(Flickr Photo by Sgt. Pepperedjane)
The Kansas Senate has voted to expand a program aimed at stopping population loss in rural Kansas counties. Some counties with declining populations have been designated as so-called Rural Opportunity Zones. The program helps repay student loans and offers income tax credits to attract people to those counties. Senator Les Donovan, a Republican from Wichita, says the program has helped rural areas.
The bill would expand the number of counties in the program from 50 to 73. Senator Carolyn McGinn, a Republican from Sedgwick, is a former chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. She isn’t sure there’s evidence the program is working.
The bill will now go to the Kansas House.