Gov. Sam Brownback has signed the budget bill into law but vetoed about a dozen line items, including a temporary bump in the rates paid to payroll agents for home- and community-based services.
The vetoes were announced today shortly ahead of Sine Die, the ceremonial end of the 2012 legislative session. There were no attempts to override the vetoes in either the House or Senate. Most members didn’t know about the vetoes until the governor’s message was read in by clerks in the respective chambers.
House Speaker Mike O’Neal, a Hutchinson Republican, in a sometimes emotional speech, announced to fellow House members that he would not seek re-election. Speakers traditionally have not served in the top leadership spot for more than two terms.
House Speaker Mike O'Neal with fellow Hutchinson legislator Rep. Jan Pauls after announcing he will not seek re-election. O'Neal is a Republican, Pauls is a Democrat.
House members also paid tribute to the late Rep. Bob Bethell, an Alden Republican who died in a car crash on his way home soon after the Legislature adjourned its regular work on May 20.
House Majority Leader Arlen Siegfried, R-Olathe, introduced Bethell’s widow Lorene, the couple’s daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren.
“In my mind, Bob defined statesmanship,” Siegfreid said.
In the budget bill it approved, the Legislature had signed off on a temporary increase in the rates paid to payroll agents for those who receive home- and community-based services through the state’s Medicaid program.
The rate boost would have taken the $115 per client per month currently paid to the agents to $125. Supporters of the increase said it would help the payroll agents transition to a new system launched late last year by the Kansas Department on Aging and the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.
Brownback in his veto message said the $115 rate was “well above the national average and in my opinion is fair payment for services provided.”
The increase would have cost the state about $191,000.
Among the governor’s other line-item vetoes was the striking of a budget proviso that would have compelled his administration to transfer funds to the Kansas Bioscience Authority on four designated dates each year. Brownback withheld the transfers this year after an audit revealed some management irregularities at the authority. Legislators who sponsored the proviso said problems at the agency had been resolved and that the withholding was hindering the authority’s operations.
In his veto message, the governor said his administration needed to retain flexibility in managing the state’s cash flow and that when funds were withheld it was “not intended to be harmful or punitive” to the bioscience authority.
The governor also vetoed $484,337 earmarked for mentor teacher bonuses and $800,000 for a program at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment that provides technical assistance to local government efforts related to environmental protection.
As lawmakers left the chambers they were greeted by several dozen members of MoveOn.org who carried signs protesting House Bill 2117, the massive tax cut package signed into law by the governor on May 21.
The governor and other supporters of the bill said the income tax cuts for businesses would lead to more jobs and a stronger economy. Critics said it would bust the budget, forcing deep cuts to school and social service spending.
Three members of the Tribble family from Overland Park were at the Statehouse as part of a MoveOn.org protest. Left to right: Chuck Tribble, Andrew Tribble and Tina Tribble. The group was protesting the tax cut package signed into law by the governor last month.
Dan Brennan of Topeka, a spokesman for the protesters, said the group’s members disagreed with Brownback on a range of issues, but the tax bill, “that’s the straw that broke the camel’s back. When it comes down to people’s livelihoods, they get a little perturbed.”
Brennan said 73 MoveOn members from Topeka, Overland Park and Wichita attended the protest. They delivered petitions to the Governor’s Office and held a brief rally on the Statehouse steps.
Chuck and Tina Tribble of Overland Park stood outside the House chamber with their son, Andrew.
Tina Tribble said the family was upset about growing education costs. She said her daughter attended the University of Kansas 12 years ago but her son had to attend junior college.
“He has to go to juco because it costs the same as it used to go to KU,” she said.
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