Topeka ? Featuring falling tax revenues, a couple of vetoes and probably a new governor, the Legislature’s wrap-up session promises to pack a political wallop.

Throw in an ethics investigation against the most powerful lawmaker in Kansas — House Speaker Mike O’Neal, R-Hutchinson — and you have the makings of an explosive end to the 2009 legislative session.

“They’re really going to have to focus and minimize the distractions,” said Bob Beatty, a political science professor at Washburn University.

The wrap-up session starts April 29. Traditionally, the wrap-up lasts a few days, but this one could go longer. As one legislator put it, “I’m packing extra underwear.”

Governor who?

One of the biggest questions is who will be governor.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, may be confirmed this week as President Barack Obama’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Once she leaves, Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson, a Republican-turned-Democrat, would get promoted to the top spot to face an overwhelmingly Republican Legislature.

After Obama’s election last year, Sebelius was reportedly under consideration for various Cabinet positions. Then, after most of the assignments had been handed out, she bowed out, saying she wanted to focus on Kansas’ budget problems.

But that changed again when Obama’s first pick to lead HHS, former Sen. Tom Daschle, dropped out after it was revealed he owed approximately $140,000 in back taxes.

Obama then nominated Sebelius in early March, and since a two-day confirmation hearing earlier this month, the governor has been waiting on a vote in Congress.

Beatty said Sebelius’ preparation to leave Kansas while presiding over the state has produced “an odd situation.”

“It has made it very difficult for the Legislature and the chief executive to really get together and take on this revenue problem,” he said. “The delay in her leaving has made the situation problematic.”

Budget problems worsen

Meanwhile, the state revenue situation continues to get worse.

Budget writing committees will start work Tuesday on the final state spending plan for the 2010 fiscal year, which starts July 1. Their job got harder when last week state fiscal experts downsized revenue forecasts by $328 million.

The battle lines have already formed.

Republicans say the budget, which has already been cut twice, needs more surgery.

Democrats say more cuts will do permanent harm. For example, higher education has sustained a 10 percent cut, and even with that, the Kansas Board of Regents has promised lawmakers that if they leave them alone the rest of the year, the regents will freeze tuition for one year to help out students. If they cut more, the deal is off, the regents have said.

Lawmakers should look at a number of different options, such as delaying the phase-out of the corporate franchise tax and estate tax, banking on expected casino development fees and “de-coupling” the state tax code from recent federal tax cuts, which would produce more revenue, Democrats say.

Coal fight renewed

Aside from the budget, lawmakers will attempt to settle some long-standing scores.

Supporters of the two proposed 700-megawatt coal-burning power plants in southwestern Kansas again will try to overturn another Sebelius veto of the project.

Sebelius has cited the project’s carbon dioxide emissions, while supporters of the plants say they are needed to help the economy.

The Senate has attained the two-thirds’ majority needed to override a veto, but the House has always fallen a few votes short.

It’ll be up to House Speaker O’Neal to deliver on a promise to supporters of the coal-burning plants to get the necessary 84 votes in the 125-member House. O’Neal’s first session as speaker just got more interesting as the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission announced it was investigating an allegation lodged by a Democratic legislator that O’Neal violated the state’s anti-nepotism statute because his wife is working for the House Republican Caucus. O’Neal has denied any wrongdoing.

Autism bill pending

One issue under the radar is a measure that pits advocates for children with autism against insurance lobbyists.

House Bill 2367 would require insurers cover the cost of treating autism. Insurers say it will drive up premiums, and their lobbyists have managed to stop the bill, and a similar one in the Senate, from advancing.

But advocates for children say the growing number of states that have enacted such a requirement have experienced minimal premium increases, while the longterm payoffs are great because children who receive treatment become higher-functioning students and adults.

HB 2367 has been pending in committee, but state Rep. Nile Dillmore, D-Wichita, has made a motion to bring the bill up before the full House. That motion may be voted on the first day of the wrap-up session.

“I felt like this is an important public policy issue and worth a procedural attempt to bring it up for discussion and debate,” Dillmore said.