Preparing for a long, difficult stretch of decisions that soon await, most of the work this week in the legislature took place in committee—with little substantive debate on the floor. Legislators remain cautious to pass measures with any potential cost to the state. As a result, there’s been a timid tone in the legislature until it becomes clear where our numbers stand and what decisions we face.

While the Senate cleared a substantive and critical unemployment insurance fix for small businesses and unemployed Kansans, the highlight of the week was perhaps the Friday press conference from the Governor announcing his response to last week’s shocking report that state revenues for February were projected to be $70 million below estimates. That saddles the state with $106 million in unexpected debt to recover before June 30.

In response, the Governor only took action in two areas reducing current spending by $31 million. He announced he’ll draw down additional federal money though Medicaid clawback payments for a total of $16 million. The governor also reduced temporary assistance to needy families program by $15 million because the demand was overestimated. He then laid out four additional proposals which require legislative action. He failed to make the difficult decisions and again put off the necessary cuts to stabilize the FY 10 and FY 11 budgets. Keep in mind, the $400 million hole in the 2011 budget still remains, and is likely to continue growing unfortunately.

In preparing for the budget debate, the House Taxation committee passed, with an unrecorded voice vote, a bill which would remove the sales tax exemption for churches and other nonprofit groups, to go to the floor of the House for full consideration. This will allow for all members of the House to be on record voting on this bill.

I strongly disagree with this bill which taxes our neighborhood nonprofit groups. This is not an approach that will fix our budget problems. The nonprofit groups who receive these exemptions provide many services the state simply cannot afford to do, and can do it cheaper than the government. It is critically important we continue to support them.

Next week the headliner will likely be the debate on this tax exemptions bill. This is notable because the bill will be amendable to nearly any tax proposal. For all purposes, I’m expecting this to be the major tax debate of the session, and a very challenging topic. The results of this debate also serve a functional purpose in providing our House Appropriations committee with an indication of what financial resources might be available to them in crafting the 2011 budget.

In two weeks, action will move almost exclusively to the House floor, where we will be debating and voting throughout the day—and sometimes into the night. It’s an exciting time of the year and as the weather continues to improve I hope to see you in the Capitol soon. I always enjoy visitors, but if you’re unable to make it to Topeka, please feel free to call or write with your concerns and I’ll be happy to assist.