TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Legislation that funds most of state government in Kansas for its next fiscal year began as a measure giving wildlife and parks officers more discretion in issuing citations.

It also had two other, vastly different incarnations before becoming a bill containing the bulk of the budget.

Lawmakers’ handling of the measure from its introduction through its signing this week by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback shows how loose the rules for moving bills to passage have become.

Legislators don’t hesitate to strip out texts and titles of bills and dump the contents into other bills to speed up their work.

Measures become what lawmakers call “shells,” ”vehicles” or even “body donors.” The legislative process can end up looking little like what’s taught to schoolchildren in lessons about how government works.