Special Session Report
In late June, the Governor called us back to the building for furthered debate of the Manufacturing Jobs Act [HB2] and a bill that would make changes to state employee pension [SB1].The House got to work immediately and convened for a one day session, pushing both bills out the door to the Senate. Although the Senate sent the pension bill to us in a timely manner, they sat on the Manufacturing Jobs Act for quite some time.
The Senate finally passed the bill and sent it back to us. That same day, we truly agreed to both bills and sent them on to the Governor's desk for approval.
Manufacturing Jobs Act
Tax incentives have been a proven-effective way to create jobs in Missouri. Through the Manufacturing Jobs Act, auto manufacturing companies are able to keep half of the withholding taxes for each full time employee, but only if that company continues to make investments in their infrastructure. Qualified companies must make a $75,000 investment per employee to take advantage of these benefits.One of the prime intentions of the legislation is to allow the Ford plant in Liberty to continue operation and build the facilities for a new line of automobiles. This plant employs several hundreds of Missourians and it would do significant harm to our unemployment rate if Ford chose to leave the state. It is our hope that through the Manufacturing Jobs Act, they will leave their doors open and continue to add to Missouri's rich economic environment.
State Pension
The Governor chose to tie the state pension reform bill to the jobs bill for Special Session. Although I don't believe these pieces of legislation are co-dependent, we answered the Governor's call and passed the legislation.This bill changes the requirements for new state employees hired after January 1st, 2011. These new employees will be required to contribute 4% of their salary to their own pension fund, instead of the state paying it for them- which is the current process. According to this legislation, 10 years of employment with the state is required before the employee can become vested in their retirement.
Further, to be eligible for normal retirement under this plan, employees must reach age sixty-seven and complete at least 10 years of service or reach age fifty-five with the sum of the employee's age and service equaling at least ninety.
In light of our economy and the serious condition of our state budget, the House worked swiftly to pass both bills so that no more tax dollars than absolutely necessary would be spent on Special Session.
Special Session has now adjourned and I look forward to coming back to the building for Veto Session in the fall.
Governor Nixon signs legislation into law sponsored by Representative Chuck Gatschenberger
[Operator's note: The bill signed into law was HB1806. Rep. Gatschenberger proposed HB2312, a similar bill which did not advance from committee.]
This bill stops local cities from annexing any territory (i.e. Research Parks) without getting the consent of all the current property owners located within the unincorporated area of such parcels.
"Without this legislation, all the businesses in the Missouri Research park (located @ Hwy 94 and Interstate 64) would have to pay between $50,000 to over $250,000 in extra taxes as an added business cost. This is unacceptable! These companies (in just this one business park) would possibly have had to lay off roughly 35 to 50 employees just to pay these added taxes and that is wrong. We need to help our companies in our state not throw them under the bus. I want businesses to think of Missouri as a good place to do business and that means more jobs for the people that live in our state." … Representative Gatschenberger said.
Standing with Representative Gatschenberger are Cheryl Renne, Controller for Nike and Dennis Fitzgerald from Zoltek.
DED releases June 2010 state jobs report
Release Date: 07/12/2010Contact: John Fougere, (573) 522-5058
JEFFERSON CITY – Missouri's labor market conditions continued to improve in June, according to data released today by the Missouri Department of Economic Development (DED). Missouri's nonfarm payroll employment increased by 3,600 jobs during the month, on a seasonally-adjusted basis, marking the fifth consecutive month of positive job growth in the state. Missouri's net job growth since January 2010 now stands at 26,600, an average of 5,300 new jobs created each month.
The state's seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate stood at 9.1 percent in June, the lowest rate in more than a year, down from 9.3 in May. The state's not-seasonally adjusted rate increased by half a percentage point to 9.2, a standard practice in June each year as summer jobseekers enter the labor force. In comparison, the U.S. rates for June 2010 were 9.5 seasonally-adjusted and 9.6 not-seasonally-adjusted.
The private sector added 6,000 new jobs in June, with noteworthy growth occurring in construction (+1,100); durable goods manufacturing (+2,300, spread through a number of industries); and transportation, warehousing and utilities (+2,200). Increases came in spite of the loss of 3,300 federal government jobs in June, mostly temporary Census workers.
Most other industry groups saw comparatively small changes. The leisure and hospitality industry as a whole saw little change from May as its two major sectors went in opposite directions. Arts, entertainment and recreation saw an employment gain of 1,900, while accommodation and food services employment was down by 2,200.
Payroll employment in the state's metropolitan areas decreased in some areas and increased in others. The reduction of temporary census workers played a substantial role in many areas, particularly in St. Louis (-2,600) and Kansas City (-2,600). On the plus side, Joplin (+1,000) led the way in gains, while most others were relatively unchanged.
Pro-Life Ultrasound Bill Becomes Law!
I am pleased to report that the pro-life ultrasound bill [SB793] adopted by the General Assembly this past session will now become law. Governor Jay Nixon's office allowed Senate Bill 793 to become law without his signature. July 17th was the constitutional deadline for the Governor to either sign or veto the measure. He has declined to do either, meaning the bill will become law as if he had signed it.This is a monumental victory for women and children in Missouri. For the first time since Roe v. Wade, women entering abortion clinics in our state will be told the truth about abortion and what it means to them and their unborn child. The new informed consent law ensures that abortion-minded women are advised of the immediate and long-term risks of abortion to their physical and mental health. Women will also be informed of the humanity of their preborn child, and given the opportunity to see an ultrasound and hear the heartbeat of that child.
This legislation also exempts Missouri from the abortion mandate contained in the new federal health care bill. Health insurance policies sold in Missouri through federally subsidized health insurance exchanges will not be allowed to cover abortions. As a result, Missourians will not be required to underwrite the destruction of unborn children in our state through their taxes or their health insurance premiums.
This is the most significant piece of pro-life legislation to become law in Missouri in nearly 25 years. Women faced with unintended pregnancies will get what they deserve: full disclosure of the alternatives before them so that their decision is truly informed. We thank God for what this means for generations of children and their mothers in our state. Many women will be spared the heartache and indignity of abortion. Many children will know the joys of life and the love of family.
NISC on Computerworld's Top 100 Best IT Places to Work
Suburban Journal (July 24, 2010) --- Computerworld ranked NISC 22nd in the nation in the magazine's annual Best Places to Work in Information Technology. NISC is ranked No. 3 in the nation for businesses with fewer than 2,500 employees. The company has 780; they're evenly divided between Mandan, ND and Lake Saint Louis, MO. The ranking is no fluke. Computerworld has ranked NISC in the top 100 eight times in nine years. Read More...
EDC incubator welcomes 4 new tenants & 1 graduation
Four new business tenants and one graduation from the small business incubator operated by the Economic Development Center of St. Charles County, was announced today by EDC officials. New tenants include Clarus Communications, Conscious Sedation Consulting, 1st Integrity Enterprises and Luxury Bath of St. Charles.The latest graduate from the EDC incubator program is Pro Basement Finishers, a basement remodeling and finishing company, who expanded and opened their new office in O'Fallon. Read More...
Inherited Deficit
The Washington Post babbled about Obama inheriting a huge deficit from Bush. Amazingly enough, a lot of people swallow this nonsense. So once more, a short civics lesson…Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress, and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democratic Party. They controlled the budget process for FY 2008 and FY 2009, as well as FY 2010 and FY 2011. In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases. For FY 2009, though, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the FY 2009 budgets.
And where was Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as president to complete FY 2009. Let's remember what the deficits looked like during that period:
If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the FY 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets. If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself. In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is I inherited a deficit that I voted for and then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since January 20th. WAKE UP, AMERICA, BEFORE ITS TOO LATE !
Fun Facts
A chemistry professor in a large college had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the Professor noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back, and stretching as if his back hurt.The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist government.
In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked, "Do you know how to catch wild pigs?"
The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said this was no joke. "You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in The last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd.
Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.
The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to America. The government keeps pushing us toward socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc.. While we continually lose our freedoms -- just a little at a time.
One should always remember: There is no such thing as a free lunch! Also, a politician will never provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.
Also, if you see that all of this wonderful government "help" is a problem confronting the future of democracy in America you might want to send this on to your friends. If you think the free ride is essential to your way of life then you will probably delete this email, but God help you when the gate slams shut!
Keep your eyes on the newly elected politicians who are about to slam the gate on America.
"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have." –Thomas Jefferson
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