Richard: Jobs is number one priority

In his latest report, Sen. Ron Richard, R-Joplin, says the emphasis in the 2012 legislative session will be on jobs:

We began the 96th General Assembly on Wednesday, Jan. 4, at noon with the traditional opening day ceremony. My colleagues and I are eager to start this session as we face the challenges ahead. Thousands of Missouri citizens are still out of work, and we are looking at another budget shortfall this year. As one-time federal supplemental dollars run out, we must be creative in our agenda.

It’s going to take innovative ideas and compromise to tackle these issues, and there is no single solution. I believe it is vitally important to work together to find common ground as we examine measures to help our state.

Senate Bill 585, which I sponsored, is aimed at alleviating our revenue problem and promoting economic development. This legislation would create a tax credit for attracting amateur sporting events, such as college sport championship games and U.S. Olympic trials, to the Show-Me State.

Amateur sports events are a multi-million dollar industry. Beyond simple bragging rights, states that host these events bring in millions of tourism dollars. Fans that attend the games stay at local hotels, eat at local restaurants and shop in local stores. Not only does this benefit those existing businesses, it generates a lot of state revenue which can be used to ward off future budget shortfalls. It is imperative we find new ways to bring in revenue without raising taxes if we’re going to keep Missouri on solid fiscal ground.

I also prefiled Senate Bill 584 which would offer sales and use tax exemptions to further encourage data storage centers to build and expand in our state. Data storage centers house computer servers that store digital information for credit card providers, online retailers and Internet search engines. The advent of cloud computing and storage has made data centers a billion dollar industry. By luring these businesses to our state, we can create permanent, high-tech employment and also produce construction jobs that are needed to build the centers.

Since being elected to the General Assembly I have made job creation and economic development one of my main priorities. I will be working hard to do this by examining many different bills this session, including protecting employees from being personally sued for honest work accidents, bringing state law in line with the federal Civil Rights Act and ensuring employees have a choice in joining or leaving a union.

I believe we have to take a multi-tiered approach to solving our state’s problems. There is not a single bill that will fix our state. It’s going to take many different approaches with varying goals to get our state back on track. I’m confident we can do that, and will work hard to make sure it happens. I will continue to keep you posted on major events as the session continues.