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Kansas budget crisis

KRA Newsletter

Feb 18th, 2009
by KRA ED.
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Last week I sat down to work on a legislative update and found myself stumped at what to say. All the little individual items I thought I needed to share seemed to pale when faced with what’s going on in Washington. I sat watching the House & Senate debate and vote on legislation they hadn’t read while breaking their own rules that were put in place to prevent them from not allowing time for review before voting and I grew angrier by the hour. Our Republic is under attack in ways we never imagined possible. We are nationalizing industries that should be private, saving businesses that perhaps shouldn’t be saved from themselves, and spending money that has so many zeros behind it that it boggles the mind to try to comprehend it. Friday the 13th really was a dark day this February. I simply couldn’t find the words after all that to talk about little things going on here in Kansas and decided to wait until after the weekend to work on an update.

But one big thing was happening last week and the results of it have exploded in the Kansas news this week, dwarfing anything else I need to share with you. The Kansas Senate & House managed to pass a compromise bill dealing with the 2009 budget shortfall. All that’s needed as of this afternoon is the Governor’s signature and the current financial crisis is averted. Of course this means cutting spending, which the Governor had the power to do herself last November and still has the power to do today.

You’ve probably heard the dire warnings: Tax Refunds delayed, state employees won’t get paid on time, schools won’t be funded… none of which has to happen if the Governor just does her job. The sky is falling and it’s not my fault, those bad legislators won’t borrow money like I asked! They know they can do this, it’s no big deal, and we do it all the time!

Really, could that be true? As I looked into it, I found myself even angrier than I had been last week watching the circus in DC. You see, the Governor has at her disposal procedures she can take to cut non-essential spending, allowing the government to pay it’s essential bills on time. Has she done it? NO. Instead she’s out there scaring state employees by using taxpayer-funded-email lists to tell them that she cares about them but those bad legislators aren’t doing what I want so you might not get paid on time.

And meanwhile, I’m getting reports of what’s going on with our taxpayer-funded schools. Yes, that would be the schools that reaped a windfall in 2005 thanks to the State Supreme Court legislating funding. Kids are being told to tell their parents that they must call their legislators and beg them not to cut funding or class sizes will double, music and art will be cut from curriculums, and on and on it goes. I have in my hands a letter from a local high school principal, sent to parents with taxpayer funds, reminding them “it’s less expensive to educate children than incarcerate them!”

Honestly, as a homeschool mom who successfully graduated 5 children into community-involved adults without one penny of help from the state, I can assure you I’m quite aware of that little fact, that’s why I didn’t send my children to be incarcerated day after day in government-funded schools. What? You think this means I hate public schools and want them de-funded? Hogwash. See, I can use outlandish rhetoric and hyperbole, too. How about we discuss things rationally and try the truth in regards to funding and the state budget.

The fact is school funding makes up a HUGE percentage of the state budget. We can’t cut spending as much as we must without having the schools share in the cut – unless we are willing to make draconian cuts in other areas like social services and health care to those who can’t care for themselves, the mentally disabled, the elderly with no family, the orphans in foster care. We have a moral obligation to take care of those who cannot care for themselves and if that means a school district can’t build a nice new building this year or must cut a few administrators to make ends meet, well, that’s what’s it going to take. Face it, we can’t just print money and buy everything we want the day we want it. We must budget for it, plan ahead, make do when we can, and be practical in our spending. That’s what families do and that’s what government at all levels needs to do as well. Spending by government will not save us and taxing the people more will not magically bring the state increased revenues if the people cannot pay the bill!

Folks, it’s time you take action. Usually we suggest you call your legislators and tell them what you think – and of course that’s still a good idea now as well. But this time we need something more from you. We need you to make your voices heard in your local paper, on the radio talk shows in your area, and in your communities at town hall meetings, school activities, wherever you are, you need to speak up and say enough is enough, stop the madness, it’s time we live within our means as a society.

There are a number of places you can get talking points and more details. I’m going to list a few of them below. I’m also going to link to the pages on our website that will help you find your local paper, talk radio and elected officials. Please speak up now while we can still make a difference in Kansas.

Charlotte Esau
KRA Executive Director

Links For More Info & Talking Points:

Go to the mainpage of the KRA website and click on your county on the map for local information regarding local papers, talk radio & elected officials. Or follow these links:

  • Find local papers
  • Find local talk radio
  • Find your elected officials. Some of these links may still be in the process of being updated. If you have trouble finding your State Rep or Senator, click here for all State Senators and click here for all State Reps or use this link if you don’t know their name or contact us at hq@kansasra.org with your name and address and we’ll email the info to you right away.

    • Who will blink first? House Speaker Mike O’Neal, R-Hutchinson, and Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton, said it would have been illegal for the State Finance Council to have authorized additional short-term debt because state officials couldn’t honestly declare the state could pay the obligation by the end of the fiscal year.
     
    House leadership responds to Sebelius lies  Statement from House Leadership regarding the Governor’s continued efforts to misrepresent her role in the events of the State Finance Council meeting and her responsibility to address a revised 2009 budget.

    Governor’s Letter to State Employees – Caution! This link is full of the Governor’s spin!

    What You Need to Know About the Kansas Budget Crisis

    House leadership responds to Sebelius lies

    Feb 16th, 2009
    by admin.
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    The following is a statement from House Leadership regarding the Governor’s continued efforts to misrepresent her role in the events of the State Finance Council meeting and her responsibility to address a revised 2009 budget.

    While we all can agree that these are trying times for Kansas families, seniors, and business owners the Kansas House of Representatives respectfully disagrees with breaking the law in order to gain political capital.

    The idea that the Legislature is preventing state employees from being paid is the equivalent of shouting fire in a crowded theater. The Governor is attempting to draw attention away from the fact that she has multiple options to fix this problem. Her options do not include illegally issuing certificates of indebtedness when revenues, in this climate, cannot begin to repay the debt. She can easily sign House Substitute for SB 23 or fix the problem by issuing allotments.

    The Governor is attempting to mislead the public in an effort to drum up support for poor public policy. The majority of the Legislature recognizes the severity of the current economic situation and is acting in a responsible manner. How the Governor can say on Thursday that we don’t have enough money and issue allotments and then turn around and on the following Monday say, we will have enough money when the numbers HAVE NOT changed is irresponsible and disingenuous. We strongly urge the Governor to use her power to make allotments and cut state spending rather than withholding tax refunds or paychecks from hard working Kansans.

    The decision was made, by the Governor, to halt income tax refunds last week. Now that her back is against the wall she is using scare tactics to try to manipulate public opinion. We find it perplexing that she will halt income tax refunds due to not having enough money in the budget but will ask for additional certificates of indebtedness even though she knows the dollars for repayment will never materialize without a fundamental change in the 2009 budget. Kansas citizens deserve better.

    The Governor did call a meeting of the State Finance Council to consider the issuance of a certificate of indebtedness. However, when it became apparent to all that the certificate could not be issued because it would violate state law, she reluctantly agreed to postpone the meeting. Incredibly, it was reported that Legislative leadership refused to meet. This is patently false.

    Republican Leadership is happy to postpone any State Finance Council meeting until after the Governor has had a chance to review and to sign House Substitute for Substitute SB 23. We fully expect the bill to be on her desk by the end of the day tomorrow. While it was passed last week, the process to engross the bill takes a degree of time and is out of the hands of the executive or legislative leaders. There is still plenty of time for the Governor to responsibly address the concerns that she is raising. In the meantime, she should make allotments consistent with the provisions of House Sub. for Sub. SB 23.

    Contrary to what the Governor is saying, the certificate has everything to do with the passage of a revised 2009 budget bill. We cannot issue more certificates if the funds will not materialize by the end of the year. Without the revised 2009 budget bill, there is no way that we can legally issue a certificate knowing full well that the money will not be available to retire the debt.

    It is shame that the Governor continues to make the assertion that Legislative Leadership is not representing the people of Kansas in good faith. This (unlike her repeated attempts to leave the state in favor of a cabinet post in Washington) is the right thing to do to ensure that we are taking the necessary and legally permissible steps to fix the structural imbalance in our budget.

    The Governor is asking the Legislature to be complicit in breaking the law by approving certificates of indebtedness outside of the parameters set in statute. Kansas law requires the Director of the Budget to certify that money will be present at the end of the year to pay off certificates of indebtedness, and there is no evidence that will be the case. There is no reason to believe that under the current budget such money will be available. It is irresponsible and illegal to act as if the money will be available when all economic indicators show that we may see even less.

    If anyone is, as the Governor alleges, “jeopardizing our citizens’ pocketbooks” one should look no further than the Governor’s office. Fee sweeps, illegal certificates of indebtedness and non-existent gambling revenue is no way to provide a long-term solution to the economic issues facing our state.

    Although we are glad that the economic crisis in Kansas finally has the Governor’s attention, playing a shell game is not the solution.