The top Democrat in the Kansas Senate says Republican Governor Sam Brownback remains "in denial" about the damage his fiscal policies have done to families and communities. Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, of Topeka, criticized Brownback's economic policies following the governor's State of the State speech.
Hensley delivered the official Democratic response to the governor's speech. Brownback defended the tax breaks he signed into law that benefit more than 330,000 farmers and business owners, calling it a pro-growth policy. But even some Republican lawmakers want to repeal those tax cuts to help close the state's budget shortfalls. Brownback says he'll only propose "modest, targeted" tax increases to help fix the state's budget problem.