Last week was budget week in Topeka, with both the House & Senate debating and passing their respective versions of the State’s spending package for fiscal year 2009. Both versions spend less than the Governor’s proposed budget but both put off until April nearly $150M in spending decisions. The final Consensus Revenue Estimate before adjournment comes to us in early April and will signal what funding is available for the final budget bill. Revenues have been running ahead of estimates so far this year but sales tax receipts have been flat and there is concern that revenues may lag in the next reporting periods.
Included in funding deferrals is the new state employee pay plan. A new improved state employee pay plan has received tentative approval, subject to finding the funding in the final days of the session. The new plan implements market adjustments to try to raise salaries to comparable market rates. In exchange, traditional longevity pay would be phased out. The proposal contains a 2½% base increase. I voted against the base bill due to the fact it didn’t address non-judicial state court employees but we took steps Thursday to address those salaries with docket fee increases to make non-judicial court employee pay track with the state employee pay plan.
Two of my floor amendments were successful. One removed the expense of $39.5M in bonding authority to build new prison bed space that we have determined is not currently necessary due to favorable bed capacity data. The other amendment added $1M in spending for the initial planning and design for two KU pharmacy school expansions that will add 45 new pharmacy student slots at the KU campus in Lawrence and expand the KU School of Medicine in Wichita to add 40 first time pharmacy school slots there. We are facing a critical pharmacy shortage in the state with 7 counties currently without a pharmacy and as many as 8 more in jeopardy of losing their pharmacy if new pharmacists are not recruited to take over the businesses. The average age of independent pharmacists in the state is 54.
In other legislative news, as expected, Governor Sebelius vetoed the legislature’s energy bill. The Senate passed the measure with veto-proof numbers and there was a strong bi-partisan vote in the House but we’re currently a few votes short of a veto override. The veto is a huge blow to rural Kansas development. On the one hand, the governor says she’s opposed to the legislature placing restrictions on the Secretary of Health & Environment’s authority while on the other hand she’s trying to negotiate for a smaller energy plant in western Kansas. In fact, the Legislature has unanimously passed legislation that places the same restrictions on the Secretary of Agriculture. Those restrictions merely say that the Secretary may not promulgate rules & regs that are more restrictive than current state or federal law without legislative approval. The legislature’s energy bill represents a “win-win” for the state and would serve as a model for future energy development in the state and a model for CO2 mitigation among the existing plants coming up for renewal of their energy permits. Work is underway to muster the votes for an override of the Governor’s veto.