Colona Gets Appt

Former Rep. Mike Colona writes on Facebook… My most sincerest thanks to Mayor Lyda Krewson for appointing me a Provisional Judge for the Municipal Court of the City of St. Louis. No to worry friends and clients! It is a part time job that allows me to still practice law full time. I am truly blessed to be living my dreams... Thanks to all of you at the Municipal Court who called or texted in my support and kept me in the hunt (you know who you are) and a special thanks to the Mayor's Chief of Staff Steve Conway for ... still... always taking my call.

C of O Warns of Title IX “Slippery Slope”

Jerry Davis, president of College of the Ozarks, comes out swinging against Title IX bill in a letter. 

“[T]his bill would begin the process of placing the religious liberty of faith-based colleges, such as C o O, on a dangerous, slippery slope. SB259 and HCS 573 would require colleges to hand over these cases to state bureaucrats, as opposed to our measured Biblical approach currently afforded in these situations… I shudder to think what the Obama administration could have done with this legislation as its tool…”

Budget Moves Forward

The House perfected the budget bills, on schedule to third read them on Thursday and send them to the Senate.

One observer sums up: “If you liked the governor's budget or the FY19 budget, you'll like this one. K-12 is safe. Higher education is safe. Medicaid provider rates are safe. The reorganization of DED is safe. Workforce development programs are safe. State employees get a 3% increase at mid-year. Plus, $100 million down payment on a multi-year bridge repair program.”

Justice Ante Ups

In the large contributions Eddy Justice sent $60,000 to his campaign committee to run for Senate 25 (Libla termed).  This follows Rep. Jeff Shawan putting $100K into his campaign committee.  And it shows that Justice is not backing down.  Do we end up with a monster primary here? Or does someone blink?  Filing opens in about ten months….

It’s budget week on the House floor.

But now folks start counting the weeks until the end of session… 8.  There’s a lot in the pipeline that some people want to pass – and other people want to stop…

·         Parson’s agenda: Fast Track grant, Missouri works expansion, bridge repair bonding program.

·         Education reform: charter school expansion, education saving accounts.

·         Abortion: heartbeat bill.

·         Tort reform: joinder venue. bridge repair bonding.

·         Gaming: video lottery machines, sports gaming changes, sports wagering.

·         Plus… Title IX fight, prescription drug monitoring program, LIHTC re-start, and maybe the anti-CLEAN?

Budget Buster

Columbia Tribune reports:  The Missouri Department of Corrections wants the Western District Court of Appeals to block enforcement of a judgment that corrections officers are owed $118.5 million in back pay. 

What It Means

One budget watcher trembles… “This is a big deal.  Not for this year’s budget, but next… They might get back to zero growth this year. Might…”

As of close of business Monday, fiscal year to date net state revenues were down 4.96%.

Title IX Fight

The coalition attempting revise the sexual assault investigation process on college campuses has been on a well-reported hiring spree.  They’re now up to 29 lobbyists. (See them here.)  And that list doesn’t include the whole team. For example, Gregg Keller, who’s doing communications, isn’t listed because he’s not lobbying.

But… the other side hasn’t been sitting on their hands…

Independent Colleges & Universities of Missouri has been around for many years, and is represented by Gamble & Schlemeier.In the last week they’ve added four new lobbyists.

Budget Fears: Next Recession

Worried about the budget with state revenues still lethargic amid 3% unemployment?  Imagine what revenues will be like if we get a recession…. Yikers!  Everything feels hunky-dory to me, but Axios Markets has been ringing the warning bells.

·         From March 13: Economic models show the "largest one-month jump in recession risk in 30 years" for the U.S., and a 73% probability of a contraction in 2019, economists at UBS say. That's based on recent data, most notably the U.S. fourth quarter GDP report.

McDaniel Militia

Buzzing around St. Louis social media… fear of Rep. Andrew McDaniel and his bills requiring gun ownership.

HB 1052 - Establishes the McDaniel Second Amendment Act, which requires every person 21 years of age or older who can legally possess a firearm to own a handgun and authorizes a tax credit for a purchase of a handgun.

HB 1108 - Establishes the McDaniel Militia Act, which requires every person between 18 and 35 years of age who can legally possess a firearm to own an AR-15 and authorizes a tax credit for a purchase of an AR-15.

Petition to Reinstate Aull

One MOScouter pointed me to this… Controversy in Lexington, where former State Rep. Joe Aull was abruptly fired as City Administrator. Aull’s son-in-law started a Change.org petition, which says, in part: “He has been the high school principal. He has been the Lexington school superintendent. He has been a Missouri State Representative for Lexington's district. He has been the Vice President of Academics / high school principal of Wentworth. And he has been the City Administrator of Lexington. Yet he was fired and told to clear out with ZERO explanation?”

See the petition here.

Tough Day for School Choice

The House once again failed to bring up the charter expansion bill.  Talk was that proponents’ vote count was stuck around 80 votes.  Being just shy of votes, they postponed rather than risk defeat.

·         The two vacancies of House 99 (Jean Evans) and House 158 (Scott Fitzpatrick) are proving critical, keeping the bar of 82 votes just out of reach right now.

·         Rural Republicans remain the key barrier.  Supporters of the bill are frustrated that they are “beholden” to their local superintendents.

·         This is one of Speaker Elijah Haahr’s top priorities.  So this isn’t the end of it.

Soybeaners Don’t Love Trump Budget

MO Soybean Association is speaking out against the proposed budget from President Donald Trump.  See it here.

From crop insurance to conservation programs and transportation, President Trump’s proposed budget would significantly slash programs vital to the soybean industry.Cuts to crop insurance and farm subsidies would be deep, totaling $28 billion over 10 years. This would directly impact soy growers in several ways: The majority of those savings would come from reducing the portion of farmers’ crop insurance premiums covered by taxpayers from 62 percent down to 48 percent.

Ave Starts PR Firm

Christopher Ave, Post-Dispatch’s political editor for the last decade, announced on Twitter… “I'm thrilled to announce my new communications consulting business. More than three decades as a journalist have prepared me to help you tell the world your story. I'm focusing on content creation, strategic + crisis communications, media relations and social media management.”

Wiemann Drops Speaker Bid

Speaker Pro Tem John Wiemann has dropped his nascent bid to become the next speaker of the House.  Instead he will run for re-election for his current leadership position.  Floor Leader Rob Vescovo is now unopposed to succeed Speaker Elijah Haahr.  Vescovo is endorsing Wiemann for the speaker pro tem spot.

DOC Judgement Could Crash Budget

Columbia Tribune reports on a zonkers of a story… See it here.

“A Cole County circuit judge Thursday ordered a $118 million garnishment against the Missouri Department of Corrections after the state failed to satisfy a judgment in a class-action brought by corrections officers for unpaid overtime. The state, in response, directed Central Bank not to honor the garnishment because there is no appropriation for legal costs big enough to pay it, State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick said Friday.  Finding the cash will further strain a state budget already facing uncertainty over declining income tax receipts…

Thomas to Star

Crystal Thomas tweets that she’ll be “heading back to Missouri to cover #moleg for The Kansas City Star later this month.”  See it here.

Education Day Canceled

After all the build-up, the House didn’t take up the charter school expansion bill yesterday.  Champions of the bill think they have 82 votes for passage within reach, but there’s no margin of error.  One supportive representative was missing because of a family funeral, another left after taking a fall.  The issue will be back for sure, but they need all their votes present.

Auditor’s Note on STL City-County Merger

The Auditor’s Office released their fiscal note for the initiative petition to merge St. Louis’ City and County.  “Individual St. Louis County municipalities expect decreased revenues to exceed savings with a total unknown impact. The overall savings for the new metropolitan city is unknown but estimated to be as much as $1 billion annually by 2032. State revenue is estimated to increase between $2.5 million to $7 million annually by 2032.”

President Donald Trump will own the spotlight for the next eighteen months, and will likely be the defining issue in 2020.

Republicans will have to decide if they’re conservatives, if they’re constitutionalists, or if they’re Trumpists and will stick with the president regardless of what the next year and a half brings.

Rep. Shamed Dogan, has decided.  He tweets “A vote to support President Trump's emergency declaration is a vote for the next Democratic President's emergency declaration on the Green New Deal. Hope Senators @HawleyMO & @RoyBluntMO vote to defend Congress' authority against executive overreach.”

For now, Trump is above water in Missouri.  Remington had his Missouri approval at 53% in the middle of February and Survey America had it at 53.9% around the same time.  And inside those numbers, he’s very popular among Missouri Republicans, like 89% approval.