MOScout Daily Update: Race for 2027 Budget Chair Still On - Only One Working Rules Committee - 711 Tweaks - 2nd Plocher Suit and more…

Bishop Not Yet Knighted?

Rep. Bishop Davidson’s recent appointment to the House Budget Committee’s vice chair slot caused no small amount of consternation within the House GOP and amongst the unsuccessful aspirants who – unlike Davidson – had already served on the committee for 2-6 years.

House Floor Leader (and presumed future Speaker) Alex Riley has been clear that the contest for 2027 Budget Chair is wide open, and that anyone who is interested has an opportunity to be chosen – if they demonstrate mastery of the budget and earn the confidence of the budget committee and Republican Caucus.

Cupps Rules Freeze

With the House Legislative Rules Committee seemingly frozen because of Rep. Scott Cupps’ feud with Speaker Jon Patterson, the other Rules Committee – Administrative, chaired by Rep. Brenda Shields – is getting all the action.

·       All nine bills referred yesterday to Rules went to the Administrative Rules Committee.

House Prepped to Pass First Bills

Rep. Melissa Schmidt’s HB 737 is on deck to be passed by the House today.  The bill secures benefits for foster children.  This is the bill that Speaker Jon Patterson telegraphed early as an important priority.

Hardwick Reps Davidson

Rep. Bill Hardwick, acting as attorney for Rep. Bishop Davidson, filed a lawsuit concerning a car accident in 2020.  The suit was filed on February 9, one day before the five-year statute of limitations would have prevented any action.

From the suit… Plaintiff was driving northbound on N Highway turning left onto Farm Road 156. Plaintiff came to an intersection and came to a complete stop. While Plaintiff was stopped at the intersection, the truck driven by Noah Miller and owned by Amy and Burt Robinson crashed into Plaintiff’s vehicle. Plaintiff was stationary at the time of the crash and Defendant Noal Miller was driving approximately 50-60 miles per hour when he collided with Plaintiff. Plaintiff’s car was totally destroyed. Plaintiff sustained serious injuries which remain unresolved at the time of the filing of this suit… Plaintiff prays that this Court enter judgment in his favor against Defendants, special, punitive, and compensatory damages in excess of $25,000…

·       HB 68 which the House will soon debate on the floor would narrow the statute of limitations to 2 years from its current 5-year window.

Open Enrollment Tweaks

Rep. Brad Pollitt’s open enrollment bill went to Legislative Review this week.  He explained to the committee how the bill has changed…

·       Basically, you know I've had public schools tell me you're discriminating against special ed kids.  Well we’re not doing not doing that… this bill spells out that we are not. They have an opportunity to open and enroll. It’s whether the school they want to go to can have the programs that their parents would like for them to have…

·       This bill does add something that's been asked for years that I drug my feet on… If a student open enrolls and their attendance falls below 80%, then the receiving district can bring the student in at the quarter and say your attendance is not acceptable.  By the end of the first semester, if you're not back up to 90%... it says the district may send that student back to the resident district.

·       Adds a little bit of restriction on transportation… There's a lot of concern about some of our large districts of traveling 60 or 70 miles to pick up a kid... And so this bill says that transportation is limited to 30 miles or 5 miles inside a contiguous district, whichever is longer…

Latest Suit From Plocher Era

Last week Danyale Bryant filed suit against the House alleging that she was “subjected to retaliation based upon her reporting of possible campaign violations and/or ethics violations.”

This is a second lawsuit stemming from the Dean Plocher days though much of her complaint seems focused on the behavior of Rep. Dale Wright.  Read the suit here.

·       There is speculation that there may be others from those tumultuous days who eventually file suit as well.

Crop Prices Decline

From St. Louis Federal Reserve: While currently healthy, the U.S. agriculture sector is showing some signs of weakening as lower selling prices and higher costs continue to negatively impact the profits of farmers growing row crops like corn and soybeans. In 2022, the agriculture sector was in a strong place, with high profits thanks to surging global agricultural commodity prices. Since then, farmers’ profits have been declining because of falling prices for the four most-produced U.S. crops and increasing costs for shipping and production.

$5K+ Contributions

YES for KC Kids - $25,000 from Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.

Missouri Voter Project - State PAC - $9,000 from Move Action.

Lobbyist Registrations

Claudia Alley added Othram.

Derek Coats added City of West Plains.

Ryan Gill added J & J Ventures.

Michael Johansen and Melody Schopp added SAS Institute Inc.  

Olivia Wilson added American Fidelity Corporation.

Brittany Hyatt Robbins deleted Ernst & Young LLP.

Birthdays

Happy birthday to Sen. Steven Roberts, and Jay Nixon.

MOScout Schedule

After tomorrow morning update, I’ll be taking the weekend off.