Sebelius proposes lottery dollars for signing bonuses

BYLINE: By JOHN HANNA, Associated Press Writer

DATELINE: TOPEKA Kan.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius wants to use lottery dollars to pay signing bonuses to new workers in aviation, biosciences and a few other industries as part of a larger effort to keep the Kansas economy growing.

Sebelius said Thursday she'll include a $7.1 million package of economic development initiatives in the state budget she'll submit to legislators next week. Legislators convene their annual session Monday; Sebelius gives her State of the State address Wednesday and submits detailed budget proposals a day later.

Her proposals include establishing an Office of Rural Opportunity to promote economic development in rural areas and providing tax incentives to employers who expand in rural areas. She also promised to have a plan for dealing with an estimated $727 million backlog in repair projects on the six state university campuses.

"We not only have the resources to make some of these investments, but, frankly, we will not continue a prosperous economy if we don't make the investments," she told reporters.

She added: "Having skilled workers for the jobs that we know we're going to need is probably the most important work-related program we can be engaged in."

Sebelius discussed her proposals after announcing that in November and December, the state collected $61 million more in revenues than it anticipated. While there has been a debate over the economy some groups say growth in government hiring is fueling the growth Sebelius has remained optimistic about the state's finances.

"I think this is one of the major focus areas to keep the economy going, and since we've just had good economic news, it seemed like a good time to roll it out," she said.

Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence, said the Democratic governor deserves credit for recognizing that some industries face worker shortages. He said creating a new office to focus on rural development is a good idea.

He was more skeptical of her proposal for signing bonuses, saying subsidizing them for some industries but not others "may raise eyebrows."

"There are some novel ideas here, and I think they deserve a fair hearing," he said during an interview. "This is a year in which we need new ideas so we get past the same old, stale debates."

Sebelius stuck mostly to the broad outlines of her proposals, noting that she'll release more details.

As for the signing bonuses proposal, she said, many of the details will emerge as the legislative session progresses and the Department of Commerce establishes rules for the program. She also mentioned communications, military-related, advanced manufacturing, health care and animal health as targeted industries.

The state collects $67 million annually in profits from the lottery, and it already spends the bulk of it on economic development programs. State law requires legislators to review the lottery's operations periodically and vote to keep it in existence, and such a decision is required this year.

Sebelius said she'll also propose additional dollars to provide child care for low-income workers and create a team to help businesses develop day care centers for their employees.

Also, she noted that the Department of Corrections is receiving a grant of nearly $4.7 million from the New York-based JEHT Foundation to help inmates released from prison finding housing and jobs.

On the Net:

Governor's office: http://www.ksgovernor.org

Kansas Legislature: http://www.kslegislature.org