Kansas budget crisis, now

by Bob Weeks on February 17, 2009

Breaking: see Kansas Governor Addresses Budget Crisis and Kansas Budget Crisis Heats Up.

The Kansas Liberty story Lawmakers claim Sebelius’ demand for money would violate state statutes reports on a conflict between the two parties named in the story’s title.

What Kansas Governor Kathleen Sibelius wants to do is to shift money from one state fund to another so that current bills, including state employee paychecks, can be paid. Later, the state would pay back the money borrowed.

Republican legislative leaders are not willing to grant this authority to the Governor, however. Both sides accuse the other of playing politics with this issue. The Governor’s press release may be read here.

(Similar information from Kansas House and Senate leaders is not available online, at least not where it can be found easily.)

It’s difficult to be on the Governor’s side on this issue. Her initial attempt at balancing the 2009 budget complied with the law. But the law only required her to address revenue shortfalls based on estimates from two months ago, when everyone knew that the true situation was much worse. She took the easy way out, letting the legislature do the dirty work. (See Sebelius’ Proposed Cuts Not Likely Enough and Kansas Governor Not Facing Reality of Budget Crisis)

For more coverage of this issue, see Wichitopekington, which has some coverage, as does the Wichita Eagle in Kansas may delay tax refunds, paychecks.

Note: Kansas Liberty has recently become a subscription site, so you may not be able to read the entire article referred to above. I recommend, however, that you consider subscribing to Kansas Liberty.

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Tagged as: Kansas legislature, Kansas state government, Kathleen Sebelius

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

1 steve February 18, 2009 at 1:39 pm: Kansas Sucks
2 steve February 18, 2009 at 1:41 pm: We should all move to Montana

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Government is essentially the negation of liberty. — Ludwig von Mises
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A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that ... it gives people what they want instead of what a particular group thinks they ought to want. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. — Milton Friedman
As the coercive power of the state will alone decide who is to have what, the only power worth having will be a share in the exercise of this directing power. — F.A. Hayek
The kind of rules we should have are the kind that we'd make if our worst enemy were in charge. — Walter E. Williams
Your principle has placed these words above the entrance of the legislative chamber: “whosoever acquires any influence here can obtain his share of legal plunder.” And what has been the result? All classes have flung themselves upon the doors of the chamber crying: “A share of the plunder for me, for me!” — Frederic Bastiat
This was all before politicians gave us the idea that the things we could not afford individually we could somehow afford collectively through the magic of government. — Thomas Sowell
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Barbra Streisand told Diane Sawyer that we're in a global warming crisis, and we can expect more and more intense storms, droughts and dust bowls. But before they act, weather experts say they're still waiting to hear from Celine Dion. — Jay Leno
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Increasingly, it seems that the biggest difference between conservatives and liberals is that the conservatives know government is force. But that doesn't stop them from using it. — John Stossel
One of the annoying things about believing in free will and individual responsibility is the difficulty of finding somebody to blame your problems on. And when you do find somebody, it's remarkable how often his picture turns up on your driver's license. — P.J. O'Rourke
Late one night in Washington, D.C. a mugger wearing a ski mask jumped into the path of a well-dressed man and stuck a gun in his ribs. "Give me your money!" he demanded. Indignant, the affluent man replied, "You can't do this. I'm a United States Congressman!" "In that case," replied the robber, "give me my money!" — Related by Walter Block
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No matter how disastrously some policy has turned out, anyone who criticizes it can expect to hear: “But what would you replace it with?” When you put out a fire, what do you replace it with? — Thomas Sowell
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Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for. — Will Rogers
The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened. — Norman Thomas
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Liberty is not a means to a political end. It is itself the highest political end. — Lord Acton
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Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. — H.L. Mencken
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The compelling issue to both conservatives and liberals is not whether it is legitimate for government to confiscate one’s property to give to another, the debate is over the disposition of the pillage. — Walter Williams
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And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists,
And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews,
And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then ... they came for me ...
And by that time there was no one left to speak up. — Pastor Martin Niemöller
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The difference between libertarianism and socialism is that libertarians will tolerate the existence of a socialist community, but socialists can't tolerate a libertarian community. — David Boaz
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After all, only the imagination limits the kind of laws and restrictions that can be written in the name of saving the planet. — Walter E. Williams
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People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the publick. ... It is impossible indeed to prevent such meetings, by any law which either could be executed, or would be consistent with liberty and justice. But though the law cannot hinder people of the same trade from sometimes assembling together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies; much less to render them necessary. — Adam Smith
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