MOScout Daily Update: Sinquefield PAC Stuffers - Walton DIsbarred - Humphreys Ends HB126 Fight and more...
Sinquefield Stocking Stuffers
Rex Sinquefield made $345,000 in large contributions over the past couple of days.
· The bulk of this was $250K to the pro-Mike Parson PAC, Uniting Missouri PAC. This brings his total contribution to that PAC to $1.5 million. According to its October report, Uniting Missouri had $4.3 million in cash. And it appears (with this new contribution) to have raised over $660,000 in this quarter.
· The Sinquefields also contributed $50K to the pro-Andrew Koenig PAC, Freedom’s Promise PAC.
· And $45K to the Missouri Republican Party.
Meanwhile
Vote 2020 received a $100K check from the “Way to Win Action Fund.” Vote 2020 was formed June 2019. It’s a campaign committee to support an automatic voter registration initiative petition. Its treasurer is Mary Anne Sedey, and its deputy treasurer is Mike Pridmore.
See Way To Win’s website here.
Walton Disbarred
In the Missouri Supreme Court’s hand-down this week… In SC98185, the Court disbarred St. Louis attorney Elbert A. Walton Jr. The order will be available at https://www.courts.mo.gov/page.jsp?id=147781
Humphreys Ends HB126 Reversal Effort
Post-Dispatch reports that “a Missouri megadonor has quietly ended his effort to block one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion laws from going into effect. Six months after funneling $1 million into a campaign committee formed to fight Missouri’s new law, Joplin roofing magnate David Humphreys terminated the account… ‘This committee was formed for the purpose of advancing a referendum which is no longer viable,’ Humphreys said in a statement to the Post-Dispatch.”
Expenditures on the termination report: $18,711 to Ketcher Law Firm LLC for legal services; $3,000 to Gamble & Schlemeier Ltd for campaign coordination; and $832,293 to Humphreys as a refund of his initial million-dollar contribution.
What It Means
Republicans will avoid the distraction of having one of their largest donors trying to overturn one of their signature legislative accomplishment during an election year.
Richardson on Medicaid Transformation
News Tribune reports on MO HealthNet Director Todd Richardson (happy birthday!) and his efforts to restructure the program. See it here.
· MO HealthNet has a huge job ahead of it, Richardson said. The organization recognizes the need to update payment methodologies and to create, incentivize and reward delivery models that produce better outcomes for Medicaid participants… Medicaid's trajectory — at about 24 percent of general revenue and growing — is not financially sustainable for the state, he said…. The program cost $10.3 billion in Missouri in 2018.
· A major opportunity for cost savings, Richardson said, would be a change to the pay model MO HealthNet uses for outpatient hospital services. Missouri pays for those services — like emergency room visits or outpatient surgeries that don't require hospital stays — based on a percentage of what hospitals charge. However, the reimbursement level varies "widely" from facility to facility…. "We may pay one facility $20,000 for a procedure that we're paying a different hospital $3,000 for the identical procedure. That's not related to one facility doing a better job of performing that procedure," Richardson said…
· Whether the state expands [Medicaid], the cost of the program continues — and will continue — to grow if the state doesn't make "serious reforms" to it, Richardson said. "There's nothing about Medicaid expansion that's going to fix the underlying problems that we have with the Medicaid program today," he said. "There's nothing about it that's going to move us toward value-based care or improved outcomes."
MEC: Curators Needn’t Register as Lobbyists
The Missouri Ethics Commission issued an advisory opinion that “the members of the University of Missouri Board of Curators are not required to register as legislative lobbyists by virtue of their appointment in and of itself, and they are not required to register in order to respond to inquiries from the General Assembly…”
Bunge for Parson?
In the new committees (below) Bunge North America has formed a Federal PAC in Missouri. Most major corporations doing business in Missouri have a PAC established. Oddly though in Bunge’s case, they’ve listed Mike Parson as the candidate that their PAC is supporting on the paperwork. See it here.
Over the summer, Bunge drew cheers from politicians by announcing they were moving their global headquarters from White Plains, New York to Chesterfield, Missouri.
Grant for Early Childhood
Press release: Governor Mike Parson announced that the State of Missouri has received a $33.5 million grant aimed at coordinating a more effective, high-quality early learning system that better prepares Missouri children for success… The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) will lead this effort for the state and work closely with other state agencies and organizations throughout the three-year process, including the Department of Health and Senior Services, the Department of Social Services, the Department of Mental Health, and the Missouri Head Start State Collaboration Office…
According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services website: “The PDG B-5 grants, which differ significantly from the previous Preschool Development Grants, are designed to fund states to conduct a comprehensive statewide birth through five needs assessment followed by in-depth strategic planning, while enhancing parent choice and expanding the current mixed delivery system consisting of a wide range of provider types and settings, including child care centers and home-based child care providers, Head Start and Early Head Start, state pre-kindergarten, and home visiting service providers across the public, private and faith-based sectors.”
More MMJ Certifications
The Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) continues its rollout of medical marijuana certifications.
Press release: [DHSS] has completed the process of issuing the first round of certifications for medical marijuana transportation facilities. Transportation applications can be submitted at any time. The department will review and approve or deny applications when received from this point forward… The list of all approved and denied medical marijuana transportation facility applicants can be found: https://health.mo.gov/safety/medical-marijuana/index.php
New Committees
Aaliyah Bailey formed a candidate committee (Aaliyah Bailey for Missouri) to run for House 64 as a Democrat. The current incumbent is Republican Rep. Tony Lovasco.
Bunge North America, Inc. Political Action Committee was formed. It’s a Federal PAC. Its treasurer is Louis Allen.
$5K+ Contributions
Vote 2020 - $100,000 from Way to Win Action Fund (Walnut, CA).
MO Opportunity PAC - $7,000 from Missouri State Council of Fire Fighters PAC.
Heartland Action PAC - $7,500 from Martin Green.
Missourians for Effective Leadership PAC - $15,000 from Burns & McDonnell Inc.
Freedom's Promise PAC - $50,000 from Rex Sinquefield.
Raffety For Assessor - $39,000 from Roger Raffety.
MO Republican Party - $20,000 from Rex Sinquefield.
MO Republican Party - $25,000 from Jeanne Sinquefield.
Vote 2020 - $11,000 from North Fund (Washington DC).
Uniting Missouri PAC - $250,000 from Rex Sinquefield.
Uniting Missouri PAC - $10,000 from Pfizer Inc.
Lobbyists Registrations
Virginia “Ginny” Chadwick added Tobacco to 21.
Jewell Patek added Fair MO, Northern Roots, and Francis EV Charging.
Justin Alferman added Navitus Health Solutions LLC, Wellfirst Health, and SSM Health Care.
Brent Evans added Carvana.
Brent Hemphill added Pearson Education Inc.
Nexus Group added Swope Health Services; and deleted Telsa Motors Inc, Stand Up Missouri, and Swope Community Enterprises.
Paul Lewis deleted Missouri Association of Beverage Retailers.
David Schatz terminated his lobbyist registration. He had represented ChargePoint.
Ronald Doughty terminated his lobbyist registration. He had represented Prudential Financial Inc.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Rep. Tracy McCreery, Todd Richardson, Stanley Cox, Jacob Scott, and Allison Onder.
MOScout Schedule
Next week will be like this week. No Updates on Monday, Tuesday (NY’s Eve), or Wednesday (NY Day).