MOScout Daily Update: More on Prefiled Bills - Vax and Mask Battles - Dogan Fundy - Schroer Contra STL and more...

More Nuggets from Senate Prefiled Bills

·         I count 13 senators with bills related to election.  They run the gamut – Voter ID, absentee ballots, mail-in ballots, IP reform.  My gut is that this makes passage of an election bill harder.  The easier path is when there’s one or two folks driving an issue, rather than lots of competing agendas.   

·         Sens. Mike Moon and Bill Eigel have bills to repeal the gas tax increase passed last session.  These bills don’t have any chance of passing, but it’s an indication that the fury over raising taxes remaining within a contingent of the Senate Republican Caucus.

·         SB 652 (Sen. John Rizzo) “Provides a sales tax exemption for the sale of 2026 FIFA World Cup tickets to matches held in Jackson County.”  This looks to be a move to help Kansas City’s pitch to land that event.

·         Sens. Eric Burlison and Jason Bean have right to work bills.  Burlison’s is statewide while Bean’s would leave it up to each county to decide.  I doubt each gets traction this year as Republicans might be reluctant to poke organized labor in an election year.

·         Sens. Rick Brattin (SB 776), Andrew Koenig (SB 810) and Rizzo (SB 653) have bills that would establish a “Parent’s Bill of Rights.”  They’re all quite different, but it shows that “parents having control over their children’s education” has become a potent political issue.

Driving the Day: Another US Supreme Court Case

SCOTUS will hear oral arguments today in the case of Carson v. Makin. In this Maine school choice case, the Court will examine whether prohibiting students from using tuition assistance to attend schools that provide religious instruction violates the Equal Protection Clause of the United States. School choice advocates argue that the Maine law discriminates against parents based on religion by providing some families tuition aid and denying that same support to others. In 2019, the Supreme Court struck down similar provisions in Espinoza v. Montana. The difference here is that in the Espinoza decision, the Court ruled that states could not discriminate based on "religious status." Today, the Court looks at discrimination based on "religious use."

·         Harvard Law Today has a good explainer here.

Why It’s Important

If the Court rules in favor of Carson (the Maine parents), it could further weaken existing Blaine Amendments and pave the wave for more public funding for religious education.

Dogan Fundy Report

Tipster at Rep. Shamed Dogan’s fundraiser for St. Louis County Executive last night at the Saint Louis Club reports, “About 50 people… Shamed has really tightened his message. Did a good job. Talked about his family who were sharecroppers in the Bootheel and came to St. Louis for a better life. Growing up in Normandy and how his parents got him scholarships for a great education… Also honing his message of public safety (i.e. not defunding the police), economic freedom (not closing restaurants), school choice (parents having a say in what goes on in schools). The crowd ate it up.”

Schroer Contra STL

Post-Dispatch reports on Rep. Nick Schroer’s efforts to he said “to combine the prosecuting offices of [Kim] Gardner and St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell.”

·         One MOScouter describes this as “a swing and a miss,” explaining “unless the bill amends sections 56.010 and 56.430 (relating to the elections of prosecuting attorneys and the circuit attorney of St. Louis City), which it doesn't, then it does absolutely diddly-squat to merge the St. Louis City and St. Louis County prosecutor offices.”

·         See Schroer’s bill here.

Vax and Mask Battles

·         Attorney General Eric Schmitt sent letters to school districts and health departments across the state instructing them to follow “Cole County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Green’s ruling that struck down state health regulations and declared health orders issued by local health authorities under them to be ‘null and void.’”

·         Emily Manley reports that the University of Missouri “is suspending its vaccination requirement for faculty, staff and student workers after a federal court blocked the federal mandate for the time being.”

Meanwhile COVID Hospitalizations Jump

According to the state’s dashboard, COVID is sending more folks to the hospital again.  Just a month ago we’d finally dropped back below the 1,000-person level (of Missourians in the hospital with COVID).  But the curve is turning upward again.  And as of yesterday, the number stood at 1,634 – with 399 people in the ICU because of COVID.

·         52% of Missourians are now fully vaccinated, including nearly 84% of the most vulnerable 65+ age group.

New Committees

Philip Oehlerking formed a candidate committee (Committee to Elect Philip Oehlerking) to run for House 98 as a Republican.  This is the Dogan district.

Lobbyists Registrations

Gamble & Schlemeier added Missouri Biotechnology Association.

Benjamin Douglas Singer added Show Me Integrity Education Fund.

Eapen Thampy added CanaMO Solutions LLC.

$5K+ Contributions

American Dream PAC (pro-Kehoe) - $50,000 from August Busch III.

American Dream PAC - $22,350 from Missouri Leadership Forum.

Majority Forward - $15,000 from Rizzo for Missouri.

Majority Forward - $7,500 from HCA Missouri Good Government Fund.

House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc - $7,100 from FEAPAC of Missouri.

House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc - $9,600 from Missourians for Cody Smith.

Page PAC (pro-Sam Page) - $10,000 from Roy Pfautch.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to John Brunner, Sarah Topp, Linda Rallo, Peter Herschend, and Don Soffer.