A Kansas House committee is crafting that chamber's version of the state budget, and more cuts are on the table. The committee is looking at a series of spending cut proposals requested by Gov. Sam Brownback last summer.
The Brownback administration requested state agencies prepare contingency plans and submit proposals for what they would do if the budget needed a 10 percent cut. Now, some members of the House Appropriations Committee are looking through those proposals for ideas to reduce spending.
Chairman Marc Rhoades, a Newton Republican, proposed more than $30 million in cuts based on the contingency plans, including a $15 million reduction to the board of regents.
Rhoades says they’ll likely need to cut state spending if lawmakers lower taxes, and these were options presented by the agencies themselves.
“We don’t know how the tax bill’s going to come out. My job is not to try to second or third or fourth guess that," says Rhoades. "I need to look for reductions in state government, and this is something that the agencies offered up and so we’re having that conversation.”
The committee will continue work Tuesday morning. They could finish a budget proposal by late Tuesday, which would then go before the full House.