MMJ Growers Licenses

The Department of Health and Senior Services issued the “list of 60.”  These are the lucky folks who won licenses for medical marijuana cultivation facilities.

MEC: Curators Needn’t Register as Lobbyists

The Missouri Ethics Commission issued an advisory opinion that “the members of the University of Missouri Board of Curators are not required to register as legislative lobbyists by virtue of their appointment in and of itself, and they are not required to register in order to respond to inquiries from the General Assembly…”

See it here.

Former Rep. Mark Parkinson has left Sen. Bill Eigel’s staff and is going to work for former Rep. Kurt Bahr at the St. Charles Election Board.

The State Board of Education met via conference call yesterday afternoon.  Topics tackled were more money (preschoolers), more money (teachers), more money (transportation), more career education and less violence.

Springfield New Leader reports on Rep. Tony Lovasco wanting to rein in the MODoT clever signs. 

Franks Documentary Shortlisted

Waiting for Superman, a documentary about former Rep. Bruce Franks advanced to the Oscar Shortlist in the nomination process.

GM’s Big $$$

Last week General Motors announced its “decision to invest $1.5 billion and retain nearly 4,000 jobs at its Wentzville facility.”  See the Post-Dispatch article here.

What It Means

·         This plays into Governor Mike Parson’s strength.

·         A re-election campaign with the economy as its centerpiece.

Survey conducted December 10 through December 11, 2019. 1,266 likely 2020 General Election voters participated in the survey. Survey weighted to match expected turnout demographics for the 2020 General Election. Margin of Error is +/-2.75%.

Q1: Senate Bill 635 repeals the death penalty for first degree murder. Any person previously sentenced to death will instead be sentenced to life in jail without parole.

Favor: 30% 

Oppose: 53%  

Not sure: 17%  

Driving the Day: GM Announcement
Governor Mike Parson will join General Motors (GM) President Mark Reuss, government officials, and community leaders for a major announcement at the Wentzville Assembly and Stamping Plant.

Next Session Preview
We’re weeks away from the new legislative session. With few exceptions, it looks like the coming session will be dominated by many of the same issues as previous session. On most of these topics the battle lines remain the same and calculus has not changed significantly.

Eslinger Adds $150K to Campaign
Rep. Karla Eslinger added $150,000 to her Senate campaign committee. She’s running in Senate 33 in a three-way Republican primary to replace termed Sen. Mike Cunningham.
This infusion levels the early money race between the candidates.

Driving the Day
Oral arguments at the Missouri Supreme Court this morning have Department of Social Services appealing a circuit court ruling that an appropriations bill which targeted abortion facilities was unconstitutional.

Jetton Marries
On Facebook, former Speaker Rod Jetton shares news of his recent nuptials… “Yesterday, I married the beautiful and kind Shen Wang. She has brought so much happiness into my life the last three years and now we can enjoy life together as we walk through this world arm in arm!!”

UAW’s Region 5 To Disband
Post-Dispatch reports that the “United Auto Workers is abolishing its western regional office, headquartered here, in the wake of embezzlement allegations against top union officials.”

Polsinelli Beefs Up Hallway Team
Polsinelli is adding two more to their team of lobbyists ahead of the upcoming legislative session. Joan Gummels and Cara Alexander registered to represent Polsinelli’s roster of clients.

Four Rivers PAC was formed. This is an independent PAC supporting Rep. Aaron Griesheimer. Griesheimer is a freshman, so it’s not clear where his political path leads – House leadership? Senate race? County level race? But many of the politically savvy freshmen have been setting these PACs up now to be able to raise money regardless of what their future holds.

Here Come the CLEANERs
Three Republican senators have filed joint resolutions to reverse the redistricting potion of 2018’s CLEAN Missouri plan. They all follow the playbook used successfully by CLEAN: pair something very popular with an “inside baseball” redistricting change which would have substantial partisan impact.

Webber Returns to MO
Jake Hummel on Facebook announces… “The National AFL-CIO has started a new program to recruit and train union members to run for political office. It has been extremely successful so far. We are happy to expand this program to Missouri. To that end I’m excited to announce that we have hired Stephen Webber as our new Path to Power coordinator!

Driving the Day
Pre-filing of bills starts today…
And
Might as well mark your calendars if you haven’t already.
• First day of session is January 8.
• Spring Break is March 23-27.
• Final day of session is May 15.