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Special Commerce Committee report recommends crypto safeguards, regulatory reform and review of tax incentives
Summary
Legislative Research presented the interim Special Committee on Commerce report recommending action on cryptocurrency fraud and legal clarity, reducing housing development barriers, licensing compact fixes and review/renewal of several economic development incentives including angel investor and aviation tax credits.
Legislative Research staff presented findings and recommendations from the 2025 Special Committee on Commerce, calling for legislative attention across multiple areas including cryptocurrency, affordable housing, occupational licensing, regulatory reform and economic development incentives.
Mike Ditch told the committee the special committee recommended addressing potential fraud risks tied to digital currency kiosks/ATMs and urged clearer treatment of cryptocurrency’s legal status and the possibility of a model state policy to promote uniformity. He said the Office of the State Bank Commissioner had testified in a separate House committee and planned legislation on that topic.
On housing, the committee recommended exploring ways to reduce government barriers to affordable housing and pointed to last year’s Fast Track Permits Act (HB 2088) as an example of reducing permitting bottlenecks. On occupational licensing, the report urged work with agencies to fix issues in licensing compacts — including statutory language to align FBI background-check processes — and suggested considering state-level licensing for certain trades to ease city-by-city requirements.
The report also recommended continuing regulatory-review reforms, including funding 1.5 FTE positions requested by the attorney general to operate the newly enacted regulatory sandbox program, clarifying legislative intent when granting rulemaking authority, and adding public input earlier in the drafting process.
Regarding economic development incentives, Ditch summarized committee recommendations to examine credits that are underused or failing to meet goals, to consider eliminating ineffective credits, and to renew the Angel Investor and Kansas Aviation tax credits while reviewing data-center energy incentives and star bond sunset provisions. He flagged the department of revenue report on outstanding tax credit liability and transferability issues for high performance incentive (HP) credits.
The committee discussion included questions about whether incentive programs require automatic Legislative Post Audit review; KLRD staff said automatic post-audit requirements have been removed and that legislators may request audits individually.
Ending: The special committee report is intended to guide bill drafting and oversight; the committee accepted the report overview and opened for questions.
