Sen. Steve Fitzgerald, R-Leavenworth, speaks out against a budget plan that passed the Legislature on Saturday, arguing that lawmakers should have done more to cut spending instead of raising taxes.

Topeka ? Kansas lawmakers passed a two-year spending plan for state government Saturday that includes a pay raise for state employees, many of whom have not seen an increase since before the start of the Great Recession nine years ago.

The budget calls for total spending of $15.5 billion in the fiscal year that begins July 1, including $6.4 billion out of the state general fund. The total figure includes state and federal highway funding, as well as federal Medicaid and education funds.

For the following year, the budget calls for total spending of $15.8 billion, including $6.3 billion out of the general fund.

Under the bill, state employees who have been on the job less than five years would get a 2.5 percent pay raise starting July 1, as would all judicial branch employees. Those who have been on the job longer but have not seen any salary adjustment in five years would get a 5 percent pay raise.

In addition, caregivers who are reimbursed through Medicaid for taking care of people receiving home- and community-based services, who have not seen a rate increase since 2002, would see a 3 percent pay raise starting July 1, and an additional 1 percent on top of that the following year.

The bill also provides increased funding for community mental health centers and $4.7 million to add 20 psychiatric beds at Osawatomie State Hospital.

That level of spending would not have been possible if lawmakers hadn’t passed and overridden Gov. Sam Brownback’s veto of a tax bill that reversed course on the sweeping tax cuts that Brownback championed in 2012.

It does not, however, include funding to repay a quarterly payment into the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System that was delayed in 2016. And after delaying another payment in 2017, it also calls for delaying yet another quarterly payment in 2019, although those last two delayed payments would be repaid with interest over a 20-year period.

Republican conservatives, who until the 2016 elections had controlled the Senate for the previous four years, denounced both the budget and the tax plan, saying not enough effort was made to cut spending.

“I had been assured prior to the session that there would be cuts, and that in fact people had been selected for important positions because of their demonstrated ability to cut,” said Sen. Steve Fitzgerald, R-Leavenworth. “And yet we have a budget and I would defy anybody to show me where there are any substantial cuts.”

But Ways and Means Committee Chairwoman Sen. Carolyn McGinn defended the budget and the process used to produce it.

“I heard a lot about how we need to cut,” she said. “This body has had four years to cut this budget, and that didn’t happen. Instead the way we balanced the budget … was by stealing from KPERS, stealing from KDOT, stealing from fee funds, stealing from the water fund, and I could go on.”

Negotiation over a tax plan needed to fund the budget was one of the major reasons the 2017 session ran so long, because in negotiating over what such a bill would contain, lawmakers knew they needed to get two-thirds majorities in both chambers to override a certain governor’s veto.

They also had to pass a new school funding formula this year that they hope will satisfy the Kansas Supreme Court’s standards for adequacy and equity.

The session also featured significant battles over Medicaid expansion, which Brownback ultimately vetoed, and the state’s concealed carry laws.

The bill passed the Senate, 27-11, as conservatives objected to the fact that lawmakers chose to raise taxes this year instead of focusing on cutting spending.

Debate in the House was more extended because Democrats objected to the fact that a $17,660 payment for an 84-year-old woman was deleted in conference committee.

In 1995, the Kansas Highway Patrol, alleging it was illegal drug money, seized the cash from Barbara Reese, although she was never charged or convicted of a crime. Reese maintained that she was self-employed running a small business buying and selling used cars at auctions.

Several Democrats argued that the incident probably would not have happened if Reese had not been African-American, and some African-American women in the Democratic caucus took to the floor to say, “I am Barbara Reese.” Rep. Vic Miller, D-Topeka, who is white, called it a case of “DWB,” or driving while black.

Rep. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence, who serves on the Appropriations Committee, said she believed the money was included in last year’s budget, but did not learn until the start of this year’s session that the money to pay her claim had been stripped out of the budget in the Senate. That prompted hearings in the Judiciary Committee this year on a bill to reform the state’s civil asset forfeiture laws.

And although that bill did not advance, she said the Appropriations Committee did include it in the budget bill it produced, and she was upset it had been taken out again during conference talks with the Senate.

“I would ask you, and I did the same thing in committee, would you in this room allow someone to take that much money from you and not try to get it back?” she said.

When a roll call vote on the bill was called for, about 30 Democrats at first held out and did not cast a vote, leaving the preliminary tally at only 58 yes votes, not enough to pass a measure. After several minutes, they began recording their votes, with most of them voting in favor of the budget. The final vote was 88-27, which sent the bill to Brownback’s desk.

Rep. Barbara Ballard of Lawrence walks past flowers placed at Seat 71 in the House chamber, the seat of Rep. Pattsy Terrell, D-Hutchinson, who died unexpectedly Wednesday.

The House debate was also marked by particular sadness following the unexpected death on Wednesday of freshman Rep. Patsy Terrell, D-Hutchinson, who was 55. A bouquet of flowers was placed on her desk for the final days of the session.

Saturday marked the 113th day of the legislative session. That means when they return for the ceremonial “sine die” closing of the session June 26, they will tie the all-time record set just two years ago for the longest session in state history, at 114 days.

What is currently not known, however, is whether they will be called back into special session in July. That could happen if the Kansas Supreme Court rejects the school finance plan that the House and Senate passed on Monday, June 5, the same day they passed the tax overhaul. Brownback has not yet indicated whether he will sign or veto the school funding bill.