Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry 428 East Capitol Avenue
Jefferson City, MO 65101
Contact: 573-634-3511
Dan Mehan, President / CEO
Karen Buschmann, Vice President of Communications
Missouri business leaders ask lawmakers to “Fix the Six,”
outlining six legislative priorities to promote jobs
Revenue-neutral proposals key to promoting economic growth in
our state
JEFFERSON CITY– Business leaders from across the state came together during a
press conference today in the Capitol Rotunda to present a unified agenda of the
six legislative priorities they are asking lawmakers to pass this session in an
effort to protect and create Missouri jobs. Among the priorities, which
proponents are calling “Fix the Six,” are bottom-line issues for Missouri
employers: employment law reform, workers’ compensation reform, tort reform,
unemployment insurance reform, franchise tax cap and elimination of the minimum
wage escalator.
“With no fiscal impact on state revenues, we believe the Fix the Six agenda
could be the most important economic development effort lawmakers could make
this year,” said Daniel P. Mehan, president of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce
and Industry. “Successful passage of these six agenda items would mean
broad-based reform impacting every business in our state, making Missouri a more
attractive and competitive place to do business.”
The Fix the Six Coalition is the result of several employers and employer
organizations meeting for the past several months to form a unified agenda of
core business issues. Businesses from every corner of the state and of every
size and type have participated and joined the coalition. This unprecedented
effort is focusing the strength of the state’s most prominent business
organizations, including the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the
NFIB, Associated Industries of Missouri, the Missouri Merchants and
Manufacturers Association, the Missouri Grocers Association, the Missouri
Restaurant Association, Associated General Contractors of Missouri, the St.
Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association, the St. Louis Regional Business
Council, and the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce. Together, these
associations represent thousands of Missouri businesses, collectively employing
more than 500,000 Missouri workers.
“Whether your company is large or small, whether Missouri’s economy is weak or
strong, these are the issues that have the biggest day-to-day impact on a
business’ success,” said Brad Jones, Missouri state director of NFIB.
“Workforce, legal climate, workers’ comp, taxes – these are cost drivers for
every business. Affecting positive change in these areas will go a long way in
promoting jobs in our state.”
Key to the proposals is the revenue neutrality of the each priority. None of the
priorities will have a fiscal cost to the state. Proponents also contend that no
other proposal that could go before the General Assembly has as great a
potential to grow Missouri revenues.
“At a time when lawmakers will be looking for more than $500 million in cuts to
balance the budget, we are coming to the table with a way to increase revenues
without any outlay from the state,” said Ray McCarty, president of the
Associated Industries of Missouri. “We’re asking the legislature to invest in
Missouri’s economy through responsible policy change, and the dividend will be a
stronger business climate that will lead to more jobs and more tax revenue in
the long run.”
The broad-based reforms also will provide benefit for employers in both rural
and urban areas of the state.
“As the largest regional economic development organization in the state, the
RCGA saw first-hand how the positive business climate changes adopted in 2005
led to a tangible improvement in the national perception of Missouri and the St.
Louis region as good places to do business,” said C.K. Chip Casteel, Senior Vice
President – Public Policy of the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth
Association. “These Fix the Six changes in 2011 are similarly important to our
economic growth and prosperity in the future.”
During the press conference, business leaders gave the details of each of the
Fix the Six priorities:
1) Employment Law Reform: In recent years, Missouri has seen
a disturbing trend of legal decisions eroding the intent of Missouri’s
employment law, tipping the scales against employers in court. In case after
case, Missouri’s courts are positioning the state as vastly more anti-business
compared to our surrounding states. The Fix the Six legislative priorities seek
to address the erosion of discrimination law that is putting Missouri business
at a competitive disadvantage. One important change would reform the Missouri
Human Rights Act regarding discrimination claims to more closely reflect federal
Title VII protection. The MHRA has been interpreted in ways more plaintiff
friendly than the federal statutes. Missouri also sets a lower threshold for
employer liability under the MHRA than is required under federal laws and the
laws of neighboring states. This lower threshold makes it much easier for
employee plaintiffs to avoid summary judgment, to get claims to an expensive
jury trial, and to impose liability on the employer and individual supervisors.
Another change sought would cap compensatory jury awards and impose lower limits
on punitive damages. Unlike federal discrimination statutes, compensatory
damages under the MHRA are unlimited and punitive damages are capped at $500,000
or five times the jury award. The federal laws use a sliding scale of combined
compensatory and punitive damages caps ranging from $50,000 to $300,000. Also
among legislative priorities is a tightening of whistleblower protection, so
that it applies only in cases when an employee alerts authorities to an actual
illegal act.
2) Workers’ Compensation Reform: As in the area of
employment law, the courts interpretations of Missouri’s workers’ compensation
laws are also changing the playing field for Missouri employers – in a negative
way. Unintended consequences of workers’ compensation reforms passed in 2005
could catch businesses off guard, because these changes are being interpreted to
exclude protections for incidents that have been covered by the workers’
compensation system for decades. Following the court case Robinson v. Hooker,
employees who sustain work-related injuries may sue co-employees for negligence
in a civil action. Missouri employers may find it difficult to recruit and
retain employees in key supervisory and safety positions without offering to
indemnify them against lawsuits from co-workers. In the Franklin v CertainTeed
Corp case, the court ruled that occupational diseases are no longer the
exclusive domain of workers’ compensation. As a result, such cases may instead
be pursued in civil court for damages against employers – vastly increasing the
time and expense necessary to resolve cases. The Fix the Six Coalition will
advocate legislation to reverse these dangerous court cases and codify the
intent of the 2005 reforms.
3) Franchise Tax Cap: Missouri’s corporate franchise tax
also impedes Missouri’s competition with other states. Missouri is one of a few
states that imposes both a corporation income tax and a franchise tax. The
corporate franchise tax is an antiquated tax that was enacted as a temporary tax
in 1914 before there was a corporate income tax. Still imposed today on
Missouri’s large employers, it represents double-taxation and should be
eliminated. The Fix the Six agenda contains a provision to limit the annual
assessment of corporate franchise tax at 2010 levels and seeks to phase out the
tax over time.
4) Minimum Wage Escalator Elimination: Missouri’s minimum
wage law allows an automatic inflation adjustment based on any increase in the
cost of living as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This automatic
increase could result in a higher minimum wage in Missouri than the federal
minimum wage. Missouri stands out among its neighboring states with its
minimum-wage escalator and is poised to rise to a level higher than any other
adjoining state. The Fix the Six Coalition seeks to eliminate the automatic
escalator so that Missouri’s minimum wage levels do not exceed federal levels.
5) Tort Reform: The overall litigation environment is a key
factor for a business deciding to invest, locate, remain or sell products and
services in Missouri. A specific area in Missouri’s tort system that is putting
our state at a competitive disadvantage is the current law for assigning fault
and business liability known as modified joint and several liability. It means
that businesses can be held liable for the entire cost of litigation if found to
be 51 percent or more at fault in the case. Businesses can be on the hook for
the entire cost of a claim and settlement, even if there are multiple businesses
at fault for alleged damages. In fact, a Missouri business can be held liable
for the damages of a third party that was not in the litigation, but is also at
fault. Several neighboring states have reformed laws to move toward a pure
several liability system to determine fault and liability, apportioning cost
between all parties according to the percentage of fault attributed to each. The
Fix the Six Coalition also is advocating for Missouri to adopt a pure several
liability system.
6) Unemployment Insurance Reform: Missouri’s sagging economy
and growing unemployment rates during the economic downturn has bankrupted the
state’s unemployment insurance trust fund and is pointing Missouri employers
toward a tax increase to pay back federal loans. Missouri has borrowed more than
$722 million from the federal government to pay unemployment claims. Employers
will begin losing Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) tax credits this year if
the state does not repay its loans, which next year could result in a tax
increase of $21 per employee employed by a Missouri business. That amount
doubles the following year and triples in the year after that. Missouri could
avoid this increase through bonding. The ability to issue bonds to repay these
loans to the federal government already exists in the law, but the term of the
bonds must be lengthened. Without lengthening the term, the principal and
interest payments would exceed the amount allowed under the Hancock provisions
of the Missouri Constitution. Among the Fix the Six legislative agenda is a
provision to lengthen the term of bonding to aid in paying back federal UI
loans, reducing interest and securing FUTA credits.
