MOScout Daily Update: Arnolds Upping MO Involvement? - MRL Seeks Relevance? - Senate Tensions on Bill Referral - IPs and PTs Get Hearing and more...
First in MOScout: Arnolds Getting More Involved in Missouri?
In the lobbyists registrations (below) Amy Blunt added Arnold Ventures as a client. Arnold Ventures, according to their website, is “a philanthropy dedicated to tackling some of the most pressing problems in the United States… We work in four key issue areas: Criminal Justice, Education, Health, and Public Finance. Our work is guided by Evidence-Based Policy, Research, and Advocacy.”
· According to Wikipedia, John Arnold “became the youngest billionaire in the U.S [in 2007]. His firm, Centaurus Advisors, LLC, was a Houston-based hedge fund specializing in trading energy products that closed in 2012.” He has a net worth around $3 billion-ish.
· John and Laura Arnold wrote big checks (totaling $150K) in 2020 to a Missouri PAC, Clean and Accountable, which produced media opposing the re-election of Sens. Caleb Rowden and Andrew Koenig.
· One of their top issues is criminal justice reform, and Arnold Ventures website also has some article extoling the benefits of ranked choice voting (see one here, and another here). Ranked choice voting is one of the proposals contained in Better Elections initiative petition.
Bill Referrals Raise Senate Tensions
Considering we haven’t even started debating bills it’s remarkable that every day there’s bubbling tension between the Conservative Caucus and Senate leadership. Yesterday Sens. Mike Moon and Bob Onder complained about bill referrals.
The “regulars” counter that not getting your bill referred to the committee of your choice happens to everybody.
That’s true, but some of these referrals are unusual. For example, Onder’s SB 637 which “excludes from eligible MO HealthNet providers any abortion facility or any affiliate.” It was sent to the Committee on Seniors, Families, Veterans instead of Onder’s own committee, Committee on Health and Pensions.
It clearly fits in Health and Pensions which “shall consider and report upon bills and matters referred to it relating to health, MO HealthNet, alternative health care delivery system proposals, public health, disease control, hospital operations, mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse and addiction.”
The Committee on Seniors, Families, Veterans, meanwhile, is tasked with bills “concerning to retirement and pensions and pension plans, and Military Affairs… and concerning the preservation of the quality of life for senior citizens, nursing home and boarding home operations, alternative care programs for the elderly, and family and children’s issues.”
· One theory: leadership is using CC legislation to create point of leverage as the session begins.
MRL Seeks Relevance?
The House Special Committee on Redistricting is set to vote out the map this morning at their 8AM committee meeting.
The map is opposed by Missouri Right to Life. MRL is one of the big three endorsements that Republicans often look for a seal of approval of being conservatives. (NRA and Missouri Farm Bureau being the other two).
But MRL’s opposition here hasn’t resulted in any traction as far as I can tell.
One lobbyist, without a dog in the fight, mused to me, “Looks like MRL is fighting for relevance.”
There’s a sentiment around the building that MRL has largely won the war. Through years of steady vigilance, a new pro-life bill each year, abortions have been largely. The number of abortions in Missouri has dramatically decreased, from over 4,000 in 2017 to under 100 in 2020. The drop was so pronounced that last year Planned Parenthood pushed back against a report that Missouri was “abortion-free.”
And now with their abortion agenda largely accomplished, they’re opening new fronts – on redistricting and Senate rules – in order to stay relevant.
Issues to Watch: IPs and PTs
In House Committee hearings there are a couple of issues to watch…
· Initiative petition reform, a top House priority, will be heard today (Noon, HR6). The first bill out of the gate is Rep. Mike Henderson’s SJR 79. It would increase the threshold of signatures that need to be collected and also require a 2/3 majority for constitutional amendments to pass. This bill represents a starting point in the discussions. You’d expect these thresholds to come down as it works its way through the process particularly in the Senate. Leagues of Women Voters is against changing the process.
· And Republicans effort to deregulate various professions continues. Rep. David Gregory’s HB 1555 would allow folks to see a physical therapist without a doctor referral. This bill has been around for a few years now. It gets a hearing this morning in Profession Registration (8AM, HR 1).
Hartzler Polling?
Tipster says there’s a poll in the field that sounds like its from the Vicky Hartzler camp…
· In the Republican primary, is there a candidate you would not vote for?
· Would you be more less likely to vote for Eric Schmitt if you knew he sponsored legislation to create the China Hub which would have used hundreds of millions to subsidize Chinese flights into Missouri.
· Would you be more or less likely to vote for Eric Greitens if you knew he blackmailed His hair dresser and threatened her with release of a nude photo that he took of her.
Buchheit-Courtway Gets Chair
Speaker Rob Vescovo appointed Rep. Cyndi Buchheit-Courtway to chair the Subcommittee on Mental Health Policy Research.
Lobbyists Registrations
Amy Blunt added Arnold Ventures.
Michael Grote added CVS Health.
Andy Arnold deleted Stray Dog Policy Inc.
$5K+ Contributions
MO Republican Party - $25,000 from House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc.
Missourians for Effective Leadership PAC Burns & McDonnell International Inc.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Rep. Nate Tate, Scott Largent, and Jim Ross.