Saturday, November 30, 2013
Special Session Bits
It appears the consensus is that the proposed legislation will start in the Senate on Monday. This is mainly for logistical reasons. If there will be problems and delays, it’s expected they will be in the Senate. So you might as well try to get those out of the way up front.
What is the most likely problem? It’d be in the form of Sens. Rob Schaaf, John Lamping, Brad Lager, Ed Emery, and maybe Will Kraus standing up and admonishing the attempt to “pick winners and losers.”
They might object to the package outright, but more likely would be a fall-back position where they ask to make it revenue neutral. And by revenue neutral, they wouldn’t be thinking of tax increases… No, it’d then be rumble time because no one wants to give up their own “incentives” for Boeing’s. “Never mess with another man’s rice bowl.”
Governor Jay Nixon’s press release mentions $150 million in added capacity to existing programs. See the circulating draft legislation below. It’s incredibly sparse. It mentions creation of 2,000 new jobs within ten years. No claw-back, no sunset. Look the Senate to iron out these issues.
Also according to Nixon, the Boeing RFP has a deadline of December 10, so depending on how fast the Senate can work, and whether the House is ready to suspend rules, it’s possible law-makers might be working over the weekend? We’ll see…
I have not seen the Boeing RFP. In fact some key members of the legislature haven’t seen either the Boeing RFP or the language of Nixon’s proposed bill. That’s how atrocious his outreach to the legislature has been. Nixon will be addressing the Republican House Caucus on Monday, and I assume similar meeting will be set up with the other caucuses in the legislature.
Circulating Draft
620.2500. 1. As used in this section, the following terms shall mean:
(1) “Aerospace project”, a project undertaken on or after December 10, 2013 by or for the benefit of a qualified company with a North American Industry Classification System industry classification of 3364 involving the creation of at least two-thousand new jobs within ten years following the approval of a notice intent pursuant to section 620.2020;
(2) “Job creation, worker training and infrastructure development programs”, the Missouri Works Program established under sections 620.2000 to 620.2020, Missouri Business Use for Large-Scale Development Act established under sections 100.700 to 100.750, the Missouri Works Training Program established under sections 620.800 to 6200.809, and the Real Property Tax Increment Allocation Redevelopment Act established under sections 99.800 to 99.865.
2. Provisions of law to the contrary notwithstanding, no benefits authorized under job creation, worker training or infrastructure development programs for an aerospace project shall be considered in determining compliance with applicable limitations on the aggregate amount of benefits that may be awarded annually or cumulatively under such programs. No aerospace project shall be authorized for benefits under job creation, worker training or infrastructure development programs that exceed, in the aggregate, one hundred and fifty million dollars annually under all such programs.