MOScout Daily Update: Map Stalemate Continues - House Preps 2nd Map? - House Preps Budget and more...

Be aware… April Fools’ Day.  No jokes here, just real life…

Map Mess, Episode 48…

The House once again rejected the Senate’s version of the congressional map and asked (again) for a conference committee.

Sen. Bob Onder immediately dismissed that idea of going to conference on social media.  And some House Republicans punched back…

Meanwhile… Speaker Rob Vescovo referred HB 2909 to the Special Committee on Redistricting prepping a second redistricting vehicle while the current map is caught in limbo. 

What It Means

·         The rifts among the Republican supermajority are not healing, rather they’re growing.  Great news for Democrats with six weeks left of session.

·         The continued spat over the map will distract from other potential legislative aims. And there’s a growing chance that the maps actually get drawn by the courts – presumably not partisan or hostile to Dems.

·         There’s a natural shift of power from the speaker to the speaker-elect as the former becomes a lame duck.  This episode seems to have signaled that inflection point.  The Senate map has the speaker’s home county unsplit.  And yet there just weren’t the votes to accept the map.

House Marks Up Budget

The House Budget Committee held a marathon meeting yesterday to prep the budget for floor debate next week.  See Rudi Keller’s article here.

When the committee concluded, after more than nine hours of continuous work, the 15 bills were approved. House floor debate will take place next week.

Major changes from Parson’s proposal, announced Monday by [Budget Chair Cody] Smith and incorporated into the bills members worked from on Thursday, included a cut of $200 million to community development and revitalization programs, leaving $50 million; $300 million from the State Emergency Management Agency, leaving $100 million; and $150 million from broadband infrastructure construction, leaving $100 million.

The committee did not touch Parson’s construction proposals, which include $468.9 million in capital improvements on college and university campuses, $104.7 million for a new public safety crime lab and $33.6 million for a new arena at the State Fairgrounds….

By paring back many of Parson’s proposals, Smith made about $1 billion available for members to offer their ideas

Cash Back?

Axios reports on how some states are using their budget surpluses…

Some Democratic governors up for re-election are proposing to use their budget surplus to give cash directly to residents through stimulus checks and rebates….

·         In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing to deliver $400-per-vehicle direct payments to drivers. It's capped at two vehicles per household.

·         In Hawaii, Gov. David Ige is proposing to use his state's surplus to issue $100 refund checks.

·         In Maine, Gov. Janet T. Mills recently proposed an increase in the amount of "direct relief" to residents. The $850 relief checks will be delivered "in the face of record-high inflation and rising oil and gas prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine," said a gubernatorial press release.

·         In Kansas, taxpayers would receive a one-time $250 tax rebate, if Gov. Laura Kelly's proposal is passed.

Senate Maps and Media Markets

On Twitter, The Missouri Mapper looks at Republican state Senate primaries and which media markets dominate them.  Check it out here.

Insights…

·         SD-10 has seen its center of gravity shift from Little Dixie to the northern suburbs and exurbs of St. Louis. The STL media market now predominates in this district with an open race in 2022.

·         The new SD-16 configuration is less than ideal for incumbent Sen. Brown. His home county of Phelps is now the only county in the STL media market in SD-16, while new territory in Wright and Laclede (both in the Springfield DMA) makes up almost half of the primary vote.

·         With SD-20 dropping high-turnout Christian County and adding three new counties (including one in the Joplin media market), Greene County will have an even stronger hold over this district than it did under the old map.

·         SD-26 is perhaps the only district to become more rural in character, losing most of its portion of STL County and gaining Osage, Gasconade, and Warren. Nevertheless, Franklin County will dominate the primary in this district which has an open race in 2022.

·         The new SD-29 configuration may leave Sen. Moon exposed to a primary challenge [in 2024]. Christian County, which is an entirely new addition to the district, would have cast almost half the votes in the GOP primary and has a growing population.

·         Under the new State Senate lines, Buchanan County is split, with some of the county now going into SD-12 while most remains in SD-34. This change further solidifies Platte County's leading position within the GOP primary in SD-34.

$5K+ Contributions

Friends Of Robert Cornejo (Associate Circuit Judge St. Charles County) - $100,000 from Robert Cornejo

Citizens for Chris Lonsdale (Republican primary in House 38, Liberty) - $10,000 from Chris Lonsdale.

HealthPAC - $220,000 from MHA Management Services Corporation.

Better Elections - $50,000 from John F. McDonnell Rev. Trust.

Legal Missouri 2022 - $25,000 from GF Saint Mary LLC.

Lobbyists Registrations

T.J. Berry added Union Electric Co. DBA Amerenue, Ameren Services, Ameren Corp.

Steven Carroll added Missouri Alliance For Animal Legislation.  

Richard McIntosh, David McCracken, and John Gaskin added The Butler Group LLC, and New + Found.

Leah Popoff added Google LLC and Its Affiliates.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Mike Wolff.