House Bill 2037 would expand travel-and-tourism council, shift grant allocation rules

House Bill 2037, which would expand the governor's Council on Travel and Tourism and alter how the state distributes certain tourism matching grants, was presented at a Commerce Committee hearing.

The bill would replace legislative members from the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources with members from the House Committee on Commerce, Labor and Economic Development and increase the number of gubernatorial appointees on the council from 11 to 14. Under the bill, six of those appointees would represent the general public and eight would represent specific organizations required to provide three nominations to the governor. The three additional, organization-specific seats would be reserved for the National Independent Venue Association, the Kansas Museums Association and the Kansas Sampler Foundation. All gubernatorial appointees would serve three-year terms.

The measure also changes the state's attraction development matching grant administered by the secretary of commerce. The minimum percentage of grant money required to be awarded to public entities or 501(c)(3) organizations would fall from 75% to 50%, allowing up to 50% of those grant funds to go to private entities. The bill would also remove an existing restriction that capped grants to any single public, nonprofit or private entity at 20% of the program's awards.

At the hearing, a legislative staff presenter summarized the bill: "Section 1 of House Bill 2037 concerns the council on travel and tourism," including the change in which House committee provides legislative members to the council. Rachel Willis, director of legislative affairs for the Kansas Department of Commerce, described the council as advisory and said the membership change is technical. "This council is just advisory. Right? So they're, they don't necessarily have any authority, over the division of tourism," Willis said.

Senator Tyson asked about the scale of the grant program. Willis said the department provided $901,000 in grants in 2024. She told the committee that in 2024 there were 30 nonprofit applicants (about 43%) and 40 for-profit applicants (about 57%), and the department funded 27 projects across the state.

Committee members noted the bill's familiarity: one participant said a nearly identical bill passed out of the committee the previous year. When Senator Reitman asked whether the measure had passed the House, a committee member reported it "was placed on this consent calendar and passed out of the house."

The bill text states it would become effective upon publication in the statute book; no effective date was specified at the hearing. No formal committee vote on the bill was recorded during the session.

Committee leadership also used the meeting to announce upcoming scheduling: the committee will hear a departmental budget the following day and must report that budget to the Ways and Means Committee by March 11; the last day to act on bills in the session was noted as March 17.

Votes and formal actions recorded in this hearing: none. The committee heard testimony and took public comments; the bill's prior procedural status in the House was reported to the committee.