This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Sept. 22, 2011 - Missouri Senate leaders reaffirmed at a news conference this afternoon that they still have sharp differences with the Missouri House over a proposed economic development package and offered little hope of reaching a Senate-House compromise to rescue the troubled special session now in its third week.
Senate President Pro Tem Rob Mayer, R-Dexter, also made clear that most other legislative measures on the agenda during the special session will die if a deal on an economic development package is not struck.
Meanwhile, the House Economic Development Committee dealing with the package postponed its meeting for several hours this afternoon in a quest to end the impasse.
House and Senate leaders were talking behind the scenes.
As we reported earlier: The Missouri Senate adjourned until 2 p.m. Friday, following a Wednesday night caucus in which Republican senators contended that they had been shut out of a compromise on an economic development package between their House counterparts and Gov. Jay Nixon's office.
Furious Missouri Senate leaders initially threatened in the afternoon to shut down the special session for good. House committees will take up the package Thursday, with a floor vote slated for Friday
Senate President Pro Tem Rob Mayer, R-Dexter, said Wednesday night that he was pessimistic that a deal will be struck with the House, but that he did not believe it was right for the Senate to adjourn Wednesday -- thus, killing off any chance of a last-minute deal.
"There's a slight chance, but very slight that we'll see some movement," Mayer said. "But first we need to read through the (House) bill. It's a fairly lengthy bill. So we'll go through the details of the legislation that they've proposed and then go meet with them and tell them what we need to work on."
"I'm not optimistic at all," Mayer added later. "I guess you could say it's on life support."
If the package dies, he and other senators said that other pending bills will likely be killed off as well. That includes the House-approved measures to move Missouri's presidential primary to March, and to grant the city of St. Louis local control of its police department.
Meanwhile, one of the House architects of the original economic development deal -- Rep. John Diehl, R-Town and Country -- said in an interview late Wednesday that he hoped the measure, and the session, can be salvaged.
"We just need to keep cooler heads," Diehl said. "I'm not going to overreact to people who want to blow things up."
The mood in the Capitol late Wednesday was far different from the jubilation reflected in the morning, when House leaders announced a compromise after negotiations since early Tuesday with Nixon's staff.
Diehl said that he, House Speaker Steve Tilley and Majority Leader Tim Jones had kept in contact with a number of senators during those talks.
But Mayer complained that the perception that the Senate was cut out "leaves us in a position that makes it almost impossible to pass legislation."
Still, the Senate decision to return on Friday was an improvement on earlier threats that the Senate would decide Wednesday night to adjourn for good.
House and Senate differences
The economic development package was supposed to be the cornerstone of this month's special session, but the original deal from this summer has crumbled in the wake of dueling between Republicans controlling the House and Senate.
Mayer, typically even-tempered and soft-spoken in public, described himself as "agitated" and "irritated" over the House's actions this week.
Mayer is particularly opposed to the House's stance against imposing "sunsets'' on state tax-credit programs. Sunsets ranging from four to seven years are a key feature in the Senate's version of the economic development package approved last week. The state's tax credit programs now generally have no sunsets on them.
State House Speaker Steve Tilley, R-Perryville, has said that he's opposed to sunsets of less than seven years because he contends that a single senator could block a particular tax-credit program from being reauthorized.
Tilley has been sharply critical of the Senate version, noting that some of its provisions were prompted by a few senators -- generally opponents of state tax credits -- who had threatened to filibuster unless the original version of the economic development package was changed to reflect their views.
Mayer has emphasized that the economic development package is as much about cutting state spending as attracting jobs. He said that eliminating the Senate's desired sunsets on the two biggest tax-credit programs -- for low-income housing and historic preservation -- would amount to a "deal-killer."
After Wednesday night's Republican Senate caucus, state Sen. Chuck Purgason, R-Caulfield, said that there were several provisions that were sticking points -- but sunsets were the chief ones. "A lot of us believe strongly in sunsets,'' he said.
State Sen. John Lamping, R-Ladue, said a key problem was that groups and developers involved in low-income housing were adamantly against sunsets. Developers and real estate groups say investors will not want to finance such housing if there is no guarantee that their state housing credits will remain, since such projects often take years to complete.
Still, Sen. Eric Schmitt, R- Glendale, said he believed that all sides are "continuing to work'' to try to forge a deal. Schmitt also played a major role in crafting the original economic development deal that, in July, appeared to have solid support in both chambers.
Diehl said the House is still planning to hold committee hearings Thursday to craft the final bill, then hold a floor vote on Friday. He emphasized that the House tries to get its legislation in final form during the committee process, so few major changes are made on the floor.
Mayer said that ending a special session without approving an economic development package wouldn't be the worse course of action.
"You wouldn't have to fund some of the proposed economic development proposals," Mayer said. "To come and pass a bad deal is much worse situation than not passing anything."
Earlier, House leaders had issued a celebratory statement announcing that they had crafted a compromise economic development package after closed meetings with the chamber's leaders and Nixon aides, most of them in Tilley's office.
Afterward, the governor's staff issued a statement saying, "This is a jobs bill that the governor would support to give us the tools we need to move Missouri's economy forward."
The governor had issued similar praise after the Senate passed its bill a week ago.
Dan Mehan, chief executive of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was among those involved in the House-Nixon talks.
He said in a statement that the House's revised bill "includes many of the same elements included in the Senate economic development package passed last week, including job retention funding, data center incentives, provisions to advance high-tech start-ups, and the freight forwarder incentives tied to the international cargo hub."
Conflict over Compete Missouri
The biggest difference is in the "Compete Missouri" provision in the Senate bill, which combines several existing state tax-incentive programs for economic development. House leaders contend that Compete Missouri grants too much power to the governor and his economic officials.
According to Mehan, the House has added more oversight to Compete Missouri. It also would "retool the existing BUILD program to include incentives for freighter infrastructure, a critical piece to the establishment of an air cargo hub in St. Louis."
Such a change would allow tax breaks for the proposed new warehouses that backers say are essential to persuade China to locate a cargo hub at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. Such a move would counter the Senate's decision to eliminate $300 million in tax breaks, over 10 years, for such development.
Mehan said the revamped BUILD program "would allow the incentives to be offered statewide and requires levels of capital investment and job creation that must be met to qualify for funding. Local matching funds are also required."
"Working into the night, leadership from the Missouri House and the governor's office have brokered a workable package that is the next step in bringing the special legislative session to a successful conclusion," Mehan said.
The House's action regarding the BUILD program appeared aimed at restoring some of the $300 million in tax incentives for the China Hub in a way that might be palatable to senators who oppose any support for the hub effort.
Tilley had meshed his praise with a warning. "As I have made clear, I do not intend to allow this special session to drag on past Friday," the speaker said. "I am pleased with this proposal and intend to work with all sides to complete this process by the end of the week."
Wednesday afternoon, the Senate held a public hearing on its version of the economic development package. Several House members -- including at least five Republicans -- showed up, said one of the attendees, Rep. Galen Higdon, R-St. Joseph. Another Senate public hearing had been scheduled for Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Capitol rotunda is still filled with pictures and a display devoted to Falun Gong (follow a link to a video showing the display and talking with an American who had been arrested in China), a mediation and exercise movement that claims its practitioners are persecuted by the Chinese government.
Contact Beacon political reporter Jo Mannies.
Jason Rosenbaum and Jo Mannies
