Kansas Lawmakers Have a Full Plate April 27, 2016

(AP) – Kansas lawmakers must close shortfalls in the current and next state budgets totaling $290 million after returning from their annual spring break.

The Legislature was reconvening Wednesday morning. It was only a week after state officials and university economists issued new, more pessimistic forecast that slashed revenue projections through June 2017.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback plans to divert highway funds to general government programs and delay major road projects. He also expects to cut higher education spending.

He’s proposed selling off part of the state’s annual payments from a national legal settlement with tobacco companies to generate a one-time infusion of cash.

Lawmakers have been cold to the idea. As alternatives, he’s suggested delaying contributions to public employee pensions or making $139 million in spending cuts.

Brownback Pulls Kansas Out of Federal Refugee Plan April 26, 2016

TOPEKA, Kan. – Governor Sam Brownback on Monday notified the Obama Administration that the state of Kansas is withdrawing from the federal government’s refugee relocation program due to concerns for the safety of Kansans.

Beginning in November 2015, the governor attempted to work with the federal government to address security concerns related to resettlement of some refugees in Kansas.

“We made a reasonable request of the Obama Administration to provide us with information we need to help protect the safety and security of Kansans,” Brownback said in a statement. “Because the federal government has failed to provide adequate assurances regarding refugees it is settling in Kansas, we have no option but to end our cooperation with and participation in the federal refugee resettlement program.”

Brownback, along with governors of several states, asked White House officials in November to share vetting information as President Obama pledged to take in 10,000 Syrian refugees.

The administration, Brownback said, declined citing the privacy rights of the refugees.

Kansas Slashes Revenue Estimates April 20, 2016

Kansas budget officials dropped their projection on how much money the state will take in in the next 16 months.

The Consensus Revenue Estimating group reduced their project by 228.6 million.
That could put the state in a budget hole, based on the state budget Kansas lawmakers passed earlier this year.

A statement from Governor Sam Brownback’s office says any solution in the soon-to-start wrap-up session of lawmakers will not include a tax increase on small business or any other Kansas.

The budget shortfall will be a major topic when lawmakers return to Topeka next week for what is supposed to be a brief wrap-up session.

Cold Missouri Reception for Brownback’s Border War Truce April 20, 2016

(AP) – Missouri lawmakers appear uninterested in Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposal to end the business “border war” between the two states.

Brownback last week offered to reduce his state’s efforts to lure jobs away from the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area if Missouri’s lawmakers would in turn weaken a law they approved in 2014 addressing the issue.

The Kansas City Star reported Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1WFSKXT ) that some Missouri legislators say Brownback’s proposal wouldn’t completely stop incentives for businesses to relocate from Missouri to Kansas.

A current Missouri law offers a truce in the business fight if Kansas agrees to the law’s terms by Aug. 28.

Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard, a Joplin Republican, says he has no desire to change the 2014 law in response to Brownback’s offer.

Officials Push for State Mental Hospital Money April 18, 2016

(AP) – A top Kansas social services official has outlined proposals for nearly $17 million in additional spending at the state’s two mental hospitals.

Department for Aging and Disability Services Interim Secretary Tim Keck discussed the proposals Monday during a meeting of a legislative oversight committee on social services.

Keck said he’s asking Gov. Sam Brownback’s budget staff to include the spending in his proposals for legislators to consider. Lawmakers return April 27 from their annual spring break to wrap up their business for the year.

Most of the money would be spent at Osawatomie State Hospitals in eastern Kansas. It would cover pay raises for nurses and mental health technicians.

But the proposals include a pay raise for mental health technicians at Larned State Hospital in western Kansas.