The Kansas Statehouse in Topeka

Topeka — Kansas legislative leaders are bracing themselves for a long session next year. But people sitting at home will be able to hear a lot more of it by listening online.

In a meeting Tuesday, the Legislative Coordinating Council, a group made up of top Republican and Democratic leaders from both chambers, agreed to budget for a 100-day session in 2017 — 10 days longer than normal — and to outfit 13 committee rooms for live streaming audio.

They will make up for the lengthier session by having a shorter session — just 80 days — in 2018.

Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce, R-Hutchinson, argued in favor of lengthening the session, noting that since the Legislature started adopting two-year budgets in 2013, the budget-writing sessions in odd-numbered years have typically gone over the traditional 90-day limit, while lawmakers have adjourned early in nonbudget years.

In 2015, for example, the Legislature set a record with a 114-day session. But this year’s session, at just 73 days, was one of the shortest on record.

But given what lawmakers will be expected to do in 2017, some Statehouse observers think even a 100-day session may be optimistic.

Not only will lawmakers be expected to write a budget for the next two fiscal years, they’ll have to do it in a tough financial climate in which the current fiscal year’s budget is already more than $60 million in the hole.

In addition to that, they are also expected to write an entirely new school finance formula and respond to an upcoming Kansas Supreme Court order regarding how much money needs to go into that formula.

And all of that will have to be accomplished in a year that will see a large number of new legislators coming into office.

Democrats and at least one Republican, House Majority Leader Jene Vickrey, of Louisburg, opposed the lengthier session. But other GOP leaders said it would likely be necessary, and they preferred to plan for it.

“We need time to thoroughly evaluate the financial situation, the budget, and try to get our work done,” said Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, who supported the longer session. “We need the time necessary to get the job done — and get it done right this time.”

Budgeting for the lengthier session mainly means that office secretaries and other seasonal staff for the Legislature will be allowed to work past the traditional 90-day time limit.

The 90-day limit is largely a matter of tradition. The Kansas Constitution provides for the Legislature to meet in two-year cycles, starting with the year after a general election, and it limits lawmakers to no more than 90 days in the second, or even-numbered year of each cycle.

But lawmakers have usually tried to hold themselves to no more than 90 days every year, fearing a public backlash if sessions go beyond that limit.

The 10 extra days are expected to cost about $500,000, money that will be shifted out of the budget for the 2018 session.

Live streaming

Also included in the Legislature’s budget this year is grant funding to expand live audio streaming of legislative sessions to include committee hearings. Currently, only sessions of the full House and Senate chambers are available through the Legislature’s website.

The state secured a $199,000 grant this year to outfit 13 committee rooms with audio streaming capabilities. Administrative Services staff told lawmakers the project would be carried out in three phases.

The first phase, estimated to cost $50,000, will outfit three rooms where the House and Senate budget and tax committees meet and is expected to be completed in December, before the session begins.

Four more rooms are expected to be ready in early February, and the final five rooms are slated to go live in mid-March. But funding for those phases is contingent upon successful completion of the first phase.