Kansas
Kansas governor wary of overspending as Legislature’s budget overhaul takes shape • Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — The Kansas Legislature’s unprecedented budget takeover will enter the 2025 legislative session with a bare bones spending plan and sweeping cuts while Republican lawmakers eye property and corporation tax reductions.
Gov. Laura Kelly is still preparing her own budget — as is customarily the governor’s duty — and said her greatest apprehension ahead of the 2025 session is overspending, she told Kansas Reflector on Wednesday.
The apprehension applies both to spending on programs and further tax cuts, she said.
“Obviously, we know what happens when you go too far too fast on tax cuts,” Kelly said, recalling her predecessor Gov. Sam Brownback’s tenure, during which he implemented an experimental tax program that diminished the state’s tax base creating revenue deficits. “And I don’t think anybody in the state of Kansas wants to go back to that, including the Legislature.”
Kansas Republicans created a new committee this year to give legislators the opportunity to craft their own preliminary budget. The committee wrapped up its meetings Thursday.
The meetings consisted of iterative presentations from almost 100 state agencies and departments seeking funding enhancements, which also were presented to the governor.
Under Kansas’ customary budget process, state agencies can appeal the Division of Budget’s recommendations to the governor. This year, about $1.1 billion worth of requests are up for appeal, according to committee chairman Rep. Troy Waymaster, a Bunker Hill Republican. The governor typically gets the final say on whether to accept or reject an appeal.
Waymaster weighed the possibility of denying all appeals requests in the legislative budget, regardless of what the governor decides.
“If we want to do property tax relief for the people of the state of Kansas, there’s no way we can approve the 1.1 billion that’s been appealed,” he said.
But House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Republican from Wichita, proposed eliminating all requested budget enhancements that added any new staff and the salary increases associated with them, leaving the Legislature with a base budget that could see additions as the session proceeds. A majority of committee members supported Hawkins’ proposal.
Expanding bureaucracy
Mounting requests for new facilities and expanded bureaucracy have too often flown under the radar, said Rep. Henry Helgerson, a Democrat from Eastborough, at a Dec. 12 committee meeting. He pointed to a $114 million ask from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation for a new headquarters and the now over-budget Docking State Office Building, which is set to finish renovations in April.
“We have gotten to a point where we just approve things and don’t say anything,” Helgerson said.
It’s up to legislators to curtail spending, he said, wary, too, of the majority party’s plans for further tax cuts.
“This group has to change the trajectory of our spending in the state,” he said, referring to the legislative budget committee.
Rep. Kristey Williams, an Augusta Republican who chairs the K-12 Education Budget Committee, agreed but said spending scrutiny must be applied indiscriminately. Lawmakers can’t ignore certain “golden areas” the Legislature refuses to touch, she said, specifically referencing the Kansas State Department of Education.
KSHB 41 reporter Olivia Acree covers portions of Johnson County, Kansas, including Olathe and Lenexa. Share your story idea with Olivia.
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If the motto to live by is to get 1 hour of movement a day, the Parkinson’s community in Kansas City is exceeding it.
Bob Zipse has been fighting Parkinson’s for 10 years. He said the diagnosis hit him hard.
Leawood’s Parkinson’s Exercise and Wellness Center expands services as diagnoses climb
“I was super depressed. I mean, I was in a chair. Did you want to move? Look around, just horrible. Because there’s no resources. Where do I go with the time?”
Zipse said the disease can be an isolating experience.
KSHB
“Parkinson’s, I say, is a very lonely, lonely disease. Either people don’t want to deal with you, or you’re embarrassing.”
He found the Parkinson’s Exercise and Wellness Center at his lowest point. Now, he sees people around him pushing past their limits.
“You see people out here, they’re in the mid-70s, they’re doing push-ups, sit-ups, lifting weights. I mean, it’s amazing, really,” Zipse said. “In here, we’re all the same.”
Sarissa Curry founded the center after seeing the power of healing through exercise and recognizing that diagnosis rates were increasing. An aging population and younger diagnoses are among the biggest factors driving that trend.
Kansas consistently ranks as having one of the highest Parkinson’s disease diagnoses and mortality rates in the United States, second only to Nebraska. According to the Parkinson’s Foundation, an estimated 20,000 people in the Kansas City metro alone are living with the disease.
“You see your neurologist once every six months to a year, and you see a physical therapist maybe a couple of months out of the year. Community-based programs are here every day to support this community,” Curry said.
Curry said the warning signs of rising Parkinson’s rates have been visible for years.
“They have been predicting this increase in Parkinson’s for many years. They were able to see the writing on the wall, they were able to see how the population was aging, and they knew that this was coming. We paid attention.”
She expanded the center to serve as an all-encompassing resource for people like Zipse.
KSHB
“I’d hate to wager what I would have been like. Life would have stopped for me, I think. This at least gives me hope, gives me some work towards and see some benefit of it,” Zipse said.
The PEWC will host a ribbon cutting on Wednesday, June 3, at 3:30 p.m. The community is invited to attend to learn more about the center’s services and the disease as incidence rates continue to rise each year.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Two men were arrested following a lengthy Reno County Sheriff’s Office investigation into several burglaries and thefts in the area.
Garson Stanley Boyles was arrested May 21, and Jimmy Ray Miller was arrested May 27. Both were arrested on suspicion of 11 counts of burglary, five counts of criminal damage to property and four counts of theft.
The sheriff’s office said numerous stolen items have been recovered, including a vehicle. Investigators said several items remain missing.
Anyone with information about the location of stolen property is asked to contact the Reno County Sheriff’s Office at 620-694-2735. Those wishing to remain anonymous may call Reno County Crime Stoppers at 620-694-2666 or 800-222-TIPS.
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