MOScout Daily Update: Senate Set to Take Up FRA - MO GOP Reckoning? - Baker Passes - K-Sinq Notches Another Win and more...
Senate Set to Debate FRA Bill
The Senate is set to convene at 9AM to take up SB 1, the FRA renewal.
SB 1 passed out of the Appropriations Committee yesterday by a vote of 8-5. The Republicans were in favor and the Dems were against. Dems voted NO because they disliked the restrictions on reproductive services. Sen. Bill Eigel joined the four Dems to protest the 5-year renewal. Conservatives prefer a yearly renewal to keep a tighter leash on the purse strings.
It was interesting that the committee also passed out SB 3 – a clean FRA bill – with a stronger 11-2 vote. SB 3 was not reported out, however, so SB 1 will be the vehicle on the floor today. Still, it indicates that there’s an appetite, even among Republicans, for a clean FRA.
For example, Sen. Mike Cierpiot, during the hearing, argued that he was disinclined to gamble with the FRA renewal. And the Missouri Independent quoted Sen. Jeanie Riddle, “Women in the state of Missouri need, want and deserve contraceptives and I really don’t want contraceptives to be part of this. I want to pass the FRA clean.”
Minority Leader John Rizzo mused on Twitter that the Appropriations vote hinted there might be a majority in the Senate ready for a clean FRA.
10 Dem floor votes + 7 Yes GOP committee votes = 17 early yes votes for #CleanFRA
1 away from passage w/ 11 votes up for grabs. Let’s do this
One capitol denizen’s piece of wisdom is that the Senate usually takes the path of least resistance. If that’s true (because it doesn’t always feel that way), then my guess will be SB 1 passed by the Senate with largely the current language that both Planned Parenthood and Missouri Right to Life dislike, with a compromised 3-year renewal.
We’ll see…
MO GOP Reckoning At Hand?
Baptist Pathway Editor Don Hinkle reflects on the divide between the social conservative wing and the business wing of the Republican Party. This dichotomy has existed for decades and becomes inflamed from time to time in Missouri (stem cell research, SJR 39).
From Facebook: The problem is big business ( the large cities Chambers of Commerce) have abandoned pro-business/Reagan Republicanism to become "woke" and greedy. Companies like Monsanto and the St. Louis and KC Chambers of Commerce push homosexuality and transgenderism on our state. Unfortunately this is where many GOP candidates get their campaign money and then face pressure to "tow the line" once elected.
The case with the current FRA debate is a prime example. It is the hospitals, drug companies and chambers that are applying pressure to keep the pro-life language out of the FRA renewal bill.
Republicans, who campaigned as being pro-life, are now faced with a choice: give in to the money -- or properly represent your constituents who elected you based on what you said in your campaign. For the State Republican Party, a "Day of Reckoning" may be at hand.
K-Sinq Notches Another Win
The Sinquefield family’s efforts to advance criminal justice notched another win.
From the press release:
· U.S. District Judge Stephen Bough of the Western District of Missouri granted
· the compassionate release motion of marijuana offender Eric Scott McCauley of Columbia, Missouri. McCauley was sentenced in 2012 to 23 years for marijuana and money-laundering felonies.
· McCauley’s release was supported by Mission Green, a marijuana-offender release, expungement, and clemency campaign spearheaded by 501(c)(3) The Weldon Project.
· Katie Sinquefield, a Missouri criminal-justice-reform advocate and board member of The Weldon Project, said, “We are grateful to Judge Bough for issuing this ruling. I’m delighted for Eric, and I’m honored to have helped bring his family back together. It is my hope that this case serves as a guidepost for other non-violent drug offenders serving unduly harsh sentences. While we are thrilled with this outcome for this case, we have a long way to go to reform this state’s and country’s criminal justice system and reverse the harm done to generations of non-violent cannabis offenders…”
Baker Passes
Word is that former state representative Brian Baker passed away. He had battled COVID. Baker served in the legislature from 2003 to 2008, before becoming Cass County Commissioner. He then worked for Cerner in government relations.
Tech Driving Renewables
Wall Street Journal reports on tech companies driving the push to renewable energy. Read it here.
Tech companies are wielding their balance sheets to finance solar, wind and other renewable-energy projects on an unprecedented scale. In some countries, developers say tech companies’ willingness to spend upfront—signing commitments to buy energy at a certain price for long periods—has helped make corporations more important than government subsidies as the main drivers of renewable investment.
Amazon’s latest projects, across seven U.S. states as well as Canada, Finland and Spain, have pushed the firm’s signed commitments to a total of 10 gigawatts of renewable production, the company said. After the new deals, Amazon is the top all-time corporate purchaser of clean energy in the U.S., according to the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance, a group of companies that promotes renewable-power procurement.
Facebook said that it reached its goal of buying enough renewable energy to cover its global operations, including data centers, last year but that it is continuing to strike new power deals because its energy use is growing. Facebook’s electricity use rose 39% in 2020, according to its annual sustainability report.
eMailbag
· Standing on the backs of Missouri taxpayers to wage a crusade is not the way to become more conservative when pro life issues can be handled another way.
· Recently the head of the director of VisitKC told the Greater Kansas City Chamber that "absolutely" Missouri's relatively low vaccination rates are hurting our competitiveness for conventions, tourism and other economic development.
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Birthdays
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