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The Latest on the Kansas Legislature attempting to wrap up work on budget legislation and adjourn its session : The Kansas Senate has approved budget legislation that includes pay raises of up to 5 percent for state workers who haven't had increases in recent years. The Senate's vote Saturday was 27-11.
It has been five years since Kansas, prodded by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, decided to make itself the subject of a gruesome experiment in fiscal self-evisceration - a regime of draconian tax cuts that, unsurprisingly, blew a prairie-size hole in the state's budget. The resulting casualties included funding for public schools, about which, it turns out, many Kansans care deeply.
The inventory gains added to market worries about crude supplies, despite the recent agreement among OPEC and other oil producing nations extend output cuts of 1.8 million barrels a day into next year. Since OPEC announced the extension of production cuts, the market has continued to react bearishly with respect to the oil price.
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback speaks to reporters during a news conference at the Statehouse in Topeka Kan. Brownback promised early Tuesday June 6 to veto an income tax increase approved by the GOP-control Sam Brownback comments during a news conference about the Legislature's override of his veto of a bill increasing income taxes to fix the state budget, Wednesday, June 7, 2017 , at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan.
But both chambers of the state's Republican-controlled legislature overrode the Governor's veto on Tuesday, effectively putting an end to the 2013 tax cuts. The state legislature's tax hike will raise $1.2 billion over the next two years through an increase in the individual income tax rate and a repeal of the o% tax rate for pass-through business.
Republican Governor Sam Brownback of Kansas, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, U.S., February 23, 2017. Kansas Governor Sam Brownback on Wednesday criticized the state legislature for overriding his veto of a bill that hikes income tax rates to plug budget holes, saying it will hurt the state's efforts to spur economic growth.
Lawmakers rolled back Gov. Sam Brownback's signature tax policy over his objections Tuesday night, forcing into law tax increases to fix a budget shortfall and provide more money for schools.
Some of the fastest progress on clean energy is occurring in states led by Republican governors and legislators, and states carried by Donald Trump in the presidential election. Two years ago, Kansas repealed a law requiring that 20 percent of the state's electric power come from renewable sources by 2020, seemingly a step backward on energy in a deeply conservative state.
Negotiators in the Kansas Legislature working on a new school-finance formula moved Sunday to finalize complexities of that court-ordered funding revamp and wedged a controversial $1 billion tax increase into the bill in hopes of bringing the session to an abrupt end. TOPEKA - Negotiators in the Kansas Legislature working on a new school-finance formula moved Sunday to finalize complexities of that court-ordered funding revamp and wedged a controversial $1 billion tax increase into the bill in hopes of bringing the session to an abrupt end.
Kansas is launching a project to help immigrants in one meatpacking town get driver's licenses, by offering them free translators when they take their exams. Meatpacking plants, the largest employers in western Kansas, have drawn a diverse population to the region, but the state offers exams only in English or Spanish.
In this Feb. 3, 2017, file photo, Ifrah Ahmed, left, and Mursal Naleye stand outside a new walk-in clinic in Garden City, Kan. Kansas is launching a project to help immigrants in the meatpacking town get driver's licenses by offering them free translators when they take their exams.
PULSE ANNOUNCE AG OUTLOOK FORUM May 22, 2017 Source: joint organization news release The Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City and Agri-Pulse Communications announce plans to present an Ag Outlook Forum on September 28th in Kansas City. This year has already proven to be very challenging for farmers, agribusiness and rural America.
The Kansas House voted to alter an innocuous bill Friday with amendments deleting approximately $60 million in sales tax exemptions July 1 and putting in motion the process of slicing the state's sales tax on food by 1 cent on the dollar in 2020. TOPEKA - The Kansas House voted to alter an innocuous bill Friday with amendments deleting approximately $60 million in sales tax exemptions July 1 and putting in motion the process of slicing the state's sales tax on food by 1 cent on the dollar in 2020.
The threat of an iconic Topeka hospital's closure has reignited Kansas' Medicaid debate. Medicaid expansion is one way lawmakers can help employers and critical health care providers like Topeka's St. Francis Health Center.
Tax negotiations between the House and Senate stalled again Thursday as lawmakers hunted for a package that wouldn't provoke a veto from Gov. Sam Brownback, or else would win enough votes to override his veto.
As Kansas lawmakers look at repealing the pass-through income tax exemption for business, Gov. Sam Brownback and others doggedly stick to their assertion that it has created new business entities. They are correct, but those new businesses overwhelmingly were created to avoid taxes and resulted in little real economic growth.
Top Republicans were looking Monday to jump start the Kansas Legislature's debate over raising income taxes to fix the state budget, something they saw as crucial to solving public school funding and other spending issues.
Kansas' revenue agency will unveil collection figures later today for April, a key month because of personal income tax payments. The monthly report from the Department of Revenue also marks the first since a revised, slightly more optimistic long-term revenue forecast was issued in April.
Lawmakers will have a full plate when they return to Topeka this week to wrap up the legislative session. Resolving these issues will take strong leadership, particularly by Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, who needs to decide if she is siding with the public and the bipartisan majority of lawmakers or with Gov. Sam Brownback.
Brownback wants $24 million to keep guns out of psychiatric hospitals - TOPEKA - Gov. Sam Brownback wants more than $24 million over the next two years to keep guns out of state hospitals, frustrating lawmakers who question how such security measures can be put into place by a July 1 deadline.