MOScout Daily Update: Arthur Hits $100K - Reciprocity Fast Tracked – SOTS Day – Colona Fined and more...

Arthur Hits $100K Again

Word is that Sen. Lauren Arthur raised $100K again in her January quarter.  It hasn’t been filed yet; the deadline is 5PM.

What It Means

With still no Republican filed, Arthur keeps chugging along with impressive fundraising.

·         This is one more step along the way of Senate 17 falling off the “competitive races list” for this fall.

·         If that happens, Republicans would likely focus on flipping Senate 1 where they have recruited a potential self-funder – and of course on their defenses of incumbents in Senate 15 (Andrew Koenig) and Senate 19 (Caleb Rowden).

Reciprocity Fast Tracked

Even before the House held its hearing yesterday on three bills which would provide licensing reciprocity with other states, the House Rules Committee had already posted its meeting for tomorrow on those bills.

The bills are scheduled to get “exec-ed” out of the Professional Registration and Licensing Committee today. 

Speaker Elijah Haahr obviously supports the move toward deregulation, and no one stepped forward to testify against the bill.  Still it’s strange to see the foregone conclusion so blatantly assumed.  One lobbyist at the hearing sighed: “Not sure why I’m here... Not just a little insulting”

Driving the Day

·         Senate Gubernational Appointments Committee has a full docket – including Sens. Jason Holsman and Kiki Curls….

·         At noon, the Senate Commerce Committee will take up Senate versions of prohibiting eminent domain for the Grain Belt Express.

·         Governor Mike Parson delivers The State of the State address at 3PM, outlining his priorities and his budget.

MOBudget Worries about Revenue

The Missouri Budget Project is echoing concerns by others that state revenues may be weaker than they appear.  In a January 10 publication (see it here) entitled “Limping into the New Year,” they write: Recently announced growth in Missouri’s state general revenue collections may be misleading because the growth is based on a comparison to very weak collections in the prior year. Taking a more comprehensive view shows that over two years, Missouri’s state general revenue collections grew well below the pace needed to account for inflation.

Senate Fireworks Early?

In the hallway, several lobbyists are bracing for early fireworks in the Senate.

·         One savvy lobbyist thinks there’ll be a stand-off between the Conservative Caucus and the “Regulars,” the other members of the Republican Caucus before too long.

·         Another lobbyist thinks that’s a likely scenario because the Regulars were increasingly frustrated by mini-filibusters from the Conservative Caucus last session.  However they were cheered when they finally had the chance to confront the CC late in session over the governor’s economic development proposal. The Regulars might rather challenge the CC earlier this year and see if it changes the dynamic.

·         And a third lobbyist supports this scenario because it has some added benefits for leadership.  Floor Leader Caleb Rowden isn’t engaged in a Republican primary where he needs to prove how conservative he is.  Rather he’s a Republican in a Democratic district with turnout potentially spiked by a Trump referendum election.  Rowden could use this to show he’s not beholden to far-right elements in his party; he’s someone who gets things done.

·         None of these folks offered a specific trigger which could spark the fireworks.  But the prescription drug monitoring legislation could be one such situation.

We’ll see…

Talk in Senate 33

As folks game out the various Republican Senate primaries, one building denizen (without a dog in the fight) thinks that Senate 33 is ripe for disruption.  Looking at the map, he sees an opening for a candidate from the population center of West Plains.  The current three candidates hail from other parts of the sprawling district.

The obvious person to swoop in would be former Rep. Shawn Rhoads, but he seems to be enjoying his new role as lobbyist and isn’t looking in the rearview mirror at public service.

More on MEC and MMJ Committee

In addition to fining the non-profit Missourians for Patient Care Inc, the Missouri Ethics Commission also fined the campaign committee and its treasurer, former Rep. Mike Colona.  See the consent order here.  They were fined $2,570 expenditures (about $1 million worth) being made by someone other than the treasurer, and for mis-reporting some contributions.

SCOMO Tosses Voter ID

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft reacted to the Missouri Supreme Court tossing the Voter ID law… “The people of Missouri made it clear in November of 2016 that it is reasonable to require a photo ID to vote.  That voter ID law strengthened protections at the ballot box and, just as importantly, expanded access to the ballot ensuring registered voters would no longer be turned away on Election Day.”

My reading of the ruling (see it here) isn’t that showing ID is wasn’t the court found unconstitutional.  It’s more that whoever wrote the jumbled affidavit language screwed up.  It would seem like an error that the legislature could correct if they wished to.

New Committees

Missourians for a Better Tomorrow was formed. It’s a PAC.  Its treasurer is Frank M Hendricks.

Lobbyists Registrations

Nexus Group added Juul Labs Inc.

Virginia “Ginny” Chadwick added Tobacco to 21.

Heath Clarkston, Doug Nelson, and Kurt Schaefer added National Auto and Travel Organization.

Dwight Scharnhorst added Missouri Group, The Calvary Group, and MTTA.

Bridget Therese Sanderson added Environment Missouri.

$5K+ Contributions

Health Care Issues Committee of the Missouri Hospital Association - $25,000 from Childrens Mercy.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Virvus Jones, Esther Haywood, and Brendan Cossette.