MOScout Daily Update: House Resets Special Session - Schupp on TV - ECE Tax in STL County - Virtual Truman Dinner and more...

Special Session Reset

Speaker Elijah Haahr and House Floor Leader Rob Vescovo issued a statement yesterday afternoon about the future of special session: “In an effort to protect the integrity of the lawmaking process, and to ensure these important issues are thoroughly vetted, we intend to simplify the process with single-subject bills so we can focus on the merits of each bill individually to produce legislation that makes our streets and neighborhoods safer. Given the fact the governor expanded the call as one of our committees was considering the bill he originally proposed, we think it’s important to take a step back and give additional thought and attention to each part of the plan. This will provide a more deliberative process that will allow us to craft the kind of policy that will better protect Missourians from the scourge of violent crime.”

In short: forget SB 1, the House is going back to Square One.  There was concern that SB 1 didn’t have the votes – maybe not in the committee, maybe not on the floor.   And then the governor’s new expansion threw more chaos into the mix.

Instead, they’ll now create individual bills with the governor’s original priorities and start over. 

As a reminder these are:

·         Police Residency Requirements for St. Louis

·         Juvenile Certification

·         Witness Statement Admissibility

·         Witness Protection Fund

·         Endangering the Welfare of a Child

·         Unlawful Transfer of Weapons

These will not all head to Judiciary.  Instead the speaker will refer them to various committees as he believes they’ll best fit. 

I’m told that Special Committee on Regulatory Oversight and Reform will likely get the police residency bill.  Chair Ron Hicks had previously filed a bill about that topic.

It’s unclear how the AG jurisdiction provision will be handled.  One source told me that they think the House will wait on the Senate.  They see a fierce fight to get that through the Senate and House leadership is disinclined to ask their members to vote on something potentially unpalatable to some conservatives in an election year.  One denizen told me: House leadership is looking out for their caucus.

Another source thought it would be yet another House single-subject bill referred to committee. We’ll see…

Vescovo issued a new session schedule restarting the process on Monday.

Wednesday, August 12 10:00 am – Technical Session

Monday, August 17 10:00 am – Technical Session

Tuesday, August 18 10:00 am – Technical Session

Monday, August 24 12:00 pm – Session

Tuesday, August 25 10:00 am – Session

What It Means

There’s a complete lack of enthusiasm in the legislature. 

·         The governor’s team has done a poor job communicating with the House; one source saying they found out about the expanded call at the same time as everyone else.

·         Folks don’t think the governor’s package represents anything that will have a real impact on violent crime; it’s just a grab bag of incremental items.  Grafting on the AG jurisdiction as an afterthought added to this perception.  Like “hey, just toss this in there too.”

·         Some folks think poverty is the root of the problem.  There’s no bold anti-poverty plan. Some think it’s education, ditto.  Some think it’s guns, ditto.  No one says, “If we could just change it from a class A misdemeanor to a class E felony, that’d make them think twice before doing it!!”

How It Plays

On the one hand, the governor continues to benefit from news stories about his effort to curb violent crime.  This special session will end up being a month-long affair.

On the other hand, it doesn’t make him look particularly effective as governor to have supermajorities in both chambers and still have his package luffing in the wind like this.

And

Life may be different for y’all out there, but in my day-to-day life there’s a lot more of talk about COVID, return to school, fall sports, delayed weddings, etc.

Schupp on TV

Sen. Jill Schupp released her first TV ad.  This comes on the heels of the new rating from the Cook Report calling CD-2 a toss-up.  See the ad here.  It’s a typical intro/bio piece.  The tagline: “Missouri families need a new voice.”

And

One reader: I think Lacy Clay’s defeat is ominous for pols of both parties who fall in love with the Beltway culture. Think Ann Wagner. As she raised money in DC for her fellow Republicans and carried the water for St. Louis businesses, she really lost her claim to being a grassroots politician…

STL County’s ECE Tax

The Post-Dispatch reported yesterday on a new tax effort championed by WePower and introduced by Councilwoman Lisa Clancy to ask voters to approve a half-cent sales tax for early childhood education in November. The tax would generate an estimated $75-80M annually.

State statute allows cities and counties to use special sales tax for economic development. Voters in some cities in St. Louis County have approved this tax so they would likely be contributing on top of the city tax if the early childhood sales tax is approved county-wide. The funds could be directed to private child care operators as well as public schools.

A yet-to-be-named non-profit is interviewing for an executive ($175-195K salary) to lead a “quarterbacking” organization to distribute the revenue. Funds will likely "be prioritized for programs that serve children of greatest social and economic need and in school districts that have the highest enrollments in free-and-reduced lunch programs.”

State statute requires that an appointed volunteer eco devo tax board govern the fund. It’s unclear how that board will coordinate with the quarterback organization associated with WePower.

Virtual Truman Gala

MO Dems’ annual Truman Dinner is going virtual.  But they’re still selling “tables” for the September 12 event.  See it here.

I guess it’s BYOB?

New Committees

EM PAC was formed.  Its treasurer is Mertland Hughes.

$5K+ Contributions

Uniting Missouri PAC - $40,000 from William H Darr.

Uniting Missouri PAC - $19,700 from Forrest Lucas.

Democratic Governors Association - Missouri - $30,000 from Democratic Governors Association (Washington DC).

Missourians for Healthcare - $31,548 from The Fairness Project (Washington DC).

Missourians for Healthcare - $18,460 from American Heart Association.

Local 41 Political Action Fund - $17, 964 from DRIVE Committee (Washington DC)

Janet Thompson for Boone County - $10,000 from Ian Thompson.

MO Cattlemens Association PAC - $6,050 from Missouri Cattlemen's Association.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Reps. Barbara Washington and Mike Haffner, Sharon Jones, and Vicki Schneider.