JEFFERSON CITY -- The Missouri General Assembly has approved legislation sponsored by Sen. John Loudon, R-West St. Louis County, which offers a variety of incentives to the Ford Motor Co. to keep its assembly plant in Hazelwood open.

Loudon amended the language from Senate Bill 620 onto House Bill 289, a downtown revitalization plan.

"My bill fit perfectly onto this legislation, which is all about stimulating Missouri's economy," said Loudon. "The loss of the Hazelwood Ford plant would be devastating to our economy."

The legislation would amend current laws related to the BUILD Program incentives, the Enterprise Zone Program, and the Community College New Jobs Training Program.

"Even with these changes, no one is guaranteeing that Ford will stay," Loudon said. "This bill provides some important tools to work with."

Ford can only take advantage of these incentives if they agree to reinvest $500 million over a five-year period and commit to keeping the jobs in Missouri for a period of time.

HB 289 contains an emergency, which puts it into effect as soon as the governor signs it, and negotiators will be able to immediately use these incentives to encourage Ford to remain in Hazelwood.

More than 2,500 people work at the Hazelwood Ford Plant, and businesses in 29 counties in the state provide products for Ford. The Missouri Department of Economic Development estimates that approximately 10,000 jobs would be lost - both directly and indirectly - as a result of the shutdown of the Ford plant. That would result in the loss of more than $500 million in wages.

"Missouri's economy is already floundering, the loss of this Ford would accelerate the downward slide," said Loudon.

The Hazelwood Ford Plant opened in 1948, and currently assembles the Ford Explorer. In January 2002, the Ford Motor Company announced a restructuring plan that would close five plants throughout the country, including the one located in Hazelwood, by mid-decade.

In March of that year, Gov. Bob Holden appointed a 22-member task force made up of community leaders, politicians and business people to develop a plan to encourage Ford to keep the Hazelwood plant open. Many of the recommendations of this task for were included in this legislation.