Laura Kelly warns of another budget disaster as Kansas risks a 2028 shortfall | Opinion

The spirit of Sam Brownback is alive and well in Kansas.

Brownback, the former governor, is much reviled in these parts for his notorious “tax experiment” that rapidly drained state coffers and put the state’s public schools in danger.

Want to know why the famously red state of Kansas has a Democratic governor, Laura Kelly? The answer starts with the Brownback disaster.

A disaster, it seems, we might be doomed to repeat.

Why? The state has enjoyed big budget surpluses in recent years, right? Where’s the danger?

It’s about three years out.

The GOP-controlled Kansas Legislature last month passed a budget that — combined with last year’s tax cuts — looks to put the state government in a revenue shortfall in 2028.

When that happens, Sunflower State residents might have to choose (again) between keeping those tax cuts or keeping classrooms open.

It won’t be much fun. It never is.

Which is why Kelly — who had to clean up the last mess — on Wednesday evening issued a statement pleading with legislative leaders to reconsider the state’s long-term fiscal health.

“This is reckless and irresponsible policy making,” the governor said.

“We’ve spent the last seven years doing the hard work necessary to get Kansas back on the right fiscal track. We risk losing all of that progress and returning to the dark days of four-day school weeks and crumbling roads and bridges if we don’t correct the structural imbalance we are currently facing.”

To be fair, Kelly did also sign the budget bill even as she criticized it, albeit with a few line-item vetoes of individual provisions thrown in. Republicans hold a veto-proof majority in both branches of the Kansas Legislature, which means the governor can act — at best — as a mere speed bump if the GOP caucus holds together.

If this is the way Republicans want to go, this is the way we’re going to go. But we can’t say we weren’t warned.

Largest deficit increase, ever

We shouldn’t be surprised, though. Republicans — at the state and national levels — are the party of fiscal irresponsibility.

Oh, that’s not the branding they carry. But it’s true nonetheless.

How else to explain the budget package passed by the U.S. House on Thursday morning? The bill cuts taxes by about $5 trillion — the fun part — but also adds about $5.7 trillion to the federal debt over the next decade. Even then, there is talk the House bill could require drastic cuts to Medicaid.

That’s the not-so-fun part.

Every GOP member of the Kansas and Missouri delegations voted for the bill. That includes Reps. Ron Estes, Tracey Mann and Derek Schmidt of Kansas. Same goes for Reps. Mark Alford, Eric Burlison, Sam Graves, Bob Onder, Jason Smith and Ann Wagner.

Estes, who represents Wichita and the surrounding area, was reportedly a holdout until late in the process. “I’m a yes,” he said after lobbying by President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson.

The result? The largest projected deficit increase in American history.

Republicans at the state level aren’t quite that reckless, probably because they operate under tighter constraints: Kansas and Missouri both require their legislatures to operate with balanced budgets.

Still, a reckoning is coming for the Kansas state budget. Three years from now, if the projections are right. Maybe sooner, if the economy and tax revenues tank thanks to Trump’s lurching half-on-half-off trade war.

Gov. Kelly is term-limited. She won’t be around to fix the mess again. Honestly, it’s not even fair to ask her to. The rest of us, though, will have to live with the results.

This story was originally published April 11, 2025 at 5:06 AM.