Senate Votes To Extend Kansas Rural Workforce Recruitment And Retention Tool

By Noah Taborda, Kansas Reflector

March 8, 2022

TOPEKA — A year after the House chose to continue offering financial incentives to Kansans moving to rural areas that are struggling with workforce, state senators followed suit, with their own added flair.

The proposal would extend the Rural Opportunity Zone program by five years and expand eligibility to any county with a population less than 40,000. The program provides these designated counties the opportunity to offer income tax credits and student loan repayments to reverse population decline.

Supporters said the bill provides for the program to continue while allowing the Legislature to focus on any needed tweaks.

“Our rural areas continue to depopulate, and we have nothing that I see currently on the books that’s going to stop that,” said Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City. “As long as my rural peers in the Legislature continue to support this, particularly for those counties that continue to shed population, I will trust them on this because make no mistake, your rural brothers and sisters are trusting you when you do the big economic development deals.”

Senators passed the measure by a vote of 32 to 5, following the lead of the House, which voted 107 to 16 in favor of the bill last year. The Legislature approved a short-term extension of the program last year.

According to a 2020 report on the ROZ program provided by the Department of Commerce, 55 of the 77 eligible counties offered student loan repayments and 20 offered the income tax waiver.

As part of the 2020 review, the department also conducted a study that indicated most who moved to Kansas and took advantage of the program would have done so regardless of the incentives.

Sen. Caryn Tyson, a Parker Republican and chairwoman of the Senate tax committee, introduced several amendments. While senate colleagues approved one cleanup modification, an additional two proposals to remove the sales tax on manufacturer coupons and utilities for business from state law were ruled not germane.

Despite some concerns about appropriate vetting, Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes was able to tack on an amendment expanding the child day care services tax credit to all appropriately licensed Kansas businesses.

“We know we have a workforce shortage and access to child care is one of the major factors for that,” the Lenexa Democrat said. “This is addressing a workforce shortage with current funds … and allowing more flexibility so that women or men who choose to be in the workforce but need assistance, that their employer, if they decide to offer this benefit, could get some tax credits for that.”

Sykes said the state has spent $97,000 of the $3 million set aside thus far.

However, Sen. Mark Steffen, R-Hutchinson, questioned whether the focus should be on women participating in the workforce instead of maintaining strong Kansas family values.

“What we have is a family shortage, which takes priority over a perceived work shortage propagated by high unemployment payments to incentivize people out of the workforce,” Steffen said. “We have to start putting a priority on families, and that helps cut down problems that trickle through the years as we split up families and create dependency on the government.”

This story was originally published by Kansas Reflector For more stories from the Kansas Reflector visit Kansas Reflector.