Time was running out on the legislative session and many key issues remained to be addressed when the Kansas Senate convened Wednesday. If the state's biggest controversies were going to be resolved, every minute counted.

One of the first orders of business, however, wasn’t the state budget, the fate of a coal plant expansion, illegal immigration or abortion reform: It was a Democratic resolution celebrating the anniversary of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal.

“I’ve seen so many resolutions in the past 12 years they usually don’t even phase me," said veteran Sen. Karin Brownlee, an Olathe Republican. "But when this came up I thought, ‘Oh brother, this is weird.'"

The resolution was introduced by Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, who asked his Senate colleagues to commemorate the birth of the New Deal under Roosevelt 75 years ago.

The term New Deal was coined by Roosevelt during his 1932 acceptance speech. The legislation consisted of a series of laws and reforms (many of which were later declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court) between 1933 and 1938 intended to bring relief to the unemployed and to reform the banking system.

Some legislators noted the connection between FDR's programs and modern-day Democrats. Sen. Brownlee said the way Kansas continues to spend more than it takes in each year “is like we’re doing our own New Deal.”

Hensley's resolution passed.

The FDR resolution may have been the high-water mark of the session. The governor stymied most important legislation and lawmakers were unable to resist political gamesmanship enough to overturn her vetos. Here’s how the session stacked up:

• State spending package: Mixed results.

The House and Senate, after much debate, finally adopted a spending package Wednesday that calls for an approximately 5.2 percent increase over spending the previous fiscal year. The budget was approved by a 23-11 vote in the Senate and a 73-49 vote in the House.

“Thanks to the hard work of the House Appropriations and Budget Committees, we were able to keep our commitment to limit new spending,” said House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls.

Surviving in the spending package, but in modified forms, were two items that drew the wrath of some lawmakers and taxpayer advocates: a road to a closed ammunition plant (the so-called Road to Nowhere) in Parsons, in the district of House Ways and Means Chairman Dwayne Umbarger, R-Thayer; and a prison expansion program that would add a prison in Yates Center, which is represented by Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence.

Other spending highlights:

• $59-per-student increase in K-12 public school spending;
• $9.4 million additional for state retirees;
• $33 million in bonds for a Cessna jet production facility planned in Wichita;
• $20 million in bonds and another $39 million from anticipated gambling money (assuming the Supreme Court declares the law authorizing casinos to be constitutional) for expansion of the Kansas University School of Pharmacy. 

Sunflower Power Plant: Probable failure.

Lawmakers from both parties, frustrated by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ opposition to the oft-vetoed coal-powered plant in Holcomb, chose to recast the project as an economic stimulus project and lumped it in with other economic development projects, including an intermodal freight hub in Gardner.

The newly recast bill was approved by a margin of 76-48 in the House and 24-10 in the Senate. Sebelius has not indicated whether she intends to veto the bill. She also could let the bill become law without her signature.

A veto could kill not only the coal plant, but the intermodal project in Gardner as well.

“My hope is she lets it become law without her signature,” Brownlee told Kansas Liberty. “It’s a $3.6-billion investment in our community that will create jobs on land that is providing virtually no economic benefit now.”

• Abortion reform: Failure.

Pro-life lawmakers fought a losing battle to overturn a veto by the governor of the Comprehensive Abortion Reform Act. But the issue could arise again. Brownlee, for example, said it was possible that provisions in the bill, such as offering an expectant mother to see a sonogram of their child in the womb before agreeing to an abortion, could be resurrected in future sessions.

• Illegal immigration: Failure.

Faced with a choice between what critics called a watered-down, toothless version of a bill to crack down on illegal immigrants and the companies that hire them, or no bill at all, the Legislature chose the latter.

“I am disappointed we weren’t able to pass any immigration reform this session,” said Neufeld. “However, like many of the issues the Legislature deals with, immigration is a very complex matter and will take more than one session to resolve. We made great progress by bringing all parties involved to the table for very serious discussions on the direction we want Kansas to head when it comes to immigration reform.”

The bills Sebelius vetoed had widespread appeal to voters, and next session is an off-year in terms of elections, so legislators may vote with a little more independence from the governor than they did in this session. But having proved itself unable to overcome Sebelius' vetos this time, even on bills with massive bipartisan support, few seemed willing to bet on an improved outlook for next time.

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