HB 2033 Unconstitutional?

Polsinelli penned a letter outlining the “legal deficiencies in proposed Missouri legislation to strip condemnation authority from the Grain Belt Express Transmission Project.” 

The bottom-line: “[T]he effect of the Bills would be to deprive Grain Belt of vital rights protected under the Missouri Constitution.”

Bean Jumps Into Senate 25

And then there were four….

I’ve previously reported on the rumors, but Jason Bean made it official, filing paperwork to run for Senate 25.  He joins Reps. Steve Cookson, and Jeff Shawan, and Eddy Justice in the Republican primary to succeed Sen. Doug Libla.

American Viewpoints: Parson In Strong Position

American Viewpoints, in a poll commissioned by the pro-Mike Parson PAC Uniting Missouri, found that the incumbent governor is in a strong position against Democrat Nicole Galloway, and also against potential Republican primary challengers. 

·         The Governor’s job approval rating is strong as well, with 60% of voters approving of the job he is doing and 26% disapproving.

Romine Gets Tax Commission

The press release: Today, Governor Mike Parson appointed Senator Gary Romine to the State Tax Commission…

Pro-Jones PAC Formed

314 Forward was formed.  According to the paperwork filed, the PAC’s purpose is to support St. Louis City Treasurer Tishaura Jones. 

Jones is widely expected to announce that she’s running for St. Louis City mayor.  That election is in the spring of 2021.  Jones narrowly lost to Mayor Lyda Krewson in 2017.

Q2: What is most important to you when determining your support for a Democratic candidate?

Their position on specific policies: 21%

Their experience and readiness for the job: 28%

Their ability to beat Donald Trump: 38%

Not sure: 12%

Razer: Numbness to Gun Deaths?

On Twitter, Rep. Greg Razer asks if we’ve become numb to gun deaths in Missouri.  See it here.  Imagine if there was a new virus loose in Missouri and this tweet said, “...the second death of the day...13th death  in the first 23 days of 2020.”  Do you think leadership in Jefferson City would be silent if that were the case? Of course not - so why silence now? #moleg

MSCC’s COH

The Missouri Senate Campaign Committee recorded another large contribution today.  This is the Republican Senate Caucus’ main vehicle to protect their majority. 

The steady stream of checks puts it in good shape.  MSCC finished the January quarter with about $560K on-hand.  Given these recent contributions, the committee is probably near $700K cash on-hand. 

IPs Spotlight

Initiative petitions are the topic of the day.  The Senate Local Government Committee will hear two proposals from Sen. David Sater. 

·         SB 522 throws out signatures if a court changes the ballot title, effectively killing the IP for that cycle. 

·         SJR 31- which would require voter approval – significantly increases the number of signatures necessary to put a constitutional change on the ballot.

Impeachment Trial Starts

The U.S. Senate’s impeachment trial begins today.  MOScout’s Hallway Index has consistently yawned at this having a meaningful impact on Missouri politics.  In fact, the last time I asked the question (in November) twice as many folks thought the whole thing would be of greater benefit to Missouri Republicans than to MO Dems.

·         Trump won MO by 19. Anything that fires up his base benefits R’s. Trump will call this a witch hunt for the next 12 months.

·         It seems to be just cementing folks to whatever camp they were in to start with.

·         Everyone is already in their corners. I don’t think it swings much either way.

With his resignation, Jason Holsman handed off sponsorship of two pieces of his legislative agenda to other senators.  Sen. Lauren Arthur is now the sponsor of SB 544 which would create a fund for homelessness services to which people can donate via text.  And Sen. Bill Eigel is the sponsor of SJR 36, a constitutional amendment to exempt from taxes personal property older than ten years.

SOTS

Governor Mike Parson delivered the State of the State speech and unveiled his budget.  Look inside his budget here.

Best analysis from the 3rd floor: It’s a safe budget, nothing too risky. For those who think he’s spending money with an election in mind, most of his new programs are relatively small and no one can say he went hog wild with capital improvement projects (because he didn’t).

Arthur Hits $100K Again

Word is that Sen. Lauren Arthur raised $100K again in her January quarter.  With still no Republican filed, Arthur keeps chugging along with impressive fundraising.

• This is one more step along the way of Senate 17 falling off the “competitive races list” for this fall.

• If that happens, Republicans would likely focus on flipping Senate 1 where they have recruited a potential self-funder – and of course on their defenses of incumbents in Senate 15 (Andrew Koenig) and Senate 19 (Caleb Rowden).

Pro-Trent PAC Spreads $$$

The pro-Curtis Trent PAC, 417 PAC, filed its latest funding raising quarter.  It showed $215,100 raised in the last three months.  The majority of that came from a $184,900 contribution from Rex Sinquefield.

Bloomberg’s Boots in MO

The press release: Mike Bloomberg 2020 announced the hiring of 28 staff members in Missouri, including eight senior staff and 20 regional organizers deployed across the state. Veteran Democratic operatives, Ryan Hawkins and Grant Campbell, partners in St. Louis-based Winding Creek Strategies, are leading the state’s campaign efforts…. 80 percent of current staff members are women and/or people of color.

Democrat Maite Salazar, who is challenging Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, apologized (on Twitter) after accusing Cleaver (on Twitter) of keeping a picture of Bill Cosby under his desk.  See it here.  The picture was actually of Al Jarreau. See it here.

New Committees

Tax Fairly was formed.  Its treasurer is Martin Bennet.  It was formed to oppose a Kirkwood School District bond issue on the April ballot.  See the paperwork here.

Follow-up on MO’s Slow Growth

A few folks asked for the link to the (depressing) GDP stats I wrote about yesterday.  Find it here.  “Between 2009 and 2018, Missouri’s compound annual GDP growth rate was 0.8 percent—almost a third of the US annual growth rate (2.3 percent) during the same period.”

Dems Hotspots

Missouri Democrats have put up an interactive map showing their legislative recruiting efforts.  See it here.

Giddens Group Lands KC

The Giddens Group registered over the weekend for the City of Kansas City, signaling they prevailed in that hotly contested contract bid. 

Nancy Giddens and Shannon Cooper are the twin towers of that firm. They also represent the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.