The way it’s shaping up, Governor Laura Kelly can expect a lot of pushback on her recently-announced budget. In fact, opposition has already developed.
Moderate and conservative Republicans alike have expressed significant concerns about one key aspect of Kelly’s plan to fund the budget without raising taxes. The reamortization, or payment shifting, of the Kansas Publie Employees Retirement System, also known as KPERS, is not sitting well with the GOP.
76th District Representative Eric Smith of Burlington says the plan to refinance KPERS is “just too big of a pill to swallow.”
51st District Representative Ron Highland of Wamego says the KPERS plan could reverse recent work by lawmakers to get KPERS fully funded.
KPERS is the main concern, but Smith and Highland also say Kelly’s funding estimate to start a Medicaid expansion effort is well short of what is needed to make that work.
Smith and Highland agree about Kelly’s plan to overhaul foster care, at least for the need to do so. They also agree the votes “are there” to add an inflation factor to K-12 education and thus satisfy a mandate from the Kansas Supreme Court.
