MOScout Daily Update: HJR 173/174 ‘Re-vote?’ - Fitz Podcast on Marijuana Program - Spencer SOTC - IE PAC Update and more…
MIA: HJR173/174
It’s the strangest thing. After the Senate passed HJR 173/174 (the Kehoe tax plan), it vanished. Normally it would show up on the House calendar the next day. It’s not there. Or, in the very rare circumstance (I remember this happening at least once when Charlie Shields was Senate President Pro Tem and Rod Jetton was Speaker) that the House refuses to accept the bill back, it should show up on the Senate calendar. It’s not there either.
Where is HJR 173/174?
Word is that the Senate is concerned about a Sunshine law challenge because when the late-night vote happened on Wednesday, the guard shack wasn’t open to let visitors into the capitol at midnight.
So… I’m told HJR 173/174 will magically reappear on the Senate calendar at some point this week, and they will “re-vote?” during a daytime hour.
On a Related Note
Sen. Jill Carter missed the original HJR 173/174 vote because she was attending to personal matters. She received a call that her son was involved in an accident and that an ambulance had been called. As a result, she rushed to be with her son who needed additional medical treatments. She was unable to return to cast her vote that night.
Latest Fitz Podcast: Marijuana Program
April 20 has become a “day of celebration” among pot-enthusiasts. So, it makes sense that the State Auditor’s office has dropped the latest episode of their “Greatest Podcast” series, discussing their February release of an audit of Missouri's Marijuana Program.
· “The department’s decisions set up a high-stakes, high-profile application and licensure process that was so flawed that it seriously jeopardized the integrity of the process.”
· “The blind scoring process lacked a little bit of blindness.”
· “There’s another company that all their applications were just the name of the LLC tied to that application, which by the way you cannot use the name of your LLC without redacting it, but these were allowed to go through and a lot of those folks got licenses.”
· “I don’t recall a time where the higher-ranking officials [of an auditee] went to such effort to try to either slow down what we’re doing, or change what we’re doing, or talk us out of auditing procedures in general. It was extremely bizarre.”
CD-1: Bell 10x COH Bush
Former Congresswoman Cori Bush’s team put a brave face on the latest fundraising numbers, saying she’d “raised more than $300,000 in the first quarter of 2026, and more than $800,000 in her first two quarters of fundraising combined, with an average contribution of $22.44 from small-dollar digital fundraising in the first quarter of 2026. Congresswoman Bush continues to benefit from grassroots momentum as her supporters seek to send a proven advocate for everyday people back to Congress.”
But the numbers are lopsided.
Congressman Wesley Bell raised more than double what Bush did, and Bush spent more than she raised. Bell has a 10x cash on hand advantage.
· Bell: $1,237,271 COH
· Bush: $121,417 COH
CD-5: Burks 10x COH Brattin
In the Republican primary for the new CD-5, Taylor Burks has a hug cash on-hand lead due to his self-funding.
· Burks: $1,042,281 COH
· Hueffmeier: $135,638
· Brattin: $111,505
· Patty: $2,627
Some folks are rolling their eyes at the Burks check thinking it’s just window dressing, but one Burks supporter says “you’ll be seeing him start it spending with a media buy in the very near future.”
IE PAC Update
I went through and updated the listing of Independent Expenditure political action committees, taking out ones that have been terminated and adding in new ones.
Find the database here. It also lists each PAC’s current cash on-hand.
· For new subscribers: IE PACs are set up to support a politician. The PACs can accept donations of any size as they are not subject to the contribution limits that constrain candidate committees. Politicians can raise money for the PACs, but can’t direct how the funds are spent.
Spencer SOTC
St. Louis City Mayor Cara Spencer gave her State of the City speech on Friday.
Key takeaways…
Water division in “crisis mode.”
· “The city and our water division are in crisis mode… St. Louis had a state-of-the-art water system in 1870… It was a long time ago, and years of ignoring it have led to a problem that you all know too well. Our water mains keep breaking… Yes, we’ve used ARPA money for some fixes, but we absolutely must invest in the system, not just to patch it up.”
No knee-jerk reaction to data centers.
· “The next hard topic is data centers. We know that data centers are extremely controversial. They’re part of a modern city and the city is committed to being open for business… There are real concerns when it comes to data centers. Real founded concerns about pollution, noise, walkability, the use of water, electricity, increasing everyone’s power bills.”
· “It seems counterintuitive, but if we had a large water user, it could benefit our existing customers. High-volume, consistent users can expand the rate base, allowing the real cost of our system maintenance to be spread with deep pockets and helping our residential water payers… It’s also true that data centers can contribute tax revenue… a data center could contribute as much as $25 million to the city and even more to our St. Louis Public Schools.”
· “So, it’s not a simple yes or no. The city is doing the hard work to create thoughtful, community-centered regulations and balance real concerns with real economic benefits.”
The overarching theme of her tenure is “back to basics”
“I promised a government focused on the basics, core city services, public safety, and growth… If we see something broken, we are going to own it and we are going to fix it.”
· Snow – “This wasn’t a fluke… We activated the GPS on our snow plows for real-time monitoring and quality control. We secured contracts with private companies for additional support. And we doubled on-call pay for our drivers to account for shortages.”
· Potholes – “We have not met our goals… My office is working to ensure that our streets department… has the staff, the money, and the tools he needs to fill every pothole in this city. And there are a lot of potholes.”
· Trash / dumpsters / recycling – “By making our refuse drivers go down our alleys twice to pick up refuse and recycling, we were wasting taxpayer dollars and our drivers’ time and recycling very little… We are now recycling more waste than we were before, and we’re saving about a million dollars a year doing it.”
· Permits / modernization – “We’re dragging City Hall into the 21st century, not gradually, but with urgency to make our city government work for you with as little red tape as possible… “We recently launched our new online building permit portal.”
One obstacle to improvements: Kehoe’s Police Board
· “Their certified budget request of effectively $274 million isn’t feasible without laying off city employees and cutting city services like trash pickup, building inspections, road repairs, and park maintenance… The city has proposed a budget of $219 million, which is a healthy increase. It respects and preserves recent raises… while responsibly protecting all city services and the essential city workers who work in our many other city departments.”
Governor Kehoe needs to tell his Police Board that their job is not to try to grab as much much money as possible. It is to work with the mayor to build a stronger city.
Help Wanted
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education seeks Chief of Governmental Affairs. Serves as legislative liaison for the Department and represents the Department before the legislature, education-related organizations, and other governmental agencies; Manages and coordinates policy development and legislative review functions for the Department; Serves as the Department’s primary point of contact and legislative liaison to the governor’s office by providing weekly updates on legislation relating to education.See the posting here.
$5K+ Contributions
Her Health, Her Future PAC - $5,205 from Ed Joan Wahl.
Lobbyist Registrations
Derek Coats added City of West Plains.
Amy Blunt added Bemiston Acquisition.
Lane Koch added Students for Life Action.
Ryan Gill added Burns & McDonnell Engineering.
Happy Birthday
Happy birthday to Chris Roepe, and Chris Moody.