Topeka ? Take a Democratic governor facing a Republican-controlled Legislature in a year when both the House and Senate face re-election.

Mix in a tight budget and a so-so economy and stir vigorously.

That’s recipe enough for a bruising legislative session.

But it probably will be the Kansas judiciary that provides the spiciest ingredients for the 2004 Legislature, which begins today.

At no time in the state’s history have more state tax dollars been at the center of court battles.

“At some point in time, if the laws are not going to be enforced by the goodwill and integrity of government, then that’s what the courts are for, to help sort things out,” said Tom Laing, executive director of InterHab, a group of organizations that provide services to people with disabilities.

Judges in the wings

As lawmakers return to the Capitol, they’ll have several judges looking over their shoulders to keep an eye on funding of major portions of state government.

• Shawnee County State District Judge Terry Bullock declared the state’s method of funding public schools in violation of the state and federal constitutions and ordered a $1 billion correction on top of the $2.6 billion already spent on schools. Public school spending makes up more than half the state budget, and if Bullock’s order is followed it will certainly require a tax increase.
• A lawsuit is under way that alleges the state has under-funded by $300 million the groups that provide services to people with disabilities.
• Another lawsuit wants the court to limit to 90 days the amount of time a person has to wait to receive in-home health services. Three-thousand Kansas who are poor, disabled and elderly are on those waiting lists.
• And recently, a Wichita judge issued a temporary court order prohibiting the state from discontinuing cash assistance for poor Kansans with disabilities who cannot work. The average assistance is $158 per month.

‘Taxpayers’ wallet’

Advocates say going to court is the only alternative when state officials fail to follow the law or constitution.

But some lawmakers bristle at the litigation.

“People believe they have rights to have access to the taxpayers’ wallet,” said Rep. John Edmonds, the Great Bend Republican who is chairman of the House tax committee.

Unlike judges, who focus only on the dispute before them, Edmonds said the Legislature’s job was to allocate scarce resources among an unlimited number of requests for money.

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Of Judge Bullock, who told the Legislature to revamp school finance, Edmonds said, “If he wants to appropriate money, he ought to resign from the bench and run for the Legislature.”

Campaign season

Bullock is likely to stay where he is. But several hundred people will be off and running in the November election, and the campaigns have already started with lawmakers filing numerous bills on hot-button topics from birth control to controlling government spending.

All 40 Senate seats and 125 House seats will be up for election.

Republicans hold a 30-10 majority in the Senate and 80-45 majority in the House.

With a Democratic governor, Democrats sense an opportunity to win back some legislative seats. But Republican leaders have made it clear the issue of taxes will be the political battlefield this session.

If Gov. Kathleen Sebelius wants to increase spending for education, she will have to get out front supporting a tax bill and explaining “why she’s breaking her promise” from the 2002 campaign to not raise taxes, said Senate President Dave Kerr, a Hutchinson Republican.

“I suspect it is going to be a chess match between the governor and Legislature as to who does anything about Judge Bullock’s order,” said Mel Kahn, a Wichita State University political science professor.

Edmonds, a key legislator when it comes to taxes, said any tax increase “is going to be the Kathleen Sebelius and Democratic tax bill, and if it isn’t that, it will never get out of the House.”

But Edmonds said partisan politics was not the primary reason for his position. He said tax bills got passed by governors, regardless of party affiliation.

“The only way you get a tax to pass is for people with political stroke to push it. The governor, past, present and future, is always the biggest dog in the fight,” he said.

Taxes and schools

But the debate over taxes will cut both ways. Despite holding large majorities, Republicans are divided on school funding and other issues, which helps the vastly outnumbered Democrats.

If the Democrats dedicate a tax increase to public schools, they will pick up support from Republicans in Douglas and Johnson counties, who see their schools held back by inadequate state funding.

Republican National Committeeman Steve Cloud of Lenexa typified this stance, saying more needed to be spent on education.

“My opinion is that, personally, if we have to spend more money to maintain the high quality of public education in this state, then we need to do that. That’s my position and it’s incumbent on the Republican-controlled Legislature to consider whatever is put forward,” he said.

For her part, Sebelius has kept her own counsel on what she intends to propose, saying her position on the budget and other issues such as expanded gambling would be revealed at 7 p.m. today during her State of the State speech.

On education, she said, “I’ll have a very specific proposal to put on the table. I think that’s the starting point.”

And while she has hinted at proposing a tax increase, she has refused to provide any details. Last year, Sebelius faced a large budget deficit in proposing her first spending plan, and many thought she would have to try to increase taxes.

But through budget cuts, streamlining state government and bookkeeping tricks, the session ended without a general tax increase; a fact that Sebelius points to as one of her top achievements during her first year in office.

“There was a sense we were standing at the edge of a cliff and no one knew what was going to happen,” she said.