Flook, Pearce, Fisher support pro-business bills

Friday, May 22, 2009

St. Louis Business Journal - byChristopher Tritto

Rep. Tim Flook, Sen. David Pearce and Rep. Barney Fisher are among Missouri lawmakers receiving pats on the back from business leaders and economic development boosters following the close of the General Assembly's 2009 session.

Chief among the bills they backed was House Bill 191, the primary economic development package, sponsored by Rep. Tim Flook (R-Liberty). Among its many provisions hailed by business, the bill would:

• Increase the annual cap on the state's Quality Jobs program from $60 million to $80 million,

• Increase the cap on the New Markets Tax Credit Program from $15 million to $25 million a year and extend the program two years through fiscal 2012,

• Increase the cap on Business Use Incentives For Large-Scale Development (BUILD) program from $15 million to $25 million a year,

• Double the amount of land assemblage tax credits available annually from $10 million to $20 million,

• Eliminate franchise taxes on companies with assets of $10 million or less, and

• Allow the Department of Economic Developmentto include pre-employment training in its new or expanding industry training.

But the bill also caps for the first time annual Historic Preservation Tax Credits at $140 million beginning in July 2010, which disappointed some groups, including the Regional Chamber & Growth Association.

Another pro-business bill is House Bill 1075, sponsored by Rep. Barney Fisher (R-Richards), which would remove a $450 million cap on the amount the state's Board of Unemployment Fund Financing, within the Office of Administration, can borrow for unemployment insurance. This would give the state the option to pay back unemployment insurance debts with loans rather than only through taxes on Missouri employers.

The bill also extends and expands unemployment benefits on a temporary basis using one-time federal funding. The legislation would provide unemployed workers with an additional $25 a week this year and an additional 13 to 20 weeks of extended unemployment benefits for an estimated 34,479 Missourians affected by the recession, according to the non-profit, non-partisan Missouri Budget Project.

Bills that would reform both Missouri's linked-deposit program and the interest rate the state collects on general time deposits at community banks also are heading to Gov. Jay Nixon's desk. The legislation, sponsored by Sen. David Pearce (R-Warrensburg) in the Senate and Flook in the House is known as "Invest in Missouri." It was spearheaded since February by state Treasurer Clint Zweifel and passed both the chambers of the General Assembly without a single "no" vote.

Invest in Missouri could make more money available for loans to Missouri businesses and generate better investment returns on taxpayer dollars. State law currently caps the rate of return on general time deposits to match the U.S. Treasuryyield, which has recently been as low as 0.2 percent. The old statute gave community banks access to cheap money but also encouraged the treasurer to make deposits outside Missouri to reap better rates of return.

Zweifel pushed for the legislation to remove that cap and get taxpayers about $10 million more a year. It would also encourage the treasurer to deposit more money in community banks, providing them with greater liquidity.

Other matters will be left to future sessions of the General Assembly. No consensus was reached, for example, in response to some lawmakers' opposition to potential passage of the federal Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), known among its detractors as "card check" legislation. The proposal would end secret balloting used to vote on union representation and instead give bargaining units the right to form if more than half of workers sign cards. A resolution to protect secret ballot elections sponsored by Rep. Mike Cunningham (R-Rogersville) and Sen. Jack Goodman (R-Mt. Vernon) did not pass.

An Angel Tax Credit and lapsed Research & Development Tax Credit, both designed to stimulate private capital investment, also failed to make their way into final legislation.

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