2/8/2010 8:19:00 AM A plea to lawmakers: Create jobs, please Jobs top local groups' wish lists for 2010 legislative priorities
Small businesses highlighted in Jefferson City showcase
Springfield-based Trux Trailer and Tractor Repair Inc. was among 19 small businesses honored at the state capitol on Jan. 27.
Trux Trailer received a Rising Star of Entrepreneurship Award from the Missouri Small Business and Technology Development Centers during a client showcase held by the SBTDC and the Missouri Procurement Technical Assistance Centers.
Trux Trailer owner Scott Coleman worked with the SBTDC office on the campus of Missouri State University to secure a U.S. Small Business Administration-backed loan to buy the business in January 2009.
“At first, I was real skeptical about using a government-funded agency to secure money,” he said. “Now, I’m a fan.”
In fiscal 2009, MO SBTDC staff assisted more than 2,800 clients, resulting in $135 million in increased sales and 4,986 jobs created or retained, according to www.missouribusiness.net.
Coleman has worked with SBTDC counselor Isabel Eisenhauer. In the year since the purchase, the 34-year-old Trux Trailer, 900 N. West Bypass, has added two lines of trailers and bed liner installations, he said.
The state programs also recognized businesses with Rising Star of Innovation awards during the client showcase. Among the award recipients were Affordable Moving Services Inc. in Branson and 13 Technology Group in Joplin.
During the 25th annual Springfield/Branson Regional Salute to Missouri Legislators Coalition on Jan. 27, representatives from 12 area organizations visited with lawmakers at the capital to share their visions of the future.
Seemingly everybody is hoping to see jobs on the horizon.
“We’ve just got to help put people back to work,” said Trey Davis, vice president of governmental affairs for Jefferson City-based Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
More than 200 people made their way from the Springfield and Branson area to advance their groups’ priorities with legislators early in the session. The 12 coalition participants – Branson/Lakes Area Legislative Partnership, Christian County Partnership for Progress, City of Springfield, City Utilities, Greene County, Missouri State University, Ozarks Regional Economic Partnership, Ozarks Technical Community College, Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau, Springfield Public Schools, and a library/arts alliance – sponsored a reception attended by more than 300 state leaders.
Officials outlined seven areas they felt were important for 2010: jobs/economic development, education, environment, libraries and the arts, tourism, transportation and work force development.
Given current unemployment rates, job creation interests are no surprise. Missouri’s unemployment rate reached 9.6 percent in December, compared to 7.1 percent in December 2008, and Springfield’s metropolitan statistical area was at 8.2 percent in December, an increase of 2 percent compared to a year earlier.
Both the Missouri and Springfield chambers point to the Missouri Science and Innovation Reinvestment Act as a way to create jobs by paving the way for science and technology companies to grow or move to the state. The initiative would use a portion of state general revenues to establish a fund intended to grow and attract high-technology businesses, according to a news release from Gov. Jay Nixon’s office.
State lawmakers also are looking at increasing international trade through the creation of a Midwest China hub, a statewide effort to encourage import and export with China through Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. Businesses in southwest Missouri also would feel the impact of that expanded trade, Davis said.
“The China trade hub is being touted as an air hub, but … anything that gets to Missouri is eventually going to end up on a truck,” said Tom Crawford, president and CEO of the Missouri Trucking Association, adding that while the MTA is keeping an eye on the hub’s progress, its concern is with overall job creation and not any one piece of legislation.
Other legislative priorities for the MTA include highway safety legislation – which can range from text messaging regulations to the establishment of semitrailer-only lanes on the state’s interstate highways – and reforms of regulations that are hampering the ability of trucking companies to do their jobs, Crawford said. One example of changes in legislation MTA would like to see is tort reform.
“Trial attorneys are getting away from their focus on the medical community and coming after the trucking community,” he said.
Matt Morrow, executive officer of the Home Builders Association of Greater Springfield, said the HBA is following several initiatives that would help breathe new life into residential construction, including state incentives for existing homeowners. One idea that brings some hope is a state tax benefit for the purchase of a new home, similar to the federal first-time homebuyer credit, only for any homebuyer, he said.
“That would be a nice incentive to other initiatives intended to really clear inventory and really create demand for newly constructed homes – and that means jobs,” Morrow said.
Sandy Howard, vice president of public affairs for the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber is strongly advocating for the continuation of a few existing state programs, including Missouri Quality Jobs, Enhanced Enterprise Zones and Development Tax Credits, Howard said.
Education is another key 2010 priority for the Springfield chamber, and officials are aiming for funding increases for pre-kindergarten and job training, maintaining funding for K–12 schools and higher education funding consistent with student enrollments. Howard said a new funding formula is important to the chamber because there is an inequity between Missouri State University and Ozarks Technically Community College and other higher education institutions.
“They’ve been penalized for growth in enrollment in recent years based on current funding formula,” Howard said.
