Jobs are the largest need in the State of Missouri. So why are Republicans in the Missouri State Capitol not working to create them?
We have passed the 13th week of the 2012 legislative session in Jefferson City, and our legislature has fully passed ZERO bills that create jobs. Republicans have fully passed the following bills:
- SB 450 – Modifies the length of school board terms for certain urban school districts
- SB 572 – Modifies the law relating to workers’ compensation
- HB 1219 – Weakens the law relating to the Missouri Human Rights Act and employment discrimination
- HCR 8 – Disapproves the new values for agricultural and horticultural property filed by the State Tax Commission.
Jobs are created through improving education, developing Missouri’s workforce, and properly implementing government programs that directly fund hiring. Our Republican-controlled state Legislature has the responsibility to ensure that a proportionate amount of Missouri’s $24 billion state budget is solely designated for the creation of jobs and that our state government gets unemployed Missourians working again. Yet, Republicans have chosen to sit on their hands and not do the work necessary to help the people of this state find jobs.Â
The job of the state legislature is to improve our state’s economy by accomplishing the following by the end of the 2012 session:
- Increase funding to the WorkReadyMissouri program, a program which mirrors the most successful job creation program in the nation, Georgia Works
- Create tax-deductible (not tax credit) incentives that attract businesses to pay for their Missouri employees to further their education at a Missouri institution of higher education
- Fully fund the Missouri Foundation Formula and provide all schools with the money they need to be successful
- Create and fund programs that support positive reinforcement to students and parental involvement in unaccredited school districts.
Jobs are hard to come by all around in the state of Missouri. Our elected officials who aren’t doing theirs should find a new one. The people of Missouri can no longer wait while legislators refuse to act on our most pertinent issue. In the 2012 election, we must un-elect those in our government who have the ability to create jobs, but just aren’t doing so. We must send a message that we demand progress, and not more of nothing.
Michael Butler is a candidate for state representative.
