MOScout Daily Update: House and Senate on PDMP - LIHTC Out of Sen Committee - Rowden Contra NCAA and more...
A Tale of Two Chambers
The House mimicked the Senate yesterday with a day-long debate about Rep. Holly Rehder’s prescription drug monitoring program bill.
House leadership let the debate go on and on. One insider says “[Speaker Elijah Haahr and Floor Leader Rob Vescovo] showed some real leadership, no strong arming… [they] let the debate flow and still came out with big vote in favor of it.”
Rehder was never ruffled. Hour after hour, she remained diplomatic, but resolute in turning away amendment after amendment. The bill was perfected by a 110-43 vote.
Meanwhile
The PDMP proposal in the Senate, carried by Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, stalled in Sen. David Sater’s Seniors, Families and Children Committee. The do-pass motion there failed in a 3-3 tie. Sen. Gary Romine was the unexpected No vote joining conservative Sens. Cindy O’Laughlin and Andrew Koenig.
One lobbyist lectured in the hallway afterwards: ALWAYS COUNT YOUR VOTES!
Sen. Jeanie Riddle missed the vote and she is thought to be the fourth Aye vote. It’s likely that in a display of senatorial courtesy, one of the Nos will may a reconsideration motion to allow the bill to be voted out.
But
This foretells difficulty for the proposal when it – or the House version – gets to the Senate floor. The three Republican Nos in Sater’s committee won’t need many more senators to join them to stand and filibuster – if killing it is a priority for them.
We’ll see…
LIHTC Voted Out of Committee
On Tuesday the Senate EcoDevo committee voted out Sen. Dan Hegeman’s LIHTC bill, after his committee sub raised the cap from the initial cap at 50% of the federal allocation to 70%. Some increase was expected; Hegeman had started very low as an opening bid, and the affordable housing advocacy group’s well-attended lobby day last week revealed the breadth of LIHTC support across the state.
But what Hegeman may not have expected was the committee's response. While most committee members voted to send the bill to the floor, they were not exactly appeased by the modest increase. No less than five of them – Sens. Gary Romine, Lincoln Hough, Paul Wieland, John Rizzo, and Jill Schupp – spoke about the housing need in their geographically diverse districts, signaling they thought the cap was still too low and should be raised before a floor vote.
Hegeman’s got a delicate balance to strike: a few tax credit hawks remain in the Senate, and he knows he must balance their views against those of the supporters he heard in committee. But it suggests that the committee-passed version may need a higher cap in order to get out of the Senate.
Rowden Contra NCAA
Senate Floor Leader Caleb Rowden fled a remonstrance of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for their ruling to ban Mizzou from post-season play. See the remonstrance here.
I am told that Rowden’s tweet about this issue a week or so ago was the most popular social media posting of his career – more “liked” than even announcements of his children being born.
Joint Committee on Ed Gets Choicer Sens
Senate Pro Tem Dave Schatz appointed Sens. Ed Emery, Cindy O’Laughlin, and Andrew Koenig to replace Sens. Caleb Rowden, Dan Hegeman, and Paul Wieland on the Joint Committee on Education.
And
Schatz also appointed Emery for a new term on the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission; and Sen. Mike Bernskoetter to the Missouri Department of Transportation and
Highway Patrol Employees’ Retirement System Board of Trustees, and also the Joint Committee on Public Employee Retirement.
Bits
· Speaker Elijah Haahr made it official announcing “Rep. Derek Grier, R-Chesterfield, as the Chairman of the House Economic Development Committee. Grier will replace former Rep. Jean Evans…”
· Congressman Billy Long got an autograph from President Donald Trump on Tuesday… on his tie. See it here. Long apparently is a collector of Trump autographs. One sources says Long “regularly asks President Trump to autograph items..” He has “cowboy hats, books, etc” with The Donald’s signature.
· Some big St. Louis corporate groups announced their support for the City-County merger. See it here.
And
In the New Committees (below) Eric Morrison filed to run as a Democrat. You may (or may not) remember his 2016 gubernatorial campaign as he bested both Charlie Wheeler and Leonard Steinman, losing only to Chris Koster.
Chris Koster 78.75%
Eric Morrison 9.67%
Charles B. Wheeler 7.91%
Leonard Steinman 3.66%
New Committees
Amy Champlin formed a candidate committee (Committee To Elect Amy Champlin) to run for Springfield City Councilperson.
Teri Powers formed a candidate committee (Committee To Elect Teri Powers 24th Ward Alderman) to run for St. Louis City Alderman, Ward 24, as a Democrat.
Eric Morrison formed a candidate committee (Committee To Elect Eric Morrison For Missouri) to run for governor as a Democrat.
$5K+ Contributions
LOCAL 41 Political Action Fund - $17,470 from DRIVE Committee (Washington DC)
Lobbyists Registrations
Mark Alan Behrens added America Tort Reform Association.
Doug Nelson, Damon Stewart, Heath Clarkston, Harry Gallagher, and Kurt Schaefer added Dish Network L.L.C.
Trent Ford added Wells Fargo.
Cassandra Allana Grewing added Lathrop Gage Consulting LLC.
Rodney Hermann added Gas Workers 11-6.
Steven Tilley and Thomas Robbins added Triad Bank, and Cigna Corporate Services.
Nolan Sharkey deleted Bi-State Development Agency.
Additionally, it looks like a few lobbyists deleted their registration. It appears to be an error that occurs sometimes when lobbyists are filing their monthly reports.