Legislative auditors: Kansas economic incentives lack clear goals and reliable data, hampering oversight

Kristen Roddinghouse, deputy director of Legislative Post Audit, told the House Commerce committee that auditors have completed 25 evaluations of economic development incentives since 2015 and found recurring problems with unclear statutory purposes and unreliable data that make performance evaluation difficult.

"When incentives don't have a clear purpose or reliable data, it makes it difficult to evaluate performance and decreases transparency," Roddinghouse said during the committee's "Commerce conversations" session. She described a 2019 statute (amended in 2024) that established recurring three‑year audits of incentive programs and framed the findings LPA will present to the legislature.

Roddinghouse highlighted several audits. In the 2021 review of Star Bond attractions — projects intended to promote state economic welfare and tourism — LPA examined 2018–2019 visitation estimates for 16 active attractions and found only three met the Department of Commerce's tourism expectations (20 percent of visitors from outside Kansas and 30 percent from 100 miles away) in one or both years. LPA recommended Commerce collect usable visitation data and urged the legislature to clarify the program's statutory purpose.

On industrial…