By Kris Maher 

Newly inaugurated Kansas Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly set out this week to make good on her promise to undo eight years of Republican leadership by hiring state workers and expanding government services without raising taxes.

On Monday she was sworn into office and by week's end she had laid out a budget proposal on how she would like to spend part of the state's projected $900 million surplus at the end of this fiscal year. The big items on her agenda: expanding Medicaid, boosting school funding and hiring more workers at the state's embattled child welfare department. Her plan projects $686 million will remain in state coffers at the end of the coming fiscal year.

"It's going to take time for Kansas to heal from the damage inflicted over the last eight years, so we don't have a moment to lose," Ms. Kelly said when she announced her budget Thursday.

Like other new Democratic governors in Michigan and Wisconsin, Ms. Kelly faces a Republican legislature that promises to resist the policies she is aiming to enact.

In Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers has clashed this week with Republicans over how to fund an income-tax cut. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer faces a challenge amid flat revenue projections to persuade Republicans to enact her signature campaign promise to spend more to fix roads.

In Kansas, Ms. Kelly wants to reverse course from the policies of former Gov. Sam Brownback who gained national attention for enacting the largest income tax cuts in the state's history in 2013 that lawmakers were later forced to largely undo in the face of repeated budget shortfalls.

Republican leaders don't share her sense of urgency in undoing the policies of her predecessor. "For us, it's really about taking a lot longer approach to our budgeting," said Republican House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins in an interview.

Mr. Hawkins said he opposes expanding Medicaid coverage and that he is wary of increasing school funding to levels Ms. Kelly announced Thursday. He acknowledged that the state's child welfare department has had problems, but he said it made significant improvements under the prior administration.

"I really like Gov. Kelly as a person," Mr. Hawkins said. "Some of our viewpoints and our principles that guide us are just night and day."

Before her election, Ms. Kelly was a state senator for 14 years, and some experts said her relationships with former colleagues, as well as her moderate stances on many issues, could lead to compromise.

If so, her election would mark a return to the tradition in Kansas of Republicans and Democrats working with governors of all stripes, said Bob Beatty, a professor of political science at Washburn University.

"What Laura Kelly is hoping for is a return to that tradition, where a Democratic governor is not seen as the enemy but a person that can work with the legislature and pound out some solutions," Mr. Beatty said.

Bill Roenne, who owns a company in Topeka called Muddy Creek Iron Works that makes railing and gates, said that while not a fan of Ms. Kelly he is hoping for cooperation.

"As a Republican, I'm not excited, but I hope she does a good job," said Mr. Roenne, who voted for Ms. Kelly's opponent, Republican Kris Kobach, last fall.

Ms. Kelly has argued that deep cuts in government spending under Mr. Brownback left state agencies unable to provide adequate services. Mr. Brownback took a diplomatic post in early 2018, and his term was finished by his former lieutenant governor.

Some children's advocacy groups want Ms. Kelly to undo cuts to the state Department for Children and Families. The number of children in the state's foster care system has increased 45% since 2011, Ms. Kelly said Thursday.

"There's a tremendous crisis facing kids in our state," said Annie McKay, chief executive of Kansas Action for Children. "Gov. Kelly gets that."

Ms. McKay and others complain that under GOP leadership, Kansas cut lifetime limits on benefits and the number of months someone can be eligible for benefits under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, or TANF.

Mr. Hawkins defended those changes as making people less dependent on welfare and said he wouldn't undo them. "Those are core principles that we hold near and dear," he said. "We want people to thrive, not survive, on government assistance."

Write to Kris Maher at kris.maher@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 18, 2019 09:20 ET (14:20 GMT)