balanced budget. Article 11 says the Legislature has to make suitable provision for paying all of the state’s bills by the end of the fiscal year. So, adjusting funds or even issuing bonds could be suitable provision.”

On Feb. 17, the Legislature passed what it calls a “balanced” budget for the coming year. Since then, monthly tax revenue collections have continued to fall short of forecasts, as they mostly have for the past three years.

The bill also allows the governor to skip payments to the state employees’ retirement fund for 90 days, with a provision that it has to be repaid with interest after that time. At least we have a time frame for that “shot of adrenaline” now. That must be where the money for payback is coming from.

What the budget bill does not do is prohibit KDOT from issuing more bonds to generate more money to sweep into the general fund.

Gov. Sam Brownback’s government has so far swept more than $1.5 billion in KDOT funds into the general fund to cover the massive black hole created by eliminating income taxes on those most able to pay them.

This year, Kansas will do regular maintenance on only about 200 miles of state highways, rather than the usual 1,200. The highway patrol is begging for a surcharge on car registrations to hire troopers. Schools are watching class sizes rise and teachers flee the state.

This is what government downsizing looks like.

And, by the way, it still entails indebting your children and grandchildren to pay for the subsidies granted to the “job creators” who didn’t create any jobs.

This story was originally published April 2, 2016 at 7:04 PM with the headline "P.J. Griekspoor: Kansas is not required to balance its budget?."