(Syndicated to Kansas newspapers May 16, 2016)
By midweek, we’ll know just what Gov. Sam Brownback intends to do in the way of a budget to get Kansas through this fiscal year and at least make it appear on paper that the Legislature has appropriated enough money for the state to do its business next year.
Some legislators are fearful that the governor will line-item veto the most politically important provision in the budget bill that he has until mid-week to sign.
It’s a provision that says simply that the governor can’t reduce the amount of general state aid to school districts this fiscal year or next. Those reductions in appropriated funds—they call them “allotments” in the Statehouse—would make it relatively simple to give most state agencies a financial haircut and wind up this and next fiscal year with a balance in the budget, the constitutional bright yellow line in a legal budget.