Missouri Senate

Perfected

MISSOURI SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS INITIATIVE: Any taxpayer who hires a student majoring in a field of study related to science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) to fill an internship position may apply to have up to five thousand dollars of the taxpayer's state tax liability removed from the general revenue fund and placed in the STEM Fund. The student must be enrolled at a two-year or four-year public or private Missouri college or university and the internship position must be in a field of study related to the STEM fields. In addition, the internship must be located in Missouri and be for a duration of at least twelve weeks and consist of at least fifteen hours of work per week. The Department of Higher Education must establish a procedure for approving applications. (Section 163.670)

This act authorizes an employer that is partnered with an innovation campus to retain up to one hundred percent of the withholding tax for up to five years for an employee that has graduated from an innovation campus with a bachelor's degree in the field of science, engineering, technology, or mathematics after April 30, 2017. (Section 620.2605)

ECONOMIC-EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP ACT: This act creates the Economic-Education Partnership Act. An employer that provides educational benefits or trains a qualified individual for an employment position, may apply to have up to five thousand dollars of the taxpayer's state tax liability transferred from the general revenue fund and placed in the STEM Fund. Training must be in the health care, engineering, or information technology fields for no more than one year. Educational benefits are defined in the act.(Section 620.3030)

The cumulative amount of taxes transferred to the STEM Fund through the Missouri STEM Initiative and through the Economic-Education Partnership Act cannot exceed fifty thousand dollars annually from all participating taxpayers. Any donations to the fund from third parties will not count toward the fifty thousand dollar limit.

This act contains provisions that are substantially similar to SCS/SB 268 (2015), SB 207 (2015), and HB 520 (2015), and are similar to SB 983 (2014), HB 2038 (2014) and HB 934 (2013).

JOSHUA NORBERG