TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax-cutting experiment faced an uncertain fate Tuesday as fellow Republicans who control the Kansas Legislature worked to round up enough votes to override his veto of a plan that would essentially reverse the income tax reductions he’s championed in recent years.
The Senate voted 27-13 to override Brownback’s veto of a bipartisan plan to increase income taxes to fix the cash-strapped state’s budget and comply with a court mandate on funding public schools. It was exactly the two-thirds majority necessary to overturn the governor’s action, and it set up a House vote.
Brownback rejected a bill that would raise $1.2 billion over two years, acting Tuesday afternoon after lawmakers approved the measure early Tuesday morning.
The bill would increase income tax rates and end an exemption for more than 330,000 farmers and business owners, repealing or rolling back income tax cuts enacted in 2012 and 2013 that Brownback still bills as pro-growth policies. Voters soured last year on the governor’s cuts, ousting two dozen of his allies from the Legislature and giving more power to Democrats and moderate Republicans who then backed the tax plan.
Supporters of the tax bill were short in both chambers of the two-thirds majorities they would need to override a veto, but several lawmakers said Tuesday that the chances of repudiating Brownback are good because the Legislature’s annual session is dragging out. They were meeting Tuesday for the 109th day of what was supposed to be a 100-day session, making this year’s one of the longest in state history.
“I think people are ready to wrap up the session, get some certainty to state employees and schools,” said House Speaker Pro Tem Scott Schwab, a conservative Olathe Republican who opposes the bill. “There’s a good chance that it can be overridden.”
The tax bill was meant to close projected budget shortfalls totaling $889 million through June 2019 while also boosting spending on public schools to comply with a Kansas Supreme Court ruling in March that education funding is inadequate. Lawmakers passed a separate plan Monday night to phase in a $293 million increase in aid to the state’s 286 school districts over two years; it’s now about $4 billion a year.
The governor has endorsed less aggressive income tax increases and has proposed raising cigarette and liquor taxes and annual filing fees for for-profit businesses. His proposals wouldn’t have raised enough money to cover the spending increases for schools contemplated by lawmakers.
“We can and we must balance our budget without negatively harming Kansas families,” Brownback said in his short veto message .
The vote on the tax bill in the Senate was 26-14 , one vote shy of the two-thirds majority of 27 votes needed for a veto override.
The tally was 69-52 in the House, 15 votes short of the 84 needed for a two-thirds majority. But supporters of the tax plan were optimistic about picking up votes in the House because when Brownback vetoed a smaller income tax increase in February, backers garnered a two-thirds majority for an override there, only to see the effort fail in the Senate.
If legislators can’t override the veto, they’ll be forced to start again. Brownback’s administration has said that lawmakers need to pass a budget by June 17 for most state employees to continue getting paid after the new fiscal year begins in July.
“I shudder to think how long we’re going to be here if we don’t achieve this override,” said Sen. Tom Holland, a Baldwin City Democrat who was involved in legislative negotiators on the tax plan. “It’s going to get very ugly.”
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Follow John Hanna on Twitter at https://twitter.com/apjdhanna .
