By Rob Mayer

When we began the legislative session in January, I set an agenda geared toward putting Missourians back to work. As we pass the mid-term point, I am glad to report the Senate has passed and sent to the House three bills aimed at creating a business environment that will help put Missourians back to work in good-paying jobs with benefits.

The first measure, Senate Bill 19, would give businesses the ability to reinvest in hiring new employees by passing a bill freezing and then phasing out the Corporate Franchise Tax. By limiting and then ending this double taxation on employers, we eliminate a disincentive that penalized companies for investing more in our state. Now, companies can invest in hiring new employees instead of growing government through higher taxes.

The second measure would improve an employer’s ability to hire and retain quality workers by ending lawsuit abuses — bringing state law in line with federal human rights laws. Senate Bill 188 would make Missouri employment law mirror the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964. Currently there is no harmony in how employment law is treated between federal standards, state law and how our three appellate courts in Missouri have ruled on the law. By harmonizing our state employment law with federal employment law, Missouri companies can invest more in hiring new employees rather than expansive legal fees to navigate a current system riddled with uncertainty.

The third measure would abrogate a judicial decision made last fall and restore protections for Missouri employees. Senate Bill 8 would protect Missouri employees from personal lawsuits for their role in honest accidents at work. With this change, employers and employees will no longer have to purchase insurance to protect themselves from claims that should have never been dealt with outside of the Workers’ Compensation System.

These three bills have advanced through the Senate and are now being considered by the House. Each will help rebuild Missouri’s business climate to help put the more than 280,000 citizens that have been out of work for a year and a half back to work.

Improving Missouri’s budget situation is directly related to improving Missouri’s economic situation. As we work to spur job creation, we will also work to create a budget that is sustainable for Missouri taxpayers. Missouri reached a high water mark in 2008 taking in a little more than $8 Billion. Just two years later, the state’s general revenue plummeted to $6.774 Billion. In just two short years, Missouri’s base revenue dropped by $1.3 Billion. Despite what the federal government says, a billion dollars goes a long way here in Missouri. As Missourians return to work, this base will again grow. In the meantime, we will continue to shrink the size and scope of government and closely examine how every dollar is spent. I will keep you apprised as the budget comes to the floor in the coming weeks for discussion.

Please feel free to contact me throughout the year with any comments, questions, or issues using the information listed below and on my website at www.senate.mo.gov/mayer.

Rob Mayer, R-Dexter, represents the 25th State Senatorial District in the Missouri State Senate and serves the state as the President Pro Tem of the State Senate.

By ROB MAYER

Few events are felt round the world, and unfortunately, the ongoing devastation in Japan from last week’s earthquake and tsunami is one of those events. Thousands of people have lost their lives and many more are feared to be missing and injured after one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded spawned a deadly tsunami that left a path of destruction across Japan’s east coast. It’s disheartening to think about all of the families who lost loved ones during this tragedy, an event the world rarely encounters. Our thoughts and prayers are with this nation as they begin to recover and rebuild their lives.

Even though it was almost two hundred years ago, nearly all of us who live in the New Madrid seismic zone have heard about the 1811 and 1812 earthquakes. And, although in the back of our minds, fear the day this fault may again cause devastation as it did 200 years ago.

At 2 a.m. on December 16, 1811, a series of three great earthquakes began with many more tremors and aftershocks in between. Witnesses of the historic Missouri event said the land rose and fell like a swell on the sea. The earthquakes created waves on the Mississippi River and made the great river flow backwards. It is believed the earthquake was moderately felt across a million square miles and as far away as New York City – where it rang church bells. They couldn’t measure earthquakes back then like we do now, but the U.S. Geological Survey says the New Madrid earthquakes twice reached up to 8.0, ranking them among the most intense earthquakes to ever happen in the lower United States.

I would encourage you to have your home as prepared as possible should another earthquake strike. This includes a home emergency supply kit, flashlights, portable radios, first aid kit, nonperishable food, water, and other necessary items. A great resource for earthquake preparedness is your local University of Missouri Extension office, reach them at (573) 547-4505.

As the state senator for the bootheel of Missouri, I am keenly aware of the impact another earthquake could have on my district and on our state. That’s why I filed Senate Bill 301. If enacted, it would establish the Missouri Homeowners Mutual Insurance Company Act. The Missouri Homeowners Mutual Insurance Company would be an independent public corporation for the purpose of providing insurance coverage for the physical and personal property of Missouri home and apartment owners and renters. This new company would offer affordable homeowners’ insurance policies that would include earthquake damage coverage.

I pray we are never confronted with an earthquake again, but please take the time to prepare your home. It never hurts to be prepared, and I’m working to ready our state.

I am also pleased to have sponsored Robert Culler as a member of the Missouri Agricultural and Small Business Development Authority. He was confirmed by the full Senate earlier this month to serve in this role. Mr. Culler is a lifelong resident of Pemiscot County and is the executive vice-president of First State Bank and Trust Company in Caruthersville.

The authority is an 8-member panel that reviews and approves loan applications for the authority’s programs, and sets policy and direction related to operation of the authority. From loans to help with marketing a small agribusiness to financing for value-added agriculture enterprises, this board plays an important role in supporting our state’s number one industry. Mr. Culler’s experience in banking in a rural community will certainly be a benefit to the work of the Missouri Agricultural and Small Business Development Authority.

Please feel free to contact me throughout the year with any comments, questions, or issues using the information listed below and on my website at www.senate.mo.gov/mayer.

Rob Mayer, R-Dexter, represents the 25th State Senatorial District in the Missouri State Senate and serves the state as the President Pro Tem of the State Senate.


ABOVE PICTURE: Sen. Mayer with Robert Culler during his Gubernatorial Appointments Committee hearing to become a member of the Missouri Agricultural and Small Business Development Authority.

By ROB MAYER

More than 280,000 Missourians are out of work. The alarm is sounding. Missouri can no longer continue to do business as usual and expect things to change. That is why, in the Missouri Senate, we are moving forward with several plans this session that are part of an equation to help employers put Missourians back to work in good-paying jobs with benefits. Making Missouri a “Right to Work” state is part of that equation. And we begin the debate on “Right to Work” on the Senate floor today.

Currently, Missouri is missing out on new jobs because companies are drawn to other states with better worker protection laws. Fifty percent of manufacturers refuse to consider Missouri as a place to locate new jobs because we have no protections against forced unionization of our workers – that’s according to testimony given to the Senate General Laws Committee by Mark Sweeney, a site location consultant who works to find new plant sites for both domestic and foreign manufacturing companies. He says Missouri is off the radar for 50 percent of his clients, while the remaining place a heavy emphasis on a state’s “Right to Work” status when choosing where to locate.

“Right to Work” will, in no way, stop workers from joining a union or prevent employers from entering into collective bargaining agreements. Rather it simply states that joining a union or paying dues cannot be a condition of getting or keeping a job.

Not having “Right to Work” has cost us in many ways.

First, Missouri is losing a congressional seat due to the most recent census data. That data shows businesses with jobs and the workers who take them are fleeing to states with worker protection laws. Non-“Right to Work” states lost a total of nine congressional seats and, due to population shifts, “Right to Work” states gained 11.

Second, we have underperformed compared with the six of our eight neighboring states that are “Right to Work” states. All those states have lower unemployment rates than Missouri. Tennessee, the only one with a comparable rate to ours, gained jobs in 2010 while Missouri lost jobs.

Plus, data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows unemployment is lower in the 22 states that have adopted “Right to Work” laws. In the last decade, those states have added 1.5 million private sector jobs, while non-“Right to Work” states have lost 1.8 million jobs. With more than 160,000 jobs lost in our state since June 2008, we cannot afford to stand by and not take action.

The bottom line is that our unwillingness to change is costing Missouri jobs. I look forward to beginning the debate on this important legislation that will remove a barrier that’s stopping our state from competing with six of our eight neighboring states that have “Right to Work” laws and the many more in the country that are beating Missouri when it comes to gaining good jobs, especially in manufacturing.

Please feel free to contact me throughout the year with any comments, questions, or issues using the information listed below and on my website at www.senate.mo.gov/mayer.

Rob Mayer, R-Dexter, represents the 25th State Senatorial District in the Missouri State Senate and serves the state as the President Pro Tem of the State Senate.

By ROB MAYER
Last week, I joined another senator in introducing legislation that would better protect consumers from an energy consortium’s efforts to pass costs onto ratepayers in relation to efforts to obtain a site permit to build a second nuclear power plant in Callaway County.

The measure, Senate Bill 406, details a three-pronged approach to protect consumers including a hard cap of $40 million on the amount of money a utility could recover, a rebate plan for consumers in the case that the plant is either never built or fails to generate electricity, and a steady course of funding for the Office of Public Counsel in the Missouri Public Service Commission. The commission is the regulatory arm that oversees Missouri utilities. The Office of Public Counsel represents consumers in cases before the Public Service Commission.

This is one of several proposals before the legislature supportive of making sure that Missouri has abundant and clean energy supplies for our future. But this bill stands apart from the others because it offers the greatest consumer protections I’ve seen to date.

The bill is endorsed by two consumer and business advocacy groups. The first is the Fair Energy Rate Action Fund (FERAF) and includes the AARP, Missouri Association of Social Welfare, and Consumers Council of Missouri, to name a few. The second group is the Missouri Industrial Energy Consumers (MIEC) that is comprised of more than a dozen large Missouri industrial companies.

The bill, along with others of the same topic, will be heard before the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Emerging Issues, Pensions and Urban Affairs this Wednesday, March 9, beginning at 4 p.m. in Senate Committee Room 2. The hearing is expected to last several hours to ensure all those who wish to testify in support or opposition of this proposal have the opportunity to do so.

I am also pleased to announce that several law enforcement agencies in the 25th Senatorial District received grants to help obtain essential law enforcement equipment necessary to increase public and officer safety. Securing the safety of our local, county and state officers and the general public they serve is always a top priority. I’m proud three counties and nine cities in my district will receive the funding needed to help provide adequate safety measures.

The Missouri Department of Public Safety distributes grants provided by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance to purchase the much-needed equipment, including bulletproof vests, in-car cameras, and police radios. Cities and counties in the 25th District listed below received more than $85,000 in grant funding, which is limited to $10,000 for each award with a 10 percent local match requirement. They include Bernie, Dexter, Doniphan, Dunklin County, Essex, Greenville, Hayti, Kennett, Malden, New Madrid County, Pemiscot County, Puxico and Three Rivers College.

Local Law Enforcement Block Grants are used to provide funds to city police, county sheriffs, public university police departments, and state law enforcement agencies to underwrite projects that reduce crime and improve public safety. Moreover, this block grant program emphasizes local decision-making and encourages communities to craft their own responses to problems dealing with crime.

I know the law enforcement agencies in the 25th District will use funds provided by the grants to benefit our communities as a whole.

Please feel free to contact me throughout the year with any comments, questions, or issues using the information listed below and on my website at www.senate.mo.gov/mayer.

Rob Mayer, R-Dexter, represents the 25th State Senatorial District in the Missouri State Senate and serves the state as the President Pro Tem of the State Senate.

By Rob Mayer