MOScout Daily Update: New FRA Vehicle, Same Road Block? - ESA as Leverage? - Hilton Contra O'Laughlin and more...
Hilton Contra O’Laughlin
Celebrity Paris Hilton tweeted her support for Rep. Rudy Veit’s HB 557, and urged her followers (16.9 million of them) to contact Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin’s office. This is the bill which seeks to bring regulations to children residential care facilities which are current exempt from licensure. It follows some pretty horrible cases of abuse.
O’Laughlin on Facebook explained her resistance to the bill, though it sounds like she’d be open to a compromise; we’re just a little short on time for extended negotiations.
· While I understand we obviously have a problem here I am very much against passing something giving additional authority to agencies who already have authority and have chosen not to use it appropriately…
· The last thing we want to do is shut down homes with excessive regulation and that is a very real danger…
· Representative Veit wants to give the ability for authorities to take children out of homes and in my view (and that of a constitutional authority) trample constitutional rights…
Medicaid Expansion Hints
Post-Dispatch reports that the Parson Administration “appears to be laying the groundwork for [Medicaid] expansion.” Read it here.
· In a proposed rule change filed with the Missouri Secretary of State’s office, the Department of Social Services is seeking to expand the program to adults between ages 19 and 64.
· Changes in state rules typically undergo a review process and are put in place with little fanfare. In this case, given the high cost and the political ramifications, the rule could face a challenge that would put the question to a special panel of lawmakers.
· “The Parson administration continues to address the regulatory issues related to the expansion population. However, I don't think efforts to lay the groundwork for the expansion necessarily signal that the issue won’t end up in litigation,” said MHA spokesman Dave Dillon.
FRA Vehicle
The House added the FRA tax renewal to Sen. Holly Rehder’s SB 64, potentially creating a new vehicle to get that priority across the finish line.
But having another vehicle doesn’t do much if the road is still blocked. Sen. Bob Onder continues to stand in the way of renewal. So we’ll see…
LIHTC Codification Scuttled
Sen. Dan Hegeman sought to add an amendment to HB 948 on the floor that would freeze the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program at its current amount. That idea met opposition from Sens. Paul Wieland and Doug Beck, and the amendment was withdrawn.
Watching Wayfair
Rep. J Eggleston’s big tax bill, HB 554, looks like one more vehicle in the ditch after it failed to get a second in the Senate Fiscal Oversight yesterday.
ESA Talk
Thought the ESA battle was over? Not quite. There’s still some talk around the issue.
One rumor going around is that the governor’s office is seeking to use it as leverage to get other items passed.
· One MOScouter: “Threatening a Gov veto of ESAs if Gas Tax doesn’t pass. Calling legislators directly.”
Cyber Trouble Ahead?
The cyberattack shutting down an important toil pipeline could be the start of a new normal. From Axios…
· The big picture: No company is safe from ransomware, and often the lines between criminals and state actors can be fuzzy. Preventing even bigger future attacks will require a so-far elusive degree of coordination between the public and private sectors in dozens — if not hundreds of countries.
· Threat level: Very high. "Cybersecurity will be the issue of this decade in terms of how much worse it is going to get," IBM CEO Arvind Krishna told reporters Monday.
Rep. Bill Hardwick’s HB 1204 is in Senate Fiscal Oversight today. It’s late to the red zone this year. But being noncontroversial and with the topic in the headlines, it might have a chance to get across the finish line.
Lobbyists Registrations
Michael Martz added National Coalition for Public School Options.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Sen. Greg Razer, Leslie Korte, and Jerryl Christmas.