MOScout Daily Update: Budget First Look Today - Haahr on Session Agenda - ACLU, AFP Want Narrow Agenda and more...
Driving the Day: $700M Cut
Rudi Keller reports on the coming budget debate. See it here.
Missouri lawmakers on Friday will get their first look at how much they will be expected to cut from the state budget as state revenues turned negative for the year and Republicans in Washington said they aren’t willing to help states cover their bills.
The COVID-19-caused recession is expected to result in cuts of at least $700 million from the almost $10 billion in general revenue spending proposed by Gov. Mike Parson in January when the state anticipated growing revenues for the year.
State Rep. Kip Kendrick, D-Columbia, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said the full proposal will be available Friday for debate in the House next week.
The cuts will likely fall heavily on higher education and perhaps on public schools as well, he said.
· One source tells me that the withholds announced by Governor Mike Parson will likely be incorporated as cuts into the core budget.
Haahr Speaks About Mini-Session
The mighty Jason Rosenbaum interviews Speaker Elijah Haahr. Listen to it here.
At the 22-minute mark he says, “I think that everything that we are working on that’s not budget related will some impact or some tie to the COVID-19 epidemic…”
But then right afterwards Haahr says he expects that the PDMP will be passed by the House, and potentially, the CLEANER proposal.
So although the budget is clearly the top priority, it seems that the House will take up some other – non-COVID – matters.
We’ll see…
And
· AP’s David Lieb reports on legislators who mist choose between health and duty. See it here. State Sen. Gina Walsh, who had been in voluntary isolation after a family member developed coronavirus symptoms, missed the vote because she decided to remain home. “This is unprecedented, they’re making history and I really wanted to participate,” said Walsh, a Democrat from the coronavirus hot spot of St. Louis County. “But it wasn’t worth risking harm to others.” Republican Rep. Jeffrey Messenger, 70, who has cancer, diabetes and high-blood pressure, also stayed away. Messenger said he wished legislative leaders would have let him text his vote from home.
· In a Missouri Times op/ed the two poles of the political spectrum (ACLU and AFP) come together to ask for a narrow session agenda – given the limited opportunities for public input. See it here. If the government cannot come back in a way that protects public health while allowing meaningful public input and discussion, it shouldn’t come back to governing as usual with an open agenda…. We strongly encourage them to narrowly tailor their purpose to pass the budget, which they face a constitutional deadline to finalize, and narrow legislation needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic…
Smithfield Plant Sued
NYTimes reports on a nuisance complaint against the Workers at a Smithfield Foods plant in Milan, Missouri. See it here. [W]orkers say they have encountered another health complication: reluctance to cover their mouths while coughing or to clean their faces after sneezing, because this can cause them to miss a piece of meat as it goes by, creating a risk of disciplinary action. The claims appear in a complaint filed Thursday in federal court by an anonymous Smithfield worker and the Rural Community Workers Alliance, a local advocacy group whose leadership council includes several other Smithfield workers. The complaint also seeks to test a novel legal question: whether health hazards at the plant present a public nuisance…
Finally
Mike Owens, husband to Mayor Lyda Krewson, shared a funny meme on Facebook. See it here.
Lobbyists Registrations
Travis Brown, Dave Berry, and Tracy King added Public Consulting Group c/o MultiState Associates Inc.
$5K+ Contributions
American Property Casualty Insurance Association Political Account - $9,585 from American Property Casualty Insurance Association.
Birthdays
Happy birthday to Brian Munzlinger.