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| September 23, 2009
Focus on Illinois: Council Formed to
Address Mississippi River Levee Repairs
Time is of the essence in
restoring the level of protection of the levee systems in
Southwestern Illinois. Until the flood protection systems are
fixed, the risk of flooding and threat to public safety is
elevated. In addition, the reclassification of the
American Bottom in Illinois as a flood hazard area by FEMA can
have a dramatic and chilling effect on economic growth, which
adversely impacts the entire St. Louis region.
As a
result, Madison, St. Clair and Monroe Counties formed the
Southwestern Illinois Flood
Protection District Council to facilitate levee system restoration along the
Mississippi River. Repairs to the levees are needed to
withstand a 100-year flood and adequately protect 150,000
residents and 4,000 business in the Metro-East. When
the District Council began its work, levee repairs were
estimated to cost $180 million. With more detailed engineering
evaluations the costs have escalated to nearly $500
million.
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Flood wall protection along the Mississippi
River during Great Flood of 1993
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On July 21st, Les Sterman,
former Executive Director of East-West Gateway, was named the
new Chief Supervisor of Construction and Works for the District
Council. The District Council and Sterman plan to name
a blue-ribbon panel of experts on levees and infrastructure
financing to provide advice on reaching the new funding
estimates. The Panel's work is expected to take three months.
Meanwhile the district is pursuing an AR (Restoration) Zone
designation from FEMA. The AR Zone designation recognizes
restoration work is underway, and as a result, property owners
would see some relief on the cost of required flood insurance
and restrictions on new buildings constructed in the zone. To
aid Southwestern Illinois property owners, U.S.
Representative Jerry Costello has introduced legislation that
would suspend flood insurance rate increases in areas in which
levees are being repaired. Illinois submission of an
application to FEMA for AR zone designation is due on October
19th. For more information on the Southwestern Illinois Flood
Protection District go to: http://www.swillinoislevees.org/.
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Missouri
Senate Job Creation 2020 Committee Discusses Strategies for
Long-Term Economic Growth
During the 2009 legislative session Missouri
Senate President Pro Tem Charlie Shields (R-St.
Joseph) created the "Senate Job Creation 2020
Committee" to develop long-term strategies to improve economic
prosperity and opportunities for Missourians by creating,
attracting and retaining quality jobs. The committee, chaired
by Sen. Tom Dempsey (R-St. Charles), held its
first meeting during the Veto Session in Jefferson City on
September 15th.
The
committee agreed that future hearings should address these
questions:
- What will the Missouri workforce look like in 2020?
What employee skills and knowledge will be needed to grow the
state’s economy?
- What will industry/business look like in 2020?
Where are future opportunities for growth? What are the
challenges?
- What role should government play in job
creation?
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How can we maximize job creation through public-private
partnership? How do we balance public and private
interests?
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What “best practices” or models in other states can we learn
from?
After electing
Sen. Brad Lager (R-Savannah) as Vice-Chair the
committee set its fall hearing schedule:
- September 30th at
Rockhurst University in Kansas City
- October
28th at the University of
Missouri-St. Louis
- November 18th at the
University of Missouri-Columbia
RCGA Public Policy staff are attending these hearings
and actively participating in the policy discussions related to
Missouri's job creation strategies.
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| (from left) Job Creation 2020 Committee
Chairman Senator Tom Dempsey (R-St. Charles) and Vice-Chairman
Senator Brad Lager (R-Savannah) |
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RCGA
Public Policy Council Begins Crafting 2010 Legislative Agenda
The
RCGA Public Policy Council (PPC) began its discussions on the
2010 Legislative Agenda at a September 18th meeting with
presentations on a variety of topics, some of which had not
previously been considered by the PPC. The RCGA Legislative
Agenda is aimed at growing the St. Louis regional economy
through policy positions on economic development,
transportation, education and health care.
Melanie
Withrow of Partners for Progress of Greater St. Charles
presented plans to expand the METS programs to school
districts across Missouri. METS is an effort to
improve student achievement and interest in Math, Engineering,
Technology and Science. Missouri’s first "METS Week" will be
March 1-6, 2010. A coalition of companies and educational
institutions is working to secure funding for programs and
events during METS Week that will raise awareness of METS
careers and strengthen the skills of teachers in METS
subjects.
Kim Tucci, former chairman of the Missouri Film
Commission, spoke on the importance of the Film Tax
Credit to film production in the
State. Tucci described how St. Louis was selected as
the site for the upcoming George Clooney film Up In The
Air. The film's production crew spent some $30 million in
St. Louis and generated work for thousands of actors,
electricians, and construction workers. Tucci explained that
without the film tax credit the movie would not have been made
in Missouri. An effort is underway to increase the tax credit
to attract more film production and to develop a more robust
film industry.
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(left)
Melanie Withrow, Senior
Vice President of Public Affairs for Partners for Progress of
Greater St. Charles discusses METS week in Missouri.
(right) Kim Tucci, president of The Pasta House Company
and former chairman of the Missouri Film Commission
discusses the State's Film Tax Credit.
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Hugh Scott III of the Metro Board of
Commissioners spoke
about plans to ask St. Louis County residents to approve a
half-cent sales tax increase next April to support Metro
operations and expansion. A similar ballot initiative
narrowly failed in November 2008, but Metro believes that the
resulting service cutbacks made an impact on the public's
understanding of the importance of a strong transit system.
John Noce, Chief Financial Officer of Metro,
also presented Metro’s legislative proposal to amend their
compacts in Missouri and Illinois to extend the
allowable term on capital bonds from 30 to 40 years.
The longer term bonds would free up some $1.5 million annually
from debt service to be used for other purposes.
Tom
Shrout of Citizens for Modern Transit asked the
RCGA to continue its strong support for a high-speed rail
corridor between Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City.
Plans are already underway for upgrading the Chicago to St.
Louis line to 110 miles per hour, but greater improvements need
to made in Missouri before the St. Louis-Kansas City route can
proceed. This year MODOT funded projects to create additional
siding rails between Jefferson City and Kansas City to allow
passenger trains to bypass freight trains, improving performance
substantially along that route. Further upgrades along the rail
line would require federal and state appropriations.
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(left)
Hugh Scott III., member of the Metro Board of
Commissioners, answers questions on the Metro ballot initiative
with John Noce, Metro's Chief Financial Officer.
(right) Tom Shrout, Executive Director for Citizens for
Modern Transit educates the audience on high speed rail between
Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas
City.
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Ray Wagner of
Enterprise Holdings described
Proposition
E-911,
a November 2009 ballot initiative to establish an
emergency response system throughout St. Louis County.
Wagner serves as the treasurer of the initiative, which seeks a
one-tenth of one cent sales tax increase to allow emergency
responders to update their technology and communicate more
effectively. Currently, fire and rescue departments from
neighboring cities cannot communicate on one frequency and
cannot coordinate their efforts.
Former Missouri State Senator
John Loudon presented a Missouri initiative petition
campaign aimed at preserving secret ballot elections in the
workplace. The “Save Our Secret Ballot” initiative has
been developed in response to pending federal legislation called
the "Employee Free Choice Act." Save Our Secret Ballot aims to
protect Missouri businesses from the “card check” method of
authorization for representation that would become
premissable under the proposed federal law.
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| (left)
Ray Wagner, Vice President of Legal and Legislative
Affairs for Enterprise Holdings answers questions on Proposition
E-911, a ballot initiative in St. Louis County to improve
communications technology for emergency responders.
(right) Former Missouri Senator John Loudon explains the
"Save Our Secret Ballot" initiative
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Gordon Reel of
Enterprise Holdings
and Bill Lawson of The Lowenbaum
Partnership described recent employment law court cases that
could adversely impact the business climate in
Missouri. In the last few years, legal decisions have
changed the definition of "whistleblower," eliminated damage
caps, and changed the causation standard, making cases more
frequent and costly for businesses. A broad group of business
organizations is seeking to restore balance to employment law in
Missouri by advocating for the elimination of individual
liability, restoring and affirming causation standards in
discrimination and whistleblower cases, and implementing damage
caps.
 
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| (left) Gordon
Reel, Assistant Vice President of Government Affairs at
Enterprise Holdings and Bill Lawson (right), an
attorney with The Lowenbaum Partnership, LLC, discuss changes to
employment law in Missouri. |
The PPC
will discuss these and other issues as it continues to shape the
RCGA's 2010 Legislative Agenda. Top priorities in 2009 included
the "Grow Me State" initiative to help close Missouri's capital
formation gap, full funding of the Missouri Life Sciences
Research Trust Fund, support for proven economic development tax
credits, passage of the capital bill in Illinois, and Sales Tax
And Revenue (STAR) Bonds legislation for large-scale development
in Illinois. The RCGA Board of Directors will adopt the 2010
agenda at their November board meeting.
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| Renewable Energy and Green Jobs
Training Programs Growing in St. Louis Region
The RCGA's Energy and Environmental
Council, chaired by Steve Poplawski of Bryan
Cave LLP, previewed the future of the clean-energy
economy with presentations on renewable energy and green jobs.
Kevin Gunn, Missouri Public Service
Commissioner, spoke about Missouri's potential for
renewable energy generation. He emphasized the importance of
energy efficiency and new laws that encourage area utility
companies to expand their energy efficiency program.
Gunn detailed Missouri's potential for wind, solar,
biomass and hydroelectric energy. He described biomass as
holding the greatest potential in Missouri, given the abundance
of switchgrass, timber residue and biologic methane available in
the State. Demonstration projects using methane from
landfills are showing great success and could be replicated
throughout the state. The new renewable energy
portfolio standards passed in November 2008 through Proposition
C will stimulate further purchasing of renewables by electric
companies and incent solar power production.
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Missouri Public Service Commissioner Kevin Gunn
speaks to RCGA Energy and Environmental Council members about
Missouri's renewable energy potential
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St. Louis Community College and Lewis and
Clark Community College are leaders on sustainability among area
higher education institutions. Steve Long, Director of
Workforce and Community Development for St. Louis Community
College described the organization's Institute for
Sustainability that connects the green curriculum, green career
pathways, campus sustainability and student and community
engagement. St. Louis Community College has greened
its curriculum in construction technology, architectural
technology and interior design by incorporating sustainability
elements in the lesson plan. In March the college was named a
U.S. Green Building Council eligible education provider and will
be holding LEED training classes on campus. St. Louis Community
College recently received $500,000 from the federal stimulus
grants to provide training to the unemployed for brownfield
assessment and site remediation jobs.
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Steve Long of St. Louis Community College
discusses the College's Institute of Sustainability
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Lewis and Clark Community
College in Godfrey, Illinois is a founding member of the
Illinois Sustainability Network for Community Colleges,
described Jessica Pascoe, Director of Sustainability for
Lewis and Clark College. Earlier this year the college
provided sustainability training throughout its academic
disciplines. A solar photovoltaic class was started in
September through a partnership with Madison County. The fall
class was quickly filled and a waiting list has formed for the
spring program. The school is also developing certificate
programs for solar energy, sustainable horticulture, and water
conservation technologies. For more information on the Lewis
and Clark sustainability initiatives, go to www.lc.edu/green.
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Jessica Pascoe of Lewis and Clark Community
College describes the new solar photovoltaic class at the
College.
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The next RCGA Energy and Environmental Council meeting
will be Tuesday, November 10th with guest speaker
Illinois EPA Director Doug
Scott. It will occur from 8:00 to 9:30 a.m. at the N.O.
Nelson Campus of Lewis and Clark College in Edwardsville. For
more information, contact Eric
Schneider.
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The RCGAdvocate is published
periodically to inform RCGA members and government officials
about important public policy matters at the state, federal and
local levels. It seeks to provide timely, in-depth coverage on
regional issues, and, at times, to call RCGA members to action.
We welcome your comments and suggestions.
Richard C.D. Fleming ~ President
& CEO ~ (314) 444-1100 ~ dfleming@stlrcga.org
Chip
Casteel ~ Senior V.P. of Public Policy ~ (314) 444-1107 ~
ccasteel@stlrcga.org
Susan Stauder ~ V.P.
of Infrastructure & Public Policy ~ (314) 444-1155
~ sstauder@stlrcga.org
Eric
Schneider ~ Senior Director of Public Policy Research ~ (314)
444-1148 ~ eschneider@stlrcga.org
Kevin Riggs ~ Director of Illinois
Government Affairs ~ (314) 444-1108 ~ kriggs@stlrcga.org
Christine Snively ~ Project Manager of
Public Policy ~ (314) 444-1144 ~ csnively@stlrcga.org
Sherri Bailey ~ Executive Assistant for Public Policy ~
(314) 444-1134 ~ sbailey@stlrcga.org
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