Business Advocacy

Four reasons you should be exporting to Canada Last week, the Chamber and the Missouri Association of Manufacturers hosted Consul General of Canada Dr. Roy Norton to discuss the U.S.-Canada trade relationship. In honor of his visit, we’ve put together a short list of reasons why you might want to consider doing business with Canada.…

Chamber publishes 2014 Community Leadership Visit Report Three days, 10 panel discussions, 43 guest speakers, and 168 tweets later, 61 of Springfield’s business and community leaders learned the ins-and-outs of what makes Omaha a city of big ideas, big dollars and “no coasting.” On the Chamber’s 21st Community Leadership Visit last October, the Springfield delegation heard from a community who is ready…

January brings a whirlwind of action for our advocacy team Over the past month, the Chamber has been involved in every aspect of advocating on behalf of our members. In addition to preparing for upcoming school board and city council races, we are actively tracking more than 70 bills at the state level and have weighed in…

Newly-elected legislators converge on Springfield The Chamber along with the other eight organizations that make up the Springfield Metro Partnership hosted 45 newly-elected legislators this month in an effort to build on the strong relationship between the Springfield community and state lawmakers. The legislators were visiting Springfield as part of a legislative tour around the…

State legislators get candid with Springfield’s young professionals More than 50 young professionals turned out bright and early last week to hear what major issues Springfield’s state representatives are looking to tackle in the 2015 legislative session. In the joint meeting of the Chamber’s Network for Young Professionals and the Governmental Relations Committee, legislators fielded…

Speaker Pro Tem overviews planned changes to House legislative committees Representative Denny Hoskins, Speaker Pro Tem in the Missouri House of Representatives,  spoke to Chamber members at a meeting of the Governmental Relations Committee on September 26.  Representative Hoskins updated the group on the 2014 veto session and some items to anticipate for the 2015 legislative…

Chamber panel examines “Access to Justice” in our region Recent legislative changes are improving access to justice and positively impacting businesses in our region. In a meeting of the Chamber’s governmental relations committee, State Senator Bob Dixon, Circuit Judge Michael Cordonnier, Dwayne Fulk of Polsinelli, PC and Crista Hogan of the Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association…

Issue Brief: “Access to Justice” in our region In May, legislators brought the first major changes to Missouri’s criminal code in more than 30 years with the passage of Senate Bill 491. The bill, along with funding for two additional Greene County Circuit Judges, signifies progress toward improving access to justice in our region, but…