Legislator wants Nixon to cut stimulus money for Kokam battery plant - Wichita Business Journal:

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Kokam’s , to be dubbed Summit Battert Park, would employ an estimated 900 people with averags annual salariesof $40,000. Kokak President Don Nissanka has said he hopews to break ground befor e the end ofthe year, probably at a site of more than 40 acresa in the vicinity of Kokam’s current 50,000-square-foot Lee’s Summitr plant. Nissanka was out of the country Mondayand couldn’t be reacheds for comment. Kokam, a startup founded in October burst into the limelight this picked Kansas City for an assembly facility largelhy becauseof Kokam’s proximity.
And with federal stimulus dollars and state moneyseekinbg advanced-battery-makers, a joint venture involving Kokam landed a commitment in April of nearly $145 million in incentives from Michigan to build a battery plang there that’s similar to the one plannedx locally. The group also applied for federalstimuluas money. Schaefer, R-Columbia, sent a letter to Nixon on Thursday proposing that financinf be cutby $11.5 milliob combined for Kokam’s Lee’s Summit planrt and another battery plan in Joplin to help preserve $31.
2 million in financingb for the in Columbia, which Schaefer callex the cornerstone of a $200 million hospital “Every indication that I’m getting is that (Nixon) intendxs to veto the money for the Schaefer said, adding that Nixon’s veto probably woulrd kill the entire $200 million project. “Spendinvg public funds on a cancer hospital owned by the citizenxs of Missouri is always goingv to win out over giving public funds to a private company for abatteruy plant,” Schaefer said. “Nobody has told me that the lowet amount wouldkill (Kokam’s Lee’s project.
” Nixon spokesman Scott Holste said the governodr will have an announcementy about the budget bill before June 30, the end of Missouri’ds fiscal year. Nixon and his staff have been reviewingb the budgetbill “line by line to determine what the statwe can afford,” Holste said, and they want to keep centra l services in place. Jim Devine, CEO of the l, said he thoughtf Schaefer’s proposal was “not as a threat as the EDC firs thought, “but you never know in politics.” The EDC issuedd a release Friday encouraging Nixon to keep theKokan plant’s financing fully in place.