MOScout Daily Update: Moon and Hoskins Make Up - Keeping the Ed Reform Faith - Gas Tax Nerve - April Revenues HOT - COVID Schizo and more...

Senate’s Day and Night

·         Early in the day, the Senate got tied up with HB 59 when Pro Tem Dave Schatz offered an amendment to specifically outlaw “gray” machines.  Sens. Mike Moon and Denny Hoskins (who have officially made up after attacking each other’s legislation last with deadly referendum clauses) filibustered the addition.  The Senate burned hours on it before laying it over. 

·         The Senate spent long hours debating HB 697 which deals with the PACE program.  It finally approved its version.  One hallway source credits Sen. Paul Wieland’s veteran chief of staff, Jamey Murphy. “He’s been in the building for over a decade and knows how the Senate works with a unique ability to make both sides feel like they can trust him to negotiate a fair deal.”

·         The Senate approved its version of HB 685 which makes various changes in public office.  Among the notable provisions: t eliminates the requirement that the attorney general reside in Jefferson City; and it makes an exception to the prohibition against lobbyists having campaign committees.  They could now do so – if running for school board or a municipal office.  HB 685 heads back to the House now.

House Approves Crime Bill

The House made its changes (adding maybe 20 amendments??) to Sen. Bill Eigel’s crime bill and sent it back to the Senate, approving it by a vote of 98-50.  Post Dispatch reports on it here.

Waiting on Ed Reform

As the days tick down without any movement on education reform bills, one supporter keeps the faith… “Both Majority Leader Caleb Rowden and Speaker Rob Vescovo have said scholarships for kids to flee failing schools districts is a priority. My money is on then getting it done. They have more than a week to pass a priority that they both share…”

TAFPed

Yesterday’s Truly Agreed and Finally Passed bills…

·         Rep. Kent Haden’s HB 574 which “prohibits the inspection of certain grounds or facilities in Missouri to enforce the laws of a state other than Missouri.”

·         Rep. Aaron Griesheimer’s HJR 35 which “modifies provisions for the State Treasurer's ability to invest.”

·         Sen. Paul Wieland’s SB 6 dealing with insurance.

eMailbag on Fear of a Gas Tax

Wow. Dave touched a nerve. My dog is not in this fight. I wish it were not so but let’s be real given how many legislators that read what you write.   

The link was to a national group funded by companies that build roads and bridges. This link is no longer up. It mentioned that 86% of Republicans who voted for a gas tax won their primary. Assume you have 50 Republicans in the House vote for the gas tax. That means seven would lose in the primary. Some years you have one maybe two that lose in a primary. Seven would be by far the most in modern history. 

If you can’t understand why the House Republican leadership is wary then you are not trying.    

April Revenues Hot

State Budget Director Dan Haug announced today that net general revenue collections for April 2021 increased 31.4 percent compared to those for April 2020, from $725.2 million last year to $952.9 million this year.

·         There are all sorts of questionable comparisons between this year and last year.  This year’s tax date was moved to next month, so in theory it’s apples to apples because last year the tax date was moved as well.  However, I wouldn’t be surprised if a fair number of folks already paid in April this year.  The May delay is much shorter than last year’s move to the summer. 

·         Regardless, revenues are clearly exceeding expectations.  We’re ahead by $1.3 billion so far this fiscal year.

Light Frets About Schroer Amendment

The Jewish Light writes about Rep. Nick Schroer’s anti-Critical Race Theory amendment, which appears dead this session.  See it here.

·         Some members in the Missouri House are trying to pass an amendment to an education omnibus bill (HB 1141) that will prohibit schools and teachers from using any curriculum that, “assign[s] blame to categories of persons, regardless of the actions of particular individuals,” or that “identifies people, entities, or institutions as inherently, immutably, or systemically sexist, racist, biased, privileged, or oppressed.”

·         A plain reading of this amendment suggests that it would be illegal for a teacher to say, “the Nazis murdered Jews” since after all, not all Nazis murdered Jews, and assigning blame to entire categories of persons based on the actions of particular individuals would be illegal. Under this law, it would be impossible to teach that Nazi Germany was inherently anti-Semitic, or that the Third Reich oppressed Jews simply because they were Jews, because that would identify Nazis as inherently biased and Jews as inherently and systemically oppressed.

COVID Schizophrenia

·         The Atlantic has a funny article… “Lurking among the jubilant americans venturing back out to bars and planning their summer-wedding travel is a different group: liberals who aren’t quite ready to let go of pandemic restrictions. For this subset, diligence against COVID-19 remains an expression of political identity—even when that means overestimating the disease’s risks or setting limits far more strict than what public-health guidelines permit…”

·         And yet there are also clearly those on the other side of the seesaw.  29% of Missourians have completed their vaccinations.  But when I was in Big Whiskey’s the other night, there wasn’t a single mask being worn.  By my calculation, the statistical odds that everyone there fully vaccinated was probably only slightly better than Jefferson City getting hit by a Sharknado this weekend.

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Birthdays

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