SENATE APPROVES ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BILL

August 29 - The Missouri Senate today approved the economic development bill, HB 1, sponsored by Representative Ron Richard and handled in the Senate by Senator John Griesheimer.

The Senate debated for more than 10 hours on the bill and added six amendments, none of which appear to be problematic. The bill must now be approved by the House. The House plans to take the bill up at 10:00 a.m. Thursday.

This was an extraordinary outcome and is the direct result of emails and phone calls from MEDC members.

If approved by the House on Thursday, the bill will be sent to the Governor for signature.

Senator Griesheimer Takes Lead on Economic Develoment Bill in Senate

August 27 - Senator John Griesheimer, Chairman of the Senate Economic Development, Tourism and Local Government Committee, held a hearing today on House Bill 1, sponsored by Rep. Ron Richard.

The bill was approved by the Senate committee with only minor changes and will now be sent to the full Senate for further deliberations. The bill will likely be taken up for passage on Wednesday, August 29.

House Passes Economic Development Bill - Next Stop: Missouri Senate

August 23 - The Missouri House today gave first round approval to the economic development bill, HB 1. You may find a copy of the bill here.

Although there were many amendments offered, only one amendment was found to be in order and passed by the House, a technical correction in the title of the bill. The emergency clause was NOT adopted in the House. The new caps for Quality Jobs, Enhanced Enterprise Zones and all other provisions of the bill will become effective ninety days after the end of the special legislative session.

Rep. Ron Richard handled the bill expertly to pass the bill in a bipartisan fashion. The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration next week.

Representative Ron Richard Files Economic Development Bill

August 20, 2007 - Representative Ron Richard (R-129, Joplin, pictured at right), Chairman of the Special Committee on Job Creation and Economic Development, today filed House Bill 1, an omnibus economic development bill. The bill contains many of the provisions that were included in House Bill 327, but does not contain the issues to which the Governor objected.

The bill contains the elements listed in the articles below, including the Missouri Quality Jobs and Enhanced Enterprise Zone program increases, extension of the New Jobs Training program, New Markets tax credits, and other programs important to economic developers across the state.

The bill has been set for hearing before the Special Committee on Job Creation and Economic Development for noon on August 21, followed by a hearing in the House Rules Committee, chaired by Rep. Shannon Cooper. The Rules Committee determines whether the floor debate on the bill should be limited to a certain amount of time or unlimited. If approved by both committees, the bill will likely be taken up for debate by the full House on Thursday, August 23. The Senate is expected to take up the bill next week.

If you value the Quality Jobs and Enhanced Enterprise Zone programs, please use the "Legislator Lookup" link at right to find your state senator and state representative and send them a note or give them a call letting them know you need the economic development bill to pass during the Special Session.

The Special Session will likely conclude within two weeks.

Details of Governor Blunt's Special Session Call

August 16 - Governor Matt Blunt today issued the official call for special session with details of the bill he would like the legislature to pass during the session. For the details, click here.

Back To Work!!! Governor Calls Special Session

Governor Matt Blunt today called lawmakers back into special session beginning August 20, 2007. On the agenda for the special session are economic development incentives and transportation improvements.

Increases in the annual tax credit limits for Quality Jobs (from $12 million to $40 million) and Enhanced Enterprise Zones (from $7 million to $14 million), extension of the New Jobs Training program, New Markets Tax Credits, TIF prohibitions in the East-West Gateway Council of Governments area, beef tax credits, film tax credits, transfer of the Missouri Training and Employment Council to the Workforce Investment Board and several other items are on the agenda. Also included will be a provision allowing most tax credits to be transferable and allowing charitable organizations to qualify for tax incentive programs.

A Land Assemblage Tax Credit, allowing developers in certain disadvantaged areas to receive a tax credit for half of their acquisition costs and all of the interest incurred in the assembly of large tracts of property for development is also to be included in the bill. The Land Assemblage Tax Credit was the subject of a threatened filibuster by several senators during the regular session and it is unclear whether the inclusion of this credit will again cause problems with the economic development package.

It is our hope that whether this tax credit is included in the final bill or not, legislators are able to approve the Quality Jobs, Enhanced Enterprise Zones and New Jobs Training program changes.

The Quality Jobs program was first suggested by the MEDC after the group funded a report showing best practices in economic development and similar programs showed success in other states. MEDC successfully passed the Quality Jobs act with the support of Governor Matt Blunt in 2005 and the program has been wildly successful in encouraging the creation of more than 12,500 new jobs with an average wage of over $46,000 and health insurance benefits. Click here for a report by the Taxpayers Research Institute of Missouri showing the success of the program.

MEDC will work very hard to ensure the Quality Jobs and Enhanced Enterprise Zone programs are extended and will work with our partners on other items in the bill.

2007 Legislation Affecting MEDC (FINAL)

HCS HB 184 – CHILDREN’S SERVICES PROTECTION ACT (Signed by Governor July 5, 2007)

• Prevents sales taxes levied for Children Services Protection from being diverted to TIF projects after August 28, 2007.

SS HB 205 – TOURISM (Signed June 26, 2007)

• Authorizes local transient guest taxes for Pemiscot County, the City of Sullivan, and part of the Sullivan C-II School District in Franklin County.

• Allows additional cities and counties to form theater, cultural arts and entertainment districts that are currently allowed only in St. Charles County.

• Extends the Division of Tourism Supplemental Revenue Fund expiration date to June 30, 2015.

SS SCS HCS HB 327 – ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (Vetoed by Governor July 6, 2007)

• TIF provisions:

• Any municipality in St. Louis County, St. Charles County, or Jefferson County to establish a county TIF commission similar to St. Louis County’s current TIF commission to approve TIF projects in those areas;

• Prohibits any new TIF projects in “greenfields” in St. Louis City or County, or in St. Charles, Jefferson or Franklin counties;

• Prohibits any new TIF in a 100-year flood plain (including the "flood plain" as currently designated by FEMA or as amended in the future by FEMA).

• Hunting Heritage Protection Act;

• Land Assemblage Tax Credit – allows a developer to receive a tax credit equal to 50% of the acquisition costs and 100% of the interest on financing used to assemble large tracts of land of at least 75 acres in certain areas. The credit is capped at $12 million per year with a cumulative cap of $100 million;

• Small Business Investment Tax Credit revisions;

• Disabled person home modification tax credit;

• Civil War Site Preservation Tax Credit;

• Maternity Homes Tax Credit cap increase from $2 million to $3 million;

• Qualified Beef Tax Credit with an annual cap of $10 million and cumulative cap of $30 million;

• Equity Investment Tax Credit of up to $15 million annually;

• Film Production Tax Credit changes and increasing the annual cap from $1.5 to $10.5 million;

• Enhanced Enterprise Zone annual cap raised from $7 million to $25 million and other technical changes to the program;

• Missouri Homestead Preservation Act changes in exemption limit;

• Tax incentives for alternative fuel sellers and consumers;

• Motor fuel tax exemptions for public transit and school buses;

• Sales tax exemptions for common carriers used in intrastate commerce;

• Rebuttable presumption that auto manufacturers meet the 25% recycled raw material requirement of the Electrical Energy Direct Pay exemption, eliminating current requirements that require them to prove entitlement to such exemption every year (all current auto manufacturers already qualify for the exemption) ;

• Sales tax exemption for agricultural biotechnology and plant genomics utility and other purchases and for utilities used in pharmaceutical research and development;

• State and local sales tax exemption for all manufacturing inputs;

• Sales tax exemption for aviation jet fuel used for transoceanic flights;

• Eliminates “nexus” for out-of-state companies (including Internet retailers) that own or control a distribution or data processing center in Missouri, allowing such companies to avoid sales and use tax collection requirements and ensuring there is no income tax liability or franchise tax liability for such out-of-state companies. Currently, such out-of-state companies would be required to collect and remit sales or use taxes on sales made to Missouri customers;

• Vocational School Districts are authorized for several counties;

• New Jobs Training Program expiration is extended for an additional 10 years;

• Family Development Account program changes;

• Transportation Development District changes;

• Establishes a Regional Railroad Authority in all Missouri cities and counties;

• Workforce Investment Board is established and the Missouri Training and Employment Council is eliminated;

• Quality Jobs Program changes and increases in tax credit annual cap from $12 million to $30 million;

• Small Business and Entrepreneurial Growth Act allowing small businesses to retain withholding tax if they are adding a certain number of jobs, do not otherwise qualify for Quality Jobs, and pay at least 85% of the county average wage; and,

• Decriminalization of ticket scalping.

SS HCS HB 741 – REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DISTRICTS (Signed by Governor June 26, 2007)

• TIF provisions:

• Any municipality in St. Louis County, St. Charles County or Jefferson County to establish a county TIF commission similar to St. Louis County’s current TIF commission and requires municipalities in these counties and Franklin County to receive approval from the county TIF commission for TIF projects after January 1, 2008;

• Requires 2/3 majority vote of a city’s governing body to overturn a TIF commission’s disapproval of a TIF project beginning January 1, 2008;

• Requires the Joint Committee on Tax Policy to study the Missouri Economic Development Code as proposed by the MEDC that would allow voluntary participation by local taxing districts in an incremental financing plan, and to have the results of that study reported to the General Assembly by December 31, 2007 (provisions authorizing the Missouri Economic Development Code were removed from the bill);

• Allows locally owned small businesses in some rural communities to participate in the linked deposit program;

• Disabled person home modification tax credit;

• Makes changes to the Missouri Qualified Biodiesel Producer Incentive Fund program to allow the use of non-Missouri feedstock and other changes;

• Allows local governments to establish Regional Economic Development Districts and to finance projects in such districts with locally imposed sales taxes or TIF and requires reports to be made available to the public annually on the use of district funds;

• Establishes the Rice Certification Committee to control the production, transportation and receipt of rice products in Missouri and to encourage the development of new types of Missouri rice.

SCS HCS HB 795 – LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (Signed by Governor June 30, 2007)

• Allows some cities and counties to impose transient guest taxes;

• Allows additional cities and counties to form theater, cultural arts and entertainment districts that are currently allowed only in St. Charles County.

CCS HCS SS SCS SB 22 – LOCAL GOVERNMENT (Signed by Governor July 13, 2007)

• Changes statute authorizing creation of Neighborhood Improvement Districts;

• Authorizes transient guest taxes in certain cities and counties and allows cities with a population of less than 7,500 to transfer 40% of tourism tax revenues to their general revenue fund ;

• Provides for an audit of tax collection and expenditures for tourism purposes in political subdivisions that do not currently have such audit procedures;

• Allows merger of certain Community Improvement Districts and makes other changes to the law authorizing such districts;

• Allows additional cities and counties to form theater, cultural arts and entertainment districts that are currently allowed only in St. Charles County;

• Revises the “Kansas and Missouri Regional Investment District Compact” to become the “Missouri Regional Investment District Compact” if Kansas has not enacted their part of the compact by August 28, 2007;

• Allows the City of Joplin to enact a local sales tax for the benefit of nonprofit museums and nonprofit organizations that operate or promote historic sites;

• Authorizes TIF in flood plains in the City of St. Charles in certain circumstances;

• Requires all affected taxing entities in Boone County to receive notice and PILOTs in industrial development project plans approved after May 15, 2005;

• Provides a sales tax exemption for contractors fulfilling contracts with MoDOT;

• Changes provisions regarding Transportation Development Districts;

CCS HCS SB 30 – TAX PROVISIONS (Signed by Governor June 13, 2007)

• Prevents sales taxes levied for Children Services Protection from being diverted to TIF projects after August 28, 2007;

• Authorizes additional transient guest taxes in certain counties and cities;

• Sales tax exemptions for common carriers used in intrastate commerce;

• Sales tax exemption for agricultural biotechnology and plant genomics utility and other purchases and for utilities used in pharmaceutical research and development;

• State sales tax exemption for all manufacturing inputs;

• Sales tax exemption for sales and leases made by cities and counties under a Chapter 100 arrangement, provided such exemption is approved by the Department of Economic Development;

• Family Development Account program changes;

CCS HCS SB 81 – LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (Signed June 30, 2007)

• Allows some cities and counties to impose transient guest taxes;

• Allows additional cities and counties to form theater, cultural arts and entertainment districts that are currently allowed only in St. Charles County.

SS SCS SB 225 – HUNTING HERITAGE and TIF IN FLOOD PLAINS (Signed by Governor July 3, 2007)

• Establishes a protected area in 100 year flood plains of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, protecting hunting in such areas with some exceptions;

• Prohibits new TIF projects in 100 year flood plains of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers except:

• Projects that improve flood or drainage protection; and

• Renewable fuel production facility projects as long as no other new development results from the project;
• Flood plain is area designated as such by FEMA and any change in the flood plain as determined by FEMA.

CCS SB 233 – LOCAL TAXES (Signed June 30, 2007)

• Prevents sales taxes levied for Children Services Protection from being diverted to TIF projects after August 28, 2007

• Authorizes the City of Gladstone to impose a local transient guest tax;

• Requires disbursement of excess funds in industrial development projects in Boone County to all affected taxing entities.

CCS HCS SB 376 – TOURISM SUPPLEMENTAL REVENUE (Signed by Governor May 3, 2007)

• Extends the expiration date on the Division of Tourism Supplemental Revenue Fund to June 30, 2015

SS#6 SCS SB 389 – HIGHER EDUCATION (Signed by Governor May 23, 2007)

• Establishes the Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative, authorizing the transfer of assets from the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA) to the Lewis and Clark Discovery Fund for:

• Construction of capital projects at public colleges and universities;

• The Missouri Technology Corporation to assist in the commercialization of technologies developed at these institutions;

• Additional scholarship programs;

• Allows public colleges and universities to increase tuition up to the annual change in the Consumer Price Index and provides that institutions that raise tuition above this limit must remit 5% of its state appropriation to the General Revenue Fund with certain exceptions, subject to final decision by the Coordinating Board of Higher Education.

For more detailed information on these bills, including their current status, please consult the actual text of the bills. You may access the text of the bills at: http://house.mo.gov/jointsearch/