TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Education officials say a school funding bill in the Kansas Legislature would force immediate cuts to programs in some districts.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee discussed a bill on Tuesday that would cut $39 million in supplemental funding for schools in the current fiscal year, which ends July 1. Committee chairman Sen. Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, said the funding is currently distributed unfairly and schools should be able to adjust.

But Topeka schools Superintendent Julie Ford told committee the cuts likely would force the district to cancel summer school programs and lay off custodial staff.

Other officials said it could force some schools to close early or cancel free lunches for at-risk students.

By ANDY MARSO

A prison space crunch amid a state budget crisis is lending urgency to legislative proposals aimed at steering drug offenders toward community treatment rather than prison time.

The House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee, chaired by Rep. John Rubin, is looking at a couple of bills that he said are meant to try a new approach after decades of stiff penalties spurred by the unsuccessful “War on Drugs.”

Corrections Secretary Ray Roberts has said for years that a significant portion of the state’s prison population has diagnosed mental illnesses, documented substance abuse issues or both.

Rubin, a Republican from Shawnee who is a former judge, said research has shown that treating those conditions outside of prison is cheaper and more effective in reducing re-offense rates.

“It’s obviously better for the individual if we can get them treatment in the community where possible,” Rubin said. “It’s closer to home with more supports and that sort of thing. And it’s also better for society and public safety. It’s better all the way around.”

Treatment options

It’s not the first time Kansas legislators have tried to steer drug users to treatment rather than prison.

A major effort in 2003 culminated in Senate Bill 123, which allowed nonviolent drug offenders to be sentenced to community corrections supervision and drug rehab.

Gary Lee, director of the substance abuse programs at Valeo Behavioral Health Care in Topeka, said that legislation has made an impact on his community.

“We’re treating nonviolent drug offenders — first-time offenders — and the recidivism rate back to prison is much, much lower,” Lee said.

Lee said he hoped the Legislature will pass the recently introduced legislation on drug sentences as well.

“I’m supportive any time we intervene on nonviolent people and get them the help they need,” Lee said. “I think it’s ridiculous to incarcerate people for smoking marijuana.”

Rubin said such sentencing proposals sometimes face resistance from fellow conservative Republicans who say they are “tough on crime” and espouse a “lock ’em up and throw away the key” philosophy.

But with the state’s prisons over capacity, no extra money in the budget and other bills already proposed to increase the penalties for things like burglary, something has to give.

“You’ve got two choices,” Rubin said he tells his colleagues who are opposed to drug sentencing reform. “Either raise taxes so you can build more prison beds, or have our overcrowding problem explode to where we wind up subject to a federal court order to release dangerous felons early to free up prison bed space, like California’s under. Now that’s what’s soft on crime, because some of these people need to stay there.”

As legislators across the country face similar choices, people from different places on the political spectrum are finding common ground on sentencing reform.

Conservative billionaire Charles Koch, a Wichita resident and Republican mega-donor, said last year he’s making sentencing reform a top priority. His philanthropic institute offered a seminar on the topic titled “Reaching the Tipping Point” at a Congressional office building in November.

Over capacity

Kansas, like many states, is reaching that tipping point where the state must start incarcerating fewer people or build more prison space.

The state prison system’s capacity is 9,582. Jeremy Barclay, a spokesman for the Kansas Department of Corrections, said 9,612 people were serving time in state prisons last week.

Barclay said drug offenses were the most serious charges against 18.1 percent of those in the system.

The measures that the House corrections committee is considering have the potential to free up some of those beds.

This week Rubin’s committee unanimously approved House Bill 2049, which would make possession of a small amount of marijuana a felony after the third offense rather than the second.

Under current state law, the second conviction for marijuana possession is a Level 5 felony on the sentencing grid that can carry with it a prison term of up to 42 months.

When told last week that was the penalty, Rep. Tom Moxley, a Republican from Council Grove, expressed shock.

“How did we get to a Level 5 felony on a product that is used in 27 states legally for medicative purposes?” Moxley asked.

“That’s what the Legislature has deemed it to be,” answered Scott Schultz, executive director of the Kansas Sentencing Commission.

According to the sentencing commission, 448 people were convicted of a second marijuana possession charge last year and 45 were sentenced to prison terms. The rest received probation or community supervision under SB 123.

Rep. Boog Highberger, a Democrat from Lawrence, said he would prefer legalization of marijuana possession similar to Colorado law, but voted for HB 2049 as a smarter use of state resources.

He pointed to a fiscal note that estimates the bill will save the Kansas Department of Corrections more than $1 million per year by fiscal year 2017.

“I really didn’t know how much we were spending incarcerating people for simple marijuana possession,” Highberger said. “Given our current budget situation, it’s a pretty significant number.”

Diversion program for drug offenders

The corrections committee also held a hearing on House Bill 2052, which would allow prosecutors to seek diversions, coupled with drug treatment programs, for drug possession crimes.

The diversions would not count against offenders’ criminal records unless they reoffend, a change that Lee said would make it easier for them to find jobs after completing drug treatment.

Jennifer Roth, who represents criminal defense attorneys in Kansas, told the committee her organization would prefer that the diversions allowed for in the bill not count against offenders’ criminal records after they reoffend. She said state law currently treats no other diversions that way, except for diversions for driving while intoxicated.

Rubin said after the hearing that he thinks having that provision in the bill will make it more likely for prosecutors to actually use the diversion program for drug offenders.

Even with that clause in the bill, Roth said she was happy to see the focus turning to treatment rather than incarceration for low-level drug crimes.

She said the Department of Corrections does not have enough resources to treat all of the substance abusers in state prisons. A program set up to grant early release to offenders who complete treatment was never funded, she said.

“That’s always troubled me,” Roth said. “Just another argument for keeping people in the community to get those services.”

Lee, who has been at Valeo for 30 years, said treating drug addiction has always been a “low priority” for the state judging by the amount of money appropriated for treatment programs.

But he says there seems to be a growing realization that putting people with a drug addiction in prison does not solve their problems.

“When they leave prison, unless they die there, they’re going to be in our communities,” Lee said.

 

Andy Marso is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas House has given first-round approval to a bill eliminating a projected shortfall of more than $330 million in the state’s current budget after members complained about some of the maneuvers for closing the gap.

The Republican-controlled House advanced the bill Tuesday on a voice vote and expects to take final action Wednesday. The measure has the backing of GOP leaders and is expected to pass.

The bill mostly diverts money from highway projects and special funds into the state’s main bank account to cover funding for general government programs.

Lawmakers from both parties criticized the bill’s diversion of $158 million in highway funds, saying roads and bridges could deteriorate.

But some lawmakers said they had little choice to ensure the state pays its bills on time.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Republican leader in the Kansas House says a bill to eliminate a projected budget shortfall will allow the state to continue paying its bills on time.

Republican Rep. Ron Ryckman Jr. of Olathe, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said during a debate Tuesday that the bill would bring certainty to the state’s finances.

The measure would eliminate a projected shortfall of more than $330 million in the state’s current budget. The House is expected to give the bill first-round approval.

But Democratic Rep. Jerry Henry of Atchison said he’s worried that the measure won’t be enough with state tax collections falling short of expectations in January.

The bill would mostly divert highway funds and shift other funds around to patch holes in the funding for general government programs.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas House members are preparing to debate a bill for eliminating a projected shortfall of more than $330 million in the state’s current budget.

The bill up for discussion Tuesday would mostly divert highway funds and shift other funds around to patch holes in the funding for general government programs. The shortfall is in the state’s main bank account.

The state’s budget problems arose after lawmakers aggressively cut personal income taxes in 2012 and 2013 at Gov. Sam Brownback’s urging to stimulate the economy.

The current budget runs through June. Brownback’s budget director has said lawmakers need to approve adjustments by Feb. 13 to ensure the state keeps paying bills on time.

The state faces an additional $436 million budget shortfall for the next fiscal year beginning July 1.

By Jim McLean

Kansas’ worsening budget problems are making it harder to generate a legislative discussion about expanding Medicaid. Rep. Tom Sloan, a moderate Republican from Lawrence, is attempting to piece together an expansion proposal that he hopes Gov. Sam Brownback and GOP conservatives might be willing to consider. He’s borrowing elements from plans crafted by conservative Republican governors in Indiana, Tennessee, Wyoming and other states that have received or are seeking federal approval for more private-sector approaches to expansion.

But adopting a more conservative approach won’t be enough, he said. With state revenues plummeting and lawmakers scrambling to close gaping holes in this and next year’s budgets, any bill also must propose a way to cover the state’s share of expansion costs for several years.

“If we’re going to put something on the table, there has to be a financing component,” said Sloan, who plans to start working on an expansion bill next week in his committee. State revenues fell $47.2 million short of already lowered projections in January, increasing this budget year’s projected revenue shortfall to more than $325 million. The federal government has promised to pay the full cost of a state’s Medicaid expansion through 2016 and at least 90 percent after that.

A study commissioned by the Kansas Hospital Association estimated expansion would cost the state an additional $312 million through 2020. The same study said that savings and tax revenues resulting from expansion would more than offset that cost.

“Our feeling is that this is a program that on its face funds itself,” said Tom Bell, chief executive of the hospital association. But Sloan said even if the study is correct, the promised benefits will take time to materialize. “Even if the advocates are right and the expansion of Medicaid, or KanCare, will result in economic growth that the state will partially capture, you still have to have the interim financing,” Sloan said. “You’ve got to match the federal dollars that will come.”

Initially, hospital association officials said they would be willing to increase an assessment on hospital revenues to pay for expansion. But in recent days Bell has said other options also should be on the table. “We’re willing to talk about all kinds of funding sources, and that is one of them,” he said. “But that’s not the starting point. We first need to agree to have a serious discussion about expansion, and we haven’t done that yet.”

Bell said while it’s encouraging that Sloan’s committee is talking about expansion, neither Brownback nor the conservatives who control the Legislature have given any indication that they are willing to drop their opposition to it. Any proposal that emerges from Sloan’s committee would face barriers. For one thing, it is likely to face competition. The hospitals are writing their own bill. And Rep.

Dan Hawkins, the Wichita Republican who chairs the House Health and Human Services Committee, is working on what could be a third, more conservative alternative. Kansas’ privatized Medicaid program, known as KanCare, provides insurance to nearly 370,000 needy and disabled Kansans, but it doesn’t cover able-bodied adults without children no matter how poor they are. It’s estimated that Medicaid expansion would extend coverage to between 140,000 and 170,000 more Kansans who earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level: annually $16,105 for an individual and $32,913 for a family of four.

Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita officials say a city employee is in critical condition after being injured at the city’s pumping station at Cheney Reservoir.

The 59-year-old man was found unconscious about 2 a.m. Tuesday by another employee who was checking on him.

Public Works director Alan King says it’s possible the man fell between 20 and 30 feet and could have been lying there for hours before he was found.

The incident is under investigation. The man’s name has not been released.

The city is working to repair a leak in the water treatment plant but it’s not clear if the injured person was involved in that project.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A brother and sister from Kansas City, Kansas, have pleaded guilty to armed robbery at a bank in a small northwest Missouri town.

Federal prosecutors say 29-year-old Virginia Lynn Spencer, and her 25-year-old brother, Charles Ralph Spencer, each pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to aiding and abetting armed bank robbery and aiding and abetting the possession of a firearm in a crime of violence.

A co-defendant, 23-year-old Steven Dale Robinson, also of Kansas City, Kansas, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting an armed bank robbery.

The three admitted stealing $11,833 from a Bank Midwest branch in Excelsior Springs on Nov. 13. The Spencers entered the bank while Robinson drove the getaway car. Their car was involved in a chase with Clay County sheriff’s deputies before crashing in Liberty.

LENEXA, Kan. (AP) — A Lenexa man will stand trial on two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of a man and his stepfather.

Alex Brune was bound over for trial Monday after a preliminary hearing into the deaths of 47-year-old Brian Baskind and his 79-year-old stepfather, Clifford Preston. Brune’s attorney entered not guilty pleas for him.

The Kansas City Star reports the men were stabbed in their Lenexa home last summer. Bruce was found shortly after the shooting with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. He told investigators that he was kidnapped and was shot after stabbing both men while trying to escape.

Prosecutors allege the men were killed during a burglary and attempted robbery. Brune is also charged with aggravated burglary and two counts of attempted aggravated robbery.