The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry next year will urge lawmakers to invest in transportation, pass a right-to-work law and reform the state worker's compensation system.
In a news release Monday, the Chamber said it also wants the Legislature to support "Missouri's emerging job creators," transform the "workforce training efforts" and fix "Missouri's job-killing legal climate."
The chamber news release announced the organization saw its "largest ever year of expansion" in 2015 - growing to 75 chamber members and 50,000 employers - giving the Chamber "one new, powerful voice in the Missouri Capitol" when it comes to lobbying for pro-business issues.
"For the first time in 2016, this new Missouri Chamber-led business alliance will focus on enacting critically-needed pro-business legislation intended to move Missouri into a leadership position in the national and global economies," the Chamber announced.
President and CEO Dan Mehan said: "One of Missouri's most important drivers to economic success in 2030 is a united voice for business."
So, state Chamber officials "have been asking local chambers of commerce and their members to look beyond their regional economies and join us in working for a stronger Missouri through our Missouri Chamber Federation."
Mid-Missouri communities' chambers of commerce included in the chamber's statewide membership are Jefferson City, Callaway County, Camdenton, Columbia, Hermann and the Lake of the Ozarks Area.
The Chamber's release offered more details on some of the priorities.
• Investing in transportation infrastructure - "Following years of inaction, Missouri is closer than ever to a transportation crisis," they said.
"Only 37 percent of Missouri business leaders are satisfied with the condition of Missouri's transportation infrastructure, according to the Missouri 2030 Gallup survey," the Chamber reported.
• Fixing Missouri's "job-killing" legal climate - The Missouri and U.S. Constitutions guarantee people's access to the courts, but the Chamber's Gallup survey found fewer than one in four Missouri employers are satisfied with the state's litigation climate.
The Chamber said Missouri lawmakers need to pass "a broad array of reforms," including aligning "our discrimination standards with federal law," ensuring civil lawsuits are capped at a "reasonable level" and eliminating the joint and several liability standard, "which incentivizes lawyers to drag businesses into costly lawsuits."
• Enacting right-to-work protections for Missouri employers - The Chamber noted the 2015 General Assembly passed a bill but didn't have enough votes to override Gov. Jay Nixon's veto.
Mehan noted 25 states already have "right-to-work protections."
• Reforming the workers' compensation system - The Chamber said Missouri's workers' compensation system "requires a careful balance to ensure injured workers are protected without causing harm to the state's business community and job creation efforts," but that the state's "courts have played a large role in eroding that balance" during the last decade.
"Employers in many Missouri communities are struggling under these decisions," the Chamber said, so the "business community is asking the legislature to clarify the state's workers' compensation laws and restore fairness to the system."
Other issues among the Missouri Chamber Federation priorities are addressing the need for a streamlined internet sales tax and reducing business fees.
The Missouri Chamber's detailed 2016 legislative agenda can be viewed at www.mochamber.com/advocacy.