MOScout Daily Update: Snow Day - JP’s New HJR - Court Goes Beyond Moon - Mainstream Microdosing and more…
Both the House and the Senate are taking today off on account of the weather. They’ll reconvene tomorrow.
MoDOT’s numbers as of last night…
· 1437 Calls for Service
· 289 Stranded Motorists
· 207 Non-Injury Crashes
· 30 Injury Crashes
See the MoDOT travel map here.
New Income Tax Phaseout Language
Speaker Jon Patterson filed a new resolution to begin Governor Mike Kehoe’s proposed elimination of the state income tax. HJR 175 was filed last week after errors were noted in the previous version.
This ballot language is a bit more cumbersome than the last version.
"Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to prevent the imposition of state individual income tax beginning in 2031, provided that revenue growth triggers are satisfied, to reduce constitutionally imposed sales and use tax rates, to reduce local sales and use tax rates, to reduce real property tax levies or earnings tax rates, and to authorize the expansion of the sales and use tax base for the purpose of reducing and eliminating the state individual income tax?".
Importance of Childcare
The latest research from The Brookings Institution says about what you’d expect with regard to childcare. Low-income families without access to child care subsidies report disruptions in work and school and increases in unemployment and economic hardship. See it here.
Rep. Brenda Shields’ HB 2409 has been endorsed by Governor Mike Kehoe and the Missouri Chamber of Commerce.
Ending Safety Inspections
Last week the House Government Efficiency Committee voted Do Pass for several bills weakening – or eliminating – the mandatory safety inspection for cars. It was opposed by some shops who conduct the inspections. But also displayed an unusual coalition of those advocating for small government and the Missouri NAACP which sees the bills as improving the safety for Black drivers: This legislation would mean fewer reasons for police officers to pull over drivers and fewer opportunities for negative interactions between police and Black drivers. Black drivers are three times more likely to get ticketed, be searched, or be arrested than the white drivers in their same area.
Waymo is Way Mo Safe Than Humans
With a bill advancing the prospect of autonomous vehicles, it’s worth reviewing this study from about a year ago in which “Swiss Re, one of the world’s leading reinsurers, analyzed liability claims related to collisions from 25.3 million fully autonomous miles driven by Waymo. The study uses auto liability claims aggregate statistics as a proxy for at-fault collisions…”
Autonomous cars “significantly outperform both the overall driving population and the latest generation of human-driven vehicles equipped with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).”
Microdosing Mushrooms
A recent RAND survey looks at the prevalence of microdosing psychedelics like psilocybin. Read it here.
Although the supply and possession of many psychedelic substances are federally prohibited in the United States—with some exceptions—increasing numbers of U.S. states and localities have changed or are considering changing their policies on some psychedelic substances…
We defined microdosing in the survey questions as “taking a small fraction of a regular dose (a subperceptual dose) that is much lower than you would take to ‘trip’ or hallucinate on these substances.” Among U.S. adults who reported using each substance in the past year, we estimated that 69 percent microdosed psilocybin…
· Reps. Matthew Overcast (HB 1643) and Richard West (HB 1717) would create a legal framework for people to use psilocybin therapeutically.
eMailbag on SB22
Be careful making [Sen. Mike] Moon the anointer of all that is germane. He voted for SB22. Even the courts went beyond Moon’s logic on this one.
World Cup Estimate
Kansas City Business Journal questions the estimates for World Cup visitors. “Local sporting and business organizers project that the region will see a stunning 650,000 unique visitors — more than the population of Kansas City, Missouri — during the World Cup's five-week run in June and July.” Read the article here.
· [The] estimate is greater than those for some larger host cities. Philadelphia estimates it will have 500,000 visitors, Boston and Houston project 450,000 each, and Atlanta and Toronto estimate 300,000 each.
· How did Kansas City's World Cup organizers arrive at the 650,000-visitor projection, and how accurate is it likely to be?.. Visit KC declined to share its specific methodology for estimating visitors, saying it is proprietary information.
MTC ED Search
The Missouri Technology Corporation says that the application window for MTC’s next Executive Director will officially close on February 1.
We’re grateful for the strong interest in this role and the quality of candidates who have stepped forward to help lead MTC into its next chapter. The search is continuing to progress with a focus on identifying leadership that will advance MTC’s mission and support Missouri’s innovation ecosystem.
New Committees
KC Equity & Opportunity PAC (KCEO-PAC) was formed. It’s a political action committee to support Rep. Michael Johnson.
$5K+ Contributions
MFR PAC - $25,000 from GRC Moberly LLC.
Lobbyist Registrations
Katy Forand added Sentio Biosciences.
Alix Cossette added Torch Electronics LLC.
Elizabeth Lauber added Missouri Eagle Forum.
Richard McIntosh and John CE Gaskin added Connections to Success.
Paul Miller added Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc.
Emily Ada Porcari added ASHRAE.
David Sweeney added Flash.
Caroline Hoover and Alex Tuttle added Ronald McDonald House Kansas City.
Caroline Hoover added Kansas Capital Group; and deleted Missouri Beverage Association, Greater Kansas City Restaurant Association, and Francis EV Charging.
Jewell Patek added Graduation Alliance Inc; and deleted Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois, Missouri Employers Mutual Insurance Company, and Northland Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Happy Birthday
Happy birthday to Rep. Gregg Bush, and Ken Franklin.