A Kansas House committee is crafting that chamber's version of the state budget, and cutting is on the mind of some lawmakers. The committee is looking at a series of spending cuts requested by Governor Sam Brownback last summer. Brownback's administration requested state agencies prepare contingency plans and submit proposals for what they would do if the budget needed a 10 percent cut. Now, some members of the House Appropriations Committee are looking through those proposals for ideas to reduce spending.
Chairman Marc Rhoades, a Republican from Newton, proposed more than $30 million in cuts, based on the contingency plans, including a $15 million reduction to the Kansas Board of Regents. Rhoades says they'll likely need to cut state spending if lawmakers lower taxes. And these were options presented by the agencies themselves.
"We don't know how the tax bill is going to come out," says Rhoades. "My job is not to second, or third, or fourth-guess that. I can't. There's no way I can do that. I need to look for reductions in state government. And this is something the agencies offered up and so we're having that conversation."
The committee will continue work this morning. They could finish a budget proposal later today which would then go before the full House.
