Views
Opinion column
by Murrel Bland
About 50 persons gathered in The Meeting Room of the Bonner Springs Public Library Saturday morning, Jan. 4, to hear State Sen. Kevin Braun, R- 5th Dist., speak about legislative matters.
The senator discussed budget matters and other issues that will probably come up as the Kansas Legislature prepares to start its 2020 session Monday, Jan.13.
Sen. Braun used information including a flier produced by the Kansas Legislative Research Department with a pie-chart that showed where the state’s money comes from and where it goes for fiscal year 2019. He said that nearly half of the income, or about 47.6 percent, came from individual income; about 39.5 percent came from sales or use tax. About 5.6 percent came from corporate and financial income. The balance came from other sources including the tobacco tax.
State government spent slightly more than $17 billion in fiscal year 2019. Of that, more than $8 billion was spent on education and more than $5.7 billion went to human services. Transportation received slightly more than $1 billion and public safety received $645.7 million. Agricultural and natural resources received slightly more than $220 million. The rest, about $1.2 billion, went to general government.
Sen. Braun said that Kansas law requires the state to have a balanced budget. He said it is important not only to meet the letter of that law, but to abide by the spirit of the law. He said he does not believe in taking on long-term debt to pay for current-day operational spending.
Sen. Braun said he favors a constitutional amendment that would require that “no court, including the Kansas Supreme Court, has the authority to create for itself discretion of how state funds are allocated.”
Sen. Braun said he is a “compassionate conservative” when it comes to caring for the elderly and disabled. However, he said he is concerned about the possible burden which expanded Medicaid could have on taxpayers. He said that currently 92 percent of Kansans have private insurance, Medicare or Medicaid. He said he does not want to put this 92 percent at risk in order to provide coverage for the 8 percent who are able-bodied persons who are not willing to work.
Jeff Colyer, who was governor in the fall of 2018, appointed Braun to the Kansas Senate. He was nominated by Republican precinct committeemen and committeewomen from Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties. He was an unsuccessful candidate to the Kansas House and the Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Public Utilities. He and his wife live in the Piper community.
Sen. Braun succeeded Sen. Steve Fitzgerald, who resigned after losing in the primary election for U.S. representative.
After Sen. Braun was chosen, he was quoted in a story in The Leavenworth Times that he will have the same driving conservative principles as Fitzgerald. However, Sen. Braun said he will “have a little softer approach.”
The 5th Senate District includes the cities of Lansing, Leavenworth, Bonner Springs, Edwardsville and the Piper community.
Murrel Bland is the former editor of The Wyandotte West and The Piper Press. He is the executive director of Business West.