TOPEKA — The Kansas Legislature is back to work as of today. And as area legislators explained at Saturday’s Legislative Coffee in Ottawa Saturday, the Legislature has its work cut out for it. There is a long list of things – many of which are likely to be extremely controversial — to deal with over the next four months. Among them, Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposal to end or scale back income taxes, financing public education, redistricting and dealing with the $8.3 billion deficit in the Kansas Public Employees System. As a comparison, the state’s annual budget is $6.2 billion. Sen. Jeff King, R-Independence, said legislators must deal with KPERS, which he called one of the biggest issues ever faced by the Legislature, and redistricting this session and may let public education financing wait for another year.
Monday, Jan. 9, 7 a.m.
