WASHINGTON – Congressman Tim Huelskamp, Rep. for Kansas 1st Congressional District spoke at a press conference on Wednesday in support of free trade and Trade Promotion Authority, and the benefits trade brings rural Kansas.

View the comments HERE

BY ANDY MARSO

After two days of legislative maneuvering and more than four hours of members sitting in their chairs watching a voting board, the House denied another tax plan Thursday morning.

The possibility of across-the-board budget cuts to state entities — including hospitals for people with mental illness and developmental disabilities — became more tangible as factions within the House rejected a sales tax-heavy plan to close the last half of an $800 million structural deficit.

The initial vote on the bill around 10 p.m. Wednesday had it failing 44-71, but House leaders kept the voting rolls open for hours as they and the governor called members at their seats and tried to flip enough votes of approval to get to 63.

Leadership allowed House members to go home at midnight but had them back in the chamber at 8 a.m. for a couple more hours.

They never got higher than the initial 44 “yes” votes, though, despite pleas from leadership to raise taxes and balance the budget as required by the state constitution.

“I’m voting to preserve the constitutional integrity of our state, the financial integrity of our state,” said Speaker Pro Tem Peggy Mast, a Republican from Emporia, in explaining her “yes” vote.

Other Republicans joined her in urging their colleagues to make a vote that could finally end the historically long session.

Rep. Scott Schwab, a Republican from Olathe, apologized to the chamber for being arrogant in the past and alluded to those who blame the state’s fiscal problems on the 2012 income tax cuts.

“I’ll admit it, it was my fault,” Schwab said. “I was part of the problem. But I want to be part of the solution.”

‘The time has come’

Rep. Kyle Hoffman, a Republican from Coldwater, tried to bring together the many factions of the House Republican supermajority.

He urged those holding out for a large-scale reversal of the 2012 bill or for budget cuts and no new taxes to give up on those hard-line positions.

“Some of you want more cuts; some of you want a total repeal of the 2012 tax plan,” Hoffman said. “Neither is going to happen at this hour. The time has come. It may not be pretty and it may not look like all the previsions that we want, but it’s time to fund the budget and go home.”

But those factions remained entrenched Wednesday night and into Thursday morning.

Rep. Pete DeGraaf, a Republican from Mulvane and one of the chamber’s most tax-resistant members, suggested the House should return to the spending levels of 2012 rather than revising the tax cuts passed that year.

“If we just went back to the spending policies of 2012, the budget would be balanced,” DeGraaf said. “And the sky was not falling in 2012.”

But budget committee leaders have said the state’s biggest cost drivers have changed since 2012. The numbers of at-risk students in public education — for whom districts automatically receive larger appropriations — have increased. The Medicaid rolls have gone up. And legislators agreed to plow more money into the state pension system because years of underfunding had left it dangerously underfunded.

Leaders of both chambers and the governor have said the budget already includes all cuts that can be made without harm.

But a bill to raise the necessary taxes remains elusive, as DeGraaf said during the one minute he was allowed to explain his “no” vote on the House floor.

“It’s obvious that this body is not willing to raise taxes,” he said before his microphone was silenced, his minute up.

Shortly after that, the rule allowing leadership to keep the vote open was challenged and the rules committee determined that the authority to keep the standoff going lay solely with House Speaker Ray Merrick, a Republican from Stilwell.

Merrick quickly brought the exercise to an end, causing a mass exodus of votes away from the tax increase plan. By the time the vote was final, the number of “yes” tallies had dropped to 21.

Frustrating situation

There are only a few paths forward from here.

Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce, a Republican from Hutchinson, said the two chambers may try to get together in a conference committee and formulate another tax offering.

But Bruce admitted to being frustrated with the situation. Sen. Les Donovan, a Republican from Wichita who chairs the Senate’s tax committee, said he saw limited usefulness in having another conference committee if the House keeps shooting down its products.

“Unless we see some movement from them, I can’t see any reason to go back,” Donovan said. “I don’t know what we could put in there, even if we could get approval over here. … I don’t know that we could pass something here that would be enticing for them to change their votes.”

That leaves the prospect of across-the-board budget cuts still firmly in place as the Legislature moves closer to the fiscal year that starts July 1 without a budget.

Andy Marso is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

HUTCHINSON -A Kansas woman who entered a plea to three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon was sentenced to 13 months in prison on Thursday.

Nicole Green, 35, Hutchinson, could have received significantly more time as she was facing charges of attempted murder.

Green entered a plea agreement to the lesser charges last month and was sentenced Friday afternoon before Judge Joe McCarville.

Green was arrested for an incident on Feb. 21 that started with an altercation at Wal-Mart.

Green, who had an ongoing feud with the three subjects, followed them in her car down Kansas 61 highway before firing five shots at the vehicle.

The chase ended when the victim’s vehicle struck the southwest side of the Midas Muffler and Brake Shop in Hutchinson.

Green will also have to pay restitution for the vehicle, which was totaled, and for the groceries that were inside the car at the time of the accident.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — An annual outdoor symphony concert in the Flint Hills is expected to draw a crowd of 7,500 when it returns to Chase County for its 10th anniversary.

The Symphony in the Flint Hills changes location each summer, but this year’s event will be held Saturday at the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, where the inaugural concert took place in 2006. Grammy Award-winning artist Lyle Lovett will perform at the event for the second time.

The Wichita Eagle reports that Symphony in the Flint Hills is a nonprofit aiming to spur appreciation and knowledge of the tallgrass prairie by bringing people together to experience it.

In addition to an evening concert, the event also features educational programs, walking tours, an instrument “petting zoo” and a silent auction featuring prairie-themed art and photography.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A third candidate is announcing plans to run in the Republican primary for the 1st District congressional race.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Alan LaPolice will formally announce his candidacy Thursday night in Clyde.

LaPolice, a student retention specialist at Cloud County Community College in Concordia, lost to Rep. Tim Huelskamp in the Republican primary last year. Huelskamp went on to defeat Democrat Jim Sherow and win a fourth term in Congress.

Also running in the 2016 primary is Republican Roger Marshall, an obstetrician and gynecologist from Great Bend.

Candidates have until June 2016 to file a statement of candidacy for the congressional seat. The primary election will be held in August 2016 ahead of the November 2016 general election.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback says he is “very disappointed” in the Kansas House’s failure to pass a tax plan, but he still is focused on filling the state’s looming budget deficit through tax increases rather than budget cuts.

Brownback described the House Thursday as “fractured,” but he said he still thinks a compromise can be reached. Legislators are at an impasse over tax and spending proposals aimed at filling a projected $406 million shortfall in the fiscal year beginning July.

The deadlock has stretched the legislative session to 112 days, making it the longest in state history.

Brownback downplayed the possibility of the Legislature adjourning without a solution. In such a case, the governor would be forced to call a special legislative session or make broad cuts to the budget.