Sen. Ty Masterson isn’t impressed by the rescission bill the Kansas Senate recently adopted. The bill balances the current year’s budget. The state faced a shortfall for the current year, but Masterson blasted Senate leadership for its support of the legislation.
The bill closes the current year budget gap by borrowing $100 million from the pooled money investment fund and delays a KPERS payment. In a Truth Caucus press release, Masterson said the bill isn’t a sustainable solution for Kansas. He took aim at Sen. Carolyn McGinn, a Sedgwick Republican.
“Just a few months ago, Senate Ways and Means Chairman McGinn denounced the use of PMIB as one-time money, likening it to a pay-day loan and saying it was just going to put us further away from where we need to get to,” Masterson said. “I would ask Senate Leadership, what has changed. This rescission bill passed today is indeed just kicking the can down the road. This is not a sustainable solution for Kansas. It fails to address the core issue, which is simply government spends too much.”
Last week, the Senators adopted a budget for 2018 and 2019. It adds $250 million in spending. The Senate has yet to approve tax proposals. Masterson called it “patently irresponsible.”
“This spend-it-before-you-have-it budgeting does nothing more than force a massive tax 
increase on the people of Kansas,” Masterson said. He called on Senate Leadership to forward a budget that “ends the state’s out of control government spending spree.”
Masterson, an Andover Republican, is a leader of the Kansas Truth Caucus, a conservative coalition of legislators in the Kansas House and Senate.