Rep. Tom Burroughs, right, D-Kansas City, urges members of the House Appropriations Committee to include funding in a two-year budget bill to make full payments into the state pension system. That motion, made by Rep. Eber Phelps, D-Hays, passed by a single vote.

Topeka ? Budget writers in the Kansas House moved closer to a final two-year spending plan Friday when they agreed to restore part of the funding that was cut last year from the University of Kansas and Kansas State University.

They also agreed, at least for the time being, to include full payments into the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System, although many on the Appropriations Committee said that may be offering false hope unless the Legislature can agree on a large tax increase that can get past the governor’s veto.

Those two provisions are similar to language in the Senate’s budget bill, which the Senate Ways and Means Committee advanced on Thursday.

Rep. Tom Burroughs, right, D-Kansas City, urges members of the House Appropriations Committee to include funding in a two-year budget bill to make full payments into the state pension system. That motion, made by Rep. Eber Phelps, D-Hays, passed by a single vote.

For KU, that would mean an additional $1.6 million in the upcoming fiscal year, compared to the governor’s recommendations, and $2.9 million in the following fiscal year.

For K-State, it would mean an additional $1.1 million next year, and $2.1 million the following year.

The committee had agreed earlier to put off that decision until the Legislature comes back from its spring break in May, by which point they will have new, updated revenue estimates.

“My opinion is, if we insert these items in, we are giving a sense of false hope, because we would have those dollars in and, most likely, depending on what the situation is when we come back, we may have to take some of those dollars back out,” committee chairman Troy Waymaster, R-Bunker Hill, said of the proposal.

But Democrats, and even some fiscally conservative Republicans, insisted on putting the money into the bill.

“My banker DNA is hardcore. When you make a commitment to pay it, you pay it,” said Rep. Larry Campbell, R-Olathe. “You can’t borrow your way out of debt.”

“If we’re going to do this, then I would say, what are we cutting in order to pay for this,” said Rep. Erin Davis, also an Olathe Republican and vice-chair of the committee. “If this is truly a priority, then where in the budget are we cutting to make this a priority, because otherwise we’re just making our hole deeper.”

Even without the full KPERS payments, the bill the committee was working on already spent about $250 million more than current revenue estimates say the state will have next year.

With the full KPERS payments, legislative research staff said, the bill is $394.4 million out of balance for the upcoming fiscal year, and $412.4 million out of balance for the following fiscal year.

“There is a second option,” Campbell said, replying to Davis. “The second option is, many of us in here have been voting for the increase in revenue it takes for us to meet our obligations.”

So far, however, the only tax bill that has passed both chambers was vetoed by Gov. Sam Brownback, and Davis argued that there currently is not another tax plan on the horizon

However, Rep. Steve Johnson, R-Assaria, who both serves on the budget committee and chairs the House Taxation Committee, said he is confident there will eventually be another tax bill, probably similar in size to the one Brownback vetoed, but it may not come until after the new revenue estimates are published April 20.

Some lawmakers are already saying they expect the estimates to go up in April, largely due to an increase in capital gains taxes, which are taxes on profits from investments.

“The new revenue estimates will also be very helpful, absolutely, to get a handle on what we have and what we might expect,” he said. “Some of us are starting to make up numbers that we plug in to say, ‘We think we’ll be about here,’ but we can’t really allocate that until we have a better sense.”

The motion to include full KPERS funding in the budget passed by a single vote in the committee, an indication that it could be a contentious issue during debate in the full House, which could happen next week.

The committee did not finish working on the bill Friday. Waymaster said the panel will meet again Monday morning, and may continue meeting into the evening on Monday in order to send it to the full House by Tuesday.