Legislature adjourns major part of session

Lawmakers fight over KU Medical Center, adopt budget, tax cuts, and go home

Lawmakers on Wednesday fought over the Kansas University Medical Center, but approved a budget and tax cuts as they completed the main part of the 2007 legislative session, which will always be known as the session when expanded gambling was adopted.

“On the whole, there has been a great deal accomplished this session,” Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence, said.

But Schmidt said the Legislature also left work unfinished as it adjourned for a three-week break before returning April 25 for a wrap-up session.

“There are still some significant items outstanding,” he said.

On Wednesday, the House finished at 2:30 a.m.; and the Senate adjourned shortly after at 2:50 a.m.

Here’s what lawmakers did late Tuesday and early Wednesday:

¢ Approved a $12.3 billion budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1, which would give state workers a 2 percent payraise $860 bonus.

¢ Allowed Johnson County, upon voter approval, to increase either sales or property taxes to fund research, including a clinical trials unit for the KU Cancer Center and support of the KU Edwards Campus.

¢ Authorized Jefferson County to increase, upon voter approval, the sales tax by one cent for road and bridge improvements.

¢ Adopted tax cuts worth nearly $32 million.

The measures would phase out the business franchise tax over five years; increase the Earned Income Tax Credit from 15 percent to 17 percent; exempt Social Security benefits from state income tax for taxpayers with Kansas adjusted gross incomes of less than $50,000 this year, and $75,000 next year; and expand a homestead property tax refund for low-income people who are 55 and older.

“We got a good tax package that helps move the economy forward,” House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, said.

All the bills were sent to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for consideration.

But the Legislature left a lot undone for its wrap-up session.

Here’s what remains:

¢ A plan to address the $663 million in repairs and maintenance cited by regents universities, including KU.

¢ A proposal that would provide assistance to poor Kansans to purchase health insurance. Approximately 300,000 Kansans are uninsured.

¢ A so-called “trailer” bill to the casino expansion legislation adopted last week. The second bill was to eliminate Sumner County as a possible site for a casino and make technical fixes to the earlier gambling legislation.

Sebelius has said she will sign the bill passed last week to allow casinos in Ford County, Wyandotte County, southeast and south-central Kansas and up to 2,800 slot machines at dog and horse tracks in Kansas City, Wichita and Frontenac.

“Enactment of the gaming bill was one that will make it a historic session,” Schmidt said. Prior to last week, gambling proponents had failed for more than a decade to expand casino operations.

As the Legislature lurched toward adjournment Wednesday, several battles ensued over the budget.

In the Senate, a motion to send the spending plan back to a conference committee for further work failed 19-20.

Sen. Janis Lee, D-Kensington, tried to remove a budget provision that would allow local school districts to increase their local property taxes for schools. She said the measure favored wealthier school districts.

“If you vote for this you are voting for a local property tax increase,” Lee said.

But after her motion failed, the Senate approved the budget 26-14. The House then approved it 64-57.

Some senators also were upset about language in the budget on the issue of KU Medical Center’s proposed partnership with a Missouri hospital system.

House Republican leaders insisted that a budget proviso give KU Hospital veto power over the planned research partnership between KU Medical Center and Kansas City, Mo.-based St. Luke’s Hospital.

Some lawmakers say they fear an agreement with St. Luke’s would hurt both KU Hospital, which is the medical center’s primary partner, and physician training in Kansas.

But KU Medical Center officials say the partnership with St. Luke’s will strengthen life sciences research in Kansas and help KU achieve status as a national cancer center.

Sen. Barbara Allen, R-Overland Park, opposed the restricting budget language, saying the Legislature was trying to micromanage delicate negotiations between KU Medical Center and KU Hospital.

“The Legislature has overstepped its bounds,” Allen said.

Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley of Topeka, agreed, saying, “I sincerely hope that these provisos are not used as a club or weapon during the neotiations, putting our state’s interests at risk.”

But state Sen. Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, said she was supporting the budget because of the provisos. “It is only right that the hospital board have a say,” she said.

Last week, the medical center and KU Hospital signed “guiding principles” for an affiliation but missed a Saturday deadline for signing an agreement, extending it until May 31. Meanwhile, KU Medical Center and St. Luke’s board plan to sign their agreement by June 30.

Another measure in the budget will require KU Medical Center to maintain at least the current number of medical residents at KU Hospital and its Wichita program, and consider expanding its operations with Via Christi Medical Center and Wesley Medical Center, both in Wichita.

In addition, the budget would allow the State Finance Council to disapprove any affiliation agreement with St. Luke’s. But Sebelius controls the agenda of the Finance Council.