The Kansas House and Senate have passed a $13 billion state budget set to begin July 1. The budget makes some minor cuts to K-12 education and major cuts to other areas, but in the end signifies only a 6.8% decrease in general fund expenditures in comparison to 2009 spending levels.

While 6.8% sounds like a significant decrease, it’s just a drop in the bucket compared to previous spending sprees. And once again K-12 has only been dealt a 1% cut in funding even though it’s budget amounts to half state general fund expenditures.

But that number, $13 billion, that really got my attention. After multiple bailouts, billions and trillions just seem to mesh together in my mind and have become meaningless. It reminds me of the demonstrations done in high school to show just how far away Pluto was from the Sun or changing seconds into years to try and get a handle on millions/billions of years.

So, in order to understand just how much $13 billion is, I thought I’d break it down a bit.

First, $13 billion for the year means the state will spend just over $35.5 million every day. That’s just under $1.5 million every hour, or $24,734 every minute. Most frightening, that’s $412 every second of every day for an entire year.

$13 billion divided by nearly 3 million Kansans (2.776 million to be exact) means the state will spend $4,683 for each citizen. That’s $18,732 of spending for a family of four in one year. That means Kansas will spend $13 every day on each Kansan or $51 every day for a family of four. If you wanted to put money in a jar to pay your share, a family of four would have to add $2.12 every hour or about a quarter every seven minutes.

And that’s just state government. That doesn’t include money you’d have to give to local government.

Legislators made cuts in spending and they should be commended. But when put in perspective, the figures beg the question, “Does the government tax too little or spend too much?”

Would you make a $390 monthly payment for the services state government provides? Are you getting your money’s worth?

While I wasn’t able to be at the rally in Overland Park today, I was with you in spirit! Meadowlark has a photo journal up about the rally.

There’s also a great piece on KDOT’s new claim that 10,000 jobs will be created with our state’s share of “spendulus.” In short, many states are simply taking the average yearly wages of a construction worker and dividing it into the total amount of money they get, leaving virtually nothing to pay for construction materials and other costs.

I’d further point to today’s Capital-Journal article, where $2.5 million will be spent to buy new buses for Topeka transit.

That earmark for Topeka comes from $16 million set aside for urban transit, with $6.6 million going to Wichita, $2.8 million to Johnson County, $1.9 million for Wyandotte County and $1.9 million to Lawrence. A total of $14 million is going to rural transit projects, but those recipients haven’t been determined.

How new buses will create jobs is beyond me.

More and more people are getting involved, AFP has alerted their members, and Darla Jaye is talking with the organizer, Amanda, on the Darla Jaye show at 8:05 pm tonight.

You can get involved, too! It’s easy, just show up, bring a sign if you can (see Darla’s website for an example), and make your voice heard!

* What: Rally Against the Porkulus Bill
* When: Saturday, Feb 21, 10:00 am
* Where: Congressman Moore’s office, 8417 Santa Fe Drive, Overland Park
* Why: Because it’s time for No Moore Pork!
* Who: Anyone who is fed up with overspending by our state & federal government.

Don’t live close enough to participate? You probably have friends in or near Johnson County – forward this link to them!

CNBC’s Rick Santelli and the traders on the floor of the CBOE express outrage over the notion they may have to pay their neighbor’s mortgage, particularly if they bought far more house than they could actually afford, with Jason Roney, Sharmac Capital.

What form of government is the best?

Timeline shows Top Democrats defended Fannie, Freddy.

Chuck Schumer: The American people don’t care about wasteful spending.

]]> http://www.kansasra.org/blog/archives/874/feed 0 http://www.kansasra.org/blog/archives/859 http://www.kansasra.org/blog/archives/859#comments Wed, 18 Feb 2009 06:09:37 +0000 KRA ED http://www.kansasra.org/blog/?p=859 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:

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

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.

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.

The speaker and president said the Democratic governor must first deal with the $326 million deficit-reduction bill adopted by both chambers last week. Once action is taken on Senate Bill 25, O’Neal and Morris said expenditures and revenues would likely be brought in line sufficiently to approve more debt.

From Kansas Liberty:

When combined with previous requests, this would create a total loan of $775 for fiscal year 2009, the largest certificate of indebtedness ever issued in Kansas history.

This has understandably angered Democrats and liberals in general.

For the legislative branch to hold the executive branch over a barrel like this, to actually prevent payroll and tax returns from being made, is unprecedented and inexcusable. It is wholly unaccepted for the the Republicans to extort the Governor in this manner, and it comes awfully close to an out-and-out constitutional crisis. Separation of powers guarantees the governor’s power to sign or veto a bill, and if the House and Senate doesn’t like her action, they can always override her veto.

Absolutely true. Gov. Sebelius is free to veto the budget reduction act and continue to pretend the state has money to pay its bills. And legislative leaders are free to refuse to borrow more money that can’t be paid back. So, I guess everyone is free to do as they choose.

I would note however, that I heard not one Democrat complain about the 2005 Supreme Court Decision mandating a set amount of money be spent on K-12 education. Separation of powers only seems to be relevant when you’re on the loosing side.

State Treasurer Dennis McKinney had another take on the situation:

By failing to act on the recommendation of the state budget director to shore up balances in the general fund, legislative leaders put our reputation as a reliable bill payer and our credit rating at risk.

Wrong. Unprecedented spending on the part of liberal Democrats, including McKinney and Sebelius, has put our state’s fiscal reputation on the line.

Republican’s refusing to approve more debt that no one is sure would be able to be repaid, is simply the symptom of years of overspending by legislators and out of control court mandated spending sprees.

It is high time Sebelius and liberal Democrats face reality and address the disease rather than the symptoms.

The Johnson County bloggers at Red County have a nice list posted of what our children and grandchildren will be paying for in the years to come.

I’ll share some of my favorites:

• $1 billion for NASA
• $2 billion to develop advanced batteries for hybrid cars
• $650 million for the digital TV converter box coupon program (because reality TV spurs the economy)
• $3.7 billion to conduct “green” renovations on military bases (I thought they already wore camo?)
• $1 billion for the 2010 Census (to count just over 305 million people)
• $3.4 billion for fossil energy research (Remember folks, it’s the green Democrats that voted for that…)
• $98 million earmarked for a polar icebreaker (this one just puzzles me, couldn’t we just wait for ‘em to melt?)
• $500 million for forest health and wildfire prevention
• $25 million for the Smithsonian Institution
• $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts

Finally, my ultimate favorite two:

• $10 million for urban canals
• $290 million for flood prevention

If I have to explain why that’s funny, we’re in real trouble.

Nostimulus.com surpassed half a million signatures in the waning hours of the spendulus debate, but it made no difference to the Democrats or three “moderate” Republican Senators. The site is still up if you just feel a need to sign it. I’m sure AFP will keep ownership of the domain name. I have a feeling this won’t be the last “stimulus.”

During the House and Senate debate I had a nightmarish flashback to the last time a legislative body voted on a massive piece of legislation without reading it.

Of course, everyone by now knows what a cash cow state-owned casinos turned out to be for Kansas. And not allowing legislative oversight in the bill, that was an excellent idea. I can only imagine what American citizens will learn about this spending bill over the next year or two.

U.S. House rules state that all conference committee reports must be made available for 3 calendar days before a vote to allow Representatives to read the bill. The Democrat controlled House passed a special resolution to waive that rule so a vote on the 1100 page bill could be taken not even 24 hours after it’s final draft was made available.

Democrat Reps and Senators must be very fast readers.

I can think of a few high points though. Every Representative and all but three Republican Senators voted against the bill. What a dramatic return to conservative principles. It’s certainly refreshing to see that most of our Republican officials intimately understand what lost them the election and what they need to do to begin to win again.

Imagine if Republicans had acted like Republicans several years ago.

Other Kansas spendulus blog posts:

Kansas Meadowlark – “‘Yes We Can’ Pass $787 Billion ‘Stimulus’ Without Anyone in Congress Reading the Bill”
Red County JoCo – The short list of your grandchildren’s debt
Wichita Liberty – NoStimulus.com Effort Crosses 200,000 Petitions
Wichita Liberty – Tim Phillips of AFP explains NoStimulus.com
StimulusWatch.org – Lists all Kansas Stimulus projects

As reported yesterday, nostimulus.com by American’s for Prosperity crashed due to the overwhelming traffic it received after a Fox News appearance by Tim Phillips, AFP President. The site was down for several hours yesterday but still racked up more than 100,000 signatures in just one day, according to an AFP press release today.

“There is growing citizen outrage against this spending nightmare and American citizens are not giving up,” said Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity. “In fact, taxpayers raised their voices louder, doubling the number of petitions in one day.”

If you haven’t already, go and sign the petition at nostimulus.com.

More close to home, you can also do you part for state economic development and lower energy costs by signing the Kansas Republican Assembly’s online petition to build the Sunflower Electric Power Plants in western Kansas. Today’s economic climate no longer allows us to play environmental roulette with our state’s energy policies.

Sign the petition and we’ll deliver this message to your Legislators:

“I encourage you to develop energy policies that are based on proven science to meet our growing need for electricity and allow our economy to grow, while preserving our quality of life in Kansas.”

Sign today!

Here’s the Fox News video that caused the site to crash from overwhelming demand. You have to watch for 45 seconds to a minute before they get to the story…

As many of you may have already noticed, nostimulus.com is down as of right now due to the overwhelming demand to sign the petition against more government spending.

AFP has told me that Tim Phillips earlier today was on Fox News talking about nostimulus.com, which cause the massive demand to sign the petition. They are working on the problem and hope to have the site back up soon. I’ll post here again as soon as I know something.

As of right now, the site says:

Due to the overwhelming traffic, NoStimulus.com is temporarily down. We will be back up and running as soon as possible. Congress should not enact an expensive spending bill under the pretense of stimulus or recovery. Reckless spending of borrowed money was at the root of the financial crisis, and this bill is more of the same. We cannot spend our way to prosperity, and such an expansion of the federal government will put a crushing burden on taxpayers in the long-term.

I hope to have the Phillips video soon as well.

Bob Weeks at Wichita Liberty has an excellent explanation of Proposition K and its potential effects on property values and tax rates. The post is in response to a con editorial in the Wichita Eagle, “Tax Plan Would Shift Burden, Be Arbitrary.” The Eagle also featured a guest column in favor of Prop K, “Proposition K is Fair, Equal, Transparent.”

Weeks expertly dissects arguments opposing Prop K, showing the lack of logic behind each one. As you read both Wichita Eagle columns and Week’s post, keep in mind our current system and ask yourself which you would prefer.

Also, note which side is attempting to solve the property taxation problem and which is simply trying to find excuses to keep the old system in place.

Gov. Sebelius caring for Greensburg tornado victims

I’m going to make a simple request of Gov. Sebelius: Either get out or get to work.

Over the past six years your administration has created far too many problems for the taxpayers of this state to put on hold while you prance around Washington trying to sell yourself for a job you already told everyone you didn’t want.

Leadership doesn’t mean you propose a budget that neither takes into account the full extent of the crisis facing our state nor realistic solutions to the problem. Honest and truthful leaders don’t tell the voters they are staying to solve a budget crisis, criticize legislative leaders trying to find solutions to our money problems and then jump ship when you see greener pastures.

Those actions are not the actions of an honest, trustworthy leader. They are the actions of a self-seeking, egotistical politician. So if you are unwilling or unable to do the work of the citizens of Kansas, move on so true Republican leaders can find solutions to problems you helped create.

Kansas’ problems simply can’t be trumped by your sales pitch to the Obama administration. Either get out or get to work.

In a post entitled, “Plenty of reasons to be concerned about Proposition K“, Brownlee claims that Prop K may not be good for areas that don’t appreciate in value as quickly as others.

…it also could significantly benefit wealthier, growing neighborhoods while disadvantaging homeowners in poorer areas, because some neighborhoods and cities have much higher property appreciation rates than 2 percent.

Like many arguments that are made by the left, the problem seems valid on the surface until further investigation is conducted. Such is the case here. The very problem Brownlee claims to want to avoid has already propagated itself through the system.

Property tax valuation changes from 1997 to 2007 by county courtesy of the Kansas Meadowlark

For Brownlee’s argument to be valid, he should show areas in the state where property tax valuations have risen below the 2% per year mandated by Prop K. The map to the right provided courtesy of Kansas Meadowlark shows that overall, property tax valuations have risen by significant amounts over a ten year period from 1997 to 2007.

Unfortunately for Brownlee, 104 of 105 counties in Kansas saw rises in tax valuations greater than 2% per year over the specified ten year period. This means that had Prop K been passed in 1997, taxpayers in every county but one in Kansas would have benefited from the 2% per year rise in tax valuations.

The one exception to the rule is Coffey County where property values have actually gone down according to the county appraisers office. Coffey County is where Wolf Creek Nuclear Power Plant is located which provides a significant portion of property tax revenues.

Further, Brownlee ignores a critical component of Prop K, that valuations rise at a set 2% as long as improvements are not made. It seems obvious to me that if an area is rising in value quicker than another, it’s due to property improvements and new buildings. This is accounted for in Prop K and Brownlee’s argument ignores this.

Brownlee continued:

Over time, this proposed system could result in significant disparities and a disconnect from actual market values, thus likely violating the Kansas Constitution’s requirement of a “uniform and equal basis of valuation.”

Again, this statement ignores what is happening with valuations already. Johnson County, the fastest growing county in the state, saw a rise in values of 111.8%. It’s easy to argue that Johnson County certainly has been a leader in building improvements that raise property values in comparison to other counties in the state. And yet counties such as Wabaunsee (116.3%) and Osage (123.9%) saw a higher increase in values than Johnson. Disparity is already present.

Like many arguments made by the left, we’re led to believe that an idea must be rejected outright based on the idea that it may harm someone somewhere in the future while ignoring the vast majority that are currently being harmed by a defective system.

Prop K is not a perfect system by any means, no system of taxation will ever be perfect or viewed as completely fair by everyone, but it is certainly a large improvement over the current valuation system in Kansas. Certainly it is not something that should be rejected outright by baseless, thoughtless “problems” that already exist and are currently harming the vast majority of property taxpayers in Kansas.