August 18, 2007 07:31 pm
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By Melissa Dunson
mdunson@joplinglobe.com
After trimming more than $150 million from the proposed Quality Jobs economic incentive bill, Gov. Matt Blunt and the Missouri General Assembly look to pass a significantly smaller version of the bill in the next two weeks during the special session starting Monday.
After Blunt vetoed the bill earlier this summer, saying it was loaded with “excessive spending” provisions that would have cost Missouri too much and created business incentives for questionable causes, Rep. Ron Richard, R-Joplin, the bill’s sponsor, said legislators from the Senate and the House paired the bill from $200 million to $51 million.
The bill started out as a basic economic incentive package that expanded the state’s ability to give companies tax incentives for jobs they created that paid wages more than the county average and for which employers provided health insurance and paid at least half that cost.
But before the bill landed on Blunt’s desk, legislators added 18 amendments to the Quality Jobs Act. Richard said most of the amendments were added in the Senate, but most of the additions were able to be taken out in recent negotiations among the senators.
“The purpose of the negotiations was to get as many people as possible comfortable with the new bill,” Richard said. “The governor and budget chairs were concerned about the price, but we managed to meet their expectations.”
Cutting costs
Jessica Robinson, spokeswoman for Blunt’s office, said by the time legislators start the special session, the revised bill will be mostly complete. Blunt has already established what he wants accomplished by the bill.
Many of the amendments to the Quality Jobs Act have been cut, and even the original incentives have been paired down in the revised version. The cap on the Quality Jobs Program will increase from $12 million to $40 million, but not as high as the originally requested $50 million. The portion of the bill dealing with enhanced enterprise zones increases the cap from $7 million to $14 million, but not as high as the originally requested $18 million increase.
Richard said other major elements of the legislation concern venture capital, a land assemblage piece designed to allow developers to put together packages to redevelop inner cities and tax incentives for the cattle industry.
Nodler said he thinks exceeding a $50 million impact with the bill wouldn’t have been fiscally prudent, and the special session is a chance to keep the parts of the bill that pack the most punch for the state’s dollars.
“The increased commitment to the Quality Jobs portion is great. It’s the most important part of the bill,” Nodler said. “I think it will ultimately produce additional revenue for the state.”
Session schedule
Aaron Willard, communications director for the Missouri House of Representatives, said the first day of the special session, legislators will file the revised bill and hold a first and second reading. Tuesday, the bill will go through a series of committees, and Thursday it will be voted on and sent for fiscal review. Willard anticipates the bill could get its third reading by Thursday night and head for the Senate.
The Senate’s tentative schedule for the special session is to hear the bills on Aug. 27, put the bills through committee Aug. 28, and finish with a third reading on Aug. 29.
The special session will also address the Safe and Sound Bridge Improvement Program that would allow contractors to access the bonds needed for bridge improvement and replacement projects. Blunt’s office said it has been working on the program for the last year, but it is particularly timely after the recent Minnesota bridge collapse.
Creating new jobs
Rep. Ron Richard, R-Joplin, sponsored the first Quality Jobs Act in 2005, which Gov. Matt Blunt has credited with helping create more than 90,000 jobs in the state. Joplin-area companies such as EaglePicher, LaBarge and Prairie Pride have qualified for tax breaks under that legislation. Richard estimated that more than 7,000 Missouri jobs paying above-average wages currently hang in the balance waiting for the program’s approval in the special session.
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