Enacted Kansas Budget Invests in Workforce, Innovation Economy

Several key proposals championed by Gov. Kathleen Seblius to prepare the state for an innovation-based economy were adopted by the legislature in the approved fiscal year 2009 budget signed into law by the governor earlier this month.
 
In February, Gov. Sebelius signed an executive order forming the Kansas Innovation Consortium announced during her State of the State Address (see the Jan. 23, 2008 issue of the Digest). The initiative brings together key industry clusters within the state, including animal, plant and life sciences, health, manufacturing, agriculture, logistics and energy, and is charged with attracting new investments in R&D and ensuring the state has a prepared workforce. Lawmakers did not, however, include the governor’s recommendation of $150,000 in the FY09 budget for related start-up costs.
 
The FY09 budget allocates $5 million each for aviation training and aviation research at Wichita State University (WSU). The governor originally recommended $4 million to WSU for a National Institute for Aviation Research Grant and $2.5 million for the institute.
 
In support of Kansas’ bid for the National Bio- and Agro-defense Facility, the legislature passed a bill authorizing infrastructure improvements needed to secure the project. Kansas is one of six finalists in the nation vying for the facility. HB 2001 authorizes the issuance of revenue bonds to support capital improvements for the proposed site, which is located at Kansas State University near the Bioscience Research Institute.
 
Not all of the governor’s proposals survived the legislative session. Among those not passing was a recommendation of $2 million from the Expanded Lottery Act Revenues Fund for a new Bioenergy Research Program through the Department of Commerce.
 
Lawmakers also did not approve the governor’s recommendation of $1 million for a new teaching scholarship program in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields – the STEM Teachers Service Program. However, the enacted budget includes $295,000 ($45,000 more than the governor’s recommendation) for the Kansas Academy for Mathematics and Science, a two-year residential program established by the legislature in 2006.
 
The FY 2009 enacted budget (Mega Budget Bill) is available at: http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2008/534.pdf