Topeka ? From farms to Main Street and into laboratories, Kansas’ next economic push would be tied to bioscience research and helping homegrown businesses, under a plan unveiled Tuesday aimed at creating more than 40,000 Kansas jobs by 2015.

“Kansans are ready for an ambitious, challenging goal,” said Rep. Kenny Wilk, a Lansing Republican.

The $500 million, 10-year plan envisions small businesses and a major new industry — bioscience research — taking root in Kansas with startup assistance in the form of public and private investment, tax breaks and help bringing ideas to market.

The Kansas Economic Growth Act, written by Wilk and Sen. Nick Jordan, a Shawnee Republican, was announced with the kind of fanfare reserved for major initiatives in the Capitol.

Senate President Dave Kerr and House Speaker Doug Mays, in addition to Kansas University officials and economic development advocates from across the state, were on hand to give the Jordan-Wilk plan their blessing.

“Entrepreneurship and bioscience are the right roads for Kansas’ future,” said Kerr, a Republican from Hutchinson.

Earlier, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ office issued a statement of support.

House Minority Leader Dennis McKinney, D-Greensburg, said Democrats in the Legislature hadn’t been briefed on the proposal, but that he looked forward to learning about it.

“If it creates high-quality jobs, let’s see if we can make it happen. We want to make sure it’s fair to all taxpayers,” he said.

Sen. Nick Jordan, R-Shawnee, explains the ins and outs of the newly revealed plan for Kansas' economic growth. Republican senators and representatives unveiled the plan Tuesday at the Dillon House in Topeka.

Two-pronged approach

One part of the measure is meant to boost the state’s presence in bioscience, the fast-growing area of research focusing on discovery of new treatments for diseases, growing crops for use by drug manufacturers and development of new materials for health and industrial use.

The second part of the proposal would help start small businesses statewide by offering grants and attracting investors. The bulk of the funding for the program would come from reinvesting tax revenue generated by bioscience businesses back into research companies and regents universities.

That would cost the state treasury about $497 million during the 10-year period in lost taxes, but would make money by producing jobs and attracting more research dollars, the sponsors said.

Wilk and Jordan said they expected such funding would directly produce 23,000 jobs, an additional 20,000 indirect jobs and attract $1 billion in research funding from the federal government, industry and private sectors.

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Small business

And they said opening a bioscience research corridor would be as important to the future of Kansas as wheat, cattle, oil and gas have been to the state’s past.

On the small-business side, the plan would establish a Kansas Center for Entrepreneurship that would assist entrepreneurs across the state.

The proposal also envisions starting a Kansas Community Entrepreneurship Fund to provide seed money for start-up companies; creating a Kansas Downtown Redevelopment Act to stimulate the development of vacant downtown properties for business uses; and providing tax credits equal to 50 percent of their investment for “angel” investors who assist new businesses.

Those initiatives would cost about $3.5 million over 10 years to cover the operating costs of the entrepreneurial initiative and initial investment in the community fund for start-up companies. Under the proposal, those funds would come from lottery revenues.

Higher ed praise

Seeing the possibility of major research dollars coming their way, higher education officials praised the proposal, which includes hiring 25 “eminent scholars” and 35 “rising star scholars” in research.

“It’s a very exciting day for us,” said Donald Hagen, executive vice chancellor of the Kansas University Medical Center.

He said KU had been able to attract world-class researchers recently, and the Jordan-Wilk plan would enhance that effort.

“This is an additional incentive,” Hagen said. “It says the people of Kansas are serious about bioscience research.”

He was quick to point out the bill would help KU and residents across the state through the entrepreneurial initiative.

“It has a very important role for people all over the state,” Hagen said.

KU Provost David Shulenburger praised the proposal as well thought-out and strategically focused.

He said it would lead to more research grants, an increase in researchers and make Kansas more attractive as the location for research companies.

“This is solid. I think it has a real chance of growing a major industry for the state of Kansas,” he said.

Kansas State University President Jon Wefald said the initiative would help Kansas gain access to much-needed funding. “We can access millions of dollars from federal research programs and other funds that otherwise would be going into other states and efforts around the country, not to Kansas,” he said.

Tracy Taylor, president and chief executive of the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp., said the proposal also would dovetail with ground-breaking biological research being done at the Stowers Institute in Kansas City, Mo.

Strategy change

Aside from the details of the plan, supporters said it represented a way for Kansas — battered by downturns in aircraft manufacturing and agriculture — to pull itself out of the economic ditch.

Instead of trying to lure factories from other states, the idea under this plan is to help build homegrown Kansas companies and make the state a fertile ground for research, Wilk and Jordan said.

“Rob thy neighbor is no longer a good economic strategy,” Wilk said.

The two lawmakers said they had received positive feedback from their colleagues on the proposal.

“People want to see something happen,” Wilk said.

And they said they saw no conflicts between their proposal and one outlined by the Sebelius administration that was developed after a series of hearings across the state last year.

That proposal included changes in state incentives for recruiting businesses, focusing on protecting Kansas military bases from a congressional round of closures, consolidation of work-force training programs, and several measures aimed at increasing tourism.

The Jordan-Wilk plan and other documents can be viewed at www.kshousegop.org.