And the bad news just keeps coming ...
When the 2010 session started, news about the budget was bad. I did not see how it could get much worse. It appears I was wrong.
Every report we receive just seems to be off the mark on the down side. We just cannot get a break.
I am sure the latest estimates were made knowing funds coming in would be low. They missed the mark by more than $70 million. Add that fact to the shortfall in the 2010 budget, and the picture is really bleak.
Legislative leadership, seeing the trend and wanting to show concern by their actions, has been quite aggressive in its actions.
The House Appropriations Committee began holding hearings long before the session started in anticipation of the "train wreck" that was obviously coming.
The best guess was the House was in no mood to raise taxes. The proposed budget was constructed with spending cuts, rather than revenue enhancements.
Budgets are put together based on estimates made by the revenue estimating group. Research shows that group is consistently accurate, usually is within 1 percent of what actually happens. Unfortunately, this year actual revenue coming in seems to always be well below the estimate.
Once the session started, in order not to show favoritism, leadership floated a plan to cut legislators' pay by giving unpaid leave. That plan ran into trouble and was scrapped. When the budget was worked, an amendment was added to cut the pay of all state employees. It passed and now the Legislature is not treated any different than any other state workers.
Continuing along the line of further cuts, attempts are being made to debate and discuss possible cuts where pressure from voters is outspoken. The Tax Committee passed a bill "without recommendation" to remove the sales tax exemptions for individual utility bills. The exemptions have been in place since the Carlin administration when Gov. John Carlin promised to lower utility bills and was successful in getting the exemptions.
The Education Committee introduced a bill to reduce funding to some of the smallest districts in an attempt to encourage them to consolidate. The Legislative Post Audit Committee investigated and came up with the idea.
Many legislators believe savings can be made by consolidation. However, since the last time consolidation was dictated by the Legislature with bad consequences as far as re-election of those who voted for the plan, there has not been much enthusiasm for doing it again. Encouragement for local school boards to make the decisions has been done by making it more financially advantageous for the districts.
We will continue to debate and discuss possible ways to deal with the huge hole in the budget until the last budget is passed. I will continue to do my best to support spending the money we have wisely for the benefit of all Kansans.
Dan Johnson represents the 110th House District. djohnson@ink.org