The full Missouri Senate is set to convene next week, October 17th, to make one last attempt at reaching an agreement on a wide-ranging economic development bill.
The biggest sticking point remains whether to place 7-year expiration dates, or sunsets, on low income and historic preservation tax credits. The Missouri House removed the sunsets before passing the bill last week, a move opposed by the Senate.
President Pro-tem Rob Mayer (R, Dexter) says he’ll ask the Senate to vote to appoint conferees, who would meet with House leaders and try to hammer out a final version of the bill.
“We have the opportunity to go to conference to argue or present our position as to why we’re where we’re at," Mayer said. "At the end of the day we’ll see if we change anybody’s mind.”
If the Senate doesn’t vote to go to conference, or if it does and the House chooses not to, Mayer says he would then move to end the special session.
The strategy was adopted during today's meeting of the Senate Republican caucus. When asked by reporters, Mayer admitted that a few senators wanted to go ahead and end the special session this week, which has dragged on since early September.
“Until we rein in the amount of money that we spend on tax credits, (then) sometime in the near future this legislative body will have to make tough decisions that will cause reductions in the amount of funding to K-12 education and higher education, and also social services programs," Mayer said.
Meanwhile, the Senate also plans on taking up legislation that would do away with Missouri’s presidential primary. The State GOP has already decided to hold caucuses to choose its delegates next year.
