Passage of bills closes out legislative session

The jobs bill and a large education bill were passed.

By Will Guldin

Published May 21, 2009

Throwing their papers into the air, state representatives celebrated the end of the Missouri General Assembly's 95th session last Friday.

The last day of the session saw a flurry of legislation passed in both houses, but many long-awaited bills failed to materialize by the 6 p.m. deadline.

The jobs bill has been a top priority for Gov. Jay Nixon and Speaker of the House Ron Richard, R-Joplin, but its fate was unclear until the last day of the session when it was approved by a margin of 153-2 by the House of Representatives. First passed in the House during mid-February, the bill was in limbo in the Senate because of controversy surrounding tax cuts for historic preservation programs. 

The bill, which was sent back to the House for final approval, would cap historic preservation tax credits at $140 million. The bill would also raise the spending cap on the Missouri Quality Jobs Program from $60 million to $80 million. Rep. Tim Flook, R-Liberty, sponsored the legislation and said it would help create jobs in Missouri.

"We want to create these jobs and get Missouri in the right direction," Flook said during debate on the House floor. "If we don't get those jobs going, gentlemen, I think we all agree nothing else is going to work."

In addition to increasing small business incentives, the legislature passed a bill giving increased benefits to unemployed workers. The legislation, if signed into law, would remove the $450 million cap on unemployment benefits the Board of Unemployment Fund Financing is able to distribute at one time. The bill would also lower the requirements people must meet in order to receive unemployment.  

Amy Blouin, executive director of the Missouri Budget Project, a non-profit public policy analyst group, said this unemployment legislation was especially important now given the tough economic times.  

"Unemployment went up to 8.7 percent," Blouin said. "So it was a critical issue that needed to pass."  

An omnibus education bill sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Charlie Shields, R-St. Joseph, was another bill passed in the final days of the session. With more than 20 other bills included in it, the omnibus bill would do many things, ranging from creating a foster student bill of rights to establishing a preschool grant program for more than 1,200 students. 

Otto Fajen, Missouri National Education Association legislative director, said he was glad the omnibus bill passed and said the legislative session went well.

"If you look at it from a policy point of view what passed was very good and a lot of stuff that was very bad did not pass," Fajen said. "From a funding point of view it is not so great. There was an opportunity to do more with the federal Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, but that decision was not made. The legislature decided to largely stay the course."

Health care reform was one of notable absences from last day legislation. Nixon originally promised during his campaign to restore health care coverage to 35,000 families after it was removed during former Gov. Matt Blunt's term. Blouin said this was a loss for everyone in Missouri.    

"The biggest loss this session for all of Missouri was that legislation failed to come to a consensus on health care," Blouin said. "Thirty-five thousand families would have benefited from the governor's plan to restore health care. The Senate supported this with a bipartisan effort, but unfortunately the House did not. It's a horrible loss for the state."

Another strongly debated piece of legislation that failed to pass was the Fair Tax, which was a plan to replace the income, corporate and estate taxes with a higher sales tax. David Stokes, a policy analyst with the Show-Me Institute, an organization that advocates free market solutions to public policy problems, said despite the failure of the Fair Tax to pass he was glad it was brought up. 

"I knew that this is a long term thing and I am glad that there is serious discussion about it but I'd like to see that discussion continue," Stokes said. "Missouri's tax rate is high and I'd like to see the people get a chance to vote and say if they would like to see it move a sales tax-based revenue system."

Stokes said overall this session showed how different parties can work together. 

"It was a very positive session for Missouri and a good sign of things to come," Stokes said. "We saw different parties in control with a Democratic governor and a Republican legislature and I think they worked well together for Missouri."