The Missouri Science and Innovation Reinvestment Act, or MOSIRA, has been ruled unconstitutional by a Cole County judge. The MOSIRA bill was passed during last year’s special session, and its activation was contingent on the tax credit reform bill also passing.
Judge Daniel Green said in his ruling that lawmakers’ failure to pass the wide-ranging tax credit bill rendered the MOSIRA bill unconstitutional. The measure would have used revenues generated by a group of science and high-tech companies to create a pool to lure more such companies to Missouri and to keep the ones already here from leaving. GOP Senator Luann Ridgeway of Platte County is disappointed with the ruling.
“I represent an area in the greater Kansas City area, and we would love to have MOSIRA to help us better compete with other neighboring states, including Kansas, that has Kansas Biotech,” Ridgeway said.
Meanwhile, Senate President Pro-tem Rob Mayer says passing another MOSIRA bill this year depends on whether House and Senate leaders can agree on tax credit reform.
