Committee hears bill to expand Commerce database for economic development incentives and tighten reporting

The Committee on Government Efficiency held a hearing on House Bill 2304, a measure that would expand reporting and transparency for economic development incentive programs and require the Kansas Department of Commerce to maintain a comprehensive, searchable database of incentive awards.

David Weese, the reviser, summarized the bill for the committee. He said the bill would amend statutes to add certain local-government incentive programs to the statutory definition of economic development programs and to require the Department of Commerce to collect data from local governments and publish it on a searchable website. The database would allow searches by program, county and recipient, provide downloadable reports and summary reports, and disclose the most recent three years of incentive claims and the total amount of funds claimed over the life of each incentive. The reviser said recipients of incentives exceeding $50,000 would be required, as a condition of an award, to provide the information required for publication. The House committee…