January 2011
Jan. 27, 2011
(Syndicated to Kansas newspapers Jan. 24, 2011)A roller, not a paintbrush
Every now and again you see a new governor make a decision that from a high level looks consistent with what he/she wants to do.
This governor, Sam Brownback, basically doesn’t want to spend any state tax money on things that aren’t absolutely necessary. Maybe he’d really like to, but with no spare money and a $550 million potential deficit, you concentrate on the necessities, the basics that the state must finance.
And, every now and again, a new governor miscalculates the level of opposition—and the political and social power—of people who like a program that he wants to scrap.
It looks like Brownback may have under-estimated the clout of the Kansas Arts Commission, which he wants to eliminate as a state agency and turn into a nonprofit agency.
The money involved? About $574,000. It takes a couple decimal points to get to the percentage that is of the state budget, but said out loud, “more than half a million dollars” sounds pretty substantial to most of us.
But watch this one turn into a monumental battle, which will be waged by Kansans who are art fans and connoisseurs—generally not the crowd that buys those “sofa-sized” paintings at traveling starving artists’ sales.
Brownback’s proposal has already made the front page of some newspapers, and Statehouse insiders are expecting the move to grow, to bring people with clay under their fingernails as well as the ascot crowd to the Statehouse to work against deleting the line item from the upcoming appropriations bill.
At issue: Whether the mere $200,000 stipend that Brownback recommends next year for the commission as it slides from being a state agency to a stand-alone nonprofit outfit will make Kansas ineligible for more than a million dollars in grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (which some in Congress are considering de-funding) and some other regional arts supporters.
And, the arts community is making the argument that the arts bring tourists, jobs, industry, virtually everything but daylight to the plains of Kansas.
The Arts Commission’s suggestion that arts and culture is a $153 million industry in Kansas supporting more than 4,000 jobs and generating about $15 million in revenue for state and local governments might seem a little strong for an agency that has a budget of less than $1 million.
But we imagine we’ll see a lot of state legislators who campaigned on cutting spending to the bone and reducing the wingspan of government painted as arts- and-culture opponents. The arts community, for this job, is likely to use a roller, not a paintbrush, in its effort to save the commission.
Yes, we’re looking for an interesting scrap on this one.
Jan. 20, 2011
(Syndicated to Kansas newspapers Jan. 17, 2011)A cool-down strategy
We learned something last week, first week of the 2011 Legislature.
We learned that the Speaker of the House, Mike O’Neal, R-Hutchinson, would like the white-hot election/inaugural/swearing-in fever of the new crop of House freshmen to cool a dab before he gives them a chance to vote on a bill that would repeal last year’s 1-cent sales tax increase.
That bill, virtual red meat for conservatives, was tossed into the House by Rep. Bill Feuerborn, D-Garnett. His coy explanation: We’d like to know early in the session the money available for the upcoming year’s budget, and if the sales tax is rescinded, well, that means a lot of rejiggering of the budget.
Sounds like a reasonable proposition, doesn’t it?
But, and insiders were chuckling: It also means that the simple bill which just rolls back that sales tax increase that yields more than $300 million a year is tantalizingly close to a recorded vote on the House floor, where new conservatives get to prove their mettle to their constituents.
Now, there’s a committee process, of course, and the House Tax Committee probably will hold hearings on the bill and by that time the firebrands will have cooled a dab, having sat in on other hearings where they find out what the state spends its tax money on and which of their constituents depend on that money.
It’s a cool-down strategy, not a bad one for the guy who runs the House of Representatives and who doesn’t want to run afoul of Gov. Sam Brownback, a fiscal conservative who pragmatically needs the sales tax money to balance his budget.
The real issue that Statehouse insiders are watching is just how procedurally canny the anti-sales tax cadre will be, whether they will try to push the Democrat-sponsored bill through committee and onto the House floor, or whether they’ll come up with their own proposal or an amendment to try to slap onto the first bill that even remotely deals with the state’s tax system.
And while conservative newcomers would dearly like an early vote on the sales tax that they can talk about—say, at the annual Kansas Day Republican convention at the end of this month—chances are likely slim they’ll get the opportunity.
***
Oh, that constant theme that Gov. Sam Brownback has hummed since he published his first “Roadmap for Kansas” campaign brochure: That more of Kansas schoolchildren ought to be able to read by the time they’re leaving the fourth grade?
He’s still serious about it, about measuring the progress that is made in teaching that vital skill. But…after his State of the State address where he said, “No child should pass the fourth grade without being able to read,” he says he’s not proposing to anyone that a child who can’t read won’t make it to fifth grade.
That would be a firecracker that no governor would want to light…
Jan. 13, 2011
(Syndicated to Kansas newspapers Jan. 10, 2011)The first week…
Wonder what’s coming up this first week of the governorship of Sam Brownback? Here’s some of it:
If you’re a fan of economy in government—oh, and happen to have a computer or Internet access—you’re going to like the first budget produced by Gov. Sam Brownback.
We’re not talking about his plan for taming a $500 million-plus shortfall in expected revenues over current expenditures.
No, we’re talking about something Brownback didn’t have anything to do with: The sea change that means there won’t be a three-inch thick budget published this year.Those budget books, which cost about $20 apiece to print and which were printed by the thousands, are being replaced this year with compact discs which cost maybe a little more than 25 cents to produce.
Now, if that’s economy in government, Brownback gets to be the first one to serve it up. Oh, and of course, the whole budget will be on-line for you Internet cruisers, but if you want to examine it off-line, you’ll have to print it off yourself.
***
It’s quiet so far, but there are many Statehouse regulars still wondering whether the freshman House class—many of whom campaigned about not listening to the lobbyists and the “government insiders” who they believe have mismanaged the state—will show up at receptions and such sponsored by lobbyists and special interest groups.
Just showing up for a mass reception means that nothing will ever have to show up on anything published by the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission. But…a one-on-one meal or an individualized invitation means that lobbyists are going to have to report spending on new House members.
So…we’re wondering what those “won’t be influenced by lobbyists” legislators are going to do…buy their own meals and drinks, or leave tracks that will show up on their 2012 opponents’ brochures…
Now, reports of receipt of “hospitality” from lobbyists and trade associations hasn’t been much of an issue in campaigns, but we’re dealing with a whole new sort of House members this year, so where this goes, nobody knows for sure…
***
The Inaugural Ball? Without a State of the State message by Brownback until Wednesday, it was the talk of the Statehouse for a couple days. Best comparison: It was like prom night for Republicans, reveling in their stout majorities in the Legislature and celebrating their party’s win of every statewide office on the ballot.
Oh, and it turns out that Sam and Mary Brownback are pretty good dancers. And, if you’re going to have a governor and a First Lady, it’s probably nice that they can dance when it becomes necessary…or maybe just fun…
Jan. 6, 2011
(Syndicated to Kansas newspapers Jan. 3, 2011)A must on your reading list
For the past three years, the last four pages of the generally 350- or-so-page governor’s proposed budget for the state of Kansas has been, well, optional reading, at best.
Those four pages are the “statutory budget” that provides for a 7.5 percent ending balance in the State General Fund at the end of the fiscal year.
Nope, we haven’t had a 7.5 percent ending balance in several years, and the Legislature has become somewhat blasé about waiving that 20-year-old requirement when money is tight.
Last couple years? Virtually no budget balance and the state barely got to “break even” by delaying payments, essentially not writing some checks until after July 1, maintaining money in the State General Fund until June 30, last day of Kansas’ fiscal year.
Nobody’s counting on Gov.-elect Sam Brownback, who is facing a budget shortfall of maybe $500 million or more, to seriously propose a budget that contains a 7.5 percent ending balance. He’s talked about downsizing and such, but practically he’s facing one of the toughest budget years that Kansas has seen and he’s not going to have $300 million or more in spare cash on hand on June 30, 2012, the last day of the first fiscal year for which he has written the state’s budget.
That’s what is going to make those last four—maybe more—pages of Brownback’s budget for Kansas Fiscal Year 2012 the first ones that most of us Statehouse hangers-on are going to turn to when the budget comes out later this month. We’ll find out whether he’s had someone, probably the new budget director Steve Anderson, just do some long division, or whether we get a real look at where Brownback would like the budget to go…eventually.
Past governors when facing a budget shortfall have prefaced that “statutory budget” with a catch phrase that is basically: This is the law, we really don’t mean it, and don’t waste your time at the back of this book.
Of course, the governor’s first obligation is to produce the budget that he wants passed, that reflects his best judgment on where money should be spent, and the “statutory budget” is just a technicality, an add-on, required by state law.
That’s why that statutory budget is among the first things that Statehouse old-timers will read, to see if there’s anything predictive in the first budget by the most conservative governor that Kansas has elected in two decades.
It might be a look at how Brownback intends to manage the state in a couple years…when times are better and his inclination to reduce taxes some time during his four-year term is practically possible.
Or that statutory budget might just represent long division.We’ll be watching the mouse hole to see…