The Missouri Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would halt the use of tax incentives to lure companies from the Kansas side of the Kansas City area across the state line.

Intended to stop the so-called economic “border war” between Missouri and Kansas, the bill is sponsored by State Sen. Ryan Silvey, who holds that the recruiting of businesses from either side of the state line has cost taxpayers millions of dollars without meaningfully increasing jobs in the bi-state region.

Silvey’s bill would prohibit state-approved incentives for Kansas City area companies moving between Cass, Clay, Jackson and Platte counties in Missouri and Douglas, Johnson, Miami and Wyandotte counties in Kansas.

The legislation will move on to the Missouri House, but it would become law only if Kansas adopts a reciprocal mechanism.

 Read more about the legislation in the latest issue of Thinking Bigger Business.