Brief ⁽¹⁾

This bill would require the five-member panel charged with reviewing annually the propriety of projects funded by the Kansas Economic Opportunity Initiatives Fund (KEOIF) to report its findings in writing to the House Committee on Economic Development, the Senate Commerce Committee, and the Joint Committee on Economic Development. The panel is already required to conduct this review and report to the Governor. The bill would simply extend the reporting requirement to include the legislative committees.

The KEOIF program currently provides forgivable loans for strategic intervention projects that support business expansion, relocation, and other economic development opportunities. Program funding also can be used to remedy economic losses associated with the departure from Kansas or the substantial reduction of a major employer's operations, or the closure of a major federal or state institution or facility. The bill would expand the authority of the Department of Commerce and Housing to use KEOIF moneys to fund strategic intervention projects that involve a substantial reduction of a major federal or state institution or facility.

Background

This bill was introduced by the House Committee on Economic Development. The intent was to ensure that the chair-persons of the House Economic Development and Commerce committees would be informed of all projects funded by the program. Staff from the Department of Commerce and Housing testified that prior to FY 1997, the Department had provided this information to the chairpersons of the economic development committees. However, when the law was enacted in 1996 to give the five-member panel post-award review authority instead of approval authority, that practice ceased.

The House Committee on Economic Development amended the bill to authorize the use of KEOIF moneys to fund strategic intervention projects that involve a substantial reduction of a major federal or state institution or facility. The Senate Committee on Commerce amended the bill to require the reports by the review panel to be distributed in writing to the House Committee on Economic Development and the Senate Committee on Commerce (not only to the chairpersons), as well as to the Joint Committee on Economic Development.

The Budget Division reports that passage of this bill would result in no fiscal impact.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/bill_search.html