Supporters say thousands of jobs depend on special session

DATELINE: JEFFERSON CITY Mo.

Supporters of an economic development package contend Missouri could miss out on thousands of jobs if lawmakers do not give tens of millions of dollars of additional tax breaks to businesses.

As a special legislative session began Monday, there appeared to be a general consensus for a measure that would more than triple the amount of annual Quality Jobs tax credits available. The program rewards businesses for adding jobs with average wages and health benefits.

Lawmakers also are expected to give firm support to a measure that could speed up repairs to about 800 bridges an issue that fell through the cracks during the final days of this year's regular session, but received heightened attention after the deadly Aug. 1 collapse of a Minneapolis highway bridge.

Republican Gov. Matt Blunt has touted the Quality Jobs and bridge repair bills as the marquee events for a special session that's expected to last about two weeks.

But the official agenda he set also lists more than 30 other specific items under the general heading of economic development, including the legalization of ticket scalping, new tax credits for beef producers and a tripling of the tax breaks available for Missouri-made movies.

The lead House and Senate sponsors of the tax break bill each claimed separately Monday that thousands of new jobs were dependent upon an expansion of the Quality Jobs program.

Rep. Ron Richard, R-Joplin, said roughly 6,000 jobs many in St. Louis County were potentially contingent upon the bill's passage. Sen. John Griesheimer, R-Washington, used a figure of 8,000 to 9,000 when referring to jobs hanging in the balance.

Department of Economic Development Director Greg Steinhoff said the agency has dozens of tax incentive proposals pending before businesses in which their Quality Jobs tax credits are contingent upon approval of a higher tax credit cap. Steinhoff said the exact number of jobs at stake varies from day to day.

"Some of them are just literally waiting to see what happens in this special session," Steinhoff said.

The Quality Jobs program was created in 2005. It allows certain employers to keep a share of the withholding taxes on their workers' paychecks if they pay at least half the premiums of their employees' health insurance and pay wages that are at least average for that county or the state.

In addition to the payroll tax incentives, some business in the Quality Jobs program also receive state tax credits. Those tax credits have been limited to $12 million a year statewide.

A bill passed in May would have raised that cap to $30 million annually, but Blunt vetoed the bill because he said other provisions could have driven the bill's cost up to $200 million while passing out state money to potentially questionable causes.

A new version being considered in the special session would allow up to $40 million annually in Quality Jobs tax credits a figure that Richard suspects will likely fall short of demand again in less than two years.

House Minority Leader Paul LeVota, D-Independence, embraced both the Quality Jobs expansion and the bridge repair measure on Monday, but questioned why some of the other provisions in the economic development package couldn't wait until the 2008 regular session.

Some Democrats have complained that the ticket scalping provision would benefit Ticketmaster, for whom the governor's brother, Andy Blunt, is a lobbyist. Both Ticketmaster and the governor's office have instead cited support for the measure from Missouri's professional sports teams.

Others, including some Republicans, have criticized a provision that would authorize tax breaks to redevelopers who buy numerous parcels of land in impoverished areas as a potential reward for St. Louis developer Paul McKee Jr. McKee has been a big contributor to Blunt, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and various other Republican and Democratic politicians.

Richard said the land assemblage tax credit was one of four economic development provisions worth "dying on the sword for" during the special session.

"In the last 30 years, there's been a need to do something new and innovative for the inner city," said Richard, chairman of the House Job Creation and Economic Development Committee. "I believe it's going to be a model for the entire country."

LeVota countered that it was not the kind of emergency typically warranting a special session.

Richard's committee is to hold a hearing Tuesday on the economic development legislation. His other top three provisions include the Quality Jobs language, expanded tax credits for businesses in local enterprise zones and new tax breaks intended to attract entrepreneurial investors to Missouri.

The total cost of the bill is estimated at $51 million initially, rising by about $15 million annually within a couple of years.

Although the Senate had a full chamber and plenty of discussion on the first day of the special session, just 10 House members were present in the chamber during their 5-minute opening session. House Speaker Rod Jetton, R-Marble Hill, presided in shorts and a casual shirt ignoring the typical dress code of a coat and tie.