TOPEKA, Kan. — Gov. Laura Kelly, facing a tough reelection fight, declared Kansas the nation's "most fiscally responsible state" Tuesday as she highlighted her administration's accomplishments in the final state of the state address of her first term.
Kelly's speech, marked by call backs to 2018 campaign promises and assertions that her administration had restored the damage left by budget cuts imposed during Gov. Sam Brownback's tenure, was effectively her argument for a second term.
She pointed to a historic budget surplus, fully-funded public schools and improved foster and transportation systems.
"When we think back several years, and reflect on why things in Kansas went so far in the wrong direction, it's because we weren't prioritizing what Kansans want and what they need," Kelly said.
The text of the speech offered no comparative data to support her sweeping declaration that Kansas was the most fiscally responsible state. Instead, she cited the budget surplus and strong economic development numbers as her justification.
Republican lawmakers blasted Kelly's message.
"This is a reelection speech," House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins said. "This is throw out all the red meat we can, hopefully it'll stick out there and people will love me and they'll reelect me."
Sen. Ty Masterson said he was somewhat amused that Kelly claimed credit for the enormous surplus.
"Taking credit for all the . . . dollars of stimulus money that have found their way into our coffers was interesting to me," he said. "There is a lot more cash in the system but it has very little to do with how we've managed our budget in Kansas over the last four years."
On the Democratic side, Rep. KC Ohaebosim of Wichita offered a more supportive view.
"I think the governor hit all the points that she needed to hit with respect to all the stuff that has actually occurred in the last four years, bringing us back from our fiscal difficulties in the past 'til now."
The address was Kelly's first in-person state of the state since 2020. Last year's was online-only to avoid spreading the coronavirus.
As Kansas experiences its worst surge of the virus yet, Kelly applauded healthcare workers and encouraged more Kansans to be vaccinated. She delivered her remarks to a largely un-masked audience of legislators and state officials in the House chamber.
"Since we began the fight against this pandemic, we've taken a clear-eyed, balanced approach — acting responsibly to stop the spread of the virus, while also ensuring that our Kansas economy grows and stays strong," Kelly said.
"It wasn't easy, and not a day has gone by that I haven't been tasked with making tough financial decisions."
Kelly cast herself as a bipartisan, listing a series of policies she'd signed with support from Republicans and Democrats, including a transportation infrastructure plan in 2020. She highlighted work with President Trump and former Sen. Pat Roberts to keep meatpacking plants open at the onset of the pandemic.
But Republicans said she hadn't measured up to her promises. They pointed to Kelly's decision to close businesses early in the pandemic and veto tax cuts. One was a cut for multinational corporations that included a reduction to the food sales tax.
"Many of the promises we heard tonight don't align with the Governor's record," House Speaker Ron Ryckman said in his response speech.
Flush with $2.9 billion in the general fund — the product of federal pandemic assistance and higher-than-expected revenues — Kelly proposed that the state set aside $600 million for its "rainy day" account . According to Pew's Center on the States, Kansas could run for less than four days on the $81.9 million currently in the fund, one of the lowest emergency balances among the 50 states.
She called for bi-partisan action to invest the rest of the money.
Kelly announced plans to include additional funding for mental health care, law enforcement, and the state water plan in her new budget, to be released Wednesday. She also said she would direct Kansas universities to freeze college tuition rates.
For the fourth year in a row, Kelly called on the Legislature to fund Medicaid expansion, a major campaign promise that remains unfulfilled without the support of the Republican legislative super majority.
"Right now, we're the stubborn, self-defeating, state in the middle of all of them. We are sabotaging our rural communities and their efforts to recruit new jobs and residents. We are shooting ourselves in the foot," Kelly said.
Her speech prompted criticism from Republicans that she was poised to spend too much.
"I was worried by the end of the speech we were going to run out of money," joked Rep. Nick Hoheisel, a Wichita Republican.
Kelly has been signaling for months that the cornerstone of her legislative agenda — and re-election campaign — will be a full repeal of the state's 6.5% sales tax on food.
In her speech, Kelly challenged lawmakers to give her a "clean bill" to repeal the tax by Kansas Day, Jan. 29.
"I'll sign it the moment it hits my desk," she said.
The governor called the repeal a "commonsense policy on which Democrats and Republicans can completely agree.
"The only obstacle that could block this legislation is the same type of toxic political games that have poisoned Washington D.C., where denying a political opponent a win has become more important than getting things done for the people they represent."
Democratic leaders have pre-filed a food tax repeal bill. Republican leadership has said they support the repeal but have not shared details of what their policy may look like.
In the Republican response to the speech, Ryckman wasn't offering a clean bill.
Instead, he said Republicans intend to "responsibly ratchet down the sales tax, not only on food, but on everything else our families need to buy."
Adam Smith, a Weskan Republican and chair of the House Tax Committee, called Kelly's request "aggressive" and said Republicans were considering a variety of tax cut proposals that included partial cuts on the food sales tax and reductions in the sales tax across the board.
The Republican lack of support for a clean repeal perplexed Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Democrat.
"When she said we should eliminate the sales tax on food immediately, the Republican members sat there stone faced without smiles or applause and meanwhile their ostensible gubernatorial candidate, Derek Schmidt, sat there in the balcony and didn't clap either," Carmichael said.
He said the people of the state want to end the food tax and end it now.
"The only reason I can think of why they (Republican legislators) wouldn't is that they want to delay it so it can happen in their hoped-for Schmidt administration next year. But there's an intervening election," he said.
Schmidt has called for elimination or reduction of the levy on food.
Speaking to reporters after the address, Schmidt criticized Kelly for drawing a line in the sand asking for a clean bill.
"I think it's a little bit deliberately naive to try to say that and only that is the tax subject matter that ought to be considered," Schmidt said. "I've watched this for 20 years and have yet to see one of those so-called clean tax bills occur."
Headed into the 2022 Legislative session, Kelly called for a renewed commitment to compromise and civility.
"Be as good as the people who sent us here," she said.
