TOPEKA ? Legislation funding most of Kansas’ state government for its next fiscal year began as a measure giving wildlife and parks officers more discretion in issuing citations and had two other, vastly different incarnations before becoming a bill containing the bulk of the budget.

Lawmakers’ handling of the measure from its introduction through its signing by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback this week shows how loose the rules for moving bills to passage have become over the past 25 years and how confusing the process can be to follow.

They strip out texts and titles of bills and dump the contents into other bills to speed up their legislating. They even have their own jargon for it. They do a “gut and go” to turn a bill into something completely different, and measures become “shells,” ”vehicles” or even “body donors” — so that the legislative process looks little like what’s taught to schoolchildren in lessons about government.

“We learn a lot after junior high as to how the real process works,” said Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce, a Nickerson Republican. “It’s hard for legislators to follow, too.”

Here is a look at how the budget bill became law.

Early life

The bulk of the state budget is contained in a version of Senate Bill 112. It was introduced on Jan. 29 by the Senate Judiciary Committee, at the request of the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism. The bill originally would have given department officers the discretion not to issue citations for misdemeanor violations of wildlife and parks rules.

The bill cleared the committee in late February and three days later, on Feb. 26, passed the Senate unanimously.

First ‘gut and go’

But House members had different plans. Their Judiciary Committee amended the wildlife and parks proposal into another bill, leaving SB 112 available as a “vehicle.” The House speaker sent the bill to the Veterans, Military and Homeland Security Committee.

The second committee did a “gut and go,” passing a substitute version that would have shortened the time for state regulatory boards to issue professional licenses to military spouses.

The committee endorsed the substitute, but the House didn’t debate it. It returned to committee as lawmakers started their annual spring break near the end of March.

A little history

The veterans committee’s action, stripping a bill of its text and title and replacing it with something new, is common now. But 25 years ago, the tactic provoked outrage, when the House Transportation Committee took a minor bill on that subject and turned it into a measure requiring girls under 18 to notify their parents before obtaining an abortion.

The anniversary of that event passed in February, with no one taking notice. But it changed how lawmakers do business.

“We all who spend too many hours in this building can track (bill) numbers,” said Democratic Rep. Jim Ward, of Wichita. “But if you’re at home, trying to find out where your particular issue is, it’s incredibly hard.”

Another change

The House approved the substitute version of SB 112, aimed at helping veterans’ spouses, 118-0, on May 7. The measure went to the Senate, which rejected the changes, so that three senators and three House members were appointed to draft a final version.

But the negotiators were from each chamber’s Judiciary Committee. They stripped the bill of its provisions to help veterans’ spouses and stuck them in another bill. Senate Bill 112 became the vehicle for a proposal to increase criminal penalties for scrap metal theft.

That version of the bill was ready May 21.

Vehicle for the budget

Republicans who control the Legislature felt increasing pressure after Memorial Day to wrap their work on the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 and pass the tax increases necessary to balance it.

As of the end of May, the House hadn’t passed a complete budget, though three members and three senators were negotiating over the final version of spending recommendations for most of state government. They needed a vehicle, something that had passed each chamber.

The House and Senate on June 2 put Senate Bill 112 into the hands of their budget negotiators, and the scrap metal proposal went into another bill.

A day later, the bill contained funding for most of state government, and the House approved it. The Senate followed suit on June 7, sending it to Brownback.