NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — John Wilson with Kansas Action for Children has some concerns about the legislature attempting to do more of the heavy lifting in the budget process, rather than having the executive branch do so in Kansas, as has been the custom for many years.
"The good news is, there's going to be an interim committee to explore this," Wilson said. "We will have an opportunity to get more details from lawmakers about what they envision, or what could be possible. I have some concerns about the legislature's ability to understand all the spending that's happening in the agencies and having the staffing resources to build a budget appropriately. I think the process that we have right now seems to work pretty well. State agencies right now are, even though we just started a new fiscal year, are putting together their budget recommendations to submit to the governor later in the fall. Then, the governor uses the late fall/early winter leading up to the state of the state, to build the budget."
One of those concerns is logistical, as legislators only spend 90 to 100 days in Topeka, which isn't really enough time to do the same drill down as a full-time employee.
"I think a lot of people might assume that Kansas lawmakers have the same level of staff that maybe a Congressional lawmaker might have. That's not the case. They have a part-time office assistant during session and then, that's really it. We do have a very skilled and highly capable legislative research department that can evaluate things. But, they have to think across all issue areas. I don't think that's enough staff to support this type of effort."
It remains to be seen how much additional money the legislature might be willing to spend to have its own budget staff, if such a proposal were to go forward.