In this file photo from May 2015, Democratic Sens. Tom Holland of Baldwin City and Marci Francisco of Lawrence confer on the Senate floor at the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka.

Topeka ? The Kansas Senate on Tuesday declined, for the time being, to debate a proposed constitutional amendment that would phase out the state sales tax on food over the next three years.

Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City, proposed that amendment earlier in the session. But so far it had not received a committee hearing and was in danger of dying as the 2016 session winds to an end.

Holland made a motion on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday to force the bill to the top of the Senate calendar for immediate debate and vote. But the motion, which required a two-thirds majority, fell six votes short, 21-19.

Had the motion passed, it would have needed another two-thirds majority vote in both chambers in order to be placed on a general election ballot for public approval.

Holland argued that since last year’s increase in the state sales tax rate to 6.5 percent, Kansas now has one of the highest sales tax rates on food in the country. Many other states, including Missouri, do not charge the full sales tax rate on food purchases, and some states exempt food entirely.

But Sen. Les Donovan, R-Wichita, who chairs the Senate tax committee, said Democrats had a chance last year to lower the sales tax on food, but voted against the bill.

In fact, it was Sen. Marci Francisco, D-Lawrence, who offered that amendment onto a Senate bill last year. And when House and Senate negotiators met in conference committee, that provision was included in one version of a compromise bill.

“I went over and made a point to talk to two of the senators across the aisle, face-to-face, and explain to them, this is your opportunity to lower the sales tax on food,” Donovan said. “They smiled at me very politely and voted no.”

Donovan said Holland’s proposal was meant to back Gov. Sam Brownback and Republican lawmakers into a corner and force a repeal or roll-back of the income tax cuts of 2012 and 2013.

Eliminating sales tax on food would reduce state revenues by about $400 million a year. And because the exemption for food would be added to the Constitution, lawmakers would not be able to change it in future years without another constitutional amendment.

Holland did not dispute that, and he said a constitutional amendment would be preferable because it could not be vetoed by the governor. Once an amendment passes both chambers with a two-thirds majority, it goes directly onto a ballot without action from the governor.

“We’re going to pay for this exactly the way we pay for other sales tax reduction bills,” Holland said. “It’s going to have to be cuts or a combination of reworking Gov. Brownback’s income tax cuts from 2012.”

But he denied that reducing the sales tax on food would be the cause of future budget problems.

“Let’s not kid ourselves,” he said. “We are in a financial mess now. This sales tax resolution before you has nothing to do with that. What we are asking in this resolution, by my motion today, is simply to have a debate on the floor of the Senate to talk about the feasibility and how we might put forward some sales tax relief for Kansas citizens. Obviously there’s a desire to do that.”

Donovan said there are at least two bills in the tax committee that would reduce the sales tax on food, including one that would make up the revenue loss through, “other things on the income side.”

He said he intends for the committee to work on those bills after lawmakers return from their spring break in late April.