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Parson signs into law partial repeal of Missouri prevailing wage law

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Governor Mike Parson, R, has signed into law a partial repeal of a state law known as prevailing wage, which involves the rate of pay for employees working on public works projects, for things like local jails, schools and courthouses. The legislation is among a batch of bills he signed today, the day before the deadline to take action on measures passed during this year’s regular session of the Missouri Legislature.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson held numerous meetings on May 30, 2018 in Jefferson City (photo courtesy of Parson’s office)

The proposal passed mostly along party lines with the Republican supermajority having the upper hand on the vote.

Prevailing wage is meant to reflect wages for work on similar projects in local areas. Critics of the law contend that it has led to inflated pay based on wages in urban areas. Democrats, who are generally supportive of organized labor, say changing the wage structure will hurt small contractors and workers.

Under the plan, there would be no prevailing wage unless there are 1,000 reportable hours of pay for a particular occupation in a given county or locality. The prevailing wage in such circumstances would be replaced by a county’s construction minimum wage. That rate of pay would amount to 120% of average wages determined by the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

The change in the law does not affect construction projects worth less than $75,000.

The bill, HB 1729, is sponsored by Jeffery Justus, R-Branson.

By Jason Taylor and Alisa Nelson

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

New Missouri Dollar Tree distribution center to service stores in 11 states

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Dollar Tree says its new $110 million distribution center in western Missouri’s Warrensburg will create 375 new jobs by 2020.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson helps cut the ribbon at the July 11, 2018 ceremony at the Dollar Tree distribution center in Warrensburg (photo courtesy of Governor Parson’s office)

Governor Mike Parson (R) joined dozens of others at Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony in Warrensburg, which has about 19,000 residents.

“And when you listen to these corporations, these companies, why did they decide to come to Missouri and they give you the reasons why, it’s those things that you can build on, when they start talking about work ethic, when they start talking about our communities,” Parson says.

Governor Parson says Dollar Tree is a great addition to the region.

State Sen. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg, and State Rep. Glen Kolkmeyer, R-Odessa, presented Senate and House resolutions at the ceremony.

“Johnson County is excited to welcome Dollar Tree/Family Dollar and 375 new jobs to the state of Missouri,” Hoskins says. “This distribution center is a state of the art facility.”

Missouri Department of Economic Development Business Development Unit Director Mark Stombaugh also attended the ceremony, along with Warrensburg Mayor Danielle Johnston.

Virginia-based Dollar Tree says the Warrensburg distribution center will service stores across an 11-state region.

State Sen. Denny Hoskins (left) and State Rep. Glen Kolkmeyer (right) present Senate and House resolutions at the July 11, 2018 ribbon cutting ceremony at the massive Dollar Tree distribution center in Warrensburg (photo courtesy of Senator Hoskins’ office)

Dollar Tree operates about 15,000 stores across 48 states.

After Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, Governor Parson traveled to nearby Odessa for a roundtable discussion with about 15 rural mayors.

Parson says discussions like the roundtable are an important way to learn about concerns and areas that need improvement.

Parson says the rural mayors he met with in Odessa are primarily focused on two main areas: infrastructure and workforce development.

He says it’s imperative to continually work closely with local communities.

“It’s an opportunity for us, for myself as a governor and for the legislators and the people of Missouri, to really lead,” says Parson. “To be able to go out there and say ok we know what the problems are is infrastructure and workforce development. So how do we change? How do we do things differently?”

Mayors who participated in the roundtable include Odessa Mayor Adam Couch, Cameron Mayor Darlene Breckenridge, Richmond Mayor Mike Wright and Warsaw Mayor Eddie Simons.

The mayors also discussed the ten-cent gasoline tax increase that will appear on the November statewide ballot, along with rural broadband access.

Governor Parson has also met recently with St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson and Kansas City Mayor Sly James.

He says the infrastructure and workforce development issues that Krewson and James face is similar to that of rural Missouri mayors.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Missouri tax cut bill to be signed Thursday

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Missouri’s governor is scheduled to sign tax cut legislation into law Thursday in Springfield.

Missouri House Speaker Pro Tem Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, testifies before the House Ways and Means Committee on March 5, 2018 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Governor Mike Parson (R) plans to sign the bill at 12:30 Thursday afternoon at Hartman and Company Shop in Springfield.

The Hartman and Company Shop website describes the company as “heavy civil construction specialists.”

House Speaker Pro Tem Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, is the bill sponsor.

Under the bill, Missouri’s highest personal income tax rate will be reduced from 5.9 to 5.5 percent, with “each cut becoming effective if net general revenue collections meet a certain trigger.”

Haahr’s original bill called for a reduction to five percent.

Tax policy was a top 2018 priority for Missouri House Republicans.

House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, told the Capitol Press Corps in January that he wanted to make Missouri the most competitive economic environment anywhere in the nation.

Haahr’s bill will become effective on January 1.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Governor Parson to meet with rural Missouri mayors Wednesday (AUDIO)

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Mayors from across rural Missouri will meet Wednesday afternoon with Governor Mike Parson (R) in Odessa to discuss numerous topics, including transportation funding and prevailing wage issues.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson (center) waves at his address to a joint session of the Legislature on June 11, 2018. House Speaker Todd Richardson (left) and Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard (right) applaud (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Odessa Mayor Adam Couch says transportation is one of the biggest issues facing Odessa, which sits on I-70 in western Missouri’s Lafayette County.

“I-70 feeds a lot of traffic, a lot of business into our community,” Couch says. “And so being able to repair I-70 (and) expand it would be great.”

Mayor Couch supports the ten-cent gasoline tax increase that will appear on the November statewide ballot.

“It’s something that we’ve needed for quite some time,” says Couch. “I’ve read the report from the transportation commission and our roads, our infrastructure in general, are in dire need across the state.”

If approved by Missouri voters in November, the gasoline tax increase would be phased in over four years at 2.5 cents annually.

House Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Reiboldt, R-Neosho, describes the November ballot measure as a public safety tax, which would fund the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the road and bridge fund.

Missouri’s gasoline and diesel tax are both currently at 17-cents a gallon, and haven’t been increased since 1996.

Mayor Couch also tells Missourinet Odessa needs a new I-70 interchange near Highways 131 and 40.

Voters in eastern Missouri’s Warrenton approved two citywide sales tax increases to fund a new interchange there, due to a lack of funding from the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT).

State Rep. Greg Razer, D-Kansas City, who served on Missouri’s 21st century transportation system task force, tweeted Tuesday, saying he’s glad to see Governor Parson discussing the importance of investing in Missouri infrastructure.

“Transportation is a major issue statewide. Should be an issue that brings everyone together- Democrats and GOP, urban and rural, business and labor, and traveling public who deserve good roads,” Razer tweeted.

Governor Parson told reporters in June at Mizzou that infrastructure must be a top priority.

Wednesday’s roundtable will start at 1:30 at Odessa Upper Elementary School.

Mayor Couch says it’s the first time he remembers a sitting governor visiting the town of about 5,300.

Couch says the governor is interested in hearing about the challenges rural Missouri is facing.

“The smaller, the breadbaskets of Missouri, you know, the hard workers, blue-collar workers, we just greatly appreciate him taking time out of his busy schedule to come and spend some time with us and hear us out,” Couch says.

He says the prevailing wage and local control will also be discussed at the roundtable.

Mayors from at least 15 towns have been invited, including Chillicothe, Knob Noster and Lexington.

The Odessa Chamber of Commerce website says the town “offers the best of both worlds with a calm, quiet lifestyle, a variety of business opportunities, and easy access to I-70.”

The website says Odessa’s median household income is $48,932, up from $34,007 in 2000.

 

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and Odessa Mayor Adam Couch, which was recorded on July 10, 2018:

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

 

Missouri’s Cleaver: trade wars have never benefited any nation (AUDIO)

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A Kansas City congressman who also represents parts of west-central Missouri warns tariffs are having a “devastating impact” on some industries in the Show-Me State.

Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver (left) listens as Canadian Consul General John Cruickshank addresses farmers in Higginsville on July 2, 2018 (photo courtesy of Congressman Cleaver’s office)

U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City, hosted a meeting between farmers and the Canadian Consul General last week in Higginsville.

“And although it is not being felt thus far, we will have to pay a price for these tariffs that have been levied on China,” Cleaver says.

ABC News reports the Trump Administration and Chinese leaders have imposed tens of billions of dollars in tariffs on each other’s goods.

President Donald Trump (R) has said that other countries have unfair trade practices, which have cost the loss of family-supporting manufacturing jobs.

Cleaver’s district includes Kansas City as well as Lafayette, Ray and Saline counties.

Congressman Cleaver tells Missourinet China is targeting, with tariffs, states that President Trump carried in 2016, including Missouri.

Cleaver says China purchases 60 percent of its beans from the United States, primarily from the lower Midwest.

“Which means a lot of it comes from Missouri,” says Cleaver. “And it’s just a matter of time before the farmers in Missouri’s Fifth District, in and around Higginsville, will feel the impact.”

Cleaver says China has implemented a new 15 percent tariff on 120 U.S. imported goods, including fruits.

Lafayette County has numerous orchards, including Waverly, which is known for its September Waverly Apple Jubilee.

Cleaver says about 160,000 jobs in the Show-Me State depend on trade and investment with Canada.

Cleaver hosted a standing-room only meeting last Monday in Higginsville, between farmers and Canadian Consul General John Cruickshank. Cleaver says the two then had a dinner meeting with the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.

“Which incidentally has signed onto a letter sent to the president from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, saying that they do not support the tariffs,” Cleaver says.

Cleaver describes the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as “pretty much a Republican organization.”

Cleaver tells Missourinet the United States has a $2 billion trade surplus with Canada.

The “Washington Post” reports that in 2017, the United States imported more in goods from Canada than it exported. A recent article from the “Post” says “that was the case with each of the 15 countries with which the United States does the most trade.”

But the newspaper notes the United States ran a surplus with Canada in 2016, considering both goods and services.

Congressman Cleaver is a Senior Whip in the U.S. House Democratic Caucus.

 

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, which was recorded on July 3, 2018:

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Company to celebrate takeover of Missouri factory

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A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for today in northwest Missouri’s Trenton to celebrate Nestle’s purchase of the Conagra factory there. Nestle officially took ownership of the plant on June 1 – keeping the assembly line flowing without disruptions and employing some 120 workers.

Company to celebrate takeover of Missouri factory

Earlier this year, final arrangements were being made to shut the factory’s doors when the two companies instead announced Nestle’s intent to purchase the factory. The news brought a huge sense of relief to the town 6,000 on the verge of losing its biggest employer and putting an estimated 300 workers out of jobs.

Today’s gathering is from 11-1 p.m. at the Trenton factory. Missourinet will be covering the event and will have more details later today.

Earlier stories:

Northwest Missouri factory escapes planned closure
https://wp.me/p16gMv-t9y

Nestle restores enthusiasm in northwest Missouri by purchasing Conagra
https://wp.me/p16gMv-tbI

New era is underway at northwest Missouri factory
https://wp.me/p16gMv-tvY

Missouri herbicide crop damage reports exceed last year’s figures

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The number of Missouri’s off-target crop damage reports from a weed killer called dicamba has increased from the same period last year. State Agriculture Director Chris Chinn says about 112 complaints have been made so far this year compared to 98 during the same time in 2017.

Chris Chinn

“They are mostly in the southeastern part of the state at this time,” Chinn tells Brownfield Ag News. “We do have 15 2,4-D complaints as well. Ten of those are coming from that Bootheel area as well.”

Chinn says the complaints involve 17,000 acres of soybeans, 500 acres of peaches and residential trees, 75 acres of watermelon and some residential and commercial gardens.

Southeast Missouri also received the most dicamba complaints in 2017 and 2016.

Last year, a bill was signed into law in Missouri that increases the penalties for illegal use of herbicides. It authorizes the Missouri Department of Agriculture to issue a $10,000 penalty per violation. Chronic violators can also be fined up to $25,000 per violation. Fines go to the school district in which the violation occurred.

Chinn points out that the cutoff date for dicamba use was June 10th in southeast Missouri and July 15th for the rest of the state.

“Because of those cutoff dates, we do feel like we will have a more successful 2018,” Chinn says, “but we also want to remind producers in the rest of the state that that 24-C label still applies.”

The label says dicamba can be used only until soybeans reach the R-ONE growth stage, which, in many cases, has already happened.

By Tom Steever of Brownfield Ag News

Missouri town to showcase history of sliced bread

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On July 7, 1928, the Chillicothe Baking Company in northwest Missouri became the first commercial bakery in recorded history to have bread mechanically cut into uniform slices. The invention, developed by Otto Rohwedder of Iowa, revolutionized the baking world. To celebrate the 90-year milestone, the town of Chillicothe is gearing up for its first annual Missouri Sliced Bread Day on Saturday.

A mural in downtown Chillicothe notes the city is the home of sliced bread (2018 photo courtesy of the Greater Chillicothe Visitors Region)

Pamela Klingerman, curator of the Grand River Historical Society Museum in Chillicothe, says Rohwedder was friends with Frank Bench. Bench’s family owned the bakery. Bench, who worked in the bakery part-time to save money for college, did the honors that day in 1928 by firing up the bread slicer for use.

The cost to slice a loaf of bread back then is unknown but the machine’s popularity grew instantly.

“After Frank Bench used it for the first time, his bread sales went up 2000% in two weeks,” she says. “Bakers from Kansas City, St. Joseph and Marceline, they were coming from everywhere with trucks of bread to have it sliced.”

About two months ago, a 106-year-old woman visited the museum in Chillicothe to see the bread slicer. She recalls her family putting on their dress clothes and going to watch bread being sliced at a store in South Bend. The woman was about 11 years old at the time.

“Can you imagine getting dressed up just to go watch a machine slice bread? That’s the kind of impact it had on society at the time,” she says.

Klingergman says the machine’s purpose affected the way of life for many, including as a huge labor-saving device for housewives.

“Without this invention, we would probably still be sawing bread up and not particularly thin slices,” Klingerman says. “Before everybody baked at home or if they did go and get bakery bread, it was unsliced. Mom sliced it at home and maybe not really uniformed sliced. It was a lot of work preparing for like breakfast with toast. If you had a large family, sandwiches for lunch. Then bread for supper. It helped the farmer as well because butter production, jams, jellies, spreads and honey. That kind of thing.”

Klingerman says the slicer also transformed the small appliance industry.

“Prior to this, the pop-up toaster had been invented but it didn’t go anywhere because people couldn’t, for the most part, make bread slices uniform to put in it. So, they got jammed up or they went in and got burned because the slices were too thin,” she says.

The Smithsonian Museum has loaned the original bread slicer to Klingerman’s museum. The machine weighs in at more than 1,000 pounds.

Bread lovers ready to binge their way to carb heaven can take it all in on Saturday. The activities you might expect to see at a festival all about bread will be there, including a French toast breakfast, bread baking contest, bread tasting, “The Greatest Parade Since Sliced Bread” and the Sliced Bread Jam Bluegrass festival. Other features of the day include a flea market, 5K run, open mic competition, historic preservation workshop and the largest fireworks display in northwest Missouri.

“I think it’s just a time for the community to come together and it’s a good day to remember,” she says. “It’s gives us community pride. That’s never a bad thing.”

State Rep. Rusty Black, R-Chillicothe will judge Saturday’s bread baking contest. Prizes being awarded for the top honors will be riding on the taste buds of Black.

About ten local groups are teaming up to put on tomorrow’s Missouri Sliced Bread Day events in the community of 21,000. Klingerman thinks they will have plenty of bread to go around.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Former Missouri legislator on trade tariffs: “This is really disheartening”

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Canada has launched $12.5 billion in tariffs this week on American exports, including Missouri beef products.

Representative Casey Guernsey (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

, spokesman for Americans for Farmers & Families, says Canada’s retaliation against the U.S. is another trade concern for farmers’ bottom line.

“Small and mid-sized farmers just can’t afford this increased in costs at any level,” he says.

Guernsey, a former northwest Missouri State Representative, tells Brownfield Ag News the effects of trade retaliation are hitting farmers where it hurts.

“My family, we’ve seen some of our customers begin selling off their breeding stock and that’s something that is a long-term consequence for any farming operation and certainly those of us who provide stock for other farms. This is really disheartening,” he says.

Canada imported nearly $25 million in food and ag products from the U.S. last year.

“It’s tremendously concerning considering all of the conversations that we’ve been having for the past six months and the excitement that we had going into this year as to a potential better deal with NAFTA.”

Guernsey is hopeful the Trump administration and Congress find a solution on responsible trade policies as soon as possible.

By Julie Harker of Brownfield Ag News

Survey says trade concerns a damper, but Missouri economy still growing

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Dr. Ernie Goss

A new monthly survey indicates the Midwest economy is still in expansion mode, but the growth is slowing due to trade and tariff concerns. Economics professor Ernie Goss with Creighton University in Omaha surveys supply managers in nine states, including Missouri.

“The overall index was down, but still in a range pointing to solid growth in the next three to six months, although that growth is going to be a little bit slower,” Goss says. “We’ve got interest rate hikes coming and we’ve already had interest rates hikes and, of course, the trade tensions — that tends to slow growth as well.”

Goss says federal tax cuts were a boost to the Midwest businesses at the start of the year, but he expects the Federal Reserve’s expected interest rate hike this fall to be a damper on the economy.

“These trade tensions that’s really a significant factor, particularly for Iowa and most of the eight other states that we survey simply because agriculture is in the cross-hairs of any trade tensions, tariffs, trade wars and that’s certainly having some impacts, according to our survey,” Goss says.

The Midwest employment outlook is also still on an upswing according to his survey.

By O.Kay Henderson of Radio Iowa