Hopefully you have had time to catch your breath after an eventful end to the 2010 legislative session. I just wanted to take a moment to fill you in on some of the things I have been working on this spring as your State Treasurer.
Eisenhower Fellowship
I just returned from spending a few days in Philadelphia meeting with other current and emerging leaders from around the world, including Eisenhower Fellowship Chairman General Colin Powell. The program was started almost 60 years ago by President Dwight Eisenhower to provide emerging leaders from the United States and around the world an intensive experience building relationships, sharing ideas, best-practices and solutions to some of the most challenging current issues. I was fortunate to be one of about a dozen emerging leaders chosen from the United States to participate in the program over the last year. At no expense to taxpayers, I was able to travel to Brazil and Spain to learn about their approach to issues such as energy policy and economic development and these experiences will benefit me greatly as we deal with those same issues here in Missouri.
More Bipartisan Legislation
In my first year in office, I was able to work with a bipartisan group of legislators to unanimously pass key economic development legislation that is playing an important role in our state's economic recovery.
In 2010, we once again took a bipartisan approach to pass another bill without a single "no" vote. As you may know, my office manages the Unclaimed Property, Missouri's largest lost and found. In addition to monetary property, we also receive physical items that have been separated from its owners. Among other things, we have received more than 100 military medals including Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, a Distinguished Cross of Service and more going as far back as World War I.
Much of the physical property gets auctioned off when it goes unclaimed for a long-enough period of time. I wanted to be sure that military medals honoring the service and sacrifice of American veterans would never be auctioned off. Thanks to the leadership of Senators Frank Barnitz and David Pearce and Representatives David Day and Scott Largent, my legislation passed unanimously, ensuring that will never happen and allowing us to partner with veterans organizations such as the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Missouri Association of Veterans Organizations to safely keep and display military medals until their owners or their descendants can be identified.
Unclaimed Property
With just under 6 weeks to go in the current fiscal year, I have already set a record for number of Unclaimed Property accounts returned, with more than $30 million returned to approximately 80,000 individuals. Through proactive measures, we were able to return $1.6 million to a single person in St. Louis and $300,000 to another individual in Springfield. More than 100 accounts of $100,000 remain, so why not take a moment to check our online database to see if any of the $600 million remaining belongs to you or someone you know? Check our online database at www.showmemoney.com.
Invest in Missouri
Beginning January 1 of this year, deposits I place with Missouri banks began earning a competitive interest rate for the first time in more than half a century. This will return millions of dollars to the state and should ultimately be able to return $15 million each year.
Thanks to Invest in Missouri and the Missouri Linked Deposit Program, we have a pool of about $720 million available for lending for Missouri small businesses and farms. Last month, we issued the program's first-ever green energy loan to a family in Columbia who installed solar panels on their home. We issued a low-interest loan to Audrain County to purchase a brand new ambulance. One agriculture company in Marshall will save almost a quarter million in interest on a loan issued through my office.
These are the kind of positive influences on our economy that we need more of. Since taking office, I have been able to issue more than a quarter of a billion dollars in low-interest loans, saving small businesses and farms millions of dollars in interest. This allows them to continue to grow and operate despite a challenging economy.
Housing
This month, I completed my one-year term as chair of the Missouri Housing Development Commission. In that year, we passed significant ethics reform, provided more than $630 million in economic development in Missouri, created more than 2500 jobs and provided housing that will benefit 10,000 Missourians a year over the next 30 years. We made substantial progress at MHDC over the past year and I believe were are better positioned as a result to become a more strategic partner for economic development in Missouri.
I will now focus my time and energy at MHDC on helping the housing agency become a stronger partner on mental health issues, especially as major budget challenges lead to significant cuts in all sectors including mental health services. A few weeks ago, I held an initial forum with housing leaders and mental health service professionals to begin the discussion on how we can play a more instrumental role in ensuring dignified, affordable housing is available to all Missourians, including those who are homeless due to mental illness.
I try to make my email updates substantial and informative without inundating your inbox. If you want to see shorter or more frequent updates or if you have feedback, questions or suggestions on any issue of concern, please don't hesitate to contact me at clint@clintformissouri.com. I welcome any and all input. Thank you for your time an interest.
Regards,
Clint Zweifel
Missouri State Treasurer |
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