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Kansas Senators Clash over Government Cost Study

Kansas Senators debate the budget bill. (Photo by Stephen Koranda)
Kansas Senators debate the budget bill. (Photo by Stephen Koranda)

Members of the Kansas Senate clashed over a plan to study state government spending to look for efficiencies. The Senate’s budget bill includes $3 million to hire an audit firm to analyze state government. KPR’s Stephen Koranda reports.


(SCRIPT)
Republican Senator Jeff Longbine moved to strike the spending study out of the budget. He said Kansas could spend $3 million on consultants, and then might not even pursue their recommendations. He said with the tight budget they’re facing, they should leave the money in the state’s bank account.

“The 40 of us and the 125 of our brethren across the hall, want efficient government, we all look for efficiencies, we all vote for efficiencies,” says Longbine.

But fellow Republican Ty Masterson, who chairs the Senate’s budget-writing committee, said they need some outsiders to look at the budget. He said lawmakers or the state’s auditors aren’t enough.

“It’s government looking at government looking at government to recommend a government solution. We’ve got to break outside of that,” says Masterson.

A majority of the chamber agreed and the money for the government cost study stayed in the budget.

Stephen Koranda is KPR's Statehouse reporter.