Wednesday, February 3, 2016
MO Club for Growth Doing Radio for Hanaway
MO Club for Growth’s contribution I reported yesterday was in-kind. They bought radio spots for Catherine Hanaway. It gets her on the air at the same time as John Brunner, but it doesn’t help boast her relatively tame fundraising.
MIEC Files Complaint at PSC to Lower Noranda’s Rate
Missouri Industrial Energy Consumers filed a request with the Public Service Commission for revisions to Ameren’s “Industrial Aluminum Smelter (IAS) tariff” to decrease the rate for electric service. This would lower Noranda’s electric bill. See the filing here.
From the filing: This Complaint is unprecedented as far as complainants are aware. It seeks to have this Commission on a temporary and emergency basis lower the electric rate of Missouri’s largest consumer of electricity, Noranda Aluminum, Inc., in order to keep it and its Missouri aluminum smelter viable and in business until the next Ameren Missouri rate case is decided. Complainants do so with the understanding that electric rates for customers other than Noranda likely will be higher as a result of this action. Complainants do so because of their belief that without emergency temporary rate relief, the smelter will close. If it closes, and ceases buying power at a rate above the incremental cost of power to serve the smelter, rate payers will pay more for their power than they would as a consequence of the relief requested in this case. The Complainants believe that the smelter is likely to close because the price of Noranda’s product, aluminum, reported as the Midwest transaction price, is below any “worst case” projection and Noranda’s liquidity was already in jeopardy. The price of aluminum has plummeted…
And
Southeast Missourian reports that “fifty-one mechanics and one machinist were laid off Tuesday at Noranda Aluminum in New Madrid, bringing the total layoffs there to 475 people so far…” See it here.
Barnes Against PDMS
On his blog, Rep. Jay Barnes – one of the House’s thought leaders – takes on the proposed Prescription Drug Monitoring System. Missouri is the only state without the mechanism designed to prevent addicts from obtaining multiple fulfillments of the same prescription. In the past Sen. Rob Schaaf has marshalled the enough forces in the Senate to prevent the legislation from passing. Read Barnes’ post here. See Rep. Holly Rehder’s bill here. See Barnes’ proposed alternative bill here.
An excerpt: Under PDMPs, all painkiller prescriptions are monitored by government. The tracking occurs whether the Missourian is an innocent 82 year old grandmother with a broken hip or a three-time convicted drug dealer. Because you receive the prescription, government tracks you… When you take a step back, it should not take long to see how absurd this logic is. If it’s acceptable logic for prescription painkillers, why should we stop there? There are a host of public health risks more serious than prescription drug abuse to which the same logic could be applied.
For example, according to the CDC, nearly 2,000 Missourians die annually from alcohol-related deaths, significantly more than drug overdoses. The data are clear: Alcohol is a worse problem for society. If government simply put a tracker in every grocery store in our state, problem drinkers could be identified and deaths avoided. By the logic of trackers of prescription drug monitoring programs, you’re a technophobe if you wouldn’t support such a database. After all, lives are at stake!
How about junk food?... Tanning beds?... Smoking? Similar story…. How would you feel if, instead of replacing X with “prescription painkillers,” we used the word “guns?” There may be some Democrats in the House who would be yes votes, but I doubt there’d be a single Republican. And yet, it’s the same argument….
Until this year, it was PDMP or nothing. This year, however, there’s a better option available. House Bill 1922 protects the innocent and limits a prescription drug abuse database to those Missourians who have actually done something to create the reasonable suspicion that they are a drug abuser. It would work like the problem gambler’s list, and would capture a significant majority of those Missourians whose prescription drug use eventually puts their life in jeopardy.
PDMP proponents have reacted to this non-dragnet approach by arguing it would not be capable of identifying a potential drug abuser before they become one. That is true. But think about the implication of that argument? Do you want to live in a society where government tracks your activities so that it can stop you from doing something you haven’t yet decided to do?...
Schmitt Endorsement Roll Out Coming
Sen. Eric Schmitt today is expected to roll out a huge list of nearly 150 endorsements. The list will include scores of current and former lawmakers and grassroots leaders all calling for his election as Missouri's next state treasurer….
Parson Lassos Cattlemen Endorsement
Sen. Mike Parson will be joined with members of the Missouri Cattlemen's Association to announce their endorsement of his lieutenant governor’s campaign at a noon press conference today near the Jefferson City Post Office.
Munzy and the Conservation Commission
Sen. Brian Munzlinger’s effort to revise the composition of the Conservation Committee as its written in the Missouri Constitution received time on the Senate floor yesterday, and it’s expected that they’ll return to it again today. We’ll see… See SJR 19 here.
Bits
One MOScout reader – an astute scanner of the quarterly finance reports – notes that Bev Randles’ fundraising expense ($6,663 to Eventure Capital Group) exceeded her cash fundraising ($5,860).
January state revenues were solid. They increased 7.7% pulling the fiscal year-to-date number to a positive 3.4% increase. The bellwether individual income tax receipts were up a smart 9.8% for the month.
Progress Missouri has video of an incident on Monday folks have been talking about. House Workforce Chair Bill Lant wouldn’t recognize Rep. Clem Smith to ask a question during the committee hearing saying that Rep. Bob Burns has used his time. See it here.
Fear of the University of Missouri’s troubled relationship with the legislature right now motivated the Boone County Commission to pass a resolution asking for the university’s funding to remain intact. See it here.
Meet Mike Allen
House candidate Mike Allen, husband of termed Rep. Sue Allen, held an event last night in Jefferson City. There are three other candidates with committees (Derek Grier, Michael Finley, and Sherri Rogers), but the The A-List at the event indicate that Allen got some early support from the Jeff City crowd. Spotted: Speaker Todd Richardson, Floor Leader Mike Cierpiot, Enterprise’s Ray Wayner, AB’s Ted Powers, Comcast’s Tom Krewson, Rep. Shamed Dogan, and MO Citrus Growers’ Brent Evans.
New Committees
Brian Elsesser started a committee to run for House 77 as a Democrat. This is Rep. Kim Gardner’s seat. She’s running for St. Louis City Circuit Attorney. From his LinkedIn profile (see it here), Elsesser appears to be a history professor by training. There are already two other candidates (John Collins-Muhammad and Steve Roberts Jr.) with committees, so it looks like good primary contest ahead.
Jean Evans started a committee to run for House 99 as a Republican. This is Rep. Andrew Koenig’s seat. He’s running for Senate 15. Follow Jean Evans on Twitter here. There are two other candidates (Philip Oehlerking and Richard Laviolette) with committees already, so again, a god primary coming here.
eMailbag: on Rubio’s MOmentum
“I know you pointed out Todd Richardson, Caleb Jones and Ron Richard being on Team Rubio. Don’t forget we rolled 18 House endorsements in December. We are about 14 more than any other candidate in Missouri…”
Lobbyists Registrations
Mandy Studer added Mandy Studer, Carl Bearden, MLS & Associates, and United for Missouri.
Austin Walker added St Louis Regional Chamber.
Shirley Breeze added Missouri Women’s Network.
Scott Marrs added Bity of Monet.
Russell Chapman added Association of Missouri Nurse Practitioners.
Jeff Brooks, Jorgen Schlemeier, Sarah Topp, and William Gamble deleted Lutheran Senior Services, and Missouri Automobile Dealers Association.
Rashaan Gilmore deleted Promo.
$5K+ Contributions
Koster for Missouri - $125,000 from UAW V CAP.
The Committee to Protect MO Families - $100,000 from CHIPP.
New Approach Missouri - $40,000 from Luke Sinquefield.
Civic Progress Action Committee - $13,000 from Monsanto.
Civic Progress Action Committee - $7,500 from U.S. Bank.
Civic Progress Action Committee - $7,500 from Centene Management Company LLC.
Progress KC PAC - $10,000 from Husch Blackwell LLP.
Progress KC PAC - $25,000 from Hallmark Cards Inc.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Reps. Warren Love, Justin Alferman (the big 3-0), and Dave Hinson, former Sen. Jason Crowell, former Rep. Kent Hampton, and Paul Fehler.