Could it be that the reality of the state budget finally is sinking in on state legislators?

“I think folks are starting to get it,” House Speaker Kent Glasscock said during a conference call with editorial writers Friday morning.

What the lawmakers in the House are starting to “get” is that a state budget that doesn’t include new revenue would be a grave disservice to the people of Kansas.

“The chamber is slowly coming to the realization that it would be irresponsible to pass a budget that doesn’t have any new money in it,” Glasscock said.

Despite that realization the budget the House passed on Friday is out of balance with available revenue by $128 million. That imbalance probably shocks many Kansans, but Glasscock views passage of the budget as a step in the right direction because it will send the measure to a House-Senate conference committee, where the details of the state budget usually are hammered out.

With only two weeks left in the Legislature’s 90-day session, the action was needed to advance the budget, regardless of how unacceptable it is.

“We can’t go home with this budget,” Glasscock said, “and we won’t go home with this budget.”

Kenny Wilk, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, acknowledged that “this budget needs a lot of work,” but he also said it “establishes a floor” for the least amount of revenue that would be needed to fund an acceptable budget. Legislators have indicated that they understand the need to raise revenue by making key amendments to the no-new-revenue budget drawn up by Wilk’s committee.

The amendments made in the House offer some clues about legislators’ budget priorities. The lawmakers restored some funding for programs in the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services and restored funding for K-12 education, even adding $10 to the per-pupil base. They eliminated the state furlough program but set goals Wilk thought might be unrealistic to save money by shrinking the state’s work force.

The budget passed Friday added $13 million for Kansas Board of Regents schools, but, according to Glasscock, that still leaves the regents’ budget 8 to 9 percent below the current fiscal year. Other concerns Wilk and Glasscock voiced about the budget included the wisdom of closing corrections facilities that may have to be reopened or replaced within a few years and the lack of funding for the state transportation plan.

The Legislature may be making progress, but it isn’t there yet. Even to cut the shortfall to $128 million the House bill reduced the state’s ending balances to 5 percent, adding $104 million to the revenue side.

Amazingly, there seems to be some doubt whether a sufficient number of legislators would vote to extend the 90-day session if the budget work is not complete. Legislators could try to make a point by refusing to extend, but Glasscock said the governor won’t let the lawmakers off the hook and has said he would call a special session to keep them in Topeka.

On Friday, Wilk and Glasscock seemed encouraged, but they also acknowledged that there’s a long way to go. Kansans also are hoping legislators now are on the road to a more realistic budget that won’t mortgage the state’s future.