The Kansas Senate won’t go along with plans to cut state spending in the current fiscal year, Sen. Sandy Praeger, R-Lawrence, predicted Friday.

“I don’t think the votes are there to pass it,” she said, addressing a Lawrence Chamber of Commerce-sponsored legislative forum at the Hereford House restaurant, 4931 W. Sixth St.

Praeger said proposed increases in the state’s so-called sin taxes and “some form of expanding gambling at the state’s racetracks” appear to be gaining momentum among legislators, though Gov. Bill Graves’ proposed 65-cents-a-pack tax on cigarettes may be in trouble.

“I don’t know that 65 cents will withstand the legislative process,” Praeger said. “It may end up less than that.”

Support for the governor’s call for a quarter-cent increase in the state’s sales tax, she said, looks thin.

Rep. Ralph Tanner, R-Baldwin, assured the group that as chairman of the House Education Committee he would fight to “hold schools harmless” in the current budget year, which ends June 30. He declined to predict how education will fare in next year’s budget.

Of the five legislators at the forum, four said they would favor opening the state to Sunday beer sales. Rep. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence, said she wasn’t sure.

“I prefer that we didn’t have it,” she said, “but I’m not saying I feel strongly enough to vote against it.”

All five said they would resist efforts to tie certain taxes to specific spending.

“There’s no need to do that,” said Rep. Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence. “It’ll all go to education and social services anyway.”

Sloan and Rep. Troy Findley, D-Lawrence, said they are co-sponsoring a bill aimed at dropping the requirement that each of the state’s 105 counties have at least one sitting judge.

Findley called the requirement “archaic” but quickly added that he and Sloan are sure to “have a fight on (their) hands.”

About 60 people attended the forum. The next forum is set for 8 a.m. Feb. 23 at the Hereford House.