Kansas Legislature opening annual, 90-day session with budget shortfall as biggest issue

Kan. lawmakers open session dealing with budget

TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas legislators are opening their annual 90-day session with the state facing a big budget shortfall.

The state constitution specifies that the House and Senate are to convene on the second Monday of January.

Their afternoon sessions were expected to be brief, dealing with mostly housekeeping chores.

The biggest event of the day was Monday evening’s State of the State address by Gov. Mark Parkinson.

He’ll outline his proposals for closing a budget shortfall approaching $400 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1. He’s already said he won’t propose deep spending cuts.

The budget will be the dominant issue, but legislators expect to talk about plenty of other things, including abortion and energy.