{"id":99750,"date":"2026-03-05T10:43:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T16:43:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/?p=99750"},"modified":"2026-03-05T10:43:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T16:43:44","slug":"senate-debates-loan-to-aviation-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/2026\/03\/05\/senate-debates-loan-to-aviation-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Debates Loan to Aviation Company"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TOPEKA \u2014 The Kansas Senate engaged in protracted debate on a budget provision using state tax dollars for a $50 million low-interest loan to owners of Yingling Aviation to finance expansion of the Wichita company\u2019s aircraft painting business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Senate narrowly defeated Tuesday a motion to block the deal with Yingling, an aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul company formerly known as Cessna Aviation. Owners of Yingling sold a majority interest three years ago to the private equity firm AE Industrial Partners of Boca Raton, Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the deal buried by the Senate Ways and Means Committee in a 364-page budget bill, Yingling would receive the 10-year loan at an interest rate two percentage points below market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Tim Shallenburger, R-Baxter Springs, said the proposal was a misuse of the state\u2019s cash reserves because it would deliver a lower return on investment than the state-controlled Pooled Money Investment Board could routinely earn. The $50 million would be handed by the PMIB, which has a fiduciary duty to earn the best return for taxpayers, to an unnamed Kansas bank. That lending institution would transfer funds to Yingling for development of enormous hangar facilities to paint large private aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have a problem with people investing in Wichita. I think it\u2019s good economic development,\u201d said Shallenburger, who made a motion to delete the earmark. \u201cI just don\u2019t think the PMIB should be used as a piggy bank for people who are very wealthy to get sweetheart deals from the state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shallenburger said there was no doubt other businesses in Kansas would appreciate a state-backed loan with an interest rate as low as 0.25%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The budget proviso didn\u2019t require Yingling to hire a certain number of employees at a specific salary level, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have nothing against this company,\u201d Shallenburger said. \u201cI can\u2019t blame them for wanting free money or cheap money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His motion was rejected 18-22, but the Kansas House would need to concur with the Senate budget provision before Yingling could claim its prize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Winners and losers\u2019<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Virgil Peck, R-Havana, echoed concerns laid out by Shallenburger. Peck said Kansans wanted to welcome new or expanding businesses in Kansas, but he didn\u2019t believe it was the \u201cresponsibility of government to pick winners and losers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShould a private bank use taxpayer money that we give them to loan to a private business?\u201d Peck said. \u201cIf the body thinks that\u2019s our business, we should start loaning out more taxpayer money at really low interest rates and bring a lot of businesses into our state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, was among a half-dozen Republican senators who denounced the bid to kill the deal embedded in Senate Bill 315<\/a>. The bill didn\u2019t list Yingling as the beneficiary, but eligibility requirements for the loan would leave Yingling as the only firm capable of landing the cash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Masterson, who seeks the GOP nomination for governor, said the state routinely gave away all sorts of tax breaks and incentives to businesses while the arrangement with Yingling would provide the state a return on the $50 million investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is the role of this body to make decisions like that. That\u2019s what we do,\u201d Masterson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Good for Kansas\u2019<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Jeff Klemp, R-Lansing, said Yingling was a rapidly expanding company that had boosted employment from 125 to more than 400. The hangar project at Wichita\u2019s Eisenhower International Airport would allow hiring of 120 more workers, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAre you aware of additional jobs and what it\u2019s going to do for the state of Kansas?\u201d Klemp asked Shallenburger. \u201cWe should be open to something that is good for Kansas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cut-rate loan would mean the state missed out on no more than $1 million in revenue each year, said Sen. Larry Alley, R-Winfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the proposal should be evaluated based on potential job growth and taxes paid along with implications of expanding a Kansas aircraft business into the international marketplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is obviously down in my district area and it\u2019s very important,\u201d said Sen. Joe Claeys, R-Wichita.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Rick Billinger, the Republican chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said the state had in the past offered comparable low-interest loans to businesses. Without listing examples, he said the state had \u201cdone many of them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector TOPEKA \u2014 The Kansas Senate engaged in protracted debate on a budget provision using state tax dollars for a $50 million low-interest loan to owners of Yingling Aviation to finance expansion of the Wichita company\u2019s aircraft painting business. The Senate narrowly defeated Tuesday a motion to block the deal with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[244],"class_list":["post-99750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-state","tag-kansas-legislature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99750\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}