State senator Tom Hawk and representative Sydney Carlin of Manhattan have given their reactions to Tuesday night’s state of the state address by governor Sam Brownback. Both lawmakers had things that they liked about the speech, as well as some issues that they did not agree with.
Hawk said that there were some positives in the speech saying that he agreed with the governor’s assertion that Kansas has an attitude of self reliance as well as a can do attitude. He also liked the fact that Brownback wants to combine the turnpike authority with the highway commission , as well as his plans to make the government more efficient.
There were some things in the speech that Hawk did not agree with, with the planned cuts to the state income tax being the main issue. He says that those taxes represent a significant source of revenue for the state, and making those cuts would only hurt the state.
Representative Carlin also had good things to say about the speech saying that she was happy that the governor is promoting legislation that they have been working on for years that will go a long way in helping the kids of Kansas. But she was disappointed that he did not address the issue of metal health, something that she says needs addressed.
Carlin also questions how they are going to solve the problems like childhood poverty that the governor is talking about, when his own tax policy is taking money away from the very programs that would address those problems. Carlin says that that Brownback is simply “shifting the tax burden to local government, and the budget surplus that he is talking about is a result of the sales tax that the state legislatures had approved earlier.
