JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri House of Representatives have sent legislation to the Senate that would offer an olive branch to the state of Kansas in the ongoing economic border war on the western side of the state.
By a vote of 115 to 3, the body passed House Bills 1646 and 1515, which would prohibit issuance of state tax credits to businesses relocating from the Kansas City, Kansas region across the border to Kansas City, Missouri. The legislation is contingent on Kansas enacting similar legislation.
“This is a bill we’ve been working on for many years,” said House Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, who sponsored one of the bills. “It’s not enough to try to incentivize companies across state line road, the global purpose should be creating a good business climate for the entire region.”
Jones noted bipartisan support on the issue, including from Rep. Kevin McManus, D-Kansas City, who sponsored HB 1515.
“If you look at what we’ve spent over the past decade, it’s not working. What we’re doing is not working,” Jones said. “We’re starting to argue over less and less instead of trying to create more and more.”
For the truce to be enacted, Kansas would still have to enact their own changes to state statute. Similar legislation has been backed in the body by Sen. Ryan Silvey, R-Kansas City.
Neither of the two bills in the House and Senate have local components, and it is unclear of Kansas lawmakers would be willing to move without them.
When Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon was involved in negations with Kansas’s Republican Gov. Sam Brownback on how to end the “border war”, they got close – until the topic of local incentives arose. Local mayors on the Kansas side have been unwilling to move on those in state negotiations because the perception is Missouri has offered more local incentives.
According to the Hall Family Foundation, which supports a “border war” ceasefire, the tax credit fight has cost each state about $300,000 per job.
“$217 million has been forgiven to shuffle existing jobs,” said Daniel Hall, of the foundation “This calculates to a net gain of 214 jobs for Kansas.”