Economic Development Bill Passes in Final Hours of 2009 Session

JEFFERSON CITY - "Against All Odds" would be a perfect theme song playing in the heads of economic development professionals in the wee hours of Friday morning as the Senate seemed no closer to passing an economic development bill than in February when the bill was originally passed by the House and sent to the Senate.

But disappointment turned to surprise as the Senate, in a rare move, gathered all members of both parties for a caucus meeting before the regular session on the last day of the session. Senators emerged from the caucus meeting with an apparent agreement, went immediately to the floor, adopted the agreed upon amendments, and passed House Bill 191!

The bill did not contain all economic development proposals that had been proposed and adopted by the House. Nor did it contain the caps, limitations, or appropriations language that many in the economic development community feared would stifle the usefulness of our economic development portfolio. The Blue Springs public private partnership was not included, nor were several issues that were critical to expansion projects that had been planned by some private companies. But for a session that looked like it would end without any economic development legislation passing at all, the bill is viewed by many as at least a tempered victory.

The actual language has not yet been posted on the House website, but I have a copy and will try to scan it if it is not available Monday morning. HERE IS A SUMMARY OF THE ITEMS THAT WERE CONTAINED IN THE FINAL VERSION OF THE BILL. Please note the final version of the actual language will be titled "Truly Agreed and Finally Passed" and it is different than the "Senate Committee Substitute" that is currently available.

Associated Industries of Missouri, an MEDC member, was proud to have supported all the economic development proposals this year and we are happy we were able to redeem at least the projects that were included in the final version.

Ray McCarty
President
Associated Industries of Missouri