MOScout Daily Update: Report on DSS - Still Fighting SB5 - Baby Lohmann and Babies Groce - Polling STL County Codes and more...

What’s Different About Today?

·         The new gas tax starts to be phased in.

·         Enrollment is officially opening for those newly eligible under Medicaid expansion.

COVID Hospitalizations Continue to Fall

A chart from the state’s dashboard…

And

Chris Prener writing in his River City Data wonders “whether we see a spike in new cases this fall. Last year, new cases jumped in early October and then climbed steeply in November. I would not be surprised to see at least some resurgent levels of new cases in Missouri in the next two months, but I also would not be surprised if this paled in comparison both to last fall and our Delta spike this summer…”

Congratulations

To Courtney Grace and Jason Groce (chief of staff to Sen. Karla May) on the birth of their twin girls, Naomi Lucille and Olivia Danielle Groce.

To Becky (Catalyst lobbyist) and John Lohmann on the birth of their daughter, Logan Monroe Lohmann.

Someone’s Polling STL County Codes

One reader tips: Just took a text message survey on whether municipalities in STL county should have a uniform set of building codes... 

Asked about whether county is on right track/wrong track, opinion of Page, opinion of county council, biggest issue facing county, then went into opinions on uniform building codes.

Really emphasized 88 munis in county, and how allowing munis to set building codes creates a more expensive bureaucracy.

The New Biz Recruitment?

Reuters reports that Price Waterhouse Coopers “will allow all its 40,000 U.S. client services employees to work virtually and live anywhere they want in perpetuity, making it one of the biggest employers to embrace permanent remote work.”

·         It makes you wonder whether the state’s business recruitment efforts will need to adapt at some point emphasizing attracting the workers rather than landing the businesses.

The Never Ending Fight Over SB5

Next week the Missouri Supreme Court will hear an appeal from the City of Normandy involving SB5, the legislation passed in 2005 to limit the amount of revenue municipalities could raise through fines.

Read Normandy’s brief here.  And state’s brief.

Report on DSS Failings

Post-Dispatch reports on that “Missouri’s child welfare agency does not make enough of an effort to reduce the risk of foster children going missing, a new report by federal regulators found.”  Read it here.

·         The report, issued Thursday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, says Missouri does not have policies for identifying children who may be at heightened risk of running away or plans in place to reduce their risk.

·         In 59 cases reviewed by the office, Missouri “rarely demonstrated attempts to reduce children’s risk of going missing,” the report noted.

·         And, during the times in which the children were missing from care, Missouri frequently failed to comply with requirements that could have aided in locating them.

·         “Nearly half of the case files contained no evidence of Missouri reporting the children as missing, as required, to either local law enforcement or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,” the report noted.

Lobbyists Registrations

Erin Hodges added Alkermes, Inc.          

Garrett Webb added Missouri Alliance For Animal Legislation.

Andrew Meleta and Alexander Montgomery added Institute For Justice.

Gamble & Schlemeier added Gateway Coalition of Service Providers; and deleted Coalition of Service Providers of St. Charles County.

Cheryl Lynne Dozier and Jane Dueker deleted Kingdom Principles, Inc.

Richard McIntosh, David McCracken, and John CE Gaskin deleted Polarity.

Richard McIntosh deleted Asynchrony Labs.

$5K+ Contributions

Missouri Leadership Forum - $7,500 from Site System Landscaping.

Missouri Leadership Forum - $7,500 from Roden's Landscaping, Inc.

Missouri Senate Campaign Committee - $7,500 from MO DSV PAC.

Missouri Senate Campaign Committee - $7,500 from RQC PAC.

American Property Casualty Insurance Association Political Account - $6,796 from Accident Fund Insurance Company of America.

American Property Casualty Insurance Association Political Account - $7,626 from Argonaut Insurance Company.

American Property Casualty Insurance Association Political Account - $10,000 from Great American Insurance Company.

American Property Casualty Insurance Association Political Account - $10,000 from Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Company.

Uniting Missouri PAC - $10,000 from TR Hughes Homes.

Uniting Missouri PAC - $10,000 from Cole Inc.

Uniting Missouri PAC - $10,000 from CSM Construction.

Uniting Missouri PAC - $10,000 from Missouri Health Plan Association.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Sen. Sandy Crawford, Rep. Jo Doll, Tom Irwin, Andy Arnold, Steve Kraske, Kristy Manning, and Matthew Potter.