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Higher Education Budget Committee holds orientation, outlines timeline and process
Summary
The Kansas House Committee on Higher Education Budget held an orientation session where members and staff introduced themselves, KLRD and Board of Regents staff reviewed budget basics, and the committee set an accelerated schedule to consider fee-funded boards and regent budgets.
Representative Stephen Howe, chairman of the Committee on Higher Education Budget, opened the committee’s orientation session Tuesday and said members would focus this session on reviewing the budget process and scheduling initial hearings.
The meeting included member introductions, staff presentations from the Kansas Legislative Research Department (KLRD) and committee staff, and a Budget 101 briefing that explained fund types, common budget line items, and the committee’s role in making budget recommendations to the House Appropriations Committee.
"The budget process really begins in Sept.," said Megan Leopold, managing fiscal analyst with KLRD, explaining the sequence of agency submissions, the legislative budget committee’s interim recommendations in December and the governor’s budget in January. Leopold told members the committee’s recommendations are made by motion, second and vote and that subcommittee reports are circulated for accuracy sign-off after decisions are made.
Brianna Horton, the KLRD analyst who staffs higher education, gave an overview of the Board of Regents budget and common revenue sources for postsecondary institutions, including the state general fund, restricted fee (fee) funds, tuition (general fee fund) and the educational building fund. Horton distinguished supplementals (current-year requests) from enhancements (budget-year requests) and noted the introduced budget is a baseline from which members may add language or funding.
Committee staff and members clarified procedural points: fee funds are subject to a statutory transfer of 10% to the State General Fund, KLRD said; the legislative budget committee’s recommendations appear as a column on the budget summary (replacing a governor-request column on that sheet); and the budget bill had been introduced and assigned a number, which members said contains the consolidated numbers for the legislative budget.
The committee set its immediate schedule: it will not meet Wednesday during a heavy floor day; on Thursday it is scheduled to hear presentations and then work recommendations for the Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board and the Kansas Board of Healing Arts. Chairman Howe said he will report committee recommendations to the House Appropriations Committee and that he plans to present several budgets next week. Howe also said he will participate by Webex the following week but will not be able to vote while remote; Vice Chair Clark Sanders will run meetings in the chair’s absence.
Several members pressed for practical guidance on amendments. Howe encouraged members to prepare written amendments in advance and to work with the reviser or KLRD staff to ensure language is germane and ready for committee consideration.
The meeting was primarily informational; no formal motions or votes occurred. The chairman adjourned the session after laying out the near-term hearing schedule and staff follow-up on distributing testimony and committee materials.
