Lawmakers return to the Kansas Statehouse Tuesday with the hopes of quickly wrapping up a legislative session that’s already into overtime. Leaders want to end the session this week, but they have significant issues to tackle such as balancing the budget.
Kansas lawmakers took a four-day weekend over the Memorial Day holiday. When they come back, they’ll be on day 102 of what was supposed to be a 100-day session.
Republican Rep. Russ Jennings is concerned that taking some days off may actually cause lawmaker to dig in more.
“Part of the work here involves pressure. There has to be pressure to get things done. Every time you relieve that, it slows the process down,” Jennings says.
Democratic Rep. Tom Burroughs says he hopes they come back ready to get some solutions on issues like taxes and school funding.
“Sometimes a break can be a good thing. We’ll find out," Burroughs says. "I think the right thing to do was to adjourn without pay."
Lawmakers normally are paid for weekends during the session, but they passed a resolution last week so they would not get paid for their four days off.
