MOScout Daily Update: CLEAN $$$ - MEC's Red Tape Bill - Uniting MO Starts Ads - SBOE and MSIP 6 - KC Biz for MedEx and more...
Senate Passes CLEANER
Yesterday the Senate passed Sen. Dan Hegeman’s SJR 38, aka CLEANER. It passed 22-9 with Republican Sen. Lincoln Hough joining the eight Democrats. It now goes to the House.
Meanwhile… CLEAN $$$ Starts Flowing
In the large contributions (below), Action Now – a Texas 501c(4) funded by billionaires John and Laura Arnold – sent $100K to CLEAN Missouri. One assumes this is just an ante – like tossing pennies in before the opening deal – with much more coming when necessary.
Driving the Day
Media Advisory: Kansas City business, civic leaders to make major announcement on Missouri Medicaid expansion at World Trade Center KC… Tuesday Feb. 11, at 10 a.m…
What It Means
It looks like Kansas City business leaders will be declaring on the record that Medicaid expansion would be good for business. If so, that bodes well for the campaign’s ability to raise significant resources and make their case before the voters in November.
Uniting Missouri PAC Starts Ads
Post-Dispatch reports that “supporters of Missouri Gov. Mike Parson are launching a statewide television advertising buy Tuesday to emphasize what they say are his public safety credentials… ‘This is how we planned to roll out the campaign, early and aggressively,’ said John Hancock, chairman of the Uniting Missouri political action committee, which has been raising money on Parson’s behalf in anticipation of a November 2020 matchup against Democratic state Auditor Nicole Galloway…. Hancock, who is presiding over a war chest of more than $5.1 million, declined to say how much the weeklong ad buy will cost. Federal Communications Commission records reviewed by the Post-Dispatch show at least $58,752 in orders by the PAC…”
What It Means
· Team Parson has plenty of money. This is just the start. Look for a new issue roll-out coming every six-eight weeks.
· If they can spend the money early and keep Galloway from narrowing the polls, that may discourage national Democratic money and make Galloway’s path more difficult.
· Plus, GOPers argue there’s a trickle down. If Parson (and Trump) are strong at the top of the ticket, it will help all the down-ballot Republican races as well.
MEC’s Medicaid Enrollment Solution
Following revelations articulated by Rep. David Wood that thousands of Missouri kids aren’t receiving healthcare they’re entitled to because of cumbersome government paperwork, Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman’s bill (HB 1960) to cut the red tape may get a little momentum. The bill was referred to the General Laws Committee at the end of January.
The bill says that the “department of social services shall limit any initial application for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (TANF), the child care assistance program, or the MO HealthNet program to a one-page form that is easily accessible on the department of social services' website.”
And they “may submit such form as an attachment to their Missouri state tax form if the person's eligibility review form is due at the same time that he or she files a state tax return.”
On the SBOE Agenda
The State Board of Education meets today. A few interesting items on their agenda.
· A+ Designation. This program previously provided grant awards to Missouri public high schools that demonstrated a commitment to these goals. Statute was revised in 2016 to include non-public high schools… In February 2020, six non-public high schools and one public high school met the requirements of the program and are being recommended for A+ designation.
· MSIP 6. This was delayed initially back when Eric Greitens was trying to take over the board. It appears the board changed the part of MSIP 6 that eliminated teacher planning time and reverted back to MSIP 5 for that part. There were a lot of comments about it. “The department has received five thousand two hundred nineteen (5,219) comments requesting Standard TL15 (now TL12), Indicator D, be revised to include self-directed plan time of a minimum of two hundred-fifty (250) minutes per week…”
MMJ Worries Bubble Up
· Sen. Doug Libla spent part of yesterday’s Senate session venting about the licensing process for the nascent medical marijuana industry. He called it a “big debacle,” and insisted that those complaining aren’t “sour grapes,” but that they really “didn’t get a fair shake.”
· Meanwhile – over in the House – the KC Star reports that “in a letter to Lyndall Fraker, who was appointed as the director of medical marijuana regulation by Gov. Mike Parson in December 2018, Republican leaders of the Missouri House contend the legislature is ‘not fully apprised of the implementation’ of the voter-approved medical marijuana program, known as Amendment 2. The letter, signed by House Speaker Elijah Haahr, House Majority Leader Rob Vescovo and House Speaker Pro Tem John Wiemann, was delivered Monday. Republican legislative leaders hope Fraker can provide a presentation to the committee Wednesday…”
Zagier Joins Tightline
The press release: With the 2020 election cycle ramping up, Tightline Public Affairs announced today its expansion to St. Louis and the addition of veteran Missouri journalist and communications strategist Alan Zagier to the firm as a principal.
Zagier is an ex-AP correspondent in Columbia and St. Louis, spending more than a decade with the wire service after an appointment as a visiting professor at the Missouri School of Journalism. At Tightline, which he joined as a consultant in mid-2019, Zagier will continue to serve as an adviser to the Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association as the new industry ramps up its launch toward retail sales in the coming months.
He will also assist company president Jack Cardetti as communication consultants for Healthcare for Missouri, the campaign committee leading the push for voter approval of a statewide Medicaid expansion ballot initiative in November….
Senate Bits
· Sens. Wayne Wallingford and Sandy Crawford were removed from the Gubernatorial Appointments Committee and replaced by Sens. Mike Cierpiot and Tony Luetkemeyer.
· Sen. Denny Hoskins was appointed to Commerce, Consumer Protection, Energy and the Environment.
· Sen. Bill White requested that he temporarily be recognized from his chair, due to a recent injury.
Lobbyist Registrations
Jeffrey Altmann added City Utilities of Springfield.
Jonathan Dalton added Missourians For Local Asset Governance.
Andy Blunt, Angie Schulte, and Noel Torpey added Gilead Sciences, Inc.
$5K+ Contributions
CLEAN Missouri - $100,000 from Action Now Initiative (Houston TX)
House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc - $50,000 from 417 PAC.
Jackson County Democratic Committee - $6,000 from CHIPP Political Account.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Rep. Doug Richey, Elad Gross, Amy Blunt, Steve Brown, and Don Wells.