Davis: The Summer That Never Was

“How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” –Dr. Seuss How true is that statement. Time sure flies the older we get. This summer has gone by sooooo fast, thanks to the tornado. The tornado has cause the saying “the summer that never was” to be nothing but the truth. It has forced Representative Bill White and myself to spend much more time helping people that the summer normally requires. I have enjoyed helping the people of the 128th district, and many times other districts, with problems they face. We have such great people in SW Missouri that I couldn’t be prouder to serve anyone or anywhere. My daughter Jennifer started OTC in Springfield a few weeks ago and she seems to really love the education. She spent 2 years at FTC in culinary arts classes and now will spend the next few years studying at OTC. I am really proud of her and her work ethic. My 14 year old son started Webb City Jr. high 8th grade class on Aug 17th and really enjoys school. We simply have great schools in Webb City, Joplin, Carl Junction and Carthage. Football season has started and boy is it exciting. The Webb City Cardinals are 2-0 so far this season and I look forward to presenting them with another resolution honoring their accomplishments. It is so much fun spending time with neighbors at the games, and I believe it is a needed activity to recover from what our area has gone through over the past few months. My 5 yr old son, Robbie, has started kindergarten at home. My wife has done an awesome job with home schooling Jennifer for 12 years and Timothy for 7 years and simply loves teaching Robbie. Now, on to business ;) The Missouri Constitution requires that, each year, the legislature convene a ‘Veto Session’ in September. The purpose of the session is for the legislature to consider overriding any bills that were vetoed by the Governor. However, this year will be unlike any other veto session as the legislature will also return to hold a special session concurrent with this year’s veto session. The purpose of the special session, which was called by Governor Nixon, will be to pass a number of important bills. Most importantly, though, the legislature will consider a major job creation proposal that will help revamp our state’s economic incentives and create tens of thousands of new, family-supporting jobs. *The bill [SB2], which has received support from some Democrats and some Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate, will be an important step in getting Missouri’s economy moving again. The major provisions of the innovative jobs package are incentives that will help create high-tech jobs, attract amateur sporting events, spur the creation of data centers throughout the state, and bring tens of thousands of new jobs to the state by making the St. Louis Airport an international cargo hub for Chinese trade. In addition to creating these new incentives, the state will overhaul the existing incentive programs that we currently use. These changes could create a savings over 1.5 billion dollars over the next fifteen years that can be used for other important priorities such as education. The jobs package will also create new accountability measures that will include periodic review of these programs and sunset dates that will end the programs if not renewed by the legislature. While this major jobs package will help jumpstart our state’s economy and create the kind of jobs our state so desperately needs right now, we will also consider a number of other important bills during the special session. The bills will: Change the date of Missouri’s Presidential Primary in 2012 to comply with rules established by the national parties to ensure our state does not lose delegate representation at the nominating conventions [HB3] Create a tax amnesty program that allows forgiveness of penalties on delinquent taxes in exchange for paying all back taxes and remaining up-to-date on taxes in the future [HB4] *End state control of the St. Louis Police Department that began during the Civil War by returning it to the City of St. Louis [HB1] Provides a commercial property tax abatement for businesses destroyed in a natural disaster [HB5] Fix the Facebook issue with the schools to allow communication between teachers and students. [SB1] *I have some issues with these particular bills and will have to wait until the final draft to see if I can fully support them or not.

Way to go Joplin Schools superintendant CJ Huff and the entire administrative staff on getting the schools open right on time. Congratulations to Chick-Fil-A on their record breaking rebuild in Joplin and now open serving the people of Joplin. From This: To this (or like this) In 2 months. Great job Wal-Mart, opening Nov 9th (or earlier)