A group of business organizations from across the state, among them the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, presented an agenda of six legislative priorities to lawmakers in a news conference held yesterday in Jefferson City. The group is collectively dubbed the Fix the Six Coalition.
The six priorities:
- Employment law reform - the coalition challenges the Missouri Human Rights Act, stating that the state's discrimination law is eroding
- Workers' compensation reform - the coalition calls for occupational diseases to once again fall under the domain of workers' compensation
- Franchise tax cap - the coalition seeks to phase out the state's corporate franchise tax over time
- Minimum wage escalator elimination - the coalition wants to eliminate the automatic escalator so that the state's minimum wage levels do not exceed federal levels
- Tort reform - the coalition advocates for a change in Missouri's tort system concerning fault and business liability in court cases
- Unemployment insurance reform - The coalition is asking legislators to lengthen the term of bonding for paying back federal unemployment insurance loans, reducing interest and securing Federal Unemployment Tax Act credits
"With no fiscal impact on state revenues, we believe the Fix the Six agenda could be the most important economic development effort lawmakers could make this year,” Daniel Mehan, president of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said in a news release. “Successful passage of these six agenda items would mean broad-based reform impacting every business in our state, making Missouri a more attractive and competitive place to do business.”
The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry is one of the organizations in the coalition, along with the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business, Associated Industries of Missouri, the Missouri Merchants and Manufacturers Association, the Missouri Grocers Association, the Missouri Restaurant Association, Associated General Contractors of Missouri, the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association, and the St. Louis Regional Business Council. The associations represent more than 500,000 Missouri workers, according to the release.[[In-content Ad]]
