Kansas lawmakers struggled to end the 2008 legislative session Saturday, mounting last-minute efforts to resurrect two rejected coal plants and passing the year’s health-care reform package.

But plans to adjourn the session fell apart after a dispute between the House and Senate over a final spending bill. Now lawmakers say they’ll return Monday, hoping to finish their work for the year.

Two days after a failed effort to overrule a regulator’s rejection and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ veto of the proposed western Kansas coal plants, lawmakers in the House tried one more push.

Saturday afternoon, supporters of Sunflower Electric Power Corp.’s project inserted a bill authorizing the two plants into an economic development package tied to the Gardner intermodal project in Johnson County.

Known as the “Hail Mary” in Capitol hallways, the legislation was meant to give lawmakers another chance to get the plants authorized. A state regulator rejected the project last fall because of concerns about carbon emissions and climate change. Since then, lawmakers have tried repeatedly to overrule the regulator and Sebelius, who has vetoed two earlier bills to approve the plants.

The new effort ties the plants’ fate to a bill with several economic development initiatives. One would authorize the state to back bonds needed to finance public improvements near the Gardner project.

Passage of the bill is likely, as it requires only a simple majority. But the bill probably faces another veto from Sebelius. Lawmakers would have one final chance to override a veto May 29, the formal end of the session.

Usually a formality skipped by many lawmakers, the final day could take on unusual significance this year if an override attempt is made. The Senate has twice voted to override Sebelius on the coal-plant issue, but when the House tried Thursday, it fell four votes short of the required 84 votes.

Sebelius and other plant opponents questioned whether the coal plants belonged in an economic development bill, but supporters noted the project’s economic impact on western Kansas and the effect that energy decisions have on the entire state economy.

“I don’t want the Legislature faced with constituents wondering why they don’t have electricity,” said Rep. Carl Holmes, a Republican from Liberal who backs the project.

Sebelius favors investment in renewable energy and notes that nearly 85 percent of the project’s electricity would serve out-of-state customers. She said the “Hail Mary” bill was yet another example of legislative leaders putting the coal plants before other issues.

“So much time and energy has been spent on one issue to the detriment of other issues,” she said.

Health care

The House and Senate sent to Sebelius a health-care reform package designed to help poor pregnant women and poor children, and encourage more affordable insurance.

One provision requires insurers to offer more policies that can be paid for with pretax earnings. Rep. Jeff Colyer, an Overland Park Republican who helped write the bill, said that means real savings.

“Up to a million Kansans can save 15 to 40 percent,” he said. “All they have to do is sign up.”

The legislation puts $1.5 million toward an expansion of the state’s medical education program in Wichita, calls for more money for programs for poor pregnant women, and requires insurance companies to offer more policies that can be paid for with pretax earnings.

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