Topeka ? A group of lawmakers wants more oversight of the new Kansas Bioscience Authority, saying they are not impressed with what the authority has done so far.

“There was some question as to how some of the money was being spent, and we thought it prudent to set up legislative oversight,” said state Rep. Lana Gordon, R-Topeka, chairwoman of the House Economic Development Committee.

The Bioscience Authority was created by the 2004 Kansas Economic Growth Act, which provides that growth in tax dollars from bioscience efforts will be reinvested back into life sciences.

The authority, which was appointed last year, has received nearly $6 million in state tax funds in its first installment, and is expected to award nearly $500 million over the next decade.

The authority has made two grants so far. They include $200,000 to steer young scientists trained at Kansas University and other Kansas colleges toward Hospira, a pharmaceutical company in McPherson.

The other was $150,000 to help lure Prescription Solutions, which fills mail-order prescriptions, to Overland Park.

Gordon said the authority was set up to help emerging development, “but both the companies that have gotten money were already in existence.” And, she said, she didn’t think the Legislature intended for the authority to give money, like it has in the case of Hospira, to help employees “pay back their student loans.”

Clay Blair, chairman of the authority, said the authority was neutral on the legislation but defended the group’s work.

“We will be happy to work with the will of the Legislature,” Blair said. He said the authority’s charge is not only to help emerging companies, but also to help existing companies and try to lure out-of-state companies to come to Kansas.

He said the assistance given to Hospira and Prescription Solutions would generate millions of dollars for the Kansas economy through extra taxes and development.

A bill approved by the House Economic Development Committee would form the 12-member Joint Committee on Bioscience Oversight. The bill was killed on a parliamentary move after it was amended to include a ban on the creation of human-animal hybrids in research.

Gordon, however, said the idea for legislative oversight might come up again during the session.