ICYMI: AFP Publishes New Op-ed on Critical Reforms Needed to Improve the Kansas Legislature’s Budget Process
Americans for Prosperity-Kansas Advocates for Four Key Reforms to Streamline Kansas’s Budget Process
Topeka, KS – Americans for Prosperity – Kansas (AFP-KS) State Director Elizabeth Patton and Senior Fiscal Policy Fellow Kurt Couchman published a new op-ed featured in The Topeka Capital-Journal, highlighting the essential reforms needed for a more productive Kansas budget process. The Kansas Legislature’s current budget process, which relies on the Governor’s budget, has not done enough to meet the diverse needs of Kansans. AFP advocates for four specific reforms to create a more efficient, effective system that better serves Kansans.
Kansas legislative leadership has recently taken a step forward by establishing a committee to draft its own budget, one of the key reforms on AFP’s agenda. A more focused government is crucial to establishing a prosperous future.
An excerpt of the op-ed is below:
“Every nook and cranny of the Sunflower State is impacted by 40 senators and 125 representatives in the Kansas Legislature. They represent diverse communities, and their different backgrounds and values reflect the people.
“It is only within their ability to properly balance competing interests and values, but how can their perception of budgeting work better for the diverse communities they represent?
“The state budget is the main tool for funding state activities and sits at the center of practical democracy. Under the state constitution, the governor may have supreme executive power, but the legislative power of this state is vested in the state House and Senate.
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“First, Kansas should adopt spending targets that maintain balance over the medium term while smoothing out revenue that swings from year to year. Indiana, Connecticut and Florida already do this, as do others.
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“Second, the budget should include all spending and all revenue. Every appropriation, trust fund, special fund, and other expenditure should be in the budget. So should tax bases, rates, and tax preferences. A budget should help legislators manage all spending and revenue together.
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“Third, members of Kansas’ Special Committee on Budget Process and Development want the Legislature to initiate the budget process.”
Couchman and Patton continue, “Automatic continuing appropriations can provide a default position to help anchor current spending as the starting point. Instead of a shutdown, current spending would continue until the new budget is enacted.”
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“Finally, the governor keeps a close hold on the budget proposal until after the State of the State speech, which provides an undue ability to shape the narrative. We believe the order should be reversed, like many other states, in order to increase transparency and collaboration in the process.
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“More effective budgeting by the state legislature promises to make government more efficient, tailored to current and expected needs, and able to promote freedom and prosperity. Better systems promote better results, and we look forward to seeing all that Kansans can accomplish.”
Read the full op-ed HERE.
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