Nixon to propose end to ‘border war’ with Kansas UPDATE

2p.m. A top aide to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback says he’s talked with Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon about the use of incentives to lure businesses across the border between the two states in the Kansas City area.

Nixon called Tuesday for an end to using such incentives if companies simply move from one of the states to the other.

Brownback’s office is preparing a formal response to Nixon’s remarks. But Brownback spokeswoman Eileen Hawley said the two governors and the states’ commerce departments have been discussing the issue for more than a year.

A moratorium may be a hard sell to some Kansas lawmakers.

Kansas House Republican J.R. Claeys of Salina tweeted after Nixon’s remarks that Missouri appears to be surrendering in the so-called border war.

12:35 p.m. Update (AP) — Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is calling for a moratorium on incentives to lure businesses across the Kansas-Missouri state line in the Kansas City metropolitan area. He says the two states should work together to promote the region as a whole.

In a speech Tuesday to the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, Nixon said both states have spent too much money luring companies across the state line with no real job growth. The Democrat says he’s been working with Republican Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration to devise an agreement to end the so-called border war “once and for all.”

Nixon’s plan calls for an immediate temporary moratorium within the Kansas City metro area, followed by efforts to persuade both states’ legislatures to approve legislation making the moratorium permanent.

5 a.m. (AP) — Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is announcing a plan to end a business “border war” with Kansas over economic development.

Both states have used economic incentives and bonds to compete for businesses to locate or expand. Missouri and Kansas have committed hundreds of millions of dollars to the efforts.

Nixon planned to announce his proposal Tuesday in a speech to the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. He says it will promote growth in the Kansas City region.

Kansas lawmakers cut taxes in each of their past two sessions, at the urging of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.

Missouri’s Republican-dominated Legislature approved tax cuts this year largely in response to the Kansas cuts. But Nixon, a Democrat, vetoed the measure, and an effort to override the veto fell short in September.