Tracy Kimberlin: The Meet in Missouri Act would largely benefit St. Louis and Kansas City.
The 2016 Missouri legislative session wrapped with its regular flurry of activity on May 13, but lawmakers failed to approve eight of 12 business bills identified in the waning days as priorities by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The so-called Show-Me Rural Jobs Act was among those that didn’t make the cut. Designed to establish or extend incentives for ethanol and biofuel producers, Senate Bill 703 died in conference following a fiscal review the last day of session.
It was one of eight late-stage business bills followed closely by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry that didn’t make the cut.
Others were SB 623, which proposed fees for new roads and bridges to shore up Missouri’s transportation infrastructure, and House Bill 1892 that sought to create a statewide prescription monitoring program.
“(Missouri) is the only state to not have a monitoring program,” Mercy Hospital Springfield pharmacist Terry Barks said via email, citing an October 2013 report from Washington, D.C.-based disease prevention advocate Trust for America’s Health. “It is shameful that our legislators have again killed this bill.”
Known as the Narcotics Control Act, the measure would have required the state Department of Health and Senior Services create and manage a program to monitor prescriptions and distribution of controlled substances, such as OxyContin and Percocet.
Another state chamber disappointment came when state senators failed by one vote to override HB 1891, which would have prohibited public employees from being required to pay union dues. But Dan Mehan, president and CEO of the Missouri chamber, said the 2016 session had its share of successes.
One highlight came May 10 with the approval of SB 700 and its modifications to several provisions related to workers’ compensation rules and premiums.
“It allows more of those out-of-pocket expenses that employers encounter for lesser work-related injuries to be taken care of without affecting their insurance rating and causing their rates to go up,” Mehan said.
The same day lawmakers passed HB 2030, which provides tax benefits to business owners who sell their businesses to employees.
“I think legislators in Missouri want to keep jobs and opportunities in our state,” Mehan said. “And this provides an incentive to have employees invest in a company, hence anchoring it in the state of Missouri and anchoring those jobs and opportunities.”
The bill authorizes a 50 percent tax deduction of money derived from a sale of a Missouri-based company to a qualified state-based employee stock ownership plan, if the ESOP owns at least 30 percent of the business.
Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau President and CEO Tracy Kimberlin also was closely watching a few bills.
He said the Meet in Missouri Act, HB 1698, could help drive large, out-of-state conventions to the area. However, he said the bill passed to the governor May 10 would mostly benefit convention business in the Kansas City and St. Louis metropolitan areas.
“All indications are that he will sign it,” Kimberlin said. “We will, hopefully, get to utilize the bill and the funding that it provides for certain groups. It is only available to groups where 50 percent or more of the delegates are coming in from out of state. And most of our convention business is state-association business.”
With plans subject to review by the director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development, grants could come the way of such groups as the Springfield CVB. According to the bill, grants cannot exceed 50 percent of the cost of hosting the event or $1 million, whichever is less.
Kimberlin said other states offer similar incentive programs.
“This is trying to level the playing field a little bit,” he said.
Kimberlin had an eye on how much money lawmakers appropriated for the Missouri Division of Tourism in fiscal 2017, which begins July 1.
“It is still below what the funding formula calls for by about $14 million, but at least it did get a $4.5 million increase, bringing the total budget to a little over $25 million,” he said, adding Rep. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, helped push the needle on state tourism spending. “The governor had recommended a $3 million increase and Lincoln Hough and the House appropriations committee added $1.5 million to that. That was subsequently approved in the joint conference committee and then signed by the governor.”
Looking forward, Mehan said he’d like lawmakers to approve more support for companies seeking to employ students pursuing degrees in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Via the failed SB 873, businesses with interns majoring in a STEM field at a state two-year or four-year school could have had up to $5,000 of their tax liability removed from the general revenue fund and placed in a state STEM fund. That bill didn’t make it out of conference the last day of session.
“It could only help generations of the future get attracted to those good-paying jobs,” Mehan said.
