Statehouse Briefing

Budget gets worse and a look at next week

Budget crisis worsensLegislative leaders said Friday that January’s tax receipts were about $27 million below earlier projections, meaning that the budget shortfall previously thought to be $186 million for the current fiscal year, is getting worse.State Sen. John Vratil, R-Leawood, said that ...

Freeze in services for disabled criticized

TOPEKA — As lawmakers returned Monday for the 2009 legislative session, about two dozen people demonstrated outside the Capitol against a freeze in a program to help low-income Kansans with disabilities. “In terms of people’s lives, it’s devastating,” Mike Oxford of Lawrence, an ...

Session starts; schmoozing grows

The 2009 legislative session starts at 2 p.m. Monday, and the social events put on by lobbyists for legislators start shortly after that. According to a list put out by the Division of Legislative Administrative Services, the Kansas Farm Bureau and Kansas Cable Telecommunications Association ...

Sebelius to pick new justice

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has scheduled a news conference for 11 a.m. to announce her selection to the Kansas Supreme Court.Douglas County Judge Robert Fairchild is one of three nominees forwarded to Sebelius for the vacancy that will be created by the retirement Monday of Chief Justice Kay ...

Advocates for disabled denounce waiting lists

Advocates for persons with developmental disabilities have launched a campaign and Web site to draw attention to the nearly 4,000 Kansans who are waiting for services. The "Invisible Kansans" campaign hopes to persuade legislators to fully fund home- and community-based services for those ...