Someday, Kansas will save money again.

Lawmakers are aiming at that goal, as distant as it seems now amid the state’s budget shortfalls. Proposals to energize the currently empty rainy-day fund have begun to take shape.

Setting aside any amount of cash would prove difficult, given a $350 million budget deficit in the current fiscal year and a projected $580 million revenue shortfall in the next year. But lawmakers this past week who were briefed on the rainy-day fund expressed optimism that savings will again be achieved at same point.

Earlier this year, Kansas became the 47th state to create a rainy-day fund. The state already requires that the state end the fiscal year with a positive balance of 7.5 percent of expenditures, but lawmakers routinely waive the rule.

Drops in revenue projections over the past few years have required rounds of cuts to ensure Kansas ends its fiscal years with balanced budgets – let alone build up reserves.

When lawmakers meet in January, they will first have to fill the current $350 million budget hole, but will then turn to formulating a budget and tax policy for the next fiscal year. Legislative leaders say the budget needs to be structurally sound, built to end the cycle of revenue shortfalls.

As new long-term policy is put in place, lawmakers say, that opens up discussions about beginning to get the state to save again. Sen. Ty Masterson, R-Andover, said he believes the Legislature can find a way to begin saving.

Masterson has served as the Senate Ways and Means Committee chairman but wasn’t reappointed after he challenged Sen. Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, for the Senate presidency. Wagle, the current president, easily won re-election to the position.

Masterson voiced support for saving. He said lawmakers will need to determine what would trigger use of the rainy-day fund. Some states tie their fund use to economic problems.

"It is important to determine, ‘How severe of an economic downturn interruption?’ " Masterson said. "I think there are ways to try and fund that, and I’ll try to bring some of those forward through the next session."

A memo from the Pew Charitable Trusts provided to lawmakers outlines ways other states have structured rainy-day funds. Some tie use of the funds to revenue declines, or declines of economic indicators. For others, the fund may be used for whenever revenue falls below initial budget projections, or for disasters.

The memo notes that when conditions for withdrawal are unspecific or clear, they can complicate, rather than simplify, policy debate. At other times, a lack of clarity around when funds can be withdrawn contributes to too-frequent withdrawals, the memo says.

Sen. Laura Kelly, a Topeka Democrat who had long advocated for a rainy-day fund, suggested the fund should be enshrined in the state constitution. She said she would probably introduce a constitutional amendment.

"I think if we’re going to talk about it, we need to do it right the first time out," Kelly said.

Kelly said her legislation will likely be crafted to "buy time" by delaying implementation of a savings requirement for a few years. Even if additional revenue begins coming into the state in 2018 because of tax changes, the state will have too many expenses, she argued, adding Kansas first needs to take care of its bills.