Nixon to seek special session for big Boeing tax breaks

Official word is expected Friday, but several sources in the administration and Legislature have confirmed that Nixon intends to call a special session, perhaps to start as soon as Monday.

While details of a proposed incentive package are not yet clear, it would likely be among the biggest Missouri has ever offered a single company. Washington state lawmakers, meeting in special session this month, passed tax breaks worth $8.7 billion over 20 years to keep the plant there, but when Boeing’s Machinists union voted two weeks ago to reject a contract tied to the deal, Boeing began shopping around for new locations.

Bringing the plant to St. Louis — where Boeing employs about 15,000 people at its defense unit headquarters but has only minor commercial-jet operations — would be a “transformational opportunity” for the economy of the region, Nixon said during a speech in Chesterfield on Wednesday. It would likely create thousands of jobs at Boeing and suppliers and instantly put St. Louis on the map of the global commercial-jet industry.

“It doesn’t get much bigger than this,” Nixon said. “We’re going to compete to win this.”

With as many as 15 states competing for the plant, winning likely will require a big incentive package. Most industry analysts give St. Louis slim odds for landing the 777X plant.

Talking with reporters after his speech, Nixon was coy about whether he’d call lawmakers back for a special session to approve new subsidies — as he did in 2010 to help expand a Ford Motor Co. plant near Kansas City. But, he said, a decision will come soon.

“This is moving quickly,” he said. “It’s a matter of days, not weeks.”

By Wednesday afternoon, word began to spread that Nixon was planning a Friday announcement of a session to start Monday. Democratic lawmakers were advised by email from Minority Floor Leader Jacob Hummel, D-St. Louis, that a session was “likely” next week and to schedule accordingly, and a source familiar with the governor’s plans said Nixon will make the announcement Friday.

House Majority Leader John Diehl, R-Town and Country, was part of a group of lawmakers who met with Nixon on Wednesday afternoon and heard of his plans for a session “sooner rather than later.”

“That’s what he told us,” Diehl said. “We’ll know more Friday.”

While Republican leaders in the House and Senate have said they generally support the idea of incentives for Boeing, some said they’ll want to see more details, and soon.

House Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, said he hopes Nixon pursues Boeing and that it’s “safe to say” his chamber would support an “aggressive” approach. But he wanted more details on any big subsidy.

“We are in the very early stages of substantive discussion,” he wrote in a statement. “Until the governor is able to provide us the specifics that are necessary to make a competitive bid, we will simply remain cautiously optimistic about this potential opportunity.”

Jones was one of several Republicans who tied support for Boeing to other priorities, raising the prospect of a thorny session.

In Jones’ case, it was the tax-cut bill Nixon vetoed earlier this year; Jones suggested Nixon might be “more willing to work with us, rather than against us” this time.

Meanwhile, Sen. John Lamping, R-Ladue, said incentives for Boeing would need to be offset by cuts elsewhere, such as in big tax credit programs for historic preservation and housing development.

“I think (Nixon will) be smart enough to know what he needs to do, which is to say, ‘We need to reallocate these tax credits,’” Lamping said. “If the attempt is to create a brand new incentive program, ask for tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of dollars every year, then I think it’s going to be a long week.”

But, Lamping, Jones and just about everyone else who spoke up on Wednesday said a project as big as Boeing’s next assembly plant would be more likely to win support than some other economic development bills that have floundered in recent years.

Virginia Young of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.