by Rep. Stan Frownfelter, D-37th Dist.
Start of the 2016 legislative session
The 2016 Session of the Kansas Legislature began on Monday, Jan. 11. This year, I will represent you, and our local community on Commerce, Labor and Economic Development, which I serve as the ranking minority member, Financial Institutions and Insurance, and Utilities and Telecommunications committees. The calendar will remain full over the next few weeks as bills are introduced and committees begin their work. I am working to keep constituents more informed. You can reach me at the State Capitol Room 174-W, 785-296-3691 or e-mail [email protected].
State of the State
Last Tuesday, Gov. Brownback gave his sixth State of the State address to a joint session of the House and Senate. Unfortunately, the governor largely focused on national issues such as President Obama, refugees, foreign policy, and national security, rather than focusing on the issues most affecting our state and citizens. For instance the state faces a budget shortfall of $14 million in the current fiscal year and a projected shortfall of at least $170 million in the next fiscal year and the governor didn’t even address this in his speech. I was extremely disappointed the governor chose to focus his speech on partisan issues rather than providing leadership on the issues affecting all Kansans.
Fortunately, our own minority leader in the House, Rep. Tom Burroughs, delivered the Democratic response to the governor’s State of the State and provided a clear alternative to more of the same from the Governor’s agenda. Rep. Burroughs laid out a clear vision for Democrats for the upcoming session. A vision of economic growth, strong education, a balanced budget, and a government that is transparent for the people of Kansas. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Legislature during the upcoming session and working towards a vision of a new Kansas legacy.
Governor’s budget recommendations
On Wednesday morning the governor’s budget director, Shawn Sullivan, presented the governor’s budget recommendations to a joint meeting of the House and Senate budget committees. Given the current budget shortfalls the governor had to provide answers to how he wanted to fill those holes. Since the passage of the tax bills in 2012, Kansas has been experiencing an economic free-fall with many months presenting budget deficits. Historically, the governor proposed filling the budget hole with transfers from the Department of Transportation’s Highway Fund and other fund transfers. Unfortunately, he presented more of the same this time around. Specifically, the governor recommended the following:
• Transferring over $27 million from the Highway Fund
• Transferring $50.6 million from the Children’s Initiative Fund
• Transferring $2.9 million from the K-12 Extraordinary Needs Fund
What we ultimately received in the governor’s budget was more failed leadership. Rather than addressing the true causes of the budget shortfall the governor proposed raiding the Highway Fund that keeps our roads and bridges from falling into disrepair and more fund transfers including funds that help the children of Kansas. I am extremely concerned about the transferring of funds out of the Children’s Initiative Fund. This fund supports programs aimed at the health and well-being of the children of Kansas and it must be protected. You can read the governor’s full budget proposal here: http://budget.ks.gov/gbr.htm.
I and my Democratic colleagues in the House will not support policies that fail to address the root cause of the state’s budget crisis– the governor’s failed economic experiment—or the continued raid of the Highway Fund.
Efficiency report
During the 2015 legislative session the GOP-controlled Legislature decided to hire, at the price of more than $2.6 million, an outside firm to audit state government in search of “efficiencies.” A preliminary report from that group was presented to the Legislature on Tuesday. The preliminary report is over 260 pages in length and it proposes making many changes to state government and services. For instance, the report recommends consolidating many Department of Children and Families and Kansas Department of Transportation area service facilities; closing Department of Corrections facilities; selling state owned buildings and land; closing several Community Development and Disability Organizations and delaying state agencies from making timely payments to contractors.
There are literally hundreds of recommendations and I am still going through them all. I will be watching action on this report closely as many of the proposed changes will drastically change the ability of state government to provide services and help to the people of Kansas. I do believe it is important to seek ways to improve the efficiency of state government; however, many of these recommendations move beyond efficiencies and are simply cuts for the sake of making cuts.