Kansas Gov.-elect Laura Kelly insists the state budget shes preparing can fully fund the states schools, expand Medicaid coverage to another 150,000 people and begin to repair a troubled child welfare system without a tax hike.
The Democrat said Wednesday night shell lean on experience and relationships built over 14 years in the Kansas Senate to carve out compromises with lawmakers on those priorities.
Yet she described her job as daunting and state government as broken in several key areas.
In little over a month since she beat Republican Kris Kobach in the race for governor, Kelly said shes worked on a budget proposal to put to legislators in January and found serious problems in state government.
No surprises but I am disappointed that the devastation was even worse than I thought, she told a crowd of 200-plus at Washburn University in Topeka. The problems are broad and theyre deep.
Her comments came at Kansas News Service event that capped off the season of its My Fellow Kansans podcast.
Kelly said rosy revenue projections the states draw from taxes and fees has beat expectations for 18 months in a row suggest the ability to deal with school finances without breaking the bank.
Shes braced for a push from conservatives in the Capitol to pass an amendment to the state constitution scrubbing out the demand for suitable financing to local districts from the state. Much of the Republican leadership in the state contends that would free lawmakers to decide funding levels without ongoing lawsuits dictating what the state should spend.
She promised to oppose such a move, although the Legislature could put a proposed constitutional amendment to voters without her approval. But thats happened before, and failed.
I have no doubt, Kelly said, the people of Kansas will reject that.
The state may yet need to add money for aid to local school districts in the wake of a Kansas Supreme Court decision. A plan to add $500 million to that formula in coming years was approved by the Legislature and Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer earlier this year.
But more money may still be needed to account for inflation. Kelly said shes been studying the state budget and recent improvements in tax revenues.
We will find when the budget comes out we can afford to cover her top priorities, she said, without raising taxes.
Republicans have already begun to challenge her definition of a tax hike. Federal tax cuts pushed through by the Trump administration last year had the unintended effect of increasing what a small minority of taxpayers owe the state. Some people simply cant itemize things like they did before.
Thats produced a windfall in state revenues. Broadly speaking, Republican lawmakers say failing to rewrite state tax law to return that money amounts to a tax hike.
