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State lawmakers have been in the special session since early September, but the House and Senate have come to a stalemate over the legislation.
Senate President Pro Tem Rob Mayer said Friday that the chambers are at an impasse and that he is disappointed.
Mayer, a Republican from Dexter, says he hopes economic incentives could be passed next year. Senators were scheduled to meet Tuesday.
For the economic development bill, senators want the programs to have sunset, or expiration dates, so they can control the costs. But House members have opposed expiration dates, arguing that they would allow one senator to easily kill programs by blocking a vote on reauthorizing them.
Earlier this week, when it looked like lawmakers were preparing to pack up and go home without passing the business package, I asked Governor Jay Nixon whether he was surprised that the deal didn’t go through. After all, it was he who called the lawmakers into the special session for this very reason.
"They certainly had a consensus at the time I brought them in. That consensus seemed to erode over the session. And as we got near the end of it, I indicated, and I think it was the right thing to say, that if they couldn’t get consensus, then they needed to go home,” Nixon said.
Nixon said he had numerous meetings with leadership, meetings with representatives and senators in their districts, and “innumerable” conference calls to try to broker a new consensus.
By the end of September, Nixon was already calling for lawmakers to wrap up the special session, which by that time, had already cost taxpayers over 100,000 dollars.
For KSMU News, I’m Jennifer Moore.
