By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph state Rep. Brenda Shields will try again next year, after two years of frustration trying to push a package of child care tax credits through the legislature.
The measure once again failed to get anywhere in the Senate.
Shields, a Republican, couldn’t get passed opposition from fellow Republicans who make up the ultra-conservative Senate Freedom Caucus.
“They just really wanted to cut all of the tax credits out of it, so that it would not have made it a bill worth passing or would have done what we are looking for is to create access to child care that is quality, reliable, safe, and affordable,” Shields tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post.
Shields will try again next year.
“I think that for Missouri’s economy to grow, which we know we lost over $1.35 billion in Missouri’s economy, which would have been about $280 million in General Revenue as people pay their taxes, I think it’s really necessary,” Shields says. “If we don’t have a workforce we can’t grow the economy.”
Shields got backing from Gov. Mike Parson as well as from the Missouri Chamber of Commerce. Both saw it as necessary for state economic growth.
Missouri Chamber of Commerce President Dan Mehan blames the Senate for failing to address what the Chamber considers a very real economic problem.
“State Rep. Brenda Shields did a fantastic job getting the child care bill through the House and into the Senate,” Mehan tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post in a phone interview. “For two years running, the Senate failed to vote it out of the Senate and deliver it to the governor’s desk for signature.”
Mehan is frustrated by antics in the Missouri Senate that have killed the bill.
“Last year, it was the vote that would have been taken on the last day. It was the next vote up and we endured a filibuster for the last four hours of the session,” Mehan says. “This year, we pretty much lost that whole week, that last week of session. So, they never brought it up for a vote on the floor.”
Mehan says a lack of child care or the expense of child care have prevented some women from returning to the workforce post-COVID.
The measure sponsored by Shields would have provide tax credits for businesses helping to offset the cost of child care for their employees, for donors to child care centers, and for child care providers expanding their business.
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