A jobs bill has passed on the last day of the legislative session.

The Missouri Senate voted 26-8 to approve the economic development and quality jobs bill after months of deadlock. Approval came at the start of the day Friday after a marathon session Thursday in the Senate that ended at around 2:30am without an agreement after Sen. Jason Crowell (R-Cape Girardeau) offered an amendment. When the Senate reconvened later in the morning, Crowell withdrew his amendment, breaking the impasse and leading to the vote.

Senate sponsor John Griesheimer (R-Washington) told colleagues, "The road has been long and filled with potholes…We can all go home and say we’ve done the best we can to put people back to work and attract quality jobs."

Though the bill traveled quickly to the House, Majority Floor Leader Steven Tilley (R-Perryville) didn’t go to the legislation ( HB 191 ) right away. Finally, the bill hit the House floor for debate just before 4pm, a little more than two hours to go in the session. It passed the House 155-2 and has been sent to Governor Nixon.