MOScout Daily Update: Galloway Fundy - PDMP Passes House - Gray Machines Stuck in Senate - New Uniting MO Ad - ShowMe on MedEx Math and more...

Uniting Missouri PAC Releases Digital Ad

The pro-Mike Parson Uniting Missouri PAC released a digital ad attacking Auditor Nicole Galloway for her audit of Josh Hawley.  See it here.

Nicole Galloway is bringing Washington style politics to Missouri. Caught red-handed planning to “beef up” an investigation into a conservative opponent.  Now, Missouri’s Attorney General says she may have committed a felony. Even the liberal media thinks she went too far. Sham investigations. Manipulated evidence. Extreme partisanship. All to feed her personal and political ambitions. Tell Nicole Galloway: we don’t want Washington politics in Missouri.

What It Means

·         Uniting Missouri has oodles of cash.

·         The 2020 election will be a sea of millions of dollars of ads.  Starting early gives their ads more visibility now.

·         And as I’ve mentioned before, if they can Parson with a healthy lead in the polls, it may dissuade national money from playing in Missouri’s gubby race.

Real People for Galloway

Fresh off her recent confrontation with US Senator Josh Hawley – who both attacked her audit as biased yet also claimed that it totally exonerated him – Nicole Galloway rolled into St. Louis for the type of fundraiser you don’t often see gubernatorial candidates at: one co-hosted by a dozen of her apolitical high school pals.

In her talk, Galloway focused on the 100,000-plus kids who have lost state health coverage and her support for the Medicaid expansion initiative that appears likely to make the ballot. She talked up her work as auditor and mentioned the state's rather tepid economic growth compared to national figures. Finally, she noted the recent re-emergence of the scandal-scarred ex-gov before offering her big applause line of the night: “Better than Greitens just isn’t good enough for Missouri.”

While the packed event – held at South St. Louis microbrewery The Civil Life – wasn’t full of traditional heavy-hitters, an organizer said that fundraising easily exceeded the goal.

One MOScouter in attendance: “Instead of an event with 100 people where 30 of them are electeds coming in free and 30 more are the same people you see at every Dem function, this one seemed like 100 new faces. Good energy and representation from across the spectrum, with people there saying they supported Bernie, Warren, Pete, and Joe.”

Show-Me Disputes MedEx Savings

The free market think tank Show Me Institute has a blog post up disputing the analyses of those claiming that Medicaid expansion will result in cost savings.  See it here.

[T]he models employ what they call “PTD shifting,” which is an attempt to get the federal government to pay more for a significant portion of Missouri’s currently disabled enrollees.

In practice, PTD shifting refers to reclassifying currently enrolled disabled Missourians into the newly eligible Medicaid expansion population. Once reclassified, Missouri would be able to receive nine federal dollars for each state tax dollar it spends to cover the “newly eligible” recipients. This is a stark improvement over the state’s current federal match, which is roughly two federal dollars for each dollar Missouri spends. The problem—and it’s a big one—is that purposely classifying those who meet pre-expansion Medicaid eligibility requirements as newly eligible in order to receive additional federal funds is not allowed, and if money is collected under such a scheme it would need to be returned…

Senate Debates Gray Machines

The Senate debated the topic of illegal gaming machines last night. Sen. Mike Cunningham’s SB 530 has the backing of Pro Tem Dave Schatz.  However little progress was made, as the bill was held up by Sen. Denny Hoskins who is seeking to legalize the machines and also bring sports betting to the state.

It’s hard to see a compromise emerging on this topic, but by bringing the topic to the floor early, there is plenty of time for reasonable people to find common ground.  We’ll see…

House Passes PDMP

The House passed Rep. Holly Rehder’s HB 1693 by a vote of 98-56.  The prescription drug monitoring program bill was first read in the Senate yesterday, and faces some opposition.

Listen to the “Senate Minute” on the issue here.

The Senate’s Conservative Caucus has made stopping a PDMP a top priority.  But – because nothing in this life is simple – they also are backing Rehder in her Senate primary. 

Driving the Day: Will 707 Fly?

Sen. Andrew Koenig’s SB 707 will get a hearing in the Senate’s Education Committee. This is the “Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Program,” the latest effort by Keonig to establish a tax credit to fund private education.  Critics tend to call these proposals “vouchers.”

Koenig faces a more welcoming committee now that Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin is chair.  In fact, although the bill was pre-filed, it didn’t receive a referral to the Education Committee while Gary Romine was chair.  But very quickly after Romine departed, the pro tem made the referral and SB 707 was headed to the Education Committee….

Three More Join House Gov Oversight Committee

Speaker Elijah Haahr appointed three more members to the House’s Special Committee on Government Oversight.  This comes as the committee continues to take testimony about the licensing process for the state’s medical marijuana industry.  The new members are Reps. Jered Taylor, J. Eggleston and Jon Carpenter.

Last week, Rep. Rep. Rudy Veit recused himself from MMJ investigations.

And

In other committee changes, Speaker Haahr swapped the Appropriation assignments of Reps. Doug Richey and Aaron Griesheimer.  Richey is now on Subcommittee on Education Appropriation, and Griesheimer is moving to the Subcommittee on Appropriations – Public Safety, Transportation.  Haahr also appointed Rep.  Dirk Deaton to the Subcommittee on Appropriations – Health, Mental Health, and

Social Services.

Lobbyist Registrations

Andy Arnold added Iowa 80 Group.

Jeremy LaFaver, Salvatore Panettiere, and Emma Shankland added Empower Missouri (formerly Mo Association For Social Welfare).

Scott Penman and Kaycee Nail added Americans for Patient Access, and LaFaver & Associates, LLC.

Birthdays

Happy birthday to Rep. Jeffery Justus.