(Syndicated to Kansas newspapers Jan. 9, 2017)
Statehouse insiders, and probably even Kansans who don’t follow state government activity as a condition of probation, are figuring it may take two, maybe three weeks to determine whether we’re looking at a strictly political 2017 Legislature or a hold-your-nose and fix the problem session.
Now, the politics are fun, the strategies intriguing, but at some point, we must remind ourselves that we live in Kansas.
The options are relatively simple. It’s trim the budget, raise revenues (that’s the word lawmakers like to use instead of “taxes”) and still provide for the education, health, highways, public safety and such that we expect state government to take care of. Or, it’s not vote for anything unpleasant, shift the current responsibilities of state government to cities and counties, and talk about “local control.”