Today, the Kansas Senate had cleared the committees calendar in order to debate the FY 17 Rescission Budget Bill, Taxes, and the Pooled Money Investment Board (PMIB).  However, that debate was delayed after Republicans held a caucus this morning and apparently decided there was not consensus to move forward today.

Senators were scheduled to work all day on the Senate Floor and now have a free day on their hands.  Many will go home for the weekend with Friday a pro-forma day.  We expected to see many amendments proposed and debated to hash out a Senate position for closing out the current fiscal year which ends June 30 and faces a deficit of around $350 million.

The bills to be debated are below along with links to the bill descriptions.

SB 155 - State finances; requiring the KPERS board to liquidate the pooled money investment portfolio investment pursuant to K.SA. 2016 Supp. 75-2263; transferring money to the state general fund ...  The Governor recommended liquidating $317 million of the fund's investments to borrow for current year funding shortfalls.  The Senate committee recommended borrowing $100 million.

SB 147 - Kansas income tax act;providing rate changes and determination of Kansas adjusted gross income andsunsetting certain modifications.  This bill eliminates the LLC exemption and increases income tax rates.  We expect to see many amendments proposing any imaginable combination of tax policies.  See bill explanation.

SB 27 - Budget Rescission Legislation for adjustments to FY 17; reduces K-12 by 5% or $128 million, Regents by $23 million, and varying agency budgets by $3 million.

See bill explanation document.

The Senate will reconvene Friday at 8:00 a.m. pro-forma - meaning there will won't be any general orders or votes.