Here's the first step Kansas legislators ought to ponder as they're faced with yet another chapter in the endless budget-deficit saga: Quit putting taxpaying citizens in jail for petty offenses.

Why would you continue to build blocks of new jail space for people thrown into a cell due to a marijuana seed in their ashtray? Do you cost a person their job, taxable income, for driving 10 mph over the speed limit too many times? The key here is to add money to the kitty, not recklessly spend it.

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