The grades are in, and all but one local representative scored 72 percent or better.
The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Oct. 21 released its 2013 Legislative Vote Record, which reports to the business community how lawmakers voted on key issues such as workers’ compensation and economic development during this year’s legislative and veto sessions.
Rep. Charlie Norr, D-Springfield, received the lone failing grade among legislators from Greene and Christian counties, and freshman Rep. Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, scored a mediocre C for votes on bills in six areas the chamber identified as important to Missouri employers.
Four area lawmakers received perfect scores from the chamber.
“We are really excited about the support we saw from southwest Missouri for pro-business legislation,” said Tracy King, the Missouri chamber’s vice president of government affairs. “We followed the votes on business-core issues, no matter the individual.”
King said the grades were weighted based on the chamber’s established priorities. For example, votes on workers’ compensation reform and unemployment insurance had a greater value than votes on bills related to education and economic development.
On his way to 100 percent chamber approvals, Rep. Kevin Austin, R-Springfield, voted 10 times in favor of bills the chamber supported in the category of civil justice, aka tort reform. The voting records of Sen. Jay Wasson, R-Nixa; Sen. Mike Cunningham, R-Marshfield; and Rep. Sandy Crawford, R-Buffalo, also supported perfect grades.
On each of the issues the chamber followed, King said lawmakers were given the chamber’s position. Votes that supported the chamber’s view received positive marks, while votes against the chamber or nonvotes due to an absence counted against grades. The Missouri chamber, which was founded in 1923, represents nearly 3,000 employers statewide.
Norr, who garnered a 36 percent rating from chamber, said he didn’t realize his votes were so far apart from the chamber’s positions.
“I care about it, but I don’t pay much attention to it,” Norr said of the chamber’s report. “It looks like a lot of party-line stuff going on from the results I saw.”
He identified only one issue – the workman’s compensation measure, Senate Bill 34 – he knew was a vote against the chamber. Norr said he felt the pressure from the chamber and others who supported an override of Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto, but ultimately, he sided with the governor. The override failed by one vote.
“I could’ve been the deciding vote if it would’ve passed. I just couldn’t do it. I don’t know, something clicks inside your head and goes against your conscience, and I couldn’t do it,” Norr said.
“It was about firing you and not paying you unemployment for things that you do outside of your work hours. I didn’t think it was right.”
Another item where the chamber and Norr disagreed was the paycheck protection bill, Senate Bill 29, which prohibited unions from taking a portion of member paychecks without written consent for the purpose of funding political campaigns. The governor vetoed the bill and an override attempt was defeated on Sept. 11.
“It was about union-busting, plain and simple,” Norr said.
King said she was particularly surprised by Norr’s grade card.
“I’m not sure what happened there. He was endorsed by the chamber last year ahead of Melissa Leach,” King said.
Norr, who lost his district seat to Leach in 2010, regained a newly drawn District 132 in 2012 following a Missouri chamber endorsement based on his previous 77 percent voting record.
Other bills the chamber tracked for grading purposes included House Bill 339, which required uninsured motorists forfeit recovery of noneconomic damages under certain circumstances; House Bill 320, an employment law reform measure that changes laws regarding discriminatory employment practices; and House Bill 253, the Broad-Based Tax Relief Act of 2013. HB 253 was a key chamber priority this year that ultimately failed. It was passed in the regular session, then vetoed by the governor before the chamber, with support of St. Louis political activist and businessman Rex Sinquefield, spent more than $200,000 in a statewide marketing campaign calling for its override.
Those who helped defeat the override, such as Norr and Rep. Lynn Morris, R-Ozark, were graded down for their stances. Morris still pulled out an 83 percent grade.
Freshman legislator Austin was one of only nine lawmakers in the state to have fully supported the chamber’s positions in 2013. He said a top grade wasn’t his goal.
“I didn’t vote to get the grade, I got the grade because of my votes,” Austin said. “To be honest, I didn’t know it had a grading system until I got notice that I had an A and 100 percent.”
He said business issues are important to him because they are important to his southeast Springfield constituents.
“Among the constituents that I’ve met, emailed me and called me, economic development is foremost on their minds,” Austin said, noting he would be willing to vote against the chamber on issues where they might disagree.
Austin said the Missouri chamber sent representatives to his Jefferson City office to talk about key issues or they’d stop him in the halls of the Capitol building to share their views.
“I found that to be important because I would use them to educate me. That doesn’t mean I don’t do my own research as well. I will also go to the other sides, so I get a rounded education,” Austin said.
King, Austin and Norr each said they expected a new tax-cut measure to be a key business issue in 2014.
“There are some leftover issues to deal with such as tax reform, Medicaid transformation and economic development,” King said, adding the chamber’s priorities won’t be fully formed until at least mid-November when its policy council is expected to meet to identify the year’s goals.
