Kansas Budget Approval Comes Unravelled

An agreement among Kansas legislators over a
proposed $14.1 billion state budget has unraveled.
House negotiators backed away from the compromise spending plan
shortly before their chamber was supposed to vote on it Friday.
House Speaker Mike O’Neal, a Hutchinson Republican, then announced
that his chamber would not vote before lawmakers adjourned in the
evening for their annual spring break.
The issue was how to cover $25 million in unexpected costs faced
by the state’s 286 school districts. The House had proposed
diverting money from highway projects, an idea not in Governor Sam
Brownback’s budget recommendations or approved by the Senate.
The budget agreement called for lawmakers to address that issue
when they return from their break April 25th. But House negotiators
wanted senators to reconsider, and senators didn’t.