Governor's Column - September 7, 2007
by Governor Matt Blunt
Strengthening Missouri’s Growing Economy
I have made it a priority to increase opportunities for all Missourians. I believe every Missourian should have a chance at a good, family-supporting job.
When I ran for governor, bad public policy was draining Missouri jobs at an alarming rate. We quickly enacted lawsuit reform and other regulatory reforms to stop the drain and give our entrepreneurs, small business owners, and large employers better opportunities to create jobs. We also created the Missouri Quality Jobs Program to attract new, high quality jobs to the state by providing competitive incentives for companies that provide high paying jobs that provide healthcare.
Missourians are responding to these pro-growth, pro-jobs policies. Since January 2005, Missourians have created nearly 85,000 jobs for our state’s economy. More than 17,000 of these jobs had some connection to the Quality Jobs program.
Because of this success, there was widespread agreement that the Quality Jobs program should be expanded. This year the General Assembly passed a bill to expand the Quality Jobs Act. Unfortunately, I believe it was too expensive and not in keeping with the good fiscal stewardship that has helped solve the disastrous budget situation I faced when I took office, so I vetoed the original legislation and called the General Assembly in to special session to address this important issue for Missouri families.
I want to commend your elected representatives for their spirit of cooperation and willingness to set aside differences to craft a powerful bill. The legislation I signed this week contains several major provisions for economic development in our state. The legislation expands the Quality Jobs program by more than tripling the amount of tax credits available every year under the program, increasing them from $12 million to $40 million. The legislation also doubles the availability of Enhanced Enterprise Zones tax credits, going from $7 million to $14 million. Local governments create these zones, which are then certified by the Department of Economic Development as areas with great potential for the creation of sustainable jobs or substantial positive impact on already existing jobs. As with the increase for the Quality Jobs program, this increase could lead directly to thousands of new jobs for our state.
Another major provision of this legislation creates the New Markets Tax Credit program. This initiative will work with a similar federal program to encourage significant investment in distressed communities across our state. Still another important provision is an innovative tax credit program for developers assembling land in qualified distressed neighborhoods.
By creating a solid framework for growth, we have increased the opportunities available to all Missourians. All Missourians benefit from living in a more prosperous state, a state where everyone has the chance to live up to their full potential. That is the Missouri I have tried to create as governor, a state of opportunity.