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Senators debate and clear way for Missouri Innovation Zone and downtown conversion package
Summary
Senate floor debate centered on a sprawling economic development package that would create voluntary city‑level 'Missouri Innovation Zones' (MIZ), modernize the Missouri Downtown Economic Stimulus Act (MODESA), add an angel investment tax credit and an office‑to‑residential conversion incentive. Sponsors said incentives are performance‑based and require private investment before state dollars are paid.
Senators spent a long stretch of floor time Wednesday on an expansive economic development package described by sponsors as the largest such effort in a decade. The substitute presented to the Senate would create a voluntary Missouri Innovation Zone program that cities could adopt to spur downtown redevelopment, modernize the state’s downtown economic stimulus law (MODESA), add an Angel Investment Act tax credit (a $6 million annual cap managed by the Missouri Technology Corporation) and establish a $50 million annual cap on conversion credits for office‑to‑residential projects.
Senator from Celine, the chamber’s sponsor on the floor, told colleagues the incentives are strictly performance‑based: the state would pay only after private investors put up capital, conversion work is finished and outcomes are verified.…
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