MOScout Weekender: Budget Passed, But Not HB19 - Blue Adds $100K - Hallway on PQs - Who Won the Week and more…
Budget Sent to Governor
The legislature met their constitutional deadline and passed the budget. One bit of drama emerged as the House declined to pass House Bill 19 with capital projects. It appeared to be a snub to the Senate which expected it would be passed with the rest of the budget.
· This presumably will add to tensions between the two chambers as we enter the final crucial week of the legislative session.
House Budget Chair Dirk Deaton defended his actions saying that he was focused on keeping a cash reserve of $1.3 billion.
I said you know $1.3 billion is what you know probably where we needed to get to and what I was comfortable with and I think what the House would be comfortable with. And with the way the process went, you know ultimately when we got to the conference committee reports on the operating being produced and signed, I only became aware of what the bottom line number was at 3:30 this morning… so unfortunately there wasn’t time for a lot of discussions… I thought it was a fair compromise because… if we passed the house version of the budget in totality we'd be at $1.9 billion fund balance… for next year to help us continue to have a fiscally sustainable outlook. We were at $1.9 (billion) the governor was at $1.3 (billion), and I think the Senate if we taking up (HB)19 all the other Senate bills as the Senate version of the budget it was $550 million, $600 million, something like that. So in my mind it was a fair compromise and it was the governor’s number…
Blue Antes $100K
Dusty Blue, running in Senate 18 as a Republican, formed a candidate committee, and immediately wrote a check for $100,000.
What It Means
This makes a statement that Blue is serious and that we have a real primary happening to replace Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin.
Remington/MOScout Poll
No poll this week.
MOScout’s Hallway Index: To PQ or Not To PQ
I asked lobbyists, “How many Senate PQs will there be in the final week?” 24 replies…
RESULTS
1. None… 25%
2. One… 37.5%
3. Two… 29.2%
4. More than two… 8.3%
Sample of Comments
· [None] Just playing the odds
· I think there will just be one and it will be a mistake because there will mostly likely be a special session
· One of substance. Probably a bunch of procedural ones as well.
· Only get one chance
· [More than two] Well, that’s tough to answer…it could get to a point where procedural motions have to be PQ’d…not just votes on bills. Approval of the journal, bringing a bill before the body etc,
· [None] This is not that difficult. There are discernible paths to compromise on the two big issues as long as cooler heads prevail and the right people are at the table. I've seen many years when they figured it out despite the issues being messier and the sides further apart.
Who Won the Week?
The inclusion of $50 million dollars in the budget for the MOScholars program was a milestone for school choice advocates: general revenue into a voucher program.
Mike Kehoe – The third of his top three priorities (crime, tax cut and school choice) gets done, and the final week of session hasn’t even started yet.
Kate Casas – The culmination of years of work. Sometimes leaps, sometimes inches, sometimes defeats, but always eyes on the prize.
American Federation for Children – Jean Evans and Rob Vescovo hustled the halls.
Dirk Deaton – There are plenty of folks who point to line item after line item to say the House got thumped in the budget this year, but Deaton got what he most wanted in the budget (the $50M).
Find a downloadable version here.
DeFeo Passes
From the obituary: Louis C. DeFeo, Jr., 90, died peacefully at home on May 6, 2025.
· In 1963, Thomas Eagleton appointed him Missouri Assistant Attorney General, and he advanced to First Assistant Attorney under John C. Danforth. While at the Attorney General’s Office, he was appointed to the Human Rights Commission. Wheeler v. Barrera, a case giving equal access to services for disabled children attending private schools, and Danforth v. Planned Parenthood were among the briefs he authored.
· In July 1969, he was appointed General Counsel for the Missouri Catholic Conference (MCC), where he served for thirty-one years until his retirement in 2000.
· Upon retiring from the MCC in 2000, Lou's unwavering dedication to the significant need poor people have for legal representation led to the birth of Legalcare. The mission was clear: "All, rich or poor, may experience the system of Justice as a place of fair play and peacemaking."
$5K+ Contributions
Missouri Senate Campaign Committee - $25,000 from GOPAC Election Fund.
Friends of Dusty Blue - $100,000 from Dusty Blue.
MoCannTrade PAC - $7,000 from GF Saint Mary, LLC.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Ron Hicks and Michelle Sherod.
Sunday: Leslie Korte, Greg Razer, Jerryl Christmas, and Abram Messer.