Regional Economic Development District Bill Survives

May 18, 2007 - After the smoke cleared from last night's late night legislative sessions, we found the tax increment financing provisions added by Sen. Tim Green were not ornerous after all. In fact, they only added an effective date to language already passed in HB 327 that is currently awaiting the Governor's decision to sign or veto.

The regional economic development district portion of our MEDCode bill, HB 741, survived the Senate revisions and was taken up and passed today by the Missouri House. We applaud the efforts of Rep. David Pearce and Rep. Darrell Pollock, who championed this bill. We remain disappointed that the MEDCode was not approved this year, but, as Rep. Pearce stated on the House floor when passing the bill, we will try this legislation again next year.

The legislative session ends at 6:00 p.m. today.