MOScout Daily Update: Quiet Day Ahead - Senate Chugs Along - Johnson Exonerated - Trans Compromise Floated and more...

Quiet Day Ahead

The focus of a lot people today will be in Kansas City not Jefferson City today, as the Super Bowl Parade rolls down Grand Boulevard.  The governor will be there, as will a bunch of legislators.

Both chambers will hold their sessions, but the House told their members that there won’t be any roll call votes, and the Senate has cancelled its hearings and is expected to gavel in and out without any real action.

1 Big Thing: Senate Chugs Along

Yesterday the Senate passed the Parents Bill of Rights bill, and then blew through most of its Perfection Calendar. 

Without a great deal of debate or opposition it gave approval to three fee increases/extensions. In last year’s session, one can imagine any of these triggering a long mini-filibuster from the Conservative Caucus.

There was a moment of simmering anger between Sens. Denny Hoskins and Mike Bernskoetter.  But the moment passed and the Senate stayed on track.

What It Means

Good news for a lot of lobbyists: they’re going to get stuff done this year. And bad news for Democrats as Republican in-fighting has been their greatest ally in past sessions.

Johnson Exonerated

Post-Dispatch reports on the exoneration of Lamar Johnson who “was wrongly imprisoned nearly 30 years ago.”

·       Opposing Johnson’s bid to overturn his conviction were prosecutors from the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, who claimed in their final arguments after the hearing in December that none of the new evidence was credible.

·       Johnson was represented by attorneys from the Midwest Innocence Project along with attorneys from the Circuit Attorney’s Office.

One building denizen… “Make sure you give equal parts credit to Sen. JJ Rizzo, who got the relevant language passed, and his wife Lindsay Runnels, who was Johnson’s lead atty.

Emerging Issues Hearing

There was some pushback against the whistle-blower allegations yesterday in the Emerging Issues Committee hearing on “SAFE” legislation to prohibit gender reassignment therapy on minors.  Folks questioned the timing of the release of affidavit and called the allegations unsubstantiated.   See a rebuttal to the whistle-blower here.

·       And Wash U and BJC toppers signaled a possible compromise path: “additional oversight.” I’m not sure that’ll be enough given the current outrage over the allegations. We’ll see…

And

Former Sen. Bob Onder was back in the building, testifying in favor of the “SAFE” legislation.  See it here.

Gas Tax A Killer?

One MOScouter doubts that voting for the gas tax is the electoral killer that folks assume it is… 379,915 voted for Scott Fitzpatrick last November- nobody is more conservative that the new auditor, but only 3,175 (as of a news article July 15) had filed for a refund. So there's more than a few Republicans who understand there are times when taxes are needed and infrastructure is the responsibility of government.

STL County Streamlines Permitting

St. Louis Business Journal reports that “all construction plans for commercial or residential plans in St. Louis County can now be submitted online, a milestone officials have worked toward for years.  Plans can be submitted through the new Citizen Permitting Portal on the St. Louis County website. The county started accepting online submissions Monday.”

·       One reader: Charlie Hinderliter over at STL Realtors is the key player here, and AGC deserves credit.

Eigel On Committee Assignments

Sen. Bill Eigel says thank you to Pro Tem Caleb Rowden for taking him off Commerce Committee.  See it here.

“Last week, I was honored to be appointed by the President Pro Tem of the Senate to the Select Committee on the Protection of Missouri Assets from Foreign Adversaries… To better accommodate my schedule and the important work of this new committee, I requested, and the Pro Tem granted, that I be taken off the Senate Standing Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, Energy and the Environment.”

New PACs

Common Sense Kansas City – Rob Durbin, treasurer.

NOCO United Professional FF PAC – Andrew Freihoff, treasurer.

Strengthening Education Together – April Smith, treasurer.

Buck Up PAC – Amber Watson, treasurer.

River PAC – Melissa Largent, treasurer.

Lobbyists Registrations

Gamble & Schlemeier added Haleon c/o Multistate Associates LLC.

Steven Carroll added Missouri Rural Crisis Center.

Eapen Thampy added Courtney Curtis.

Lynne Schlosser added Citigroup Washington Inc.

$5K+ Contributions

American Dream PAC (pro-Kehoe) - $25,000 from CFM Insurance Inc.

American Dream PAC - $25,000 from CFM Insurance Inc.

Uniting Missouri PAC (pro-Parson) - $35,000 from Martin Grain Company, Inc.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Reps. Hannah Kelly, and Jeff Coleman, Kendall Kani Martínez-Wright, and Timothy Flook.