TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Wednesday called for a new program to improve the states roads and bridges, urged state lawmakers to approve a bipartisan Medicaid expansion plan and warned she is likely to veto the income tax cuts that Republicans are pursuing.
The Democratic governor provided the outlines of her agenda for the GOP-controlled Legislatures annual 90-day session during her State of the State address. But her second address since taking office a year ago was often a look back on her first year in office and a Republican predecessors tax-cutting experiment that was followed by persistent budget woes.
Kelly promised her own tax cuts but signaled they would be modest initiatives to ease the burden of the states sales tax on groceries for low-income families and to provide state aid to cities and counties in hopes that theyll decrease their property taxes. She also emphasized her support for a new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico approved by the U.S. House, and she urged the U.S. Senate to pass it.
Kelly spent much of her speech arguing that Kansas is starting to recover from nationally notorious income-tax cuts championed by former GOP Gov. Sam Brownback. Legislators reversed most of the cuts in 2017 and Kelly won the 2018 governors race largely by campaigning against Brownbacks policies.
We have so many reasons to be hopeful tonight, Kelly said. But make no mistake: One year of progress cannot erase a decade of damage.
Kellys administration plans to release details Thursday morning of her proposed state budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The current state budget is $18.4 billion.
House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr., a Kansas City-area Republican, said in a GOPs response that Kelly is determined to grow state government.
No difference in our visions is more stark than this one, Ryckman said. She wants to grow spending and hopes that will grow the state.
Yet, even as Kelly argued that the state had recovered from being on life support, she acknowledged that that the key agriculture and the aviation sectors of the states economy remain incredibly fragile.
Kelly gave her speech less than a week after aircraft parts supplier Spirit AeroSystems announced 2,800 layoffs in Kansas, or 20% of its state workforce, mostly in Wichita. The layoffs followed Boeings suspension of production of its troubled 737 Max aircraft.
Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican, said what the state needs is for the federal government to determine how to get the 737 Max back in production.
We need to get these people back employed, Wagle said, adding that she is hoping to have it solved before unemployment benefits run out.
Lawmakers opened their sessionMonday with a bipartisan plan waiting for them to expand the states Medicaid health coverage for up to 150,000 additional people. Kelly reached agreement last week with Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning, another Kansas City-area Republican.
Denning and other GOP leaders blocked an expansion plan that Kelly favored last year, citing concerns about its potential costs and how it would be administered.
We are so close, Kelly said. Lets get this done.
