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Minutes for HB2364 - Committee on Appropriations

Short Title

Appropriations for FY 2018, FY 2019, FY 2020 and FY 2021 for various state agencies.

Minutes Content for Thu, Mar 30, 2017

Chairman Waymaster opened discussion on the bill.

As requested by Representative Sutton, J.G. Scott, Legislative Research Department, reviewed information on the State General Fund (SGF) budget trends for prior years beginning in FY 2015, which has been on an average of approximately $6.2 billion.

Representative Sutton reviewed a motion for an amendment that would maintain the actuary liability for Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS).

Representative Sutton made a motion for a conceptional motion that would maintain the actuary liability for KPERS for FY 2018 and FY 2019, which reflects a 3 percent across the board reductions for further review at Omnibus.  The motion does not include K-12 Education or fee funded agencies. Representative Helgerson seconded the motion.

Discussion followed by committee members regarding the impact of the proviso.  J.G. Scott responded the the debt service payment is $94.2 million in FY 2018 and $93.2 million in FY 2019.

Representative Sutton renewed the motion.  Motion failed.

Representative Landwehr reviewed a proviso regarding the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (Attachment 1).

Representative Landwehr made a motion for a proviso regarding a funding for the Mental Health Grant of $11 million in FY 2018 and $13.7 million in FY 2019.  Representative Ballard seconded the motion.

Discussion followed by committee members regarding the motion and the impact on the passage of HB 2180 and HB 2313.  Representative Landwehr stated the intent of the proviso is to ensure an $11 million add for the Mental Health Grant in FY 2018 and $13.7 million in FY 2019.

Representative Landwehr renewed the motion.  Motion passed.

Representative Davis reviewed a proviso regarding the Department of Health and Environment - Division of Health regarding the healthy baby initiative (Attachment 2). She stated that this was a recommendation from the Alvarez and Marsal Efficiency Study.  The department would appropriate funds to from a task force to study, review and develop a plan for this initiative.  There would be no impact on SGF dollars, she added.

Representative Davis made a motion for a proviso regarding the Healthy Birth Initiative study.  The motion was seconded by Representative Landwehr.

Discussion followed by committee members in support of the proviso.

Representative Davis renewed the motion.  Motion passed.

Representative Campbell reviewed a proviso regarding a Health Care and Procurement Study Task Force for the Department of Administration (Attachment 3). The agency would appropriate funds to form a task force to study, review and develop a plan related to procurement, implementation and administration of school employee health care benefits, identify school district efficiencies.

Representative Campbell made a motion for a proviso regarding the Health Care and Procurement Study Task Force for the Department of Administration.  Representative Davis seconded the motion.

Discussion followed by committee members regarding the motion and the composition of the task force.  Recommendations from the study would come back to the Appropriations committee for further review, discussion and possible recommendations for implementation.

Representative Landwehr made a substitute motion that would include a member of the Kansas Board of Education to the task force.  Representative Hoffman seconded the motion.

Discussion followed by committee members regarding the motion. Recommendations to the substitute motion included the following:  replace the Majority Leader with the Speaker of the House for the purpose of appointing two legislators to the task force and geographical representation on the task force.

Representative Landwehr requested additional information be included in the motion that replaces the Majority Leader with the Speaker of the House and the inclusion of geographical representation on the task force.  Representative Hoffman agreed with the request. 

Discussion continued by committee members regarding the substitute motion. Representative Campbell noted that an impact study would be part of the study.  It was recommended to add task force member that would representative Wyandotte and/or Johnson County school districts. Further discussion followed by committee members, regarding the recommendation.

Representative Landwehr made a modification to the substitute motion that replaces the Majority Leader with the Speaker of the House, add a member of the Kansas Board of Education to the task force, states that the task force is geographically balanced, add a member from Wyandotte and Johnson Counties, one member from Western Kansas and one member from rural Kansas. 

Discussion followed by committee members regarding the modification to the substitute motion and the notation that the geographical balance would be sufficient to the composition of the task force.

Representative Landwehr restated the substitute motion which would replace the Majority Leader with the Speaker of the House, add a member of the Kansas Board of Education to the task force, and states that the task force will be geographically balanced. The motion was seconded by Representative Hoffman.

Discussion continued regarding support of the motion.

Representative Landwehr renewed the motion.  Motion passed.

Representative Hoffman made a motion for favorable passage of the House Substitute for HB 2364 as amended.  Representative Davis seconded the motion.

Discussion followed by committee members. It was noted that there is additional information regarding the Lansing Correctional Facility regarding additional oversight to the contract.  

Representative Hoffman withdrew the motion., with the approval of the second.

Representative Helgerson made a motion for a proviso that if the secretary approves the contract option provided by the developer for the Lansing Facility that the Kansas Development Finance Authority can authorize the final closing.  Representative Claeys seconded the motion.  Motion passed.

Chairman Waymaster stated that there are technical amendments the committee to review and approve as relates to the bill.

Jill Wolters, Office of the Revisor of Statutes indicated the need for a technical amendment to strike paragraph 4 in K.S.A. 2016 Supp. 79-34251 as this paragraph was inserted to fix an inequity caused by an incorrect formula in which five counties received less money than they were supposed to and the rest of the counties received more than they were supposed to from the special city and county highway fund.  The five counties were made whole in fiscal year 2016 so this paragraph is no longer needed.

J.G. Scott, Legislative Research Department, indicated that there were three technical amendment to the bill and they are as follows:  transfer language between the Governor's Office and the Attorney General's Office as the number in the underlying bill was not posted correctly; the SGF account for Community Aide was left out of the underlying bill; and a technical post audit report error on the State Board of Barbering of $140.00 that would need to be corrected.

Chairman Waymaster made a motion to approve the technical amendments to the bill as reported.  Representative Helgerson seconded the motion.  Motion passed.

Representative Hoffman made a motion for favorable passage of House Substitute for HB 2364 as amended.  Representative Davis seconded the motion.

Representative Landwehr made a motion to include a modification that any further technical amendments identified by the Office of the Revisor of Statutes or the Legislative Research Department would not require the action of the committee in order to make technical corrections.  Representative Schroeder seconded the motion.  Motion passed.

Discussion followed by committee members regarding the budget inclusion of other items in the Alvarez and Marsal Efficiency Study, not including procurement and health care. Chairman Waymaster stated that the amount of savings from the study are not included in the bill as the amounts were only speculative.  It is the hope that work will continue on identifying agency efficiencies.

J.G. Scott stated that in FY 2017 there were $6.5 million in unspecified savings identified in the A & M study, otherwise, all recommendations has been included.  In response to a question from a committee members, Jill Wolters noted that there are approximately 2,000 provisos included in this budget. J.G. Scott responded that the current house position on the budget reflects an ending balance of approximately $100 million in FY 2018, a negative ending balance of $248.6 million in FY 2018 and a negative $237 million in FY 2019.

Discussion continued on the bill and concerns expressed regarding the deferred 4th quarter payment to KPERS, items that are scheduled to be reviewed at Omnibus, and the lack of a tax plan to operate state government.

Representative Hoffman renewed the motion.  Motion passed.

Chairman Waymaster thanked committee members and staff for the work done in committee.

Meeting adjourned at:  9:42 a.m.