Turnaround
Time
"Turnaround" is the date that most
bills must clear their house of origin.
All bills not cleared by this point "die,"
receiving no action for the remainder of the
legislative session. This deadline applies
to most committees, although some exempt
committees do not fall under the Turnaround
deadline and bills from those committees remain
in play (Appropriations is an example of an
exempt committee).
Despite the
Turnaround deadline, opportunities often develop
to amend bills into other pieces of
legislation. Additionally, in previous
years "dead" bills reappeared in conference
reports or as provisos in appropriations bills.
Nevertheless, this week has been busy as
lawmakers pushed hard to move bills to the House
floor before the deadline.
Beginning next week, the House of
Representatives will begin to consider
legislation approved by the Senate, while the
Senate will begin to consider bills approved in
the House of Representatives.
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2009 Budget
Update
The FY 2009
budget, approved by the House late last week,
reached the Governor's desk this Tuesday.
The Governor signed the bill into law as soon as
she received it on Tuesday afternoon, but she
did exercise her authority to issue line item
vetoes. Final cuts in the FY 2009 budget
totaled approximately $300 million and will
satisfactorily fill the budget gap we face in
the current fiscal year.
The
Governor exercise the following Line Item
Vetoes:
Reductions to Kansas
Schools
The Governor adjusted the cut
to $33 base state aid per pupil, which is the
amount originally agreed upon in the Senate and
by several members of the
House. She also preserved $4.5
million in special education money, which may be
a requirement to receive federal stimulus
money.
KPERS Debt
Service
Restructuring of the KPERS
bond must be approved by the State Finance
Council. Because this has not yet
happened, the Governor was forced to veto the
transfer.
Transfer limitation of
Health Care Stabilization Fund and Kansas
Bioscience Authority
The Governor's
original budget stopped the transfer of money to
the Health Care Stabilization Fund as one method
for preserving the State General Fund.
Additionally, the Kansas Bioscience Authority
confirmed earlier this year that they could
operate under the proposed transfer limitation,
which is why the Governor restored her original
recommendation to limit transfers to this agency
as well.
The Governor had already
included $2.5 million in additional funding for
WCGME in the revised fiscal year 2009
budget. The governor vetoed the additional
money which was added by the Legislature on top
of the original $2.5 million.
I was very
pleased that the governor took immediate action
on the bill. Now that the 2009 budget
debate has been settled, we must swiftly begin
working through the 2010 budget. This
process was drastically delayed by disputes over
2009 reductions, but I am hopeful all lawmakers
will return to the table to negotiate
responsible appropriations in 2010 that will
also protect our most important
investments.
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State Finance
Council
The Kansas State Finance Council,
chaired by the governor and composed of
legislative leaders in the House and Senate,
retains the authority to make certain financial
decisions without the approval of the entire
legislature.
The State Finance
Council was scheduled to meet last Monday to
issue the routine certificate of
indebtedness. Instead, the meeting was
canceled abruptly and followed by a press
conference with Republican leaders to announce
the illegality of issuing the certificate.
Republican leaders argued that without an
approved state budget plan, it was unlawful to
issue a certificate of indebtedness because
there was no way to know that the money could be
repaid.
State Budget Director Duane Goossen
repeatedly conveyed to members of leadership
that certificates of indebtedness had nothing to
do with the revised FY 2009 budget bill.
As long as the budget director can verify that
the certificates will be paid, it is lawful to
issue them. The Governor did sign the
budget bill as soon as she received it on
Tuesday though, in an effort to bring
legislative leaders back to the table.
Last Wednesday was the final
opportunity to approve the certificates that
would allow the state to meet payroll on
Friday. The Governor called a second
meeting of the State Finance Council on
Wednesday afternoon, at which time legislative
leaders at last approved the certificates.
Although this action resolved the issue and
allowed the state to pay its bills, the events
of the week were extraordinarily frustrating to
witness as a lawmaker, and even more so as a
taxpayer.
At this point we are halfway
through the session and have only just begun
working through the 2010 budget, which faces a
$1 billion deficit. We simply had no time
to waste on political squabbling. I regret
that so many Kansans were left in a state of
disarray for so much of the week unnecessarily
and hope to see more collaboration and
communication in the second half of the
session.
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Holcomb Debate
Returns
The Holcomb debate looks to
return to the House floor in the form of House
Bill 2014. We anticipated a debate on this
bill this week but it has been postponed. House
Bill 2014 is a massive piece of legislation,
merging together several different energy
proposals brought before the House Energy
Committee this session. The bill addresses
a variety of issues, including energy efficiency
standards, net metering, KCC regulation, and the
authority of the Kansas Department of Health and
Environment.
I remain committed to
increasing energy conservation in Kansas,
reducing greenhouse gas emissions, promoting
renewable energy development, and meeting the
baseload energy needs of all Kansans while
protecting the ratepayer. In these
difficult economic times, however, I feel very
strongly that we must keep our eye on the
ball. In 2008 the energy debate dominated
the legislative session and prevented Kansas
from moving forward in the development of a
comprehensive, long-term energy plan. This
year we must continue with that effort but not
in a manner that divides the legislative body
and takes time away from addressing the current
budget crisis.
I will provide more
information about House Bill 2014 when it comes
to the floor next week. I have a number of
concerns with the legislation as it stands but I
will wait to see how proposed amendments will
change the bill before making a decision.
If this is approached in a bipartisan manner, I
am confident that we can make some progress
toward a comprehensive energy plan for Kansas
before the end of the session.
I will
keep you
posted.
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