Public Policy - State Capitals

The Public Policy attorneys at Polsinelli Shughart PC also work at the state level to make sure political leaders hear your views. Our experience includes regulatory, administrative, corporate and governmental affairs. Our attorneys draw from over a combined 100 years of experience working with state governments.

The Public Policy Group at Polsinelli Shughart PC provides legislative services consisting of representing and consulting with clients including the presentation of issues to the Kansas Legislature and the Missouri General Assembly, developing and coordinating legislative issues coalitions, and assisting clients having administrative and regulatory issues before either the current administration or any of the executive branch state agencies. Our Public Policy Group represents numerous clients ranging from Fortune 500 U.S. corporations, to trade associations, to municipal governments. Major industries represented:

- Insurance – Transportation – Construction – Telecommunications/Cable – Education – Automobile Manufacturing – Information Technology – Pharmaceuticals – Financial Services – Consumer Products – Gaming – Environmental – Economic Develop – Health Care – Tourism – Quarrying/Mining – Energy – PAC management and creation

In addition, the firm provides creative solutions and legal guidance on issues relating to state tax laws. Our tax attorneys are involved in legislation and regulation drafting, as well as audits, examinations, appeals and controversies.

We view ourselves as your partners - team members who learn your business and your objectives so well that we anticipate how policies will affect you and respond aggressively. Our clients receive strategic counsel along with current and insightful information regarding their issues. We use our networks, knowledge and judgment to help you prevail despite the challenge of the constantly changing legal and political landscape. We will help you prepare and present the most effective message and ensure that it is delivered in testimony before administrative agencies and committees, through constituent grassroots meetings, or in face-to-face meetings with state legislators and their staffs.

Notable Experience

  • Secured construction of a major new NASCAR facility in the Midwest, which involved drafting and obtaining successful passage of the enabling legislation, as well as building and maintaining a successful coalition of advocates, including various travel and tourism and economic development industries and all levels of state and local government.
  • Worked closely with industry partners, national insurance organizations and various state insurance departments to design, draft and shepherd successful passage of legislation enabling the demutualization of domestic insurance companies to stock companies.
  • Directed the effort to design and implement major changes to a Midwestern state’s telecommunications structure to ensure universal service to rural areas of the state while maintaining an equitable pricing structure and service fees. This initiative required an investment of more than two years’ continued negotiations among various telecommunications interests, taxing authorities, state and local government entities and the state legislature.
  • Led a successful effort to allow a state insurance industry to remain nationally competitive by allowing consideration of credit scoring among other underwriting criteria.

Newsletters & E-Alerts

2010
The focus of the 2010 session was funding a budget to meet ending-balance demands as required by the state constitution. With the state facing a $500 million shortfall, legislators worked together to develop both a budget and a revenue package that would garner enough votes. When the session ended, the legislature sent the Governor a $13.6 billion budget and approved a $314 million tax increase. The tax increase is a 1-cent sales tax increase effective July 1, raising the current 5.3 percent sales tax to 5.7, with the remaining portion earmarked for the state’s transportation program.