Kansas House Struggle, Pushing Overtime to 111 Days

House member talk about the deadlock after Tuesday’s brief afternoon session.

(Topeka)-The Kansas House resembles a shotgun wedding ceremony, missing some key components, including the shotgun.
The House postponed a conference committee with the Senate three times Tuesday before cancelling a fourth meeting. House members are struggling to develop a plan they can take to negotiations.
“Sometimes when you get to this point with a large tax increase bill like this, it takes a while, said House Tax Committee Chairman Marvin Kleeb.
Kleeb says some of the policy positions included in the Senate tax hike bill are not supported by some House members.
The Senate $420 million plan includes policy elements like a limit on local government spending unless voters approve.
Another hot spot for some House members is the call for a Tax Commission to review the state’s tax policies. “Oh yes, that’s a hot one,” said Les Donovan of Senate Tax panel Donovan defended the size if te 600-page bill.
“When you’re dealing with tax issues, you have to write big bills because you have to bring every tax law on the books every time,”he said. Some House members met with Governor Sam Brownback Tuesday.
Some of those members want to fill part of the budget hole by scaling back a favorite tax break of his, one for particular limited liability businesses.
“He didn’t say he would veto it. He said if we wanted to try something different, something new, to give it a shot. At this point, everything is on the table,” said Beloit Republican Susan Concannon.
Some member if that group also called on the Governor to step in with some leadership to try a d break the deadlock