Kansas lawmakers will spend part of Saturday debating a tax bill that includes a property tax lid on cities and counties, and an expanded type of voucher program that gives individuals and businesses a 70 percent tax credit for contributing to scholarship funds for private and parochial schools.

Lawmakers are still trying to find a way to close a projected $400 million revenue shortfall in the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. On Friday, furlough notices went out to more than 24,000 “nonessential” state employees because paychecks for the new two-week pay period beginning Sunday will be issued after July 1.

The House and Senate are expected to debate another bill Saturday that would prevent those furloughs by classifying all state employees as essential.

Technical problems with language about the scholarship program forced the Senate to suspend debate on the bill shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday. It wasn’t clear what the technical concerns were that caused GOP leaders to suspend the debate. But some lawmakers had raised constitutional concerns because, as written, it would let donors contribute directly to the private schools, instead of a scholarship fund that would be disbursed to students and their families.

Sen. Pat Pettey, D-Kansas City, questioned whether that language would allow the funds to subsidize the cost of students who are already attending private schools. The program, enacted just last year, was intended to fund scholarships for low-income students currently attending public schools.

The bill also contains a provision that House negotiators initially refused to go along with. It would require cities and counties to get voter approval before they could increase property tax revenues from one year to the next by more than the rate of inflation.

Without a public vote, cities and counties would be limited in how much they could raise in property taxes. That would apply even in communities where population growth and new construction are generating new revenues.

That provision was added to a Senate tax bill last week by Sen. Jacob LaTurner, R-Pittsburg. It had never been introduced as a bill before and was never the subject of legislative hearings.

Under the plan now being considered, the tax lid would not take effect until Jan. 1, 2018.

The bill also calls for raising the state sales tax by four-tenths of a cent, to 6.55 percent, while lowering the rate on food purchases to 5.9 percent. It would also eliminate the popular food sales tax credit program, which allows low-income elderly and disabled tax filers to receive a tax credit based on a percentage of the money they spent on food sales tax.

It would also eliminate or reduce many itemized deductions currently allowed on individual income tax filings.