HOUSE BILL No. 2304
AN ACT concerning economic development; relating to government transparency;
requiring local governments to report certain local economic development incentive
program information to the secretary of commerce; defining such programs;
requiring the secretary of commerce to post such information on the economic
development incentive program database maintained by the secretary; requiring
certain search result presentation formats, a comprehensive report and a summary
report; amending K.S.A. 2024 Supp. 74-50,226 and 74-50,227 and repealing the
existing sections.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
Section 1. K.S.A. 2024 Supp. 74-50,226 is hereby amended to
read as follows: 74-50,226. As used in K.S.A. 2024 Supp. 74-50,226
and 74-50,227, and amendments thereto:
(a) "Administering agency" means the state agency or department
charged with administering a particular economic development
incentive program, as set forth by the program's enacting statute or,
where no department or agency is set forth, the department of revenue.
(b) "Economic development incentive program" means:
(1) Any economic development incentive program administered
wholly or in part by the secretary of commerce;
(2) any tax credit program, except for social and domestic tax
credits, regardless of the administering agency;
(3) property that has been exempted from ad valorem taxation
under the provisions of section 13 of article 11 of the constitution of the
state of Kansas;
(4) property that has been purchased, acquired, constructed,
reconstructed, improved, equipped, furnished, repaired, enlarged or
remodeled with all or any part of the proceeds of revenue bonds issued
under the authority of K.S.A. 12-1740 through 12-1749a, and
amendments thereto, that is exempt from ad valorem taxation under
K.S.A. 79-201a Second, and amendments thereto; and
(5) any economic development fund, including, but not limited to,
the job creation program fund established by K.S.A. 74-50,224, and
amendments thereto, and the economic development initiatives fund,
established by K.S.A. 79-4804, and amendments thereto; and
(6) local government-based economic development programs or
incentives, including, but not limited to:
(A) Community improvement districts, K.S.A. 12-6a26 et seq., and
amendments thereto;
(B) tax increment financing, K.S.A. 12-1770 et seq., and
amendments thereto;
(C) business improvement districts, K.S.A. 12-1781 et seq., and
amendments thereto;
(D) self-supported municipal improvement districts, K.S.A. 12-
1794 et seq., and amendments thereto;
(E) neighborhood revitalization act, K.S.A. 12-17,114 et seq., and
amendments thereto;
(F) downtown redevelopment act, K.S.A. 12-17,121 et seq., and
amendments thereto;
(G) transportation development districts, K.S.A. 12-17,140 et seq.,
and amendments thereto;
(H) public improvement districts, K.S.A. 12-17,152 et seq., and
amendments thereto;
(I) industrial development bonds, K.S.A. 12-3801 et seq., and
amendments thereto; and
(J) any other economic development incentive offered by the local
government and accepted by the recipient that may be quantified as to
the value provided to the recipient, including any grant, loan, lease,
land acquisition, site preparation, utilities, facilities, streets or
roadways, workforce development or workforce training.
(c) "Enterprise" means a corporation, limited liability company, S
corporation, partnership, registered limited liability partnership,
foundation, association, nonprofit entity, sole proprietorship, business
trust or other entity engaged in business.
(d) "Local government" means: HOUSE BILL No. 2304—page 2
(1) Any city, county or unified government, or any subdivision
thereof; or
(2) any instrumentality of a city, county or unified government,
established for the purpose of economic development of such city,
county or unified government, that is funded in whole or in part by
such local government.
(e) "Recipient" means the enterprise, identified by the business
name filed with the secretary of state, that is the original applicant for
and that receives proceeds from an economic development incentive
program directly from the administering agency. "Recipient" includes
an enterprise that is no longer solvent due to bankruptcy and a recipient
with respect to an economic development project that has failed. If the
"recipient" is an enterprise created primarily for the purpose of the
economic development project, "recipient" includes the enterprise or
enterprises, partners or principals that own or, individually or with
other enterprises, have a controlling interest in the "recipient."
(f) "Searchable website or web page" means a website or web
page that allows the public to search and aggregate the information
identified and required to be provided by this section and K.S.A. 74-
50,227, and amendments thereto, including requirements that the
website or web page offer users the ability to efficiently search and
display data at least by economic development incentive program,
recipient and location of the economic development project by county
and calculate incentive totals for each category claimed by year and be
searchable by year.
(e)(g) "Social and domestic tax credits" means the adoption credit
created pursuant to K.S.A. 79-202a 79-32,202a, and amendments
thereto, the earned income tax credit created pursuant to K.S.A. 79-
32,205, and amendments thereto, the food sales tax credit created
pursuant to K.S.A. 79-32,271, and amendments thereto, the child and
dependent care tax credit created pursuant to K.S.A. 79-32,111c, and
amendments thereto, and the homestead property tax refund created
pursuant to K.S.A. 79-4501 et seq., and amendments thereto.
(f)(h) "Tax credit program" means any credit allowed against the
tax imposed by the Kansas income tax act, the premium or privilege
fees imposed pursuant to K.S.A. 40-252, and amendments thereto, or
the privilege tax as measured by net income of financial institutions
imposed pursuant to article 11 of chapter 79 of the Kansas Statutes
Annotated, and amendments thereto.
Sec. 2. K.S.A. 2024 Supp. 74-50,227 is hereby amended to read as
follows: 74-50,227. (a) The department of commerce shall collect
incentive data from economic development incentive programs that
provide more than $50,000 of annual incentives from administering
agencies or local governments as required by this section. Such data
shall be collected from administering agencies or local governments
and be stored in a database that is available to the public in a digital
format. The database shall contain information from multiple years and
must be searchable, printable and available to access over the internet
on the department of commerce's website on a permanently accessible
web page that may be accessed via a conspicuous link to that web page
placed on the front page of the department's website. Information
included in the database shall be updated by the department of
commerce at least on an annual basis and such update shall be
completed prior to the end of the following fiscal year in which such
incentive was earned or distributed. The database shall be a searchable
website or web page that is comprehensive of all information required
by this section for all years as required by this section and shall permit
searches by a user of such information by economic development
incentive program, county and recipient. The database shall permit the
user, on one web page and by means of an easily accessible drop-down
menu or other similar prompt, to select to search at least by keyword or
phrase within separately identified categories of economic
development incentive program, county and recipient name. The
database shall be capable of calculating total incentives for each HOUSE BILL No. 2304—page 3
category claimed by year and be searchable by year. A search result
shall include all information required by this section, and such
information applicable to the search result shall be in one printable or
downloadable report. In addition to such a comprehensive report, the
database shall be configured to provide a summary report in response
to a search when requested. The summary report shall provide the total
incentives awarded to the recipient, the number of years that the
incentive may be claimed, the total unencumbered incentive award that
may be claimed and the total incentives that have been claimed by the
recipient per year. Such information shall be produced by economic
development incentive program, county and recipient name. Such
summary report shall be provided to the house committee on
commerce, labor and economic development and the senate committee
on commerce on or before January 31 of each year and shall disclose
the most recent three years of economic incentives claimed and the
total amount of funds committed by the state or the local government
that are required to be paid as an incentive over the entire period of the
incentive.
(b) (1) Local governments shall provide the department of
commerce with all available and reasonably obtainable information
required by this section for all active economic development incentive
programs of such local government commenced prior to July 1, 2025,
that provide more than $50,000 in value in annual incentives as
provided by subsection (c). On and after July 1, 2025, requiring the
provision of all information required by this section as necessary from
a recipient and providing such information to the department of
commerce by the local government shall be a condition of commencing
or providing any incentive to a recipient pursuant to any economic
development incentive program that will provide more than $50,000 in
value in annual incentives. Information required by this section for
programs commencing after July 1, 2025, shall be provided to the
department of commerce within 45 days of the execution of an
economic development incentive program agreement between the local
government and the recipient. The local government shall provide
updates of all applicable information required by this section to the
secretary of commerce, in the manner and form as required by the
secretary, at least annually and at such additional time or times as may
be required by the secretary.
(2) On and after July 1, 2025, any recipient that will receive more
than $50,000 in value in annual incentives from any economic
development incentive program provided by a local government or any
administering agency shall, as a condition of the award of such
incentives, agree to provide all information required by this section to
the secretary, at such times and in the form and manner as required by
the secretary, for publication on the department's database as provided
by this section.
(3) All information shall be provided in the form and manner as
required by the secretary, except that the secretary shall make an
electronic form available for local governments to report such
information in a simple online format and shall only require the
submission of information in digital form.
(b)(c) The database required to be created by subsection (a) shall
contain the following information or shall contain a link by which the
user can access such information, except that local governments shall
provide such information as required by this section for active
economic development incentive programs commenced prior to July 1,
2025, specified in section 1(b)(6)(A) through (I), and amendments
thereto, to the secretary on or before July 1, 2026, and thereafter as
required by this section. Local governments shall provide such
information as required by this section for active economic
development incentive programs commenced prior to July 1, 2025,
specified in section 1(b)(6)(A) through (J) to the secretary on or before
July 1, 2028, and thereafter as required by this section: HOUSE BILL No. 2304—page 4
(1) User information for each economic development incentive
program, including the:
(A) Names and addresses, including county, of recipients
receiving benefits from the program and, for sales tax and revenue
bonds issued under the STAR bond financing act, K.S.A. 12-17,162 et
seq., and amendments thereto, the names of principals and officers for
each project developer;
(B) annual amount of incentives claimed, distributed to or
received by each recipient and any remaining balance of the total
amount of incentives claimed or awarded to the recipient;
(C) qualification criteria for the economic development incentive
program, including, if available, qualification criteria specific to the
recipient. Qualification criteria shall include, but not be limited to, any
requirements regarding the number of jobs created or the amount of
initial or annual capital improvement;
(D) required benchmarks for continued participation in the
economic development incentive program and progress made toward
the benchmarks; and
(E) years for which the recipient has received benefits under the
economic development incentive program;
(2) descriptive information for each economic development
program, which shall include:
(A) A description and history of the program, including its
inception date;
(B) the purpose or goals of the program and the criteria for
qualification;
(C) applications for the program, if any, and relevant resources or
contacts;
(D) the program cost and return on investment, including
assumptions used to calculate the return on investment;
(E) the program compliance rate;
(F) annual reports, if required by statute; and
(G) evaluations of the program, if any; and
(3) annual data, which shall be organized by recipient, county and
program and shall include the:
(A) Total amount of annual incentives from a program claimed or
received by a recipient;
(B) total amount of incentives received by recipients in each
county; and
(C) total amount of incentives distributed by each program.
(c)(d) Data collected pursuant to this section must shall be
aggregated and provided by program, recipient and county.
(d)(e) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, and
notwithstanding any information publication requirements listed in this
section, no information shall be disclosed by the secretary of commerce
under this section if such disclosure would:
(1) Violate any federal law;
(2) violate the confidentiality provisions of any agreement
executed before July 1, 2019 2025;
(3) in the discretion of the secretary of commerce, be detrimental
to the development of a STAR bond project or jeopardize an economic
development incentive program or project; or
(4) disclose the names or other personally identifying information
of individuals who have made contributions or investments pursuant to
the provisions of an economic development incentive program for the
purpose of receiving a tax credit.
Information that is otherwise publicly available shall not be
considered confidential and shall be subject to publication as provided
in this section.
(e)(f) (1) The secretary of commerce shall report in writing to the
standing committee on commerce, labor and economic development of
the house of representatives and the standing committee on commerce
of the senate any information not disclosed by the secretary pursuant to
subsection (d)(3) and the reason why the information was not disclosed. HOUSE BILL No. 2304—page 5
Commencing on January 31, 2026, such reports shall be made on
or before January 31 of each year for such information not disclosed in
the fiscal year ending the preceding June 30. Any testimony or oral
presentation before the committee or discussion by the committee with
respect to the report shall be considered the discussion of data relating
to financial affairs or trade secrets of corporations, partnerships, trusts,
and individual proprietorships pursuant to the provisions of K.S.A. 75-
4319(b)(4), and amendments thereto, for purposes of the Kansas open
meetings act, and shall be closed to the public.
(2) The report of the secretary pursuant to subsection (e)(1) (f)(1)
shall be confidential and shall not be subject to the provisions of the
Kansas open records act, K.S.A. 45-215 et seq., and amendments
thereto, except that two years after the report is submitted to a
legislative committee, such report shall be a public record open for
inspection under the Kansas open records act, K.S.A. 45-215 et seq.,
and amendments thereto.
(g) The secretary may impose an administrative fee of 1% of the
amount of the total incentive, not to exceed $1,000, upon each recipient
of an economic development incentive program administered by the
secretary for the purpose of the payment of costs incurred by the
secretary for administering and maintaining the database required by
this section.
Sec. 3. K.S.A. 2024 Supp. 74-50,226 and 74-50,227 are hereby
repealed.
Sec. 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
publication in the statute book.
I hereby certify that the above BILL originated in the House, and passed
that body
HOUSE concurred in
SENATE amendments __________________________________________________________________
Speaker of the House.
Chief Clerk of the House.
Passed the SENATE
as amended
President of the Senate.
Secretary of the Senate.
APPROVED ____________________________________________
Governor.