TOPEKA — Republican leaders of the Kansas Legislature said a two-thirds majority of House members were committed to overriding Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a tax reduction bill but a supermajority hadn’t crystalized in the Senate to complete the maneuver.
House Speaker Dan Hawkins of Wichita and Senate President Ty Masterson of Andover participated in a telephone town hall Monday hosted by the state director of Americans for Prosperity. The format was designed to promote advantages of tax legislation vetoed Friday by Kelly. The host repeatedly urged listeners to hit “1” on their telephone if they wanted to send a message the governor’s veto should be overridden.
“We knew the governor was probably going to veto it,” Hawkins told participants. “You need to contact your representative. Same thing on the Senate side. Let them know how important this override is.”
Masterson and Hawkins answered a handful of questions from callers, including futile inquiries about how the Legislature might lower local property taxes that were beyond reach of the Legislature. There were a cluster of calls from people convinced the state’s budget was bloated.
Kelly said the centerpiece of the GOP tax legislation, replacement of a three-tier state income tax structure with a single-rate state income tax of 5.25%, should be viewed as reckless and irresponsible. It would weaken the state’s financial future and “do nothing for the middle class,” the governor said.
“I am dead set on making sure working Kansans get a tax cut this year,” Kelly said. “That’s why I’ve brought together Republican, Democratic and independent legislators to champion a $1 billion tax cut over three years, all while maintaining our state’s strong fiscal foundation.”
On Jan. 18, the Senate approved House Bill 2284 on a vote of 25-11, which was two votes shy of the supermajority. The House adopted the bill 81-37, a margin three short of the override benchmark. Hawkins and Masterson said behind-the-scenes wrangling over the weekend narrowed their deficit.
“We are literally one vote short of a supermajority,” said Masterson, who indicated Hawkins was in possession of a supermajority with one vote to spare.
Hawkins predicted the House would override Kelly, most likely next week, before passing the bill over to the Senate.
“A little more problematic in the Senate,” the House speaker said. “We’re going to work very, very hard.”
During the 2023 legislative session, Kelly veto a 5.15% flat income tax bill. The GOP’s override bid on that veto stalled in the Senate. In anticipation the House and Senate would return to the flat tax during the 2024 legislative session, Kelly conducted a preemptive news conference to tout her own tax proposal.
Her $1.1 billion tax reduction plan, which hasn’t been voted on by the Legislature, was endorsed by two Senate Republicans and one independent conservative in the Senate. Assuming 11 Senate Democrats align with the governor, Masterson wouldn’t find the 27th vote necessary to complete an override of Kelly.
The House and Senate legislation would reduce state revenue by $1.58 billion over three years, Masterson said. Aside from the approach to state income taxation, he said, the strategies offered by Kelly and GOP leadership had common elements.
Both included accelerating phaseout of the state sales tax on groceries to April 1. The reform blueprints would exempt Social Security benefits from state income tax retroactive to start of 2024. Both packages would increase to $100,000 the amount of residential property’s appraised value exempt from the state’s property tax levy for schools and state building maintenance.
Masterson said the GOP’s plan should be viewed as a compromise with the governor’s perspective on tax policy. He said Kelly was wrong to frame the Republican outline as financially unsustainable.
