A state legislator from Lansing will be honored Monday in Lawrence for his role in advancing the state’s bioscience efforts.

Kenny Wilk, a Republican, will receive the 2005 Legislator of the Year award from the Biotechnology Industry Organization, a Washington-based organization.

Wilk helped shepherd the Kansas Economic Growth Act through the Kansas Legislature in 2004. The act promises an investment of more than $500 million over a 10-year period to help Kansas in the bioscience industry.

“This award demonstrates that Kansas is certainly doing something right in its effort to be a contender in the industry,” said Daniel Richardson, chairman of KansasBio, a subsidiary of the national group.

Richardson said the award also brings “national attention to Kansas and the statewide bioscience initiative.”

Wilk will be presented the award during a ceremony at 8:30 a.m. Monday at the Dole Institute of Politics at Kansas University. It will be preceded by a breakfast at 8 a.m.

Scheduled to speak are Lt. Gov. John Moore and Patrick Kelly, vice president of state and government relations for BIO.

Wilk worked closely with Sen. Nick Jordan, R-Olathe, on the Economic Growth Act. It reinvests tax revenue generated by bioscience businesses back into the industry through such measures as university research funding, business attraction and investment in new firms.

The presentation coincides with a meeting of the Kansas Bioscience Authority, the board charged with overseeing the allocation of funds from the Economic Growth Act. Among those scheduled to attend the meeting is board member Dan Glickman, a former Kansas congressman who now is president and chief executive officer of the Motion Picture Association of America.