With only six weeks remaining in the session, momentum is building and bills are continuing to move through the legislative process. On Friday, Senate Bill 673 was voted out of the Senate and sent to the House. SB673 ties the length of unemployment benefits to the state's unemployment rate. This is a common sense approach to ensure that when unemployment is high, benefits can be drawn for longer, up to the maximum of 20 weeks. However, as the state's unemployment rate goes down and more jobs are available, the length of time for benefits is reduced. This bill also requires the Board of Unemployment Financing Fund to consider bonding the balance of unemployment insurance debt if it reaches $300 million.
Currently, small business owners are paying the balance and interest of debt incurred when Missouri borrowed money from the federal government in 2008 to fund unemployment claims brought on by the recession. As senators noted to me this week, the potential savings to small businesses as a result of SB673, more than $120 million, is better than many of the jobs bills we have previously considered.
SB 673 ensures that small businesses will no longer be forced to pay rising penalties in addition to the balance of the debt the state incurred by borrowing the money. In turn, small businesses will be able to keep more of their money to reinvest in their business. I have mentioned SB 673 several times over the course of this session and am pleased to see it pass the Senate. I am hopeful that the House will act on this bill and send it quickly to the governor for his signature.
In 2012, I sponsored legislation that allows Missouri boating businesses to issue one-time temporary boating safety identification cards to non-residents. Since then, one business that I know of reported a growth of more than 15 percent in revenues in 2013, a significant portion of which they attribute to the ability to offer the out-of-state temporary boating safety identification cards. However, I find it problematic that out-of-state residents are afforded this opportunity and Missouri residents are not.
This year I sponsored SB 785, which allows businesses to issue one-time temporary boating safety identification cards to Missouri residents as well as non-residents. This bill will increase sales and rentals at marinas and other businesses around Missouri's numerous destination lakes. I was pleased to see SB785 gain initial approval this week and look forward to this measure advancing in the legislature. It is always a good thing when we can pass legislation that will benefit Missouri's economy without compromising safety.
Senate Bill 723, which authorizes the state to issue revenue bonds to pay for critical maintenance to state facilities, passed out of the Senate on Thursday. SB723 is significant to the 6th Senate District because it contains authorization for the construction of a new state mental health facility in Fulton. Additionally, it also funds necessary improvements to the St. Mary's site in Jefferson City for future use by Lincoln University, the State Technical College of Missouri and other entities when St. Mary's moves to its new location later this year.
For the last several decades the state has bonded for maintenance and repair, and doing so has proven to be a prudent and cost-effective mechanism to address a long list of needs across the state. The state has just finished paying off a series of bonds so there is room and cash flow within the budget to address these new projects.
Transportation infrastructure continues to be one of my top priorities, and this week I was pleased to see the house begin discussions of a temporary one-cent sales tax. While those discussions were occurring in the House, I was also having discussions with my colleagues on the Senate floor about some of the necessary bridge repairs that the state is facing in the coming years.
Each of the 10,400 bridges that the state maintains are evaluated and graded based upon their condition. Currently, there are 895 bridges across the state rated as "deficient." These deficient bridges are in need of significant investment. Without that investment, they will be closed within the next three years. The cost to fix just these deficient bridges is $1.4 billion.
Of the state's 34 Senate districts, 31 have deficient bridges. Some of these 31 districts have only a handful of deficient bridges and some of them have dozens; in the 6th Senate District there are 34.
In addition to these 895 bridges that are already in a perilous state, the state's entire transportation infrastructure network is continually affected by mother nature and father time. This means that even if the bridges currently classified as deficient are rehabilitated, there will be others that fall to that status for lack of funding to maintain them.
Based upon this year's revenues, it would take 100 percent of MoDOT's construction budget for the next two years just to pay for the repair of the state's currently deficient bridges. This is neither responsible nor practical. Missouri is at a critical point as it relates to transportation infrastructure, and I look forward to continued conversations and actions in the house and the senate to put a measure on the 2014 ballot for Missourians to decide how they want to invest in transportation infrastructure.
My purpose and my intent is to serve the constituents of the 6th Senatorial District. If you are in the Capitol during the coming weeks and months, please stop by your office in Room 220.
State Sen. Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, represents the 6th District.