“I’m frustrated, I’m tired, and I’m left no good choices.” That’s how Senator Ostemyer began his descent from flipping a vote “No” on the Kansas budget deal to a yes. “If I ran my farm this way, I’d get foreclosed.” The Republican Senator in Kansas Senate District 40 wondered aloud if they should have pushed Brownback into a corner, fought harder, done something different. With the Kansas house adjourned though, and no other budget bill coming, he didn’t see many other choices.
Democrats and Republicans have sometimes mocked moments where legislators break into tears, get emotional, or struggle on the floor in a budget fight. But past 3AM, with no end in sight, legislators were worn down. Only lobbyists, staff and press stood in the galleys and their constituents at home provide no support.
Instead of taking the legislation up fresh on Monday morning, like many things, the Kansas legislature chose the day of traditional rest to work late into the night, in a kind of session lobbyists refer to as a “will breaker”. Holding legislators feet to the fire, contended many, is a way to make sure it gets done; but as Senator Ostemyer reflected real sadness, concern, and emotional frustration with the day, it also pointed out the reality: holding people for sessions that extend significantly pass midnight, working in a capitol to sleep exhaustion is far more about breaking the will of legislators and cutting them off from constituents than it is working for good governance.
The process was used frequently prior to 2012, a means by which house leadership would force votes by simply breaking the will of attendees. Eventually, though, the practice caught up to them, and after a late night session, Representative Bob Bethel fell asleep at the wheel, resulting in his death. As a result of that event, the Kansas House created the “Bethel Rule” requiring that sessions end at midnight in order to prevent such a tragedy happening again.
But for the second year in a row, the rule was suspended in order to go back to the policy of breaking the will of the legislators first, and exhaustion once again became a key tool in governing in the state house.
With a vote of 17 for, 22 against, Senators were being forced to switch sides in order to make sure the legislation passed. Told there would be no more changes, one by one, legislators were whipped and made to convert.
“I don’t believe this legislation to be constitutional” argued Republican Greg Smith, a conservative Republican from Senate District 21 in Johnson County.
The argument Smith made had been presented earlier by several Democrats — who all remained nay votes. Noting that the bill asked the governor to “fix” the budget by making cuts of his own, they had argued that the legislature was unconstitutionally ceding the duty to balance the budget, the one task they are constitutionally bound to complete.
Senator Marci Francisco, D-Lawrence, noted outside of the chamber: “This is the legislature giving up their duty and letting the Governor do it.” Senator Anthony Hensley D-Topeka, argued the same point on the floor, “I’ve never seen anything like this. The house has adjourned. What happens if we vote no? It seems as though this is an attempt to force the senate and give leadership the chance to twist arms by telling senators they have no options.”
Senators joked about the process. “We’ve ordered the temperature in the senate to be raised by a few degrees every ten minutes and the lights to be lowered more.” joked one senator. Senator Mike O’Donnell (R-Wichita) questioned whether or not Senator Arpke (R-Salina), who was pulled from the floor to keep a call of the senate going could be found a different way: “has anyone checked Osawatomie for the senator?” (A mental health care facility)
As the vote finally came to a close, Senator Longbine (R-Emporia) exited the body, greeted by a very small number in the hallway, almost entirely lobbyist. “Gassed” was all he had to say. Senator Les Donovan (R-Wichita), had a similar thought, “Ready for sleep that’s for sure.”
And with that, the Kansas legislature passed a budget — of sorts — one that doesn’t balance and cedes control over the purse to the governor.
Residents of the state woke up this morning, finding that their chance of real input, any opportunities they would have had to speak to their legislator about the process went away from them in the dark of night.
It is easy to mock legislators for getting emotional over a budget. But at 3AM, after more than 15 hours in a will-breaker session, sleep deprivation and stress gets to anyone.
For the Governor, though, the only story will be about a budget being signed, and cuts he will make on his own without the legislature.
With moves to attack the courts and a budget where the legislature throws up their hands to say “no mas”, Kansas is left with only one truly authoritative branch of Government. For Governor Brownback, who had earlier in the day been greeted with weak applause at a function for all-star students, sleep will likely come easy tonight.
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