JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – In the Missouri legislature, it is hard to make it very far through a debate on education policy or health care before the idea of “local control” is espoused –  whether it be in regard to school boards on their issues or the state, itself, regarding the federal health care law.

But as cities in Missouri – like Kansas City, St. Louis and Columbia – have begun to enact local policies that would raise the minimum wage and bar employers from asking about one’s criminal history on an initial job applications within their municipal borders, legislators in Jefferson City are working to preempt them.

On Tuesday, Sen. Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, presented legislation to a committee that would bar cities from doing those two things on their own.

“I believe in the local control, but I also believe in commerce,” he said, adding that he was concerned by the “several municipalities that have gone on their own” to preempt the state government.

Tracy King, vice president of governmental affairs at the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, said without the bill, Missouri businesses could experience a “bureaucratic nightmare” if inconsistent policies from city to city.

Jeanette Mott-Oxford, a lobbyist for the social welfare advocacy group Empower Missouri, said “any good policies happen as local ordinances,” and the legislature could learn from their efforts.

Similar legislation is being pushed in the House of Representatives by Rep. Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia.