Sunflower State Journal

Cities on Wednesday defeated legislative efforts to curb their ability to plan for development just outside their boundaries, an authority they said was important for ensuring orderly growth patterns. The House local government committee turned back a bill repealing the ability of municipalities to impose land-use requirements in a three-mile area just outside the city limits. Source: Sunflower State Journal

A House committee on Wednesday morning signed off on a compromise bill that will limit the ability of local governments to regulate vacant and commercial property. The House Local Government Committee agreed to retain the ability of local governments to impose registration requirements on a vacant residential or commercial property in order to keep it from falling into disrepair and blight. However, they could not impose fees or taxes for registering the properties. Source: Sunflower State Journal

The state Commerce Department is asking lawmakers to expand a lucrative tax incentive to land a new major economic development project on the heels of securing Panasonic and Integra. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Paul Hughes appeared before the House commerce Tuesday, asking for an extension of the incentive program though Dec. 31, 2024 as well as more incentives for training and employee relocation. Hughes said interest in Kansas from mega projects has slowed since the Legislature approved the first package of incentives that are set to lapse at the end of the 2023. Source: Sunflower State Journal

The League of Kansas Municipalities has hired Nathan Eberline as Executive Director. ... Nathan Eberline worked at the League of Kansas Municipalities from 2007 to 2011 as the Intergovernmental Relations Associate. He then served as the Associate Legislative Director and Legal Counsel for the Kansas Association of Counties from 2011 to 2018. Most recently, Nathan served as the Vice President of Operations at the Accreditation Council for Business Schools & Programs (ACBSP) in Overland Park, Kansas since 2018. ACBSP is a non-profit, specialized accreditor in higher education with members around the globe and a focus on teaching excellence. Source: LKM

With a battle developing over utility regulation, new data shows Kansas has seen a gradual decline in electric rates over a six-year period. Justin Grady, of the Kansas Corporation Commission's utilities division, briefed the House utilities committee on federal data showing that average Kansas electric rates declined 0.19% from 2016 to 2021. Kansas was only one of two states in the Midwest that saw a decline in average electric rates during the six-year period for which data was collected from the Energy Information Administration. Source: Sunflower State Journal

The debate over school choice opened in earnest at the Capitol on Wednesday with a proposal to expand a program that offers state tax credits for donations to private-school scholarships. The K-12 Budget Committee spent more than two hours late Wednesday afternoon hearing testimony over a bill that for the second time since 2021 would expand a program making tax-subsidized scholarships available for more students to attend private schools. Source: Sunflower State Journal

As much as Oscar-winning filmmaker Kevin Willmott wants to shoot movies in his home state of Kansas, sometimes he just can't. Take for instance, "The 24th," his 2020 movie about an all-Black regiment of soldiers that rebelled in the face of abuse and violence from the Houston police in 1917. But producers decided that the movie, with a $9 million budget, would be shot in North Carolina because that state offered incentives to filmmakers. Source: Sunflower State Journal

The rural population in Kansas grew by more than 10% during the last decade after about 30 small cities lost their "urban" classification according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The U.S. Census Bureau last week released a new list of cities considered "urban" based on new criteria that effectively increased the "rural" population in Kansas. The new definitions meant that 31 small Kansas towns lost their "urban" status, meaning they will face new challenges for getting federal government funding. Source: Sunflower State Journal

The state of Kansas is about to invest nearly $200 million in rural housing as part of a broad initiative to foster economic development in areas without enough homes to support a robust work force. The Kansas Legislature this week passed a worth roughly $120 million in tax credits to jump start the housing market in rural Kansas plus more than another $65 million that's earmarked in the state budget for constructing new homes. Source: Sunflower State Journal

After a year of battling overcompensation for businesses forced to close during the pandemic, there’s a been a breakthrough in the new state budget. Tucked into the new state budget without much attention was $50 million for rebates to business that were ordered closed or had to restrict their business operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The money for the rebates – up to $5,000 per business – would come out of the state’s share of COVID relief money that it received from the federal government. Gov. Laura Kelly signed the bill with the rebate a year after she vetoed a bill [...]