TOPEKA – The Senate had anticipated debating it’s budget proposal Monday, but that’s been postponed while negotiations take place.
Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence, said different factions on the Legislature had been working on their own budget solutions. Lawmakers are attempting to fill in a $328 million budget hole.
Instead of marching forward with this debate and forcing people to choose one faction or another we’re going to try to get those different groups to talk to each other over the next 24 hours and see if they can bridge their differences,” Schmidt said. “If that works the end result will be a budget with very broad support.”
That means the process will be hashed out off the chamber floor instead of in a very public debate.
“Negations are very delicate and debate is not always very delicate,” Schmidt said.
Gov. Mark Parkinson, a Democrat has advocated a “shared sacrifice” approach using a combination of delaying tax decreases and cuts to state programs. The House’s budget proposal which relied only on cuts to state government failed to muster enough support to pass on Friday.
The budget is only part of the process, the Senate has proposed delaying a phase out of the corporate franchise tax and estate tax, plus decoupling from the federal tax code to add $96 million to state coffers.
Those changes need to go through the Senate Taxation Committee first, that committee is meeting at 5 p.m. to discuss the changes.
Schmidt told the chamber shortly before they adjourned that he hoped to have a budget proposal to debate at that time.