February 16,
2011
Missouri House Majority Leader Tim Jones
Speaks to RCGA Public Policy Council
On February 4th
Missouri House Majority Floor Leader Tim Jones (R-Eureka) spoke
to the RCGA's Public Policy Council about his new
leadership role and the start of session. Rep. Jones lauded the "Fix the Six" business
agenda, saying that many of the bills were already moving quickly
through the House and on to the Senate. The "Fix
the Six" coalition is a statewide group representing the depth
and breadth of Missouri's business community, including the RCGA,
that supports six legislative priorities for the 2011 session to
promote and protect Missouri jobs: employment law
reform, workers' compensation reform, capping the franchise tax,
eliminating the escalator on the minimum wage, tort reform, and
unemployment insurance reform.
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Missouri House Majority Floor Leader Tim
Jones (R-Eureka) speaks about Republican efforts to help improve
the state's business climate and create more quality
jobs.
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Rep. Jones also touted Speaker Steven
Tilley's (R-Perryville) "Show Me Solutions"
legislative proposal, which focuses on five major areas:
jobs and economic development (including
employment law reform); tax reform (including
capping the franchise tax); health care
(including drug testing for Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families recipients); education reform
(including merit pay and changes to teacher tenure policies); and
government accountability, which focuses on
increased transparency and efficiency.
Rep. Jones was pleased that Speaker
Tilley announced committee assignments early, allowing the House
to get to work quickly. He explained that while there is a
steep learning curve for the large freshman class, the new
legislators bring a tremendous amount of knowledge and work life
experience to the process, which has allowed them to jump right
in and contribute. Rep. Jones also noted that the recent
blizzard in Jefferson City turned into a great "unplanned
team-building exercise" that allowed legislators to get to know
one another better while they were trapped inside the capitol.
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RCGA lobbyist Tricia Workman provides an
update on the "Fix the Six"
legislative
package.
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RCGA lobbyists Tricia
Workman and Kim Tuttle also provided
the group with updates on legislation in Jefferson City.
Tricia gave an overview of the "Fix the Six" legislative
package and explained where each bill is in the legislative
process. For example, a workers' compensation bill
(HB
162) that addresses co-employee liability and occupational
diseases already passed the House on February
10th. Swift progress has also been made in the
Senate to cap the corporate franchise tax, as SB
18 has been perfected and is ready for passage. The
other four "Fix the Six" issues -- employment law reform, tort
reform, unemployment insurance and the minimum wage escalator --
have all been filed and continue to work their way through the
legislative process.
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RCGA lobbyist Kim Tuttle outlines issues
of
interest in the Missouri
capitol.
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Kim provided an overview of
several other issues of interest in Jefferson
City. For example, the Missouri
Science and Innovation Reinvestment Act (MOSIRA),
which is one of the RCGA's top priorities to facilitate
investment in innovation and capital formation, has been filed in
both chambers, and several programs from the RCGA's "Grow
Me State" initiative will be heard
in the Senate this week. In addition, the Missouri
Department of Economic Development is crafting a proposal
to streamline several state business incentive programs into a
more flexible program that allows for much-needed "up-front"
funding for critical projects. Two bills were also recently
introduced to spur economic development near dormant
manufacturing plants (such as the former Chrysler facility in
Fenton).
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About Rep. Tim Jones
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Missouri House Majority Floor
Leader
First elected to the House in 2006
Represents House District 89, which is
located in West St. Louis County and includes the cities of
Eureka and Wildwood
Chairman, House Ethics Committee
Chairman, Special Standing Committee on
Election Contests
Attorney at Doster Ullom, LLC
Former Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in
New York
Graduate of St. John's University School
of Law (J.D.), Fordham University (B.A.) and St. Louis University
High School
Lives in Eureka with his wife and two
daughters
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Focus on Illinois: U.S.
Senators Urge FEMA to Reconsider Classification of Metro-East
Levees
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) led a bipartisan
coalition of more than two dozen U.S. Senators in writing a
letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency regarding the agency's
inappropriate re-classification of the American Bottom flood
plain in Southwestern Illinois as "without
levee." All four Senators from Missouri and
Illinois signed the letter, which asks FEMA to use methods that
would classify the levees more precisely. "Just
because a levee is under repair or needs to be recertified does
not mean that it provides no flood protection at all or that its
level of protection cannot be sufficiently modeled," the
letter says.
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(from left) U.S.
Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Mark Kirk
(R-IL), Claire
McCaskill (D-MO), and Roy Blunt (R-MO) each signed the
letter to FEMA.
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The levees in Southwestern Illinois were
built in the 1940s and 1950s to withstand a 500-year flood.
However, in 2007 FEMA announced that it was going to reclassify
the area as "high-risk" because the Army Corps of Engineers
certified that the levees would no longer withstand a 100-year
flood. This reclassification would significantly increase
the cost of flood insurance for the 7,000 businesses and 150,000
residents in the American Bottom. Click
here to view a map of the areas in Southwestern Illinois that
would be affected by the reclassification of the levees.
The Southwestern Illinois
Flood Prevention District was formed in
2009 by Metro-East officials to
make improvements to the levees, which
are expected to be completed in two to three
years. The $130 million worth of repairs are being
funded by a
quarter-cent sales tax that was passed by Madison, St. Clair and
Monroe counties in 2008. Sen. Durbin said that "the
only long-term solution is to bring the levees into a state of
good repair so the region is adequately protected," but in the
meantime he would work "to ensure that Metro East residents and
businesses are not forced to pay unreasonably high insurance
premiums that will put job creation and economic development in
the region at risk."
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Missouri Legislative
Breakfast Sponsored by
Bryan Cave LLP
On
February 9th Bryan Cave LLP sponsored
the third RCGA legislative breakfast of 2011 in Jefferson City
honoring members of the Missouri General Assembly. The
breakfast was hosted by Bryan Cave Partner
Diana
Vuylsteke, Senior Policy Advisor Frank
Plescia, and Manager of Government Affairs Guy
Black.
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Sen. Joe Keaveny (D-St.
Louis) (center) poses for a photo with Bryan Cave hosts
Diana Vuylsteke and Frank Plescia.
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House Minority Whip Mike
Colona (D-St. Louis) (left)
discusses legislative issues with Sen. Kevin Engler
(R-Farmington).
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Rep. Ellen Brandom (Sikeston)
(right) talks with RCGA Public Policy Council
Chair Ted Powers (left), Regional Director of
Government Affairs for Anheuser-Busch Companies, and breakfast
host Guy Black of Bryan Cave.
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Sen. Brian Munzlinger
(R-Williamstown) (left) greets breakfast sponsor
Frank Plescia of Bryan Cave.
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Sen. Mike Parson
(R-Bolivar) (right) and Tina Shannon,
Legislative Representative for Ameren Missouri, enjoy their
morning coffee before heading to the Capitol.
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Breakfast host Guy Black of Bryan Cave
(center) discusses the start of session with
(clockwise from top) House Majority Floor Leader
Tim Jones (R-Eureka), Jeff Brooks, Partner at Armstrong Teasdale,
Sen. Jim Lembke (R-South St. Louis County), Frank Plescia and
Diana Vuylsteke of Bryan Cave, and Ted Powers of
Anheuser-Busch.
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Upcoming Events
February 23
-- Biweekly Legislative Breakfast in Jefferson
City
Join us for our next biweekly Missouri
Legislative Breakfast, sponsored by Express Scripts,
Inc., on Wednesday, February 23rd at the
Doubletree Hotel in Jefferson City. Stop by anytime between
7:00 and 8:30 a.m. RSVP to Sherri Bailey
at sbailey@stlrcga.org.
March 11 -- Public
Policy Speaker Series featuring Tom Donohue
Mark your calendars for the first RCGA
Public Policy Speaker Series event of 2011 featuring Tom
Donohue, President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce. Since assuming his position in 1997,
Donohue has built the U.S. Chamber into a political and lobbying
powerhouse with expanded influence across the globe. Space
will be limited, so please mark your calendar now for this
exciting luncheon event on Friday, March 11th.
More details and registration information will be coming soon.
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