TOPEKA, Kan. _ The Kansas Senate passed a bill to increase taxes Friday that could mark the end of many of the policies long championed by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.
Because no amendments were made to the bill first passed by the House, it does not need to go back to the House for revision and can head to the governor's desk.
Brownback said this week that he won't sign the bill.
The legislation would bring the state more than $1 billion over a two-year span. It does that by raising a second income tax rate, bringing in a third bracket and ending a tax exemption for roughly 330,000 business owners.
It narrowly passed on a final vote of 22-18 in the Senate, with Sen. David Haley casting the deciding vote in favor of the bill.
But the Kansas City, Kan., Democrat did so with some hesitation, saying he would vote for it "even though it's not a fix that I agree with."
He and other Democrats said the bill was not a complete fix for the problems they see in Kansas.
Other senators said the bill's passage would be not much of a fix at all.
"This is akin to the old medical practice of bleeding to make you feel better," said Sen. Steve Fitzgerald, a Leavenworth Republican who opposed the bill.
The bill fleeces the working poor, Sen. Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, said.
"I will not be supporting this piece of garbage," he said.
The measure did not get a veto-proof majority in either chamber.
The debate quickly became an airing of grievances for the issues in Topeka that have come about during the Brownback era.
Conservatives staked their support for the governor's policies, decried the increase in taxes on Kansans and said the state has a spending problem.
Democrats kept coming back to the point that they felt Brownback's tax cuts and leadership brought them to a day like this, where tax increases were a path forward.
Senate Vice President Jeff Longbine, an Emporia Republican, said he had some heartburn about the bill. But he's learned in the Senate that you rarely get everything you want.
"To those that only want what they want, it's going to be a difficult session," Longbine said.
The bill gives lawmakers a path to protect education in the state from cuts, he said.
"This might be our best shot," Longbine said.
Brownback has stuck by his 2012 tax cuts, which slashed income tax rates and gave the businesses that tax exemption.
Budget cuts, shortfalls and tax increases of a different kind have followed since that move was made.
Conservatives have strongly opposed tax increases as the state faces roughly $750 million in budget shortfalls over the next two years.
A shortfall of around $320 million this year cannot be mended by the tax increases.
Sen. Dennis Pyle, a Hiawatha Republican, took issue with the fact that the tax bill didn't receive more vetting from the Senate.
The bill headed straight to the Senate floor after it was passed by the House.
It did not move through the Senate tax committee, the usual step for legislation of this kind.
"The way I look at this tax package, you're going to see some businesses leave Kansas," Pyle said. " ... This is bad for Kansas. I think we need some answers."
Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook, a Shawnee Republican, bemoaned the tax increases and said the "spending is out control."
Earlier in the week, Brownback asked a small crowd of business owners to go to their senators and oppose the bill.
It appears that effort on the governor's part was unsuccessful.
The Senate voted down a different tax proposal on Thursday with a strong majority that was similar to the House bill, but would have actually brought in more money.
But the bill debated by the Senate Friday had strong bipartisan support in the House, where it was approved on a final vote of 76 to 48.
Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican, spoke out against the bill.
But she said the burden on lawmakers was to stop the bad news about Kansas.
She wanted the solution to include cuts, but there are none in the bills the House has sent over so far.
"This is the plan for legislators who don't want to vote for cuts," Wagle said.
