MOScout Daily Update: House Perfects Budget - House and Senate Bills Get Cued Up - Reopening Phase 1 - Don't Tread PAC - In Defense of Tidball and more...
Quiet Capitol
Mini-session in the time of corona… National guardsmen meet you at the entrance, an infrared forehead thermometer checks your temperature, they ask a few screening questions (been on a cruise lately?…) Through the metal detector… and into a very empty capitol building…
The House perfected its budget bills, and will third read them tomorrow. The Senate handled two quick bills from its third-read calendar.
The House appears to be cuing up Senate bills into position to pass them. This gives a sense of which bills are possible priorities for passage. The minimal House hearings this week (see them here) are all working on Senate bills.
· Children and Families (today, Noon, HR3) will hear SB 623 (Libla, guardians ad litem) and SB 653 (Crawford, foster parents).
· Special Committee on Regulatory Oversight and Reform (today, 2PM, HR3) will hear
· SB 600 (Luetkemeyer, felonies), SB 662 (Bernskoetter, donated food), and SB 725 (Brown, commissions).
· Special Committee on Regulatory Oversight and Reform (tomorrow, 8AM, HR3) will hear SB 618 (Wallingford, gas company infrastructure).
· Ways and Means (tomorrow Noon, HR3) will hear SB 676 (Luetkemeyer, property assessments).
Furthermore, Speaker Elijah Haahr referred several more Senate bills to the Special Committee on Regulatory Oversight.
SB 523 (Sater, controlled substances)
SB 544 (Holsman, text-to-donate)
SB 570 (Koenig, tax increment financing)
SB 580 (Cierpiot, “Long Term Dignity Act”)
SB 587 (Bernskoetter, SOS technology fund)
SB 594 (Hough, Manufacturing Enhancement Zone Act)
SB 673 & 560 (Brown, military spouse licensure)
And
Reps. Mike Haffner, Mary Elizabeth Coleman, Jonathan Patterson, and Gretchen Bangert were added to the Committee on Rules - Administrative Oversight.
Meanwhile the Senate, too, is mostly (but not entirely) working on House bills. See the Senate hearing schedule here.
Today’s Senate hearings include:
Government Reform (8AM, Joint Committee Room)
· HCS HB 2049 – Coleman (Modifies provisions relating to the enforcement of arbitration awards and intervention in court proceedings for insurance companies)
Economic Development (10:30AM, Senate Chamber)
· HB 1768 – Riggs (Modifies provisions relating to the Broadband Internet Grant Program)
Education (Noon, Joint Committee Room)
· HB 1317 – Sommer (Modifies provisions relating to recordings of certain school meetings and gifted children)
· HCS HB 1540 – Basye (Modifies provisions relating to special education services)
· HCS#2 HB 1568 – Bailey (Modifies provisions relating to seclusion and restraint policies in public schools)
· HCS HB 1817 – Dinkins (Excludes certain administrative penalties from the calculation of local effort in Iron County)
· HB 1818 – Dinkins (Removes increases in the amount received from fines for school purposes from the calculation of local effort for school districts)
· HB 1903 – Shields (Allows school districts that share superintendents to receive additional state aid)
“Reopening” Announced
Governor Mike Parson’s “phase one” to reopen Missouri’s economy was kind of anti-climatic. It doesn’t make any radical changes from the current guidelines.
In Parson’s previous declaration non-essential businesses were able to operate if they maintained social distancing. That remains.
It appears that all that’s been lifted it the prohibition against ten or more people gathering.
See Parson’s old order here, and new order here.
And
Of course, the urban areas of St. Louis and Kansas City are keeping their local restrictions in place at this time.
Don’t Tread PAC Gets $120K
Don't Tread on MO PAC received $120,000 from American Democracy Alliance. This appears to give some resources to the “Liberty Alliance.”
Remember them? They cause a stir among Republicans last summer when they showed up at the state fair and folks worried the old Greitens team was reassembling. They’ve been pretty quiet for the past few months. Now it looks like they’ll get a cash infusion.
The executive director of Liberty Alliance is Chris Vas. He’s the treasurer of Don’t Tread on Me PAC.
American Democracy Alliance had $134K on-hand on its April report. $120K will go to Don’t Tread. American Democracy’s money came from three Herzog checks ($50K each from Herzog Contracting, Herzog Railroad, and Herzog Technologies) back in June of 2019.
Stimulus Check Taxable?
News-Press reports that “an apparent quirk in the state tax code could force Missourians to pay taxes on recently delivered federal stimulus checks.”
“The payment is not income and you will not owe tax on your payment,” the IRS recently said in a report, adding that the money “will not affect your income for purposes of determining eligibility for federal government assistance or benefit programs.” However, according to the Tax Foundation, a nonprofit think tank, Missouri is one of six states with a “loophole” that could mean the stimulus checks would actually increase the tax liability regarding state income tax.
“It’s somewhat complicated, but basically the way that our state’s deduction rules work is that there is a quirk in the tax code that causes those COVID-19 checks to increase your Missouri income tax liability,” said State Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, who is sponsoring a measure to address the confusion. “So I’m hoping with this legislation we’re going to be able to carve those out in a way that would make sure people aren’t taxed on the stimulus checks.”
Readers React to News Stories
Lobbyist 1 on Tidball: Many of us have known Jennifer for a long time. The idea that any Missourian who can provide a good home for children who have been neglected and abused shouldn’t be a foster or adoptive parent is ludicrous. Judges, not social service employees, make decisions regarding termination of parental rights and reunification. Meanwhile there are two little girls receiving a loving home where they can thrive and grow. If these kids can’t be reunited with their mom because she is not fit, based on a court decision, then don’t those kids deserve a chance? This is just a smear job on someone who has opened her home and life to give a group of children an opportunity to live and prosper… Of course we won’t hear Tidball’s side of the discussion because she can’t speak out given her position and situation…
Lobbyist 2 on Williams: The KC Star piece really wasn’t very substantive. It sounded more like a left wing attack on a guy that didn’t play ball on totally killing the economy.
House Mourns Loss
One sober note yesterday was Rep. Bill Kidd speaking about the loss of his son to suicide last month. See the Missourinet story about it here.
New Committees
Gate Way PAC was formed. Its treasurer is Debbie McClelland.
$5K+Contribution
Don't Tread on MO PAC - $120,000 from American Democracy Alliance.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Adam Schnelting, Tina Shannon, and Brian Yates.