Budget approval could end session

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, May 2, 2007 by Tim Carpenter

By Tim Carpenter

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

House and Senate negotiators produced a compromise $12.6 billion state budget Tuesday, while anti-abortion legislators intensified pressure on Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to sign a fetal homicide bill known as Alexa's Law.

Three representatives and three senators conducting budget talks were briefly interrupted by tornado sirens, prompting legislators, staff members and visitors into a bipartisan huddle in the Statehouse basement. Conferees returned to blend together $300 million in last-minute adjustments to the budget. The bulk of the spending blueprint for 2007-2008 was approved in April.

"Overall, I think this is a very good budget," said Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka. "It was contentious."

Negotiators resolved disagreements over reports required of abortion doctors, affiliations involving The University of Kansas Medical Center and a Missouri-based hospital system, and earmarking of Kansas Lottery revenue for the financially hobbled Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in Wichita.

The bill will be put to a vote today in the House and Senate. The package is likely to pass, allowing the Legislature to adjourn the 2007 session. The session began Jan. 8.

"Assuming it passes and goes to the governor, we will be done," said Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence.

Under the abortion compromise, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment will be required to collect more detailed information from doctors about medical justification of late-term abortions. The agency must comply by July 1 or its budget will be frozen.

The bill sets guidelines for advancing affiliation deals between KU Medical Center and St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, Mo. Some legislators are suspicious of proposed teaching and research linkages, but Sebelius is likely to veto barriers to an affiliation.

While lawmakers bargained on the budget, a group of 18 legislators held a news conference with a Wichita family to urge Sebelius to sign the bill containing Alexa's Law.

The legislation allows prosecutors to charge a suspect with murder or other crimes related to harm of a woman and her unborn child. If both perish, the assailant could be charged with two counts of murder or, in some instances, face the death penalty. Critics seeking a veto say the bill is an attempt to weaken abortion rights in Kansas.

"It's not about abortion," insisted Rep. Steve Brunk, R-Bel Aire. "It's not about harming women."

Sen. Phil Journey, R-Haysville, said bipartisan support in the House and Senate should guide Sebelius' thinking on the bill.

"It is not a bill for one party or another, but for all Kansans," he said.

The lawmakers stood alongside parents and siblings of Chelsea Ann Brooks, a 14-year-old Wichita resident slain less than three weeks before scheduled to give birth to a daughter, Alexa. Suspects in the case were charged with one count of murder in accordance with existing Kansas law.

Terri Brooks, mother of Chelsea, said she disputed a suggestion legislators were using her family's tragedy to advance an anti- abortion agenda.

"We are not being taken advantage of," she said. "If anything, I've used them to get where we can get the law passed."

Nicole Corcoran, spokeswoman for Sebelius, said the governor would make a decision after carefully reviewing the bill. Sebelius supports abortion rights.

In a separate bill, the House and Senate restricted to nonviolent offenders a policy allowing inmates to qualify for 20 percent "good- time" credit. Inmates now earn a 15 percent sentence reduction.

"It will favorably impact prison bed space to the point that we can defer some of our prison construction needs," said Rep. Mike O'Neal, R-Hutchinson.

Conferees kept in the budget $39.5 million for prison expansion at El Dorado, Yates Center, Ellsworth and Stockton. The deal includes $4.75 million for the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University.

The Sports Hall of Fame will be required to raise matching funds to obtain $250,000 in lottery proceeds. Managers threatened to close the facility if the state refused to provide financial support.

Tim Carpenter can be reached at (785) 296-3005 or

timothy.carpenter@cjonline.com.