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50-hour filibuster forces more negotiations on GOP-backed initiative petition changesby Anna Spoerre, Missouri Independent A 50-hour Democratic filibuster forced the Senate’s divided GOP majority to finally yield Wednesday evening, stalling a vote ona bill seeking to make it more difficult to amend Missouri’s constitution. Democrats have blocked all action in the Senate since Monday afternoon, demanding that the legislation be stripped of “ballot candy” that would bar non-citizens from voting and ban foreign entities from contributing to or sponsoring constitutional amendments, both of which are already illegal. The Senate passed the bill without ballot candy in February. The House added it back last month. Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, an Independence Democrat, on Tuesday said the situation presented an existential crisis for the Senate, as Republicans openly considered a rarely-used maneuver to kill the filibuster and force a vote on the bill. “Are the bullies going to win?” Rizzo asked. “Or is the rest of the Senate finally going to stand up for itself and say ‘no more.’” He got an answer just before 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, when state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, an Arnold Republican and the bill’s sponsor, surprised many of her colleagues by asking that the Senate send the bill back to the House for more negotiations on whether to include “ballot candy.” Republicans simply didn’t have the votes to kill the filibuster, she said, and Democrats showed no signs of relenting before session ends at 6 p.m. Friday. “These policies are too important to play political games with,” Coleman said, adding that going to conference to work out a deal with the House was the only way to keep it alive in the face of unrelenting Democratic opposition. “In a perfect world, we would not be between a rock and a hard place.” The sudden change in tactics was not well-taken by members of the Freedom Caucus, who argued sending the bill back to the House with only two days left before adjournment puts its chances at risk. Tim Jones, a former Missouri House speaker and current director of the state’s Freedom Caucus, wrote on social media Thursday evening that Coleman “effectively killed her own bill today.” Ultimately, the Senate voted 18-13 to send the bill to conference, with nine Republicans joining nine Democrats in support of the move. If the bill passes, Missourians would have the opportunity to vote later this year on whether or not to require constitutional amendments be approved by both a majority of votes statewide and a majority of votes in five of the state’s eight congressional districts. Right now, amendments pass with a simple majority. A possible vote on abortion in November is a catalyst behind the battle over the bill, as a campaign to legalize abortion up to the point of fetal viability is on the path to the statewide ballot. Republicans have said that without raising the threshold for changing the state’s constitution, a constitutional right to abortion will likely become the law of the land in Missouri. Need to get in touch?Have a news tip?State Sen. Rick Brattin, a Harrisonville Republican and a member of the Freedom Caucus, tipped his hat to the Democrats’ “wherewithal” before scorning some of his Republican colleagues. “Unfortunately, this Republican Party has no backbone to fight for what is right for life,” he shouted from the Senate floor. “ … They will have the blood of the innocent on their heads. Shame on this party.” Coleman’s move also came as a surprise to state Rep. Alex Riley, a Republican from Springfield who sponsored the initiative petition bill in the House. “We’re going to have to have some conversations tonight to figure out what exactly it is they have in mind,” he said. “We will be having many conversations over the next few hours.” House Speaker Dean Plocher said he was pleased to see the impasse broken, adding that the House is ready to work on a final version that can be passed. He didn’t promise to remove the “ballot candy” added by the House.
Asked if Coleman made a tactical mistake in telling the House to restore the items removed during the first Democratic filibuster, Plocher said he hadn’t spoken to Coleman and declined to speculate on whether the outcome would have been different had she not. Democrats left the Senate Wednesday evening declaring victory. “This body by and large is a staunch supporter of democracy. That doesn’t just go for one side of the aisle. That goes for both sides,” Rizzo said. “This is not protecting the ballot for Democrats or Republicans or one issue or the other issue that you might like or dislike. This protects the ballot box for Republicans and Democrats alike for the future.” Rizzo maintained that removing the ballot candy is still the only way Democrats will allow the bill to get through the Senate if it returns from the House. “If you haven’t figured that out in the last three or four days, I don’t know where you’ve been,” Rizzo said, adding: “Hopefully sleeping.” As the Senate prepared to vote, state Sen. Bill Eigel, a Weldon Spring Republican and Freedom Caucus member, warned his colleagues not to be optimistic that the Senate will come back Thursday and pass other bills waiting in the pipeline. “If the hope is that this process is going to somehow lead us back to a place of engaging more legislation besides this, I’m gonna say this very clearly,” he said. “Don’t get your hopes up.” Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com. Follow Missouri Independent on Facebook and Twitter.
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Key lawmakers say Missouri budget talks close to completion as deadline approachesby Rudi Keller, Missouri Independent The most difficult Missouri budget process in years entered the final 48 hours before the constitutional deadline for spending bills with no final agreement on how much the state should spend in the coming year. Missouri House Republicans, who hold an overwhelming majority in the lower chamber, caucused behind closed doors Wednesday afternoon for about 30 minutes for a progress report from Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith. When he emerged, he said there are still several points of contention with the state Senate that need to be resolved. “We are moving in a good direction,” said Smith, a Republican from Carthage running for state treasurer. “My priorities are the balanced budget, the bottom line, those types of things, and as long as we can work within those parameters, working towards a solution, I think we’re in a good place right now.” Need to get in touch?Have a news tip?Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Lincoln Hough said the remaining differences were over the wording of restrictive provisions, some of which set maximum rates for services such as child care and others that are more general, including a provision penalizing cities that enact immigration sanctuary policies. Hough, a Springfield Republican running for lieutenant governor, said he still expects to meet the 6 p.m. Friday deadline for spending bills. “I don’t know what the timeframe is or I would tell you, but I think we’re gonna be in really good shape,” Hough said. “We’ll be in really good shape getting to the numbers that we all want to be at, like within the (consensus revenue estimate) and a healthy cash balance to carryover for next year.” Throughout Wednesday, there was anticipation that the Senate budget debate was at hand. The Senate convened at 9:30 a.m., then quickly recessed until 2 p.m. with Majority Leader Cindy O’Laughlin saying the debate would commence “if the budget is ready.” It was not ready when the chamber reconvened. After several hours of work on other bills, and another recess, the Senate adjourned for the night without action on any spending bill. The chamber is scheduled to return at 9 a.m. At that time, there will be 33 hours left to complete spending bills. This week’s negotiations began with significant differences between the House and Senate on how much to spend overall, whether to dip into the massive state surplus for ongoing programs and which of more than 300 earmarked items will make the final plan. The House-passed budget spends $50.8 billion, including $14.9 billion in general revenue. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a $53 billion spending package, with $15.7 billion in general revenue. In the budget proposed in January, Gov. Mike Parson called for $52.7 billion in spending, with $15 billion coming from general revenue. If the regular process was being followed, the full Senate would have already debated the budget and this week would be the time for final negotiations in a formal bipartisan conference committee with members from both chambers. Instead, the rapidly approaching deadline means Smith and Hough have been negotiating behind closed doors, keeping Republican leadership informed but leaving House Democrats complaining they have been frozen out. Democrats have been told nothing about the negotiations between Hough and Smith, said state State Rep. Peter Merideth of St. Louis, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee. “This is just one more step in what has been the least transparent budget process in my time here,” said Merideth, who joined the House in 2017. Democrats complained during committee work that Smith delivered his plan late, with little time to go over the details before being forced to vote. Republicans knew going into the session that the budget would have to navigate through the political ambitions of key players and the stall tactics of the Senate Freedom Caucus, Merideth said. “We’ve known from the time we were elected what the deadline was,” Merideth said. “They’ve known from the beginning how to get it there. And again, Republicans have failed to do that.” GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
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The deadline, a week before the end of the session, has been in place since 1988. Only once, in 1997, have lawmakers missed that deadline and been forced to complete the budget in a special session. This year, the deadline is looming despite efforts that began in December to prevent last-minute votes. House appropriations subcommittees began meeting Dec. 5. But instead of sending its proposals to the Senate before spring break in mid-March, the House completed its initial votes on April 3, almost a week later than it did so last year. Factional warfare in the state Senate, including a 41-hour filibuster last week, means the Senate has yet to vote on any spending bills except one that provides $2.2 million to support a National Guard deployment to the Texas-Mexico border. Hough has been responsive to House Democrats, Merideth said, but the lack of participation in budget talks means they will be forced to choose between voting for the bills to help meet the constitutional deadline or voting against them because of uncertainty about what is included. “We’re all aware that we’re likely to have to vote on something that we don’t know the details of,” Merideth said. “And that’s not good government and I think any one of us would be justified in a no vote.” Hough said the process isn’t very different from previous years, lacking only the formality of a conference committee. “Essentially, we’ve been conferencing right since last week,” Hough said. “We just didn’t go through the show of a formal ‘let’s all sit down and show you this’ conference on all these differences.” A key point for Smith has been to set ongoing general revenue spending at or below expected revenue for the coming year. After more than two years of double-digit growth in revenues, receipts slowed last year. Growth continued, but at the reduced rate of 2.7% in the year that ended June 30. The consensus when the year began was that revenues would decline slightly in the current fiscal year and remain essentially flat the following year. Growth so far has defied that estimate, with revenues growing at 2.7% through April 30. If that rate is sustained until June 30, it would add about $500 million in unexpected revenue to the state’s coffers and again in the following year. Despite slower growth, the surplus of all funds available to lawmakers has not declined considerably in the past year. The state had $6.4 billion on hand on April 30, down from $7.8 billion at the end of the 2023 fiscal year. That does not include $1.4 billion set aside for construction on Interstate 70 or $300 million in a fund for major construction at the state Capitol Building. One way Smith got the House budget total for ongoing spending below the estimated revenue is by designating $807 million in the operating budget as one-time expenditures. The list includes big items, like $373.5 million for improvements on Interstate 44 and $100 million for low-traffic rural roads, as well as small ones, like $18,395 for operational expenses of the Agriculture Business Development Division in the Department of Agriculture. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST.
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Smith also designated the 2% boost his budget included for higher education institutions and about $14 million for public school transportation costs as one-time spending. That is a signal that the money may not be included in the following year’s budget. “Sustainability is the name of the game for me this year,” Smith said. “We need to have a balanced budget and by that I mean we need to balance our expenditures, our ongoing expenditures within the revenue estimates.” Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com. Follow Missouri Independent on Facebook and Twitter. Missouri Independent: Missouri Senate debate over state holidays devolves into shouting match3/7/2024
Missouri Senate debate over state holidays devolves into shouting matchby Ezra Bitterman, Missouri Independent The Missouri Senate became a convoluted mess Tuesday as a debate over ceremonial holidays quickly turned into an argument on transgender healthcare. State Sen. Greg Razer, a Kansas City Demcorat, introduced a bill creating “Chris Sifford Day.” Sifford was a longtime staffer for former Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan, a Democrat, before both died in a plane crash. Numerous amendments were attached to the bill by other senators, adding other ceremonial holidays. Few senators were even present for the lengthy debate over what holidays to add and whether Missouri’s unofficial moniker “the Show-Me State” needs to be enshrined in law. State Sen. Lincoln Hough, a Springfield Republican, even watched some of the proceedings in the gallery among the public. State Sen. Denny Hoskins, a Republican from Warrensburg, criticized the number of commemorative holidays the state has. There are over 100 ceremonial holidays in state law. Most of these are unknown to all but a few people, such as Jan. 16, which is set as Albert Pujols Day to honor the St. Louis Cardinal legend. Hoskins offered an amendment that would to add an expiration date to the holidays included in Razer’s bill. That amendment reopened debate from last year, when a bill blocking doctors from administering gender-affirming care to minors was only able to get through a Democrat filibuster when a 2027 expiration date was added. Hoskins has filed a bill this year that would remove that expiration date. Razer, the Senate’s only openly gay member, opposed the amendment, saying he felt that Hoskins can’t, in good conscience, propose the expiration of a holiday when he can’t keep a promise on the deal made last year. Hoskins retorted that he never agreed not to file a law removing the expiration date on the transgender legislation at some point in the future. After continuing back and forth, the debate reached a climax when Hoskins said: “We want to talk little kids having their private parts cut off?” in a reference to medical procedures for gender transition. Razer responded: “How many times did you say that ridiculous lie last year?” Then, after screaming at each other for a few seconds, Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden banged his gavel and called the chamber to order. The bill was set aside, ending what was meant to be a procedural debate on ceremonial holidays that became a fiery referendum on gender policy. This story originally appeared in the Columbia Missourian. It can be republished in print or online. Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com. Follow Missouri Independent on Facebook and Twitter. Missouri House and Senate OK two plans making it harder for voters to amend the state constitution2/29/2024
Missouri House and Senate OK two plans making it harder for voters to amend the state constitutionby Meg Cunningham, The Beacon The Republican-controlled Missouri House and Senate advanced two different proposals Thursday that would make it harder for voters to change the state constitution using a constitutional amendment. The Senate passed a bill on a party-line vote that would dramaticallycrank up the difficulty of passing a constitutional amendment proposed by voters using an initiative petition process. The resolution would require a statewide majority — that’s already the rule — but also require majority support from five of Missouri’s eight congressional districts. That bill now awaits action from the House. Meanwhile, the House passed a bill backed by Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft that would add restrictions onto the signature gathering process for initiative petitions. That bill is now in the Senate for consideration. Both moves come as the effort to place a constitutional amendment allowing abortions in Missouri ramps up. Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, the group spearheading the effort, says it’s raised more than $3 million since launching the campaign. At least 13 states could vote on constitutional amendments regarding abortion in 2024. Ohio saw a similar effort unfold last year: Lawmakers there placed a question on an August 2023 ballot that asked voters to raise the voting threshold required for a constitutional amendment. Voters rejected that proposal and went on to pass a constitutional amendment enshrining the right to an abortion in the state’s constitution. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said that the effort to raise the threshold was “100% about … abortion,” though he later walked his statement back and said the effort was about any effort looking to amend the Ohio Constitution. Senate backs tougher standard for passing constitutional amendmentsMissouri has two ways to amend its state constitution. Legislators can propose a change subject to a statewide vote. Or voters can collect signatures to put a change up for a statewide vote. On Thursday, senators passed a resolution that would require more voter support for constitutional amendments. The approval came after an overnight filibuster from Senate Democrats. They were blocking a vote on a version of the bill that coupled popular ideas with the effort to raise the amount of voter support needed to pass an amendment, known as “ballot candy.” The resolution, sponsored by Republican Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman of Jefferson County, who recently announced a bid for Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District, originally included language that would bar non-Missouri residents or U.S. citizens from voting on constitutional amendments, something that is already illegal under Missouri law. It would have also prohibited foreign governments from financially supporting initiative petition efforts and placed a ban on constitutional amendments allowing lobbyist gifts to lawmakers. “There absolutely is ballot candy in the substitute,” Coleman said on the floor. After the filibuster and debate, Lee’s Summit Republican Sen. Mike Cierpiot offered an amendment that removed the extra language from the resolution. “This amendment is taking out all the things that we’re calling ballot candy today and just going back to this straight underlying amendment,” he said. The amendment passed 18-12, with support from moderate Republicans. In a press conference Thursday, House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, a Springfield Democrat, predicted House Republicans will work to get the ballot-candy language added back into the resolution. “It’s also finally nice that they’re saying it out loud of what they’re trying to do,” she said. “To deceive voters and put language in there that they specifically call candy because they know its intent.” Missouri House passes its own measure to restrict processes on signature gathering for constitutional amendmentsThe House on Thursday finalized a measure that would place a number of restrictions on signature-gathering efforts for constitutional amendments. The proposal, sponsored by Pleasant Hill Republican Rep. Mike Haffner, would require the pages that voters sign to support a constitutional amendment to be issued by the secretary of state’s office. The bill would also require signatures to be recorded in black or dark ink. Signature gatherers would also be required to be residents of Missouri or physically present in Missouri for at least 30 consecutive days before collecting signatures. It would also ban paying people based on how many signatures they collect. Haffner’s bill would also give the secretary of state and attorney general power to assess whether initiative petition efforts comply with the Missouri Constitution. Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, a Republican running for governor, backs the measure. “These changes to statute will establish safeguards and enhance clarity and transparency in the process making it more efficient for Missourians,” Ashcroft said in a press release Thursday, adding that he will work closely with the General Assembly to finalize the bill. The Senate proposal is SJR 74. The House bill is HB 1749. This article first appeared on The Beacon and is republished here under a Creative Commons license. Capitol Perspectives: The legacy of Missouri’s 2023 legislative sessionby Phill Brooks, Missouri Independent As Missouri lawmakers prepare for the 2024 legislative session, they should consider how many of their major 2023 accomplishments received limited public attention. The 2023 legislative session focused on divisive issues like restricting transgender medical procedures for minors and restricting students from participating on school sports teams designated for a sex different than the student’s birth certificate. Another major issue was a failed GOP effort to make statewide ballot issue initiatives more difficult. The measure was filed in response to the abortion-rights constitutional amendment. Yet, reviewing the legislature’s full record, there were many significant issues passed into law that directly impact Missourians beyond the ideological and partisan issues that often dominated the attention of legislators, the public and reporters. One major exception that did get public attention is the multi-billion dollar project to expand Interstate 70 to three lanes between Kansas City and St. Louis. It will take years to complete, but could have a huge impact on interstate transportation. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
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Other successful proposals that got less attention involved tax breaks. Counties or county voters would empowered to award tax credits for property assessment increases on the homes owned by the elderly. The bill also expands income tax exemptions for pension benefits and Social Security. Legislative staff estimated the state tax cuts would reduce state tax collections by about $300 million per year when fully implemented. Lawmakers also passed a measure that provides tax credits for businesses that hire student interns. That new law also establishes rights for college athletes to receive private compensation for use of the student’s name or image. Tax credits would be provided for child adoption costs under another bill signed by the governor which also adds additional provisions for advanced health care directives. Non-tax laws include giving physical therapists the power to provide treatment without a doctor’s prescription. An education bill would expand the right of public schools to teach children religious topics including the Bible and Hebrew Scriptures. Equal-parenting time would be defined as in a child’s best interest in child-custody cases. Beyond that, the new law provides that parents who fail to meet their child support obligations will be given additional rights to seek keeping various licenses including driving and professional licenses. Medicaid coverage for mothers of new borns will be extended from 60 days to one year after birth. That new law includes a number of other significant health issues. One unrelated provision restricts examination of the pelvic regions by a health care providers of an anesthetized patients without prior approval or a court order under another new law. Another provision expands coverage of do-not-resuscitate orders for minors. There’s a new law to expand to adults the restriction on texting while driving a motor vehicle. The bill also contains provisions to toughen the requirement for a driver to have auto insurance. Another new law provides consumer protections in civil lawsuit awards on how much the lawyer contracted by a party in the case can get from a court award. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST.
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Another bill signed into law by the governor expands to the relatives who can delegate control of the final disposition of a deceased person There’s a new law that creates a crime for tampering with an automated teller machine (ATM) and also allows school safety officers to carry fire arms in public schools. While reporters covered many of those issues, I sense our coverage was obscured by the intense ideological and political battles on the major controversies in the General Assembly. Maybe we need to adjust our coverage efforts. However, statewide public officials also share some of the blame for distracted public attention. In my earlier years as a statehouse reporter, Gov. Kit Bond, Gov. Mel Carnahan and Attorney General John Danforth were laser focused in public presentations on consumer and education issues that directly impacted a majority of Missourians. Their support of these issues helped the public, lawmakers and reporters focus on the major issues before the legislature. On the other side, the legislature itself has obscured attention to the major issues before the General Assembly. The legislature’s growing practice to throw completely unrelated amendments onto bills in the hectic closing days of the legislative session made many of the enacted bills confusing legislative smorgasboards. Public confusion and reporting difficulties are inevitable if lawmakers themselves cannot limit focus on the key issue of a bill in the closing days of the session. Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com. Follow Missouri Independent on Facebook and Twitter. by Rudi Keller, Missouri Independent
Gov. Mike Parson on Thursday signed the tax cut he said a week earlier was responsible for his decision to veto most of the 201 spending items he cut from the state budget. The bill, exempting Social Security benefits and public pension payments from income tax, would reduce state general revenue by an estimated $309 million annually. It would also allow counties to hold a vote on whether people 62 or older should be exempt from increases in their annual property tax bills. The bill passed with broad bipartisan support – only two House members voted against it – but not without some misgivings among Democrats, said Rep. Peter Merideth, D-St. Louis. Under current law, exemptions allowed for retirement income are phased out for single taxpayers earning more than $85,000 and married couples with incomes above $100,000. “I was not thrilled with it,” Merideth said. “But honestly, to me, it was the best of the options presented.” The Republican House leadership was pushing for a $1 billion cut in corporate and income taxes. The bill’s property tax language began as a cap on increases in assessments for all property owners. “Many of us agree that there is a real problem with seniors right now that are on fixed incomes dealing with inflation and property taxes are a big part of that,” Merideth said. Homeowners around the state, especially in metropolitan areas, are seeing massive increases in their assessments due to the recent rise in real estate prices. And while provisions in the constitution require rates to be rolled back when overall assessment increases exceed inflation, individual property owners could still see big increases if their property assessment went up more than the general average. Parson’s decision to cite the tax cut for retirement benefits as a reason to veto spending items is not playing well with lawmakers. Budget leaders from both chambers said this week they will consider overrides, and said fiscal policies pushed by the governor, more than the retirement exemption, are doing more to reduce state revenues. “Maybe the governor’s concerned about what possible, further tax reductions that the legislature may be looking at, but that’s not necessarily how, in my opinion, you build this budget,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, said in an interview this week. Missouri took in $13.2 billion in general revenue in the year that ended June 30. The state was also holding surplus funds of nearly $8 billion. Parson vetoed $555 million in spending, including $365 million in general revenue appropriations, from the $16 billion in general revenue items in the budget. Growth in state revenue slowed, however, to 2.7% during fiscal 2023 and is expected to be just 0.7% in the current fiscal year. It is a large income tax cut passed last year, not the retirement exemptions, responsible for slowing growth, Merideth said. “It’s one thing to blame this tax cut,” Merideth said, “but really, the real tax cut that’s gonna be costing us money is the other one.” State Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, R-Parkville and sponsor of the bill, could not be reached Friday morning for comment. Automobile sales tax Tucked into a bill that will ban texting while driving for all motorists is a provision requiring automobile dealers to begin collecting sales tax at the time of a purchase. At a February hearing, Missouri Association of Auto Dealers lobbyist Jay Reichard estimated that up to $60 million in auto sales taxes were delinquent. The dealers are paying an extra administrative fee for the new computer system, estimated to cost $120 million, and the system is designed for dealers to collect the tax. Every motorist on the road knows if a fellow driver has paid the sales tax on a vehicle by looking at their license plate. If it is a paper temporary tag, the tax is still due because it must be paid at the state license office at the time a person registers their ownership of the vehicle. “We think this is a great thing for our customers,” Reichard said in a May interview. “They want to go to one place and get the job done.” Auto dealers are the only retailers who do not collect sales tax at the time of sale, he noted. For an article in May, The Independent found a half-dozen temporary tags in a short period in Columbia, including one that had expired on Christmas Day. The texting provision, which currently applies only to drivers under 21, will take effect on Aug. 28. A driver could not be cited for a violation, however, unless the officer stops the car for another reason. That is similar to the law governing seat belt violations. by Jason Hancock, Missouri Independent After two years of drama and gridlock, the Missouri Senate showed up in January determined to put the conflict between the conservative caucus and GOP leadership in the past. Submerged but ever-lurking, factionalism finally torpedoed the apparent comity in the session’s final week, and the Senate sank into the depths of filibusters and procedural hijinks. More than 3,000 non-budget bills were introduced during the 2023 session of the Missouri General Assembly. Only 43 found their way across the finish line. But while a host of big-ticket policy proposals died in the session’s waning days, lawmakers did manage to sign off on the largest budget in state history, promising historic investments in infrastructure projects, public education and the state’s social safety net. So who were the big winners and losers of the legislative session? WINNERS Lincoln HoughNo one had a bigger impact on the state’s $50.7 billion budget than Sen. Lincoln Hough. The Republican from Springfield took over as chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee this year. And after the House made massive cuts to the governor’s proposed budget, a bipartisan parade of lawmakers found their way to Hough’s fourth-floor office with hat in hand. Not only did Hough restore nearly all the money the House removed, he tripled the funding to rebuild Interstate 70. Then for good measure, in one of the rare moments when the conservative caucus wasn’t killing bills in the final week, Hough decided he’d take a turn by upending a virtual schools bill that many saw as a vehicle for more sweeping education measures. Hough just won re-election to a second term. That means he could be shaping the budget for the next three years — a lifetime in the age of term limits. Missouri DemocratsWith less than a third of legislative seats and no statewide office, Missouri Democrats couldn’t have asked for a better legislative session. The budget pumped money into a host of programs Democrats championed — expanded pre-kindergarten programs, raises for direct care workers, increases in child care subsidies and more. On the policy side, a years-long effort to expand postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to one year finally came to fruition. In the Senate, Democrats got to sit back for the third year in a row as Republican infighting killed a host of bills they hated. Changes to the initiative petition process, a corporate tax cut, state control of the St. Louis police department, education bills targeting “critical race theory” and a host of others fizzled out despite being priorities for the GOP supermajority. ‘Gray market’ slot machinesAs video lottery machines proliferated in convenience stores, truck stops and other locations across the state, the companies that owned them made high-profile enemies. The Missouri Gaming Commission deemed the machines gambling devices, which are prohibited outside of licensed casinos. The state highway patrol considers them illegal. And in the Missouri Senate, the president pro tem and appropriations chair —Dave Schatz and Dan Hegeman — vowed to legislate them out of the state. But term limits drove Schatz and Hegeman out of office last year, and debate this year over these slot-machine-like games was focused on how to establish regulations instead of whether they should be allowed at all. That debate once again became latched to the push to legalize sports wagering, dooming both proposals and leaving the status quo in place. Sen. Caleb Rowden, the current president pro tem of the chamber, said as the session ended that a host of priority bills met their demise because a small group of legislators “want slot machines in gas stations.” With few local prosecutors willing to bring illegal gambling charges, and the attorney general’s office recusing itself from litigation filed by a gray-market gaming company, the question of the machine’s legality seems unlikely to resolve any time soon. Heavy constructorsHighway contractors were already in line for years of work under the limited plan for I-70 proposed by Gov. Mike Parson but the $2.8 billion for widening the highway statewide, plus a study in preparation for doing the same on Interstate 44, promise decades of work. There’s also money for building construction projects that include a $26 million state warehouse in Jefferson City, a $43 million veterinary hospital at the University of Missouri and a $300 million psychiatric hospital in Kansas City. Kansas CitySometimes the best bet is to fly under the radar. Republican ire this year was focused like a laser on St. Louis. Efforts to return to state control of the city’s police and allow the governor to appoint a special prosecutor to step in for the city circuit attorney continued to pick up steam as the session wore on. The only thing that stopped the bills was Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s decision to resign. Meanwhile, fresh off a Chiefs Super Bowl victory, Kansas City saw $50 million added to the budget for improvements at Arrowhead Stadium in advance of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. There was also $300 million appropriated to replace an aging psychiatric hospital in the city. When the push to usurp local control of the St. Louis police was set aside, it cleared the path for legislation containing Blair’s Law — a longtime priority of Kansas City lawmakers that bans celebratory gunfire and is named after a local girl who was killed by a stray bullet in 2011. LOSERS LGBTQ+ communityNo issue garnered more legislative attention this year than the push to limit access to puberty blockers, hormone therapy or gender-affirming surgeries for transgender minors. Multiple marathon committee hearings, along with impassioned — and at times ugly — debate in both the House and Senate ended with legislation making its way to the governor’s desk. Lawmakers also mandated student athletes compete as their sex assigned at birth. As debate raged, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey launched an investigation into clinics that provide gender-affirming care and pushed for an emergency regulation that would block access to care for children and adults. While most didn’t pass, Missouri led the nation in the number of anti-LGBTQ bills introduced this year, causing advocates to label 2023 “the most dangerous legislative session in recent history.” Democrats are already sounding the alarm for next year, with Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo of Independence proclaiming on the session’s final day: “When you throw red meat to rabid people, they don’t stop being hungry.” Tort reformersRepublican efforts to enact changes to the judicial system have historically run into a wall of Democratic opposition. But with GOP supermajorities, those Democrats rarely held off legislation for long. But this year, when a bill seeking to modify the statute of limitations came up for debate in the Senate, a handful of Republicans joined the opposition. Trial attorneys have had GOP legislative allies in the past. But in recent years, they’ve begun supporting more Republicans, especially those aligned with the conservative caucus, who have found common ground defending the 7th amendment of the U.S. Constitution protecting the right to trial by jury. “Some people say we’re for trial attorneys,” Sen. Mike Moon, R-Ash Grove, said during Senate debate earlier this year. “No, we’re for people. They should have a chance for redress.” MoDOT employeesFor the third year in a row, lawmakers rejected the Department of Transportation’s request to implement a market-based pay system to stem turnover. A decision in a court case filed by the Highways and Transportation Commission asserting it has authority to implement raises even without legislative approval has been pending since February 2022. While the court mulls the question, lawmakers pushed for a constitutional amendment stripping the Highways and Transportation Commission of its long-standing control of the multibillion-dollar state road fund. The effort faltered, but if the court sides with MoDOT it could give the proposed amendment renewed momentum. ‘School choice’ advocatesLast year saw lawmakers create a scholarship program for private schools and a funding increase for charter schools. Most anticipated supporters would build on those wins this year, and those expectations grew after the school testing data showed Missouri students doing worse across the board from pre-pandemic scores. But even a modest open enrollment bill barely squeaked out of the House before stalling in the Senate. And a bill seeking to fix the state’s virtual school law ran into a buzzsaw of opposition. Proponents aren’t going anywhere, are well funded and are eyeing 2024 legislative elections. But 2023 proved resistance hasn’t softened, and any changes to the state education system faces an uphill fight. The Independent’s Rudi Keller contributed to this story. Members of the Missouri House throw paper into the air to celebrate the end of the 2023 legislative session on Friday (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent).
Missouri’s governor made access to child care a top priority. Where do his proposals stand?5/4/2023
by Clara Bates, Missouri Independent Missouri Gov. Mike Parson made improving access to child care a major part of his 2023 legislative agenda, declaring during his annual State of the State address in January that “early childhood care is essential to our state’s success.”
Since then, lawmakers have worked to enact his recommendations, but the proposals have faced roadblocks on their way to his desk. The Missouri General Assembly adjourns for the year at 6 p.m. on May 12. Here are where Parson’s major child care priorities stand:
Unlike his budget proposals, the tax credits face a more uncertain future due to opposition from conservative lawmakers in the Senate.
by Meg Cunningham, The Kansas City Beacon The Missouri Senate on Thursday passed a proposed constitutional amendment that would increase the amount of voter support needed for constitutional amendments proposed by citizens to become part of the state constitution. The Republican-led measure, which would require voter approval before it is put into place, passed with a party-line vote of 24-10. It is the product of delicate maneuverings in which GOP lawmakers have sought to make it harder for citizens to enact laws and policies through the initiative process without appearing to undercut a rite of populist government in the state. While Republicans have discussed reining in the process for several years — and Gov. Mike Parson has called for a higher bar for passing initiative petitions — the task gained urgency for GOP lawmakers this year because of the possibility that groups may attempt to pass an initiative petition returning some access to abortion procedures in Missouri. Currently, initiative petitions that are certified by the secretary of state need simple-majority support of more than 50% of voters who cast ballots in a statewide election. If voters were to approve the measure, HJR 34, initiative petitions or lawmaker-proposed constitutional amendments would either need support from 57% of voters or from a simple majority across the state and in five of Missouri’s eight congressional districts. What happens now?The Senate made changes to the constitutional amendment that originated in the House, meaning the measure will need another round of approval from the lower chamber before it is finally agreed to and passed. The General Assembly is set to adjourn for the spring on May 12. If lawmakers can agree on a version of the amendment, it would not go to the governor for his signature. Because it proposes changes to the state constitution, it would have to be approved by voters. It would appear on the November 2024 statewide ballot, and is expected to be heavily contested. In debate on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. Jill Carter, a Republican from Newton County, noted that some attempts in Republican-led states to raise the threshold for constitutional amendments to pass have not been able to garner voter support. “South Dakota’s 55% majority failed in 2018,” Carter said. “They tried to require 55% and it failed. Fifty-five percent is lower than the 57% we’re talking about right here… so I just have a little bit of concern about the 57% threshold based on all of these other election results that similar language has been tried.” Measure to alter constitutional amendments could be on shaky groundThe measure passed earlier by the House would require at least 60% voter support to pass an initiative petition. Republican lawmakers in the Senate voiced their concern about that threshold and eventually amended the measure to require 57% voter support. Some major policy changes have come from voter-supported initiative petitions in Missouri. For example, in 2020, Missourians approved expanding Medicaid with 53.2% of the vote. In November, marijuana legalization passed with 53.1% of the vote. The Senate version of the constitutional amendment would also limit lawmakers from trying to alter voter-approved changes to state law for five years after their passage, unless the change has 57% support in both chambers. In the past, the General Assembly has undone some voter-approved changes. The House Democratic Caucus pointed to the Senate’s watered-down version of the House’s constitutional amendment as an indicator that lawmakers know the measure could be on shaky ground once it is in front of voters. “It started at two-thirds, then they lowered it to 60 percent then, they lowered it again to 57 percent,” the caucus said in a tweet. “Because they know voters will reject efforts to take power away from them. Government belongs to the people, and we’ll fight to keep it that way.” Members of the GOP have pointed to the state’s current simple-majority provision as one that could disenfranchise rural voters due to the state’s concentrated population centers. Harrisonville Sen. Rick Brattin, a Republican, said increasing the threshold by votes required and where those votes of support come from will keep the state constitution from becoming a book of state statutes. “That is not what the constitution is meant to be,” Brattin said. “So it is supposed to be something where you do have broad support, but everybody has weighed in on it. But currently if you look at the past adoptions of these initiative petitions, particularly…. there’s only a certain percentage that comes from certain areas, and it fails abysmally everywhere else. Yet, it’s still adopted. And that’s what needs to be rectified.” Allegations of dirty tricks Advocates of expanding access to abortion in Missouri have been eyeballing the initiative petition process as a means for undoing the legislature’s strict ban on the procedure. Opponents of the measure have accused Republicans of trying to deceive voters with the ballot language on the proposed constitutional amendment. As written, the ballot summary would ask Missourians to approve allowing only U.S. citizens and Missouri residents to vote on any constitutional amendment. That provision is already in place in Missouri. The summary would then ask if lawmakers should be able to alter voter-approved state law changes, and then — at the bottom — ask if the threshold for passage of constitutional amendments should be raised. “Some politicians in Jefferson City are hoping they can trick voters with racist language while they rig the rules for this power grab,” Caitlyn Adams, the executive director of Missouri Jobs with Justice Voter Action, said in a news release. This story was originally published by The Kansas City Beacon, an online news outlet focused on local, in-depth journalism in the public interest.
by Rudi Keller, Missouri Independent The Missouri Senate on Tuesday night fell into an intramural fight among Republicans over whether to use the budget to put limits on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in state government. The heated argument continued over nearly six hours before a bipartisan vote defeated an amendment from Sen. Denny Hoskins that would have banned diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging initiatives in funding for public schools. After the defeat, several Republicans voiced opposition to budget increases for the coming year, arguing that it was a violation of conservative principles. But only one attempt was made to cut any funding. That defeated amendment targeted $50 million for stadium improvements in Kansas City in advance of the 2026 FIFA World Cup matches. When it was over, the fiscal 2024 operating budget went back to the Missouri House with only minor changes from the $49.9 billion proposal approved last week by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The Senate wrapped up the debate at about 4 a.m. Wednesday morning. Work on all budget bills must be completed by May 5. Hoskins, R-Warrensburg, first tried to impose a blanket ban on state departments using appropriated funds for the diversity programs. Hoskins’ proposal was a narrower version of language added in the House to every budget bill that state agencies warned would interfere with purchasing, contracts and payments for medical services. His supporters, mainly from the disbanded conservative caucus, argued that fealty to the state Republican Party platform demanded they back Hoskins’ amendment. “The consequences to the members of this chamber will be permanent damage,” said Sen. Bill Eigel, a Republican from Weldon Spring and a likely candidate for governor in 2024. Other GOP senators said they were more concerned about functional public services than party ideology. “This will keep people on Facebook happy, but I don’t know what it will do to state government,” said Sen. Mike Cierpiot, R-Lee’s Summit. Hoskins’ amendment was ruled out of order by Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia. The language had no place in an appropriations bill, Rowden ruled, because the Missouri Supreme Court had made clear that substantive policy questions cannot be settled in an annual appropriation bill. “This is designed to set policy, not to spend a specific amount of money,” Rowden said. The next attempt was to place even narrower language in the budget line allocating $4 billion to support public schools. Democrats, who had remained silent throughout the earlier debate, denounced the renewed effort. Senate Democratic Leader John Rizzo of Independence said the amendment was the latest right-wing outrage demanding the attention of lawmakers. Another similar issue this year is the debate over gender-affirming treatments for minors and participation in sports based on gender. “Next year there will be another acronym that is the scariest thing in the world and if we don’t do it now the sky will fall,” Rizzo said. And Black senators said they were personally offended by the attempts to limit programs encouraging diversity and inclusion. “You have embedded the structural, systematic discriminatory racism in the policies and laws of this country,” Sen. Karla May, D-St. Louis, said. “And yet, you want to say we don’t need diversity, equity and inclusion. I mean, you can’t make this up.” Hoskins’ amendment was defeated on a 14-18, with nine Republicans joining the nine Democrats present in opposition. The next step in the budget process will be House-Senate negotiations over the vast differences between the chambers. Meanwhile, the Senate Appropriations Committee will hold hearings on four bills setting the state construction budget for the coming year. The Senate operating plan spends almost $4.3 billion more than the House from all funding sources and $3 billion more from the general revenue fund. One large item, in the construction budget in the House and the operating budget in the Senate, is funding to widen Interstate 70. The House funded Gov. Mike Parson’s $859 million plan to widen three stretches totaling 55 miles, plus $180 million more for other road projects. The Senate plan incorporates Appropriations Committee Chairman Lincoln Hough’s proposal to spend $2.8 billion on I-70, with $1.4 billion from general revenue surplus funds and $1.4 billion from bond debt. Other major Senate additions to the budget include:
“There were billions of dollars worth of asks that the committee did not approve, either for members of the committee or others here,” he said. The question as the budget goes to negotiations isn’t whether the state can afford any of the budget items but whether House and Senate members can agree on any particular item. The revenue estimate made in December anticipated significant slowing of the double-digit growth in tax receipts experienced since 2021. Parson’s budget projected a $4.9 billion general surplus on June 30 and, if revenue and spending matched his proposal, a $3.8 billion surplus at the end of fiscal 2024. However, revenues have remained higher than anticipated, though slower than recent history. Through Tuesday, general revenue growth for the fiscal year is 8.2%, which would add about $880 million to the surplus if sustained to June 30. Budget officials acknowledge that the December estimate is low but have not released revised figures. The operating budget passed by the House would spend about $600 million less than estimated revenue in the coming year, while the Senate budget would exceed it by about $1.9 billion. The most bipartisan vote during the budget debate came when Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Cassville, tried to use the budget to block a landfill project near Kansas City. He proposed a $200,000 amendment to study the wide ranging environmental and economic impacts of the project that would also have barred any landfill construction during the study. “I would hope the body would support an environmental study to potentially protect my constituents from a harmful sort of endeavor coming into my community,” Brattin said. Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, R-Arnold, said the amendment wasn’t based on an objective reason to oppose the landfill. She reminded Brattin that she is on a committee that heard his bill to block construction. “All of the testimony was ‘NIMBY, not in my back yard, I don’t want this here, it is impacting me,’” Coleman said. That wasn’t good enough, she said. “For the rest of the body,” Coleman said, “it is imperative we evaluate policy based on the impact to the state and not on one single district.” The Senate was evenly split on the roll-call vote, with 11 Republicans joined by four Democrats in support and 11 Republicans joined by four Democrats in opposition, defeating the amendment on a tie. Senate Democratic Leader John Rizzo of Independence speaks Tuesday during debate on the state budget. Rizzo said annual cultural fights with Republicans were “exhausting” and “predictable” (Rudi Keller/Missouri Independent).
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