Kansas is one of only three states without an emergency reserve fund, but voters might be asked to change that as early as November.
Legislation has been introduced by a bipartisan coalition of 28 senators that would ask voters to decide on a constitutional amendment to establish a rainy-day fund.
The proposed amendment must pass the Senate and House with two-thirds approval to reach the statewide ballot.
If the measure is approved, 0.25% of annual state revenues would be put into the reserve account, which could not be tapped without two-thirds majority approval in each chamber.
If the fund grows to more than 5% of the annual budget, the overage would go into the general fund.
Both chambers passed a similar rainy-day measure in the 2010 session, but it was killed during last-minute budget negotiations.
Sponsors include all eight Democrats in the 40-member Senate and 20 of the 32 Republicans.
Kansas law requires 7.5% of the general fund budget to be reserved each year for emergencies.
The measure has been suspended by lawmakers to balance the budget since revenues began a steep decline in late 2008.
The Legislative Research Department said the state ended fiscal 2012 with a surplus of $318 million.
