Kansas

Amid a two-year budget shortfall of nearly $800 million, Kansas lawmakers must increase funding for public schools, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s veto of a bill that would have increased income taxes leaves the state still struggling to balance its budget, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s veto of a bill that could have raised $1 billion over two years withstood an attempted override in the Kansas Senate.

With a strong, fourth-quarter kick, bond volume in the Southwest set a second consecutive record at $83.4 billion, surpassing the 2015 total by 7.2%, according to data from Thomson Reuters.

Facing a $900 million shortfall, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is proposing a combination of tax increases, cuts in transportation and pension funding and the sale of tobacco settlement securitization bonds.

After reducing its revenue forecast for the current fiscal year, Kansas hit its November revenue target as lawmakers prepared for another lean budget year.

Kansas collected $12.7 million less revenue than anticipated in October, continuing a trend that has forced the state to reduce spending.

Kansas revenues ran $45 million below projections in September, continuing a trend of shortfalls expected to cause more fiscal belt tightening. The latest announcement comes as Democrats are targeting Brownback’s policies one month ahead of the general election.

State and local governments and showing a wide variety of impacts from the collapse of the oil market that began two years ago, ratings analysts say.

Kansas revenues continued to fall below forecast in August, running 2.3% or $10.2 million short of expectations.

Issuers in the Southwest sold $42.85 billion of bonds in the first half of 2016, only 0.6% behind the record pace of the same period last year, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Experts in Kansas government say the defeats of many of Gov. Sam Brownback’s allies in the GOP primary showed that moderates have had enough of his policies of cutting taxes while reducing spending on state services.

Kansas started its fiscal year $12.8 million below the revenue forecast for July, continuing a trend that factored into a credit downgrade from Standard & Poor's.

Kansas absorbed a downgrade when S&P Global Ratings dropped the state’s issuer credit rating one notch to AA-minus.

Kansas is still looking for the winning formula, four years after Gov. Sam Brownback started his experiment with income and business tax cuts. The 2016 fiscal year ended June 30 with the state borrowing $900 million, raising $38 million to avoid closing public schools and again falling short of revenue estimates.

Faced with a state Supreme Court threat to block distribution of funds to Kansas public schools, Gov. Sam Brownback called a special session of the legislature to provide a funding solution.

With revenues continuing to fall below forecast, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback reduced spending by $100 million, with cuts to universities, transportation, and Medicaid, among other services.

The outlook on Kansas’ Aa2 rating from Moody’s Investors Service fell to negative Tuesday, as state lawmakers approved a budget that allows Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback to make further cuts in spending.

Five days after Kansas lowered its revenue estimates for the current and coming fiscal year, Standard & Poor's placed the state's AA rating on its watch list for a possible downgrade.

A revised revenue estimate that is $229 million below previous forecasts will delay highway projects and force other state spending cuts, Kansas officials said.