(Syndicated to Kansas newspapers Oct. 12, 2015)
Sometime, probably mid-November, we Statehouse habitués will get the piece of information that will shape the upcoming election-year session of the Legislature.
That’s the mid-November report of the Kansas Consensus Revenue Estimating Group. That group of economists and state agency fiscal staffers will release its estimate of the state’s revenues for the remainder of this fiscal year and the prospects for the upcoming fiscal year that starts July 1, 2016.
The report is key to nearly everything that happens in state government, because that estimate will be the basis for Gov. Sam Brownback to touch up—or not—his budget for the rest of this year and next, and it will define just what the Kansas Legislature does next session in the way of spending.