Kansas Senate budget seeks to pry state funding from ‘wine and cheese crowd’

Sen. Rick Billinger, R-Goodland, says the Senate's budget bill for the upcoming fiscal year addresses essential needs while restraining expenditures. The Senate voted 21-19 to send the budget to the Kansas House. (Photo by Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

TOPEKA — Wichita Sen. Joe Claeys won support for a $1 million public transportation project in Sedgwick County by yanking $500,000 from the state’s creative arts commission and deleting $500,000 from grants to public broadcasting.

Claeys said the goal was to fill gaps in the transportation network that made it difficult for Kansans with disabilities to hold a job. The investment would be a step toward fulfilling a pledge the state made 15 years ago to prioritize employment security for people with disabilities.

“With all due respect, I think the wine-and-cheese crowd can afford to buy their own art, and they can afford to donate to public broadcasting,” the Republican senator said.

Claeys said striking funds for the arts commission and public broadcasting would allow a real-world test of the proposition that lack of transportation was one of the highest barriers to employment among people with disabilities.

Sen. Tim Shallenburger, R-Baxter Springs, said he was curious why Claeys limited the pilot project to the Wichita area.

“Did you just pick your neighborhood?” Shallenburger said. “I don’t think the government is the place to solve this.”

Claeys said no more than $100,000 could be used to administer the pilot program, collect data and report back to the Legislature.

“Weigh those dollars against the reality there are Kansans with disabilities sitting in their living rooms on Sunday mornings, not because they don’t have a job, but because they don’t have a ride,” Claeys said.

 

Budget bill highlights

Sen. Rick Billinger, a Goodland Republican who chairs the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said the $26.8 billion package for the fiscal year starting July 1 was a 3.4% reduction from the current fiscal year. On Wednesday, the Senate voted 21-19 to approve the bill.

Senate Bill 315 added $5 million for special education programs in K-12 schools and invested $5 million in research at Kansas State University, Wichita State University and University of Kansas Medical Center. The bill allocated $41 million for water projects statewide.

While the bill authorized pay increases for some state employees, including the Kansas Highway Patrol and 10% raises for legislative staff, Billinger said decisions applicable to 34,000 state workers would be made later.

“I want everybody to know how important pay increases are for our state employees,” he said.

Sen. Caryn Tyson, R-Parker, offered an amendment — it was rejected — adding to the 10% increase for legislative staff involved with information technology, issue research and bill drafting.

Democratic Sen. Pat Pettey of Kansas City questioned how state employees with no guarantee of a raise should interpret Tyson’s motion.

“This is not only saying that others are not valuable, but that these are even more valuable that they deserve a one-time bonus along with the 10% pay increase,” Pettey said.

 

‘Senator is a nobody’

Sen. Patrick Schmidt, a Topeka Democrat, proposed the Senate stop paying the Wichita State University director of GoCreate, a career development center sponsored by the Koch business empire. The WSU facility helped entrepreneurs and hobbyists turn business ideas into reality.

“I’m concerned that this position isn’t actually being filled right now,” said Schmidt, who suggested the director wasn’t fulfilling duties at WSU.

Senate President Ty Masterson, the Andover Republican, has been GoCreate’s director for a decade.

“This is 100% a political game. This is the stuff I hate about politics,” Masterson said.

Masterson said he took leave from GoCreate without salary or benefits during legislative sessions, which typically ran from January to April.

Schmidt plowed ahead: “Kansans deserve value for their tax dollars, and the Senate president drawing two taxpayer-funded salaries is not fair to taxpayers.”

The Kansas Legislative Research Department said the annual salary of GoCreate’s director was $228,800. In 2025, the salary for a Kansas Senate president increased to $85,000.

Schmidt’s amendment — quashed 1-37 — was denounced by several Republicans. Billinger, the budget chairman, said he was disappointed by Schmidt.

“I feel like the senator is a nobody and if he wants to continue to be a nobody, go for it,” Billinger said.

Prior to Senate final action Wednesday on the bill, Billinger apologized “to all the senators in our chamber for the remarks I made yesterday.”

 

K-12 mental health

Eudora GOP Sen. Beverly Gossage gained passage of an amendment cutting $16 million from mental health services for K-12 students. She assured senators that “not a lot of schools” took part.

“It’s questionable why the state would be funding this program,” Gossage said. “The money could be better spent elsewhere.”

Sen. Tory Marie Blew, R-Great Bend, said Gossage was misinformed.

“Eighty-one school districts utilize this program,” Blew said. “So, just to say a couple-few is not true. Mental health is important.”

Senate Majority Leader Chase Blasi, R-Wichita, earmarked $1 million for short-term housing for people with disabilities and a dual diagnosis of mental illness. The $3 million increase for Meals on Wheels was cut in half by Sen. Virgil Peck, R-Havana.

Tyson, the Parker Republican, failed to gain traction for an amendment providing free parking for KU Medical Center employees. She said the daily $7 fee was a hardship.

“It just isn’t something they should be worried about when they’re trying to care for patients,” Tyson said.

 

Cleaning Kansas waterways

Sen. Marci Francisco, D-Lawrence, couldn’t persuaded the Senate to pass an amendment allocating $100,000 for removal of trash from Kansas streams.

Billinger, the Senate budget chairman, assumed Francisco planned to direct all funding to the Kansas River at Lawrence.

“How did it get this bad?” he said. “Do they just throw trash in the river over in Lawrence and nobody wants to pick it up?”

Francisco said the plan was to remove debris from waterways in Junction City, Manhattan, Wamego and Topeka. She said no money would go to Lawrence.

Sen. Cindy Holscher, an Overland Park Democrat seeking the party’s nomination for governor, unsuccessfully proposed a $24 million increase in state aid to special education. The Senate bill would add only $5 million, but that wouldn’t keep pace with inflation.

“I wish we wouldn’t have to fight so hard every single year just to get funding for general education as well as special education,” she said.