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Kansas adjourns Legislature for the year
By JIM SULLINGER and DAVID KLEPPERThe Kansas City Star
TOPEKA | Kansas lawmakers cut corporate tax rates by $13.3 million next year, backed their third attempt to resurrect two coal-fired power plants and adjourned for the year Wednesday night.
That tax reduction was only the latest legislative move to help Kansas businesses. Earlier, Republican leaders decided to allow businesses to keep $87 million in state tax breaks that came from the federal economic stimulus package.
Lawmakers opted to recoup the revenue loss from Wednesday’s tax cuts by raising taxes on large out-of-state corporations doing business in Kansas. That provision is estimated to raise $20 million a year.
“What that really does is shift the corporate tax load from Kansas corporations to multistate corporations,” said Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, an Independence Republican.
Adjournment came at 9:16 p.m. for the Senate and 10:12 p.m. for the House, after both chambers passed a final spending bill.
Before leaving, lawmakers:
•Gave tax relief to some older homeowners.
•Expanded state-funded preschool programs.
•Moved to pare the waiting list for services to people with developmental disabilities.
•Retained funding for what critics dubbed a “road to nowhere” in Parsons.
A rundown of major action:
Coal: The House, like the Senate before it, approved a third attempt to allow construction of two western Kansas coal-fired plants. A state regulator had rejected the plants, citing concerns over emissions and climate change.
The House approved the bill 76-48 and sent it to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who is expected to veto it. Wednesday’s vote indicates there’s still not enough support in the House to overrule a veto, which requires a two-thirds majority, or 84 votes. An override attempt is possible May 29, the ceremonial end to the session.
The coal plant bill was put into a economic development package that also included:
•Backing for bonds related to the Gardner intermodal freight hub project.
•A provision allowing companies planning major expansions to use 2 percent of their employees’ payroll withholding tax to finance the growth.
•Incentives to help Topeka lure a wind turbine maker.
•A sales tax refund for telecommunications companies on equipment purchases.
Coal opponents said it wasn’t fair to lump that project in with others that they supported.
But supporters of Sunflower Electric Power Corp.’s project said reliable, affordable energy for western Kansas is clearly economic development.
Senior homeowners: The tax package contained help for low-income homeowners 65 and older. To qualify, a homeowner must have an annual household income of $16,800 or less. The bill allows a property tax refund of 45 percent beginning this year. The amount will increase to 75 percent in 2011.
Sen. David Haley, a Kansas City, Kan., Democrat, asked Sen. Barbara Allen, an Overland Park Republican and chairwoman of the Senate tax committee, if the bill had any benefit for blue-collar Kansans.
“What about working Kansans who are looking for some form of tax relief?” he asked.
Allen responded: “I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to give the senator an answer that would satisfy his question.”
Spending: The wrap-up session began April 30; lawmakers had hoped to finish in four or five days. But a dispute over the final catch-all spending bill stretched the session to a week.
The Senate wanted no new general-fund spending above the $13.6 billion appropriations bill passed April 5. But the House added $68 million.
A negotiating committee agreed to increase spending by about $14.3 million, or much closer to the Senate position.
The compromise contained two provisions criticized heavily by House members:
•$750,000 to improve the entrance road to a former Army ammunition plant in Parsons to aid redevelopment.
•$20 million in bonding authority for a proposed low-security prison facility that could be located in Yates Center.
Both are in the districts of two Republican Senate leaders, Dwayne Umbarger of Thayer and Schmidt. Opponents called them “pork.”
But Schmidt said House critics were masking the real issue.
“The House has attempted to distract attention from the fact that they passed a budget that the state can’t afford,” he said. “That’s just politics and that happens.”
After two hours of debate late Wednesday, the Senate approved the budget measure 23-11. The House approved it on a 73-49 vote.
Several House members criticized parts of the bill, but said it was the best deal they were likely to get.
“It’s not pretty. There are things in it the House has stood against,” said Rep. Sharon Schwartz, a Washington Republican and the House Appropriations chairwoman. “There have been compromises.”
Other major budget items:
•An additional 20 slots in an autism program for children, at a cost of $500,000. A previous budget bill had authorized 20 other slots.
•An additional $5.6 million for services to developmentally disabled people on waiting lists. It was short of the $15.5 million that advocates say is needed.
•An additional $11.1 million, from tobacco settlement money, for an expansion of the state’s preschool program for low-income 4-year-olds.
•One-time bonuses of $300 for retirees in the state’s pension system. Bonuses would go only to those retired for at least 10 years or who had at least 10 years of employment under the state system.
•The deletion of an additional $8.8 million for community mental health centers.
A photo ID voter bill goes to Gov. Sebelius, where a veto seems likely. | B12