By Rob Mayer

Three weeks before the midway point of the 2012 Legislative Session, I am proud to report the Senate has advanced the three priority bills I outlined in my opening day speech to help improve Missouri’s business climate. I appreciate my colleagues swift work that culminated with the Senate now passing and sending all three measures to the Missouri House for similar consideration.

It was important we move quickly because, unfortunately, joblessness remains high here in Missouri and across the nation. While Missouri’s unemployment rate has improved, it is still too high as 8% or more than 245,000 citizens are still out of work. In fact, since January of 2008, Missouri has lost more than 90,000 jobs – that’s equivalent to the population of Lee’s Summit, Missouri’s sixth largest city. The number of Missourians who want to work full-time, but have settled for part-time work, has doubled in the past two years and is now at 5% or more than 150,000. Plus, one of every six Missourians is currently receiving food stamps.

This is unacceptable. I believe we can no longer continue to do business in our state using the same policies we have relied on and expect things to change. That is why we proposed several ideas that are part of the equation to help employers put Missourians back to work in good-paying jobs with benefits.

The Senate’s plan to improve Missouri’s business climate started with the three priority bills we have already passed. They include Senate Bill 469 that moves Missouri business owners a step closer to greater freedom from excessive and burdensome state rules and regulations, Senate Bill 592 that would change state laws to mirror federal employment laws when it comes to discrimination bringing certainty to these laws, and Senate Bill 572 that would restore protections for co-employees from personal lawsuits for their role in honest accidents at work and return Workers’ Compensation as the exclusive remedy for workplace accidents.

In the coming weeks, we will examine other legislation as part of a comprehensive package of bills aimed at helping spur job creation. Those include Senate Bill 439 that would go a long way to making sure taxpayers aren’t being fleeced when it comes to the rates they have to pay contractors on public building projects and Senate Bill 438 that would establish worker protections so Missouri will no longer miss out on manufacturing opportunities.

The alarm is sounding, and we should all hear the wake-up call that now is the time to put these pieces in place so Missouri can truly compete for jobs. The bottom line is that our unwillingness to change is costing Missouri jobs. We want Missouri’s businesses, big and small, to succeed and be able to create jobs. With these changes, I believe that reality is on the horizon.

Rob Mayer of Dexter represents the 25^th Senatorial District in the Missouri State Senate and is the Senate President Pro Tem.