Political chaos stalls key business priorities during Missouri’s 2024 legislative session, harming employers and families.
Legislation to address Missouri’s child care crisis and improve our state’s legal climate failed to progress this legislative session, stymied by lawmakers who chose to prioritize political spectacle over practical governance.
The Missouri General Assembly achieved the bare minimum this year by fulfilling its constitutional obligation to pass a budget. Legislators sent just 28 non-appropriations bills to Gov. Mike Parson’s desk, despite filing more than 2,500 bills and resolutions, making this one of the least-productive sessions in modern memory.
Repeatedly, political posturing and dysfunction stood in the way of moving Missouri forward. Members of the Freedom Caucus – Sen. Rick Brattin (R-Harrisonville), Sen. Bill Eigel (R-Weldon Spring), Sen. Denny Hoskins (R-Warrensburg), Sen. Andrew Koenig (R-Manchester) and Sen. Nick Schroer (R-Defiance) – paralyzed the Missouri Senate with their political grandstanding, preferring media attention to statesmanship and compromise.
Ultimately, it is Missouri employers, families and communities that will suffer.
“The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry is disappointed that factional fighting stood in the way of effective governance. While we commend the leaders who worked tirelessly to defend Missouri’s interests against the chaos, their efforts were overshadowed by a small group of obstructionists who chose personal ambition over the people they were elected to serve,” said Daniel P. Mehan, president and CEO of the Missouri Chamber. “The 2024 legislative session demonstrates the importance of electing candidates who are truly committed to serving the people of Missouri. Too often, our time was spent stopping egregious attempts to mandate private employers’ policies, rather than moving Missouri forward. The Missouri Chamber will always stand up against anti-business extremists at all levels of government.”
Pro-business priorities blocked
Once again, lawmakers failed to pass legislation to address two of the business community’s top concerns: access to child care and legal climate reform.
Although addressing the state’s child care crisis was a priority of Gov. Mike Parson, the Freedom Caucus blocked a bipartisan plan to do so. Despite widespread public support – nearly 90% of Missouri voters believe increasing access to child care will help more parents succeed in the workplace – the full Senate failed to vote on an innovative tax credit package to increase the capacity of child care providers and help businesses offer child care benefits to support the retention and recruitment of employees.
Trial attorney-backed legislators also blocked efforts to reform our state’s legal climate, shutting down efforts to modernize Missouri’s outdated statute of limitations. The current five-year statute of limitations creates costly delays in our state’s legal system, hurting Missouri’s economic competitiveness and tilting the judicial system against employers.
Session successes
Even with these challenges, there are some wins for the business community to celebrate.
In the Missouri Chamber’s annual survey of CEOs and business leaders, 90 percent said public safety was a top concern or a growing concern. SB 754, sponsored by Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer (R-Parkville) and handled by Rep. Lane Roberts (R-Joplin), contains a wide variety of crime reduction measures, including new penalties for reckless celebratory gunfire, tougher criminal penalties for repeat and violent offenders, and easier record expungement for minor, non-violent offenses.
“The Missouri business community is nearly unanimous on this issue – crime is hurting our state’s economic competitiveness,” Mehan said. “The negative national attention stalls economic growth, and most importantly, the day-to-day impact on Missouri lives and communities is unacceptable. We are encouraged by lawmakers’ action on the growing problem of public safety.”
SB 748, sponsored by Sen. Lincoln Hough (R-Springfield), renews the Federal Reimbursement Allowance, or FRA, program. The FRA program is a critical funding mechanism for sustaining essential health care services across our state. For more than 30 years, Missouri hospitals, nursing homes and pharmacies have paid this provider fee in order to sustain Missouri’s Medicaid program, known as MO HealthNet. SB 748 extends the FRA program through 2029.
“Employees want to live and work in places where they have access to quality health care and hospitals,” Mehan said. “We commend legislators who put politics aside to pass SB 748. Their work will help keep hospitals open in both rural and urban areas and ensure Missouri’s continued economic and physical health. We appreciate Sen. Lincoln Hough’s commitment to fiscal responsibility and his ability to navigate the FRA’s passage despite efforts to block this legislation by those who don’t have Missouri’s best interests in mind.”
Lawmakers also passed HB 1803, sponsored by Rep. Terry Thompson (R-Lexington) and handled by Sen. Sandy Crawford (R-Buffalo), to increase the cap on the MOBUCK$ program. Through the MOBUCK$ program, the state treasurer’s office works with qualified lenders to offer loans at lower interest rates to Missouri small businesses, farmers and local governments. The MOBUCK$ program is an important economic driver for the state, and the Missouri Chamber advocated in support of its expansion.
The state budget includes funding for many key business priorities, including money to expand I-44, build and retain a skilled workforce, and onshore high-tech manufacturing industries that are vital to national security.
Interstate 44 will expand to six lanes in Rolla, Springfield and Joplin due to $727.5 million in appropriations, further positioning Missouri as a national logistics leader.
Thanks to the Missouri Chamber’s advocacy efforts, employers will be able to tap into funding to help their workers earn new skills. The Department of Economic Development budget includes $3 million for the upskill credential program – an important tool to build and retain a skilled workforce. The competitive grant program for businesses is designed to support employees who earn short-term certificates or credentials in vital areas for Missouri’s economy, such as cybersecurity, welding, HVAC repair, nursing and manufacturing technology.
The Missouri Chamber also led the push to secure $15 million to help bring more high-tech manufacturing to Missouri – specifically, the manufacturing of semiconductors and active pharmaceutical ingredients, or APIs. This state funding combats the public health and national security risk caused by an over-reliance on foreign-sourced products.
Stopping government overreach
Too often, the Missouri Chamber was focused on stopping government overreach in the form of legislation that threatened to derail our state’s progress.
In committee, the Missouri Chamber testified 32 times in opposition, opposing roughly one out of every five pieces of legislation. Our efforts were needed to defend Missouri employers against a slew of anti-business proposals, including bills that aimed to:
Our position remains the same: Let business decide.
By standing up for Missouri job creators, we have protected all Missourians’ ability to run their business as they see fit.
“The Missouri Chamber will always defend free enterprise. No matter the issue, when government attempts to reach into business affairs, our position is simple – let business decide,” Mehan said. “Every employer is different, and we believe they know best how to run their own business. When it comes to workplace policies, government should stay out of the way.”
