House panel OKs aviation funds

The Wichita Eagle

March 15, 2008

A House committee approved a budget Friday that would give Wichita aviation training and research $5 million each, far more than recommended by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

Other key Wichita interests in the $12.4 billion budget plan, including doctor training and money for the city's aquifer recharging project, moved forward at the amount the governor recommended.

The proposal now goes to the full House, which could debate and vote on it next week.

The Appropriations Committee's recommendations included $5 million for the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University and $5 million for aviation technical training. Sebelius' budget included $2.5 million for training and $4 million for research.

The proposal did eliminate about $21 million for the Board of Regents Operating Grant, which included money for the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy's Roberts Center for Research, and added the same amount to disaster relief, said Rep. Ty Masterson, R-Andover, who sits on the committee and recommended that aviation interests receive their full funding request in a subcommittee.

Lawmakers also cut out about $81 million in new money from casinos and slot machines that Sebelius, a Democrat, had included in her recommendations. Republicans have called it 'money that doesn't exist.'

Instead lawmakers are looking to other funds -- such as economic development -- or state reserves to pay expenses.

The Wichita Center for Graduate Medical Education, which Sebelius recommended receive $1 million, is still in the House budget at that level, said Rep. Joe McLeland, R-Wichita, who is on the Appropriations Committee. The center, a coalition of local hospitals that oversees the residency program at University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, had asked for $9.6 million.

'We're still looking at a plan to come up with the rest of it,' McLeland said.

The committee recommendations also included $1 million in the Kansas Water Authority's budget to help secure Wichita's future water supply.

The project would put about 65 billion gallons of water back into the Equus Beds, from where the city's water comes.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee is still developing its budget recommendation and could work on a final draft late next week, said Sen. Carolyn McGinn, R-Sedgwick, who sits on the committee.

Copyright © 2008 The Wichita Eagle, All Rights Reserved.