MOScout Daily Update: It's a Normal Session After All - Omnibussing - House Passes Budget - MMJ Suit and more...

It’s A Normal Session After All

After the talk of asking folks to stay away and focusing on COVID-19 related items, the state legislature has embraced a wide-open agenda for the final weeks of session.

Lobbyists will likely feel the need to be present in person, fill up the building, to make sure that their clients are represented.

It’s quite a turnaround from what I expected just a few days ago.

Omnibus Bills Reign

The Senate yesterday debated for hours to perfect their criminal law omnibus, HB 1450.

And the House added to its list of omnibus bills in the pipeline. Listed this morning…

·         SB 528 – public education – 60 pages.

·         SB 532 – public safety – 238 pages.

·         SB 544 – political subdivisions – 156 pages.

·         SB 552 – elections – 75 pages.

·         SB 580 – healthcare – 109 pages.

·         SB 594 – political subdivisions – 157 pages.

·         SB 600 – public safety – 202 pages.

·         SB 618 – utilities – 48 pages.

·         SB 662 – judicial proceedings – 51 pages.

·         SB 673 – professional registration – 97 pages.

·         SB 676 – taxation – 56 pages.

·         SB 686 – transportation – 134 pages.

·         SB 725 – political subdivisions – 149 pages.

·         SB 774 – public safety – 199 pages.

Also

Not listed on among those bills yet is SB 591.  This was the Senate’s tort reform bill. It looks like the House draft (see it here) is loading this up with additional provisions…

·         provisions insulating auto dealers from liability for misstatements of CARFAX

·         HB 2049 (537.065 changes)

·         statutes of repose (HB 1596)

·         immunity from liability related to certain packaged foods

·         Anti-Grain Belt Express eminent domain language

That last item could be a killer in the Senate.

Meanwhile

All the omnibussing has started murmuring of Hammerschmidt violations.

Lawyers Chuck Hatfield and Jim Layton were doing the happy dance on Twitter imagining the business this could drum up. See it here.

One lobbyist quipped: Hatfield might need an agent.

More on Omnibus Implications

I wrote yesterday that the House loading up Senate bills into omnibus packages would shift power to the conference committees that negotiate what’s contained in the final version.

It also weakens the hands of senators who want to block something objectionable in one of these omnibus bills.

·         When the conference committee report comes back, it’s unamendable.  That makes a filibuster a bit harder.  Not impossible, but less natural. 

·         It creates political pressure to swallow the provision you detest because there are other parts of the bill you don’t want to vote against.

·         And it requires bucking your colleagues who presumably signed off on the conference committee report.

House Passes Budget

The House passed the budget yesterday, as the process now moves to the Senate.  St. Louis Public Radio reports: The Missouri House passed a $34 billion state budget on Wednesday that reflects the economic costs of COVID-19. House Budget Chair Cody Smith, R-Neosho, said the plan includes $146 million less compared to the state’s current budget… The proposal, which is for the next fiscal year beginning on July 1, cut $700 million from what Gov. Mike Parson asked for when he laid out his budget projections in January. Parson has since reworked those projections and knew changes would be needed. Smith said despite the spending cuts, this proposal prioritizes the K-12 education funding formula… House Democrats say the budget is unbalanced and they’ll need to return later in the year to make adjustments…

And

Among the areas hit was child care.  The House cut it by $20 million in the FY21 budget. Half of the cut is general revenue, and half is federal spending authority, which triggered a response from the child advocacy community. Federal law requires certain thresholds for state general revenue funding and mandates that federal funds “supplement, not supplant” state funds—with penalties by the feds being a real possibility. With the state revenue uncertainty from COVID-19 and the fact that Sen. Blunt has been an outspoken advocate for child care funding at the national level, it doesn’t seem smart to roll the dice on how the feds interpret these cuts. Missouri has one of the lowest subsidy rates in the country, and child care centers are struggling to stay open. Some argue that providers will face additional costs to align their operations with public health guidance. Cuts at this time would exacerbate racial and income inequities in access to care and disproportionately impact black-owned child care businesses. 

State Revenues Plummet

With a few days left in the month, the April state revenue numbers are predictably turning out to the be worst many of us have ever seen.  As of the close of business April 28, state tax receipts were 55% lower than they were in April 2019.  Fiscal-year-to-date numbers have seen a total reversal in one month.  We’re now down -5.2%, after entering the month ahead of last year by 5.8%.

MMJ Suit Proceeds

Joplin Globe reports:  Statements were heard during a virtual hearing Wednesday by a Cole County Circuit Court judge in Jefferson City regarding whether a temporary restraining order sought by Sarcoxie Nursery Cultivation Facility LLC is applicable in the ongoing issue of medical marijuana licenses in Missouri.

Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce could make a determination on the motion as early as Thursday. Retired Joplin cardiologist Paul Callicoat, his family, as well as GVMS Inc. and Missouri Medical, are seeking the temporary restraining order against the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, which they contend has not been transparent and violated the state constitution by limiting the number of awarded licenses.

Joseph Bednar, an attorney representing Sarcoxie Nursery, said a temporary restraining order would prevent the the department and two of its top officials — Randall Williams, department director, and Lyndall Fraker, director the department's Section for Medical Marijuana Regulation — from granting any changes to medical marijuana facility licenses. That includes cultivation, manufacturing, infusion and dispensary licenses….

Lobbyists Registrations

Jeff Aboussie deleted U Street Parking.

$5K+ Contributions

Teamsters Local Union No 688 Political Action Committee - $10,588 from DRIVE Committee (Washington DC).

CLEAN Missouri - $25,000 from Missouri Wins.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Andy Blunt, and Julie Murphy Finn.