With the pomp and circumstance of the first week having passed and the House Republican Agenda established, the real work of tackling the issues at hand begins. In order to appropriately address the issues facing Kansas today, we must keep the end goal in mind. Though much legislative toil is dedicated to initiating new programs and fixing old ones, each has a price tag that Kansas taxpayers must reckon with. This is true every year, but as consensus revenue estimates show a downward trend it is imperative that we look at legislation which is sound policy, economically sustainable and fiscally responsible. To that end, legislators have been focused this week on gathering information about our economic forecast, current programs and budgetary mandates so that we move ahead responsibly with Legislation and pass a sustainable budget at the end of session. We are obligated by law to pass a budget every year and it is important that we start the session with a solid understanding of the budget so that there are not any surprises at the end of the year. Everything we do between now and then will have a direct impact on the end of the session.

Budget

More details have come out regarding the State budget that only emphasizes the urgency that is facing us this year. House Appropriations Chair Sharon Schwartz put together a State General Fund Outlook for FY 2009. The outlook reflects what many were expecting, that this will be a tight fiscal year.

Using the revised FY 2008 budget as a base and then adding 5% we have come up with a cap for FY 2009 expenditures. This cap leaves us with $306.5 million additional dollars as compared with the FY 2008 budget. However, this is before required expenditures such as:

• The FY 09 school finance increase ($179.1 million)
• The human services caseload increase ($43.3 million)
• The KPERS non-school employer increase ($14.9 million)
• The KPERS bond payment increase ($10.0 million)
• The Regents deferred maintenance increase ($7.8 million)
• The estimated additional disaster assistance ($40 million).
• There is a one time savings due to the adjustment of the FY 2008 state employee salary bonus of $19.4 million.
• The total for mandated expenditures is $275.7 million.

If we include the State Employee Pay Plan Initiative ($35.6 million), the SGF will be at a negative $4.8 million.

This doesn’t take into account any other requested enhancements such as health care (KHPA recommendations), tax reductions, proposed K-12 funding and supplemental higher education requests. The budget enhancement requests by state agencies total an increase of $397 million.

Unless we can find a way to get $397 million out of a negative $4.8 million we’re going to have to make some tough decisions this year. The State debt, as of June 30, 2009, will be $3.85 billion. This makes borrowing money to pay for projects irresponsible, unsustainable and a very poor representation of our constituency.

The Governor’s budget relies on assumed gaming revenue to help make ends meet. The gaming issue is far from resolved. A court decision could come by the end of February. However, this decision will just be a formality on the way to the Kansas Supreme Court. It is hard to imagine that this money will materialize any time soon and anywhere close to the amounts in the Governor’s budget. Even if the money from gaming does materialize, it would be inappropriate to use it to pay our debt service. This should be a priority and should be funded first from a stable revenue source.

Continued…

The bar graph comes from the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group and is based on the Governor’s budget. The pie graph is a based on a 5% increase in the FY 2008 budget. It shows the base budget, the mandated spending, and the small slice of pie left over for discretionary spending. The information that Representative Schwartz and Legislative Research provided show that Kansas is in trouble and it is up to us find a solution, now.

Bills

HB 2658, An act concerning sustainability of certain reservoirs; imposing certain fees and surcharges. Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources

HB 2662, An act relating to vouchers for tuition and required fees at certain institutions of higher education and excused absences from public schools for students who sound “Taps” at a veterans funeral. Committee on Veterans, Military, and Homeland Security.

Looking Ahead

As we enter week three the Appropriations Committee will be looking at agency and program budgets. While the budget is tight, there are many programs worth funding. In that same vein, there are programs in existence that may have run their course. The challenge this year will be to continue funding worthwhile programs while looking at ways to conserve or reallocate existing budget dollars. While this is a challenge, it is a necessary part in running an efficient and streamlined government. It is my honor to do the work of the people. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.