Kelly reluctantly signs state budget, blasts lawmakers over pay raises and cuts
The governor called the spending plan "a bad budget that went through a bad process" but signed it to secure required federal match funds.
TOPEKA, Kan. — Gov. Laura Kelly signed a multi-year state budget into law Wednesday, despite harshly criticizing the Republican-led Legislature for prioritizing lawmakers' own pay over state workers and cutting school mental health services.
Kelly signed House Bill 2513, which appropriates funding for fiscal years 2026 through 2029, saying she agreed to the measure only because the alternative was worse. Federal changes — dubbed the "One Big Beautiful Bill" — required immediate state funding adjustments to absorb costs previously handled at the federal level.
The Democratic governor did not hold back in her condemnation of the GOP supermajority's priorities, pointing out that lawmakers rushed the process without waiting for the April Consensus Revenue Estimates.
"This budget fails Kansas children by inexplicably cutting funding for mental health services in schools and severely underfunding special education," Kelly said in a statement.
She also criticized the optics of legislative compensation. Lawmakers boosted their own salaries by 4% — following what Kelly described as a 93% pay raise the previous year — and gave legislative staff a 10% raise. By contrast, state employees who "plow our roads, who work in our prisons and our mental health facilities" were offered a 1% increase, a move Kelly called "truly shameless."
Kelly noted this is the final budget she will sign as governor and expressed hope that the next administration will have a Legislature willing to return to a more traditional, responsible budget process. She also issued line-item vetoes within the budget.
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