TOPEKA David Tolands nomination for Secretary of Commerce was given a thumbs down this morning by a vote of 6 to 5 by members of a Senate Commerce Committee.
From here, the full Senate will take a vote to determine Tolands fate.
Toland has been serving as acting secretary while awaiting confirmation.
This mornings hearing to consider his nomination was the second of two and will be reported on in Saturdays paper.
Several members of the Iola community as well as Tolands family attended both days of hearings.
On Wednesday, Toland laid out his vision for the Kansas Department of Commerce to recruit new businesses to the state; to support existing businesses and help them grow; and to see the states economy expand.
If confirmed, Toland would be the first-ever Iolan to serve in a state cabinet level position.
The length of Wednesdays hearing prompted Chairwoman Julia Lynn to continue the proceedings to today, to allow more senators an opportunity to ask questions.
Tolands task to rebuild this agency will be a daunting one, he admitted, pointing to a number of long-standing issues the Department of Commerce faces, including an outdated economic development strategy; a lack of resources when compared to other states; and a general lack of trust between the agency and a variety of stakeholders, including the Legislature.
I did not create these problems, but I am here to solve them, Toland said, and to solve them in partnership with the Legislature, the business community and local developers. Since Day One, Ive been working to address the failures of the present and the past.
To that end, he pledged greater transparency and communication from the department, even when legislators are not in session.
Weve got to be on a regular communication basis. If there are things coming that impact the agency as a whole, youre going to hear about those from me beforehand. If there is an economic development project going about in your districts, I dont want you to read about that in your paper. I want you to have heard about it from Department of Commerce.
Additionally, the states last comprehensive economic development policy was instituted in 1986.
The world has changed an awful lot in 33 years, Toland said. The economy has changed. Many of our incentive tools date to the early 90s. We havent done a thorough look, an independent, objective analysis of what works and what doesnt.
He plans to have a request for proposals to begin the process of instituting a new policy by the end of the month.
