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Senate committee hears Department of Agriculture budget; EDIF cut of $1.1 million noted
Summary
Luke Drury, senior fiscal analyst for the Legislative Research Division, reviewed the Department of Agriculture budget and told the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee the Senate position deletes about $1.1 million in EDIF funding that previously supported marketing staff.
Luke Drury, senior fiscal analyst with the Legislative Research Division, presented the Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA) budget to the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee and identified key differences between the agency—s request, the House budget position and the Senate—s actions.
Drury told the committee that the Senate position deletes $1,100,000 in EDIF funding for the KDA—s agriculture marketing program; Drury said that funding supported roughly 10 FTEs in that program and that the Senate position deleted the money but not the positions. "That is an amount of $1,100,000 and that is all in their agriculture marketing program," he said.
Drury also discussed a roughly $27,000,000 ARPA interest balance reported by the budget director but noted the Legislative Research office had not independently verified that number. He summarized other House/Senate differences: a $3,000,000 BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) drone funding line initially added in the House was deleted in the Senate; the agency—s all-funds request was described in the materials as about $102,500,000 with a general-fund portion cited in the packet (Drury read an item described as "15.1" from the general fund in his notes).
On reappropiations and the State Water Plan Fund, Drury said KDA reappropriated about $13,100,000 from FY2024 and FY2025 and that agencies commonly carry state water plan funds across years. He answered committee questions about a $5,100,000 carryover for conservation reserve enhancement (CREP/CRP), saying the FY2025 actual expenditures for that line were $244,000.
Drury noted the Legislative Budget Committee deleted certain requested FTE increases but that the House Committee on Appropriations later added them back with a note from the House budget committee that the agency had funding for the positions. He flagged a House proviso for a $350,000 meat-and-poultry program appropriation that would be clawed back if federal funding became available.
The committee did not take a formal vote on the KDA budget during the hearing. Drury said Deputy Secretary Olsen was present in committee and could answer technical questions; no technical clarifications were recorded in the transcript during his presentation.
Ending: Drury said he would provide additional data on FTE actuals and other detail to the committee; members asked follow-up questions about EDIF treatment and carryover of state water plan funds.
