MOScout Daily Update: FRA Saga Continues - Burks Likely In CD-4 - August Ballot Heats Up - Jones Pledges Reparations and more...
FRA Saga Continues
I take the weekend off to watch a little baseball and boom… the special session plan collapses…
What Happened
There’s plenty of finger-pointing, but it sounds like the governor got cold feet about starting the special session with a number of unknowns still in play. Chief among them: Sen. Bob Onder rattling the social media saber about making sure his language is attached to the renewal.
Onder was backed by a statement from Missouri Right to Life, and this has support among conservative House Republicans. Rep. Nick Schroer voiced his support for the Onder position.
One source says that the governor withdrew his plan after the House couldn’t guarantee the defeat of that language.
The Consequences
I think they grab the steering wheel before plummeting off the fiscal cliff, but if they can’t get their act together, it’ll be a budget bloodbath. One lobbyist: “I would expect every NDI (new decision item) and increase in the budget to get vetoed at this point. Including the CI (capital improvement) bills… folks should be hoping the gov withholds their stuff on the budget instead of vetoing it…”
I wouldn’t be surprised if the governor’s office pre-announces withholds and/or vetoes in an effort to push the legislature toward an agreement. We’ll see.
Who’s To Blame
Broadly Republicans of course. They have supermajorities and yet with record state tax receipts we’re talking about withholds and budget cuts because they are floundering at the basics of governing.
Most specifically, this is Governor Mike Parson’s stinker. Yeah you can get mad at Onder and others, but the governor has to take control of his party of goodness sakes. At some point you gotta lead. You gotta be the guy in charge.
Say very precisely what you will accept and what you’ll veto. Call them into a special session and follow through on your threat.
The alternative – besides cutting a bunch of stuff you don’t want to cut – is being walked all over by state senators and state representatives for the next three years.
Burks Likely In CD-4
I’m told that I should put Taylor Burks in the “likely to run” category to replace Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler. “He hasn’t officially announced of course, but he’s hired out of state consultants and is actively seeking an in-state campaign manager.”
Burks is the former Boone County clerk.
What It Means
· I’ll be very surprised if we have less than a half-dozen credible candidates running.
· Additionally, I don’t see any candidate that will “bigfoot” the others with either massive name ID or overwhelming fundraising capacity to sweep everyone else aside.
· We could have a field of niche candidates all trying to elbow their way to 25%.
· The lines of the district will be a critical factor in determining if anyone has a geographic advantage.
Jones, Lucas Pledge Reparations
AP reports that St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones and Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas are among 11 mayors that “have pledged to pay reparations for slavery to a small group of Black residents in their cities, saying their aim is to set an example for the federal government on how a nationwide program could work.” Read the article here.
· The mayors had no details on how much it would cost, who would pay for it or how people would be chosen. All of those details would be worked out with the help of local commissions comprised of representatives from Black-led organizations set up to advise the mayor of each city. But the mayors say they are committed to paying reparations instead of just talking about them.
· “Black Americans don’t need another study that sits on a shelf,” said St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones, the city’s first Black female mayor and a member of the group. “We need decisive action to address the racial wealth gap holding communities back across our country.”
August Local Issues Heating Up
In the large contributions today (below) there’s money heading into the Invest in St. Louis Community College campaign. This is a St. Louis tax increase on the ballot August 3 for “the purposes of updating career training programs to enable job growth in critical industries including healthcare, information technology, financial services, biotechnology and manufacturing, providing safe and secure learning environments for students and employees, investing in technology and infrastructure needs, constructing and repurposing, renovating and eliminating, equipping and furnishing new and existing facilities, and furthering the college's regional impact…”
And there are plenty of other issues headed to the ballot across the state.
· In Webster Groves, residents have placed Proposition 1 on the ballot to reverse a change an amendment to the zoning code that the city council implemented to increase affordable housing. The city has placed a FAQ on their website to battle misinformation…
· In Jefferson City, Proposition 1 is the renewal of the city’s capital improvement sales tax.
Fed $$$ For Unproven School Systems?
Kaiser Health News reports on Missouri schools installing new air systems touted as COVID-safe. See it here.
· More than 100 public and private schools in Missouri are installing air-cleaning technology to try to ease the covid fears of staff members and parents, KHN and St. Louis Public Radio found through a review of school board notes, school websites and news reports. From Dulle’s Kansas City school to the Clayton district west of St. Louis to the Jefferson City School District in central Missouri, the review found schools across the state are collectively spending over $3.5 million on devices that claim to reduce the covid virus.
· But in April, a covid-19 commission task force for top medical journal The Lancet, composed of international health, education and air quality experts, called various air-cleaning technologies — ionization, plasma and dry hydrogen peroxide — “often unproven” with a potential to create “harmful secondary pollutants.”
· School officials need to be cautious when considering installing the devices, said Yang Wang, an assistant professor in environmental engineering who studies aerosols and air quality at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. He and other air quality experts worry that some versions of the cleaners may emit byproducts such as ozone that can make people sick.
· In the St. Louis suburbs, Rockwood School District is spending more than $685,000 to install ionizing units across its campus. “The federal funding that has been made available absolutely was a game changer,” said Chris Freund, Rockwood’s director of facilities. “That’s really what kind of tipped the scales.”
· For some larger districts, the costs add up. The public Jefferson City School District has budgeted $1.1 million, not from federal pandemic funding, to install ionization units in its schools, according to district spokesperson Ryan Burns…
$5K+ Contributions
Invest in St. Louis Community College - $7,500 from Mark Wrighton.
Invest in St. Louis Community College - $10,000 from Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 35 Voluntary Political Fund.
Invest in St. Louis Community College - $10,000 from Laborers International Union.
Legal Missouri 2022 - $10,000 from V3 Holdings LLC.
Legal Missouri 2022 - $7,500 from New Growth Horizon, LLC.
Lobbyists Registrations
Missi Poynter added SAS Institute Inc.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Jeff Shawan, Hank Thompson and Mike Pridmore.