The House Government Oversight and Accountability Committee on April 3 voted 7-2 to advance a Republican-sponsored plan to expand Medicaid eligibility. As currently written, however, the bill fails to comply with eligibility requirements necessary to receive additional federal funding. After a largely procedural stop in another House committee, the bill, HB 700, will go to the full House of Representatives for debate.

Under the federal Affordable Care Act, the federal government will pay the full cost for states to expand their Medicaid eligibility requirements to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, which amounts to annual income of about $31,800 for a family of four. The federal government would cover at least 90 percent of the expansion cost thereafter.

HB 700, however, would only extend eligibility to 100 percent of the federal poverty level, which is insufficient to qualify for the enhanced federal funding. And the bill contains a provision stating that eligibility for Missouri’s Medicaid program would remain at the existing level of 19 percent of the federal poverty level if the state doesn’t receive the additional federal money. Majority Republicans this year have defeated several attempts by Democratic lawmakers to expand eligibility to the 138 percent level required by federal law.

NET STATE REVENUE UP 8.3 PERCENT SO FAR IN FY 2013

Net state general revenue collections were up 8.3 percent through the first nine months of the 2013 fiscal year, going from $5.06 billion during the same period last year to $5.48 billion this year. Net general revenue collections for March 2013 increased 4.6 percent compared to those for March 2012, going from $512.4 million to $536.1 million.

HOUSE REJECTS BILL ON TEACHER TENURE REFORM

The House of Representatives on April 10 overwhelming rejected legislation sought by House Republican leaders that would restrict tenure for public school teachers and impose statewide standards for evaluating teachers and administrators. The House defeated the bill102-55, with majority Republicans almost evenly split and nearly all Democrats opposed.

Supporters of the HB 631 said it would ensure that only competent teachers are in Missouri classrooms. Opponents said the legislation would impose arbitrary and subjective standards for evaluating educators and undermine the authority of local school districts.

HOUSE PASSES RESTRICTIONS ON KIDS USING TANNING BEDS

The House of Representatives on April 11 voted 105-47 in favor of legislation that would require parental consent for children younger than age 17 to use a tanning device at a tanning facility. The bill, HB 47 now advances to the Senate.

Supporters of the bill said parents should be able to decide if their children use tanning devices, which emit ultraviolet rays that can cause skin cancer. Opponents said the measure would impose burdensome regulations on tanning businesses. The bill would impose fines of $50 per violation on individuals and $500 per violation on tanning facilities.

HOUSE APPROVES $328 MILLION TAX CUT FOR BUSINESSES

The House of Representatives on April 10 granted first-round approval on a voice vote to tax cuts for businesses that would reduce state revenue collections by an estimated $328 million a year once fully phased in. The House must take a second vote on tax cut measure, HB 253, to send it to the Senate.

Once fully phased in after five years, the bill would allow individuals to deduct 50 percent of their business income and cut the state’s corporate income tax in half, taking it from 6.25 percent to 3.125 percent. The individual tax rate paid by most Missourians would remain at the existing 6 percent.

Citing robust state revenue collections, Gov. Jay Nixon on Feb. 4 released more that $8.4 million in spending authority for Missouri’s public colleges and universities for the current fiscal year. Last summer Nixon exercised his constitutional authority to restrict about $15 million in spending authority, including about 1 percent of the money appropriated for higher education institutions, from the nearly $24.28 billion state operating budget approved by the General Assembly for the 2013 fiscal year due to concerns at the time that revenue collections might prove insufficient to cover overall spending.

In addition to the higher education funding, Nixon also released another $580,000 in total spending authority for the State Historical Society, foster care programs and child care subsidies. Nearly $6 million in spending authority remains on hold, including some funding for local public schools and social services. The administration will make a decision in the coming weeks on whether that spending authority can be released.

HOUSE APPROVES REINSTATING CHARITABLE TAX BREAKS

The House of Representatives on Feb.7 voted 149-2 to reinstate several state programs that grant state income tax credits to people who donate to certain charitable causes. The five tax credit programs in the bill, HB 87, had either expired or will expire later this year. The bill, which now goes to the Senate, would extend the programs until 2019.

Reinstating the charitable tax credits is a priority for both the House and Senate this year after similar legislation failed in 2012 amid debate over reforming tax breaks for businesses, which cost the state treasury in excess of $600 million a year in lost revenue. The charitable tax credit programs in HB 87 include those for surviving spouses of public safety officers killed in the line of duty, child crisis programs, disability access, pregnancy resources centers and food pantries.

OPPONENTS OF ANTI-WORKER BILL PACK HOUSE HEARING

A House Workforce Development Committee hearing on legislation that would make it a crime for a business to negotiate a closed-shop agreement with the labor union that represents its workers attracted a standing-room-only crowd, with opponents of the legislation far outnumbering supporters. The measure, HB 77, is one of several bills being advanced by majority Republicans in the Missouri General Assembly that seek to weaken labor unions.

Under existing law, businesses are free – but not required – to negotiate collective bargaining agreements that require employees to pay dues to the labor union that represents them, regardless of whether an employee chooses to join the union. HB 77 would make such an agreement a Class C misdemeanor punishable by up to 15 days in jail and a $300 fine. The committee could vote on the bill at a later date.

FY 2013 NET STATE REVENUE COLLECTIONS UP 9.5 PERCENT

Net state general revenue collections were up 9.5 percent during the first seven months of the 2013 fiscal year compared to the same period in FY 2012, going from $4.15 billion last year to $4.54 billion this year. Net collections increased by 18.4 percent during January 2013 compared to January 2012, going from $658.5 million to $779.5 million.

“Missouri’s permissive ethics and campaign finance laws have created an anything-goes environment in which elected officials can use their positions for personal enrichment and advancement and special interests can funnel unlimited amounts of often untraceable money to candidates,” said House Minority Leader Jake Hummel, D-St. Louis. “House Democrats are committed to improving transparency and accountability in state government and raising the bar to where unethical conduct is synonymous with illegal conduct.”

In 2010, then-House Speaker Ron Richard, R-Joplin, established the House Special Committee on Government Accountability and Ethics Reform to develop strong ethics and campaign finance legislation. Despite promises to support the committee’s efforts, House Republican leaders later abandoned the bipartisan legislation in favor of a substantially watered-down bill. The Missouri Supreme Court ruled that bill unconstitutional earlier this year due to procedural violations.

State Rep. Kevin McManus, D-Kansas City, will sponsor this year’s reform bill, which in addition to the major provisions of the 2010 bipartisan legislation also includes some new provisions to address issues that have arisen in the last two years. Those new provisions include:

• Requiring not-for-profit organizations that contribute money for political purposes to disclose their donors. This is to combat the recent trend of creating sham non-profits for the purpose of hiding the identity of donors.
• Clarifying existing state law to make clear that intentionally obscuring the source of campaign contributions is a crime.
• Prohibiting campaign contributions from being invested in anything other than interest-bearing checking or savings accounts. This is in response to former House Speaker Steve Tilley’s use of campaign funds to purchase shares in a local bank.

“It is an unfortunate reality that money and politics go hand in hand, but if Missourians are to have any confidence in their government, they need to know exactly who their elected officials are holding hands with,” McManus said. “Under this bill, those who seek to influence public officials will no longer be able to hide in the shadows.”

Key returning provisions from the 2010 bipartisan legislation include:

• Granting the Missouri Ethics Commission greater authority, including the power to initiate investigations.
• Capping campaign contributions for candidates for statewide office or the General Assembly at $5,000 per donor per election.
• Restricting committee-to-committee transfers of campaign funds.
• Prohibiting the solicitation of campaign contributions on public property.
• Barring lawmakers, their spouses or dependent children from accepting more than $1,000 in lobbyist expenditures per calendar year.
• Prohibiting lawmakers from working as paid political consultants while in office.
• Imposing a waiting period on former lawmakers lobbying the General Assembly after leaving office. While the 2010 legislation called for waiting period of one calendar year after leaving office, McManus’ bill would set it at two years from the end of the last General Assembly in which a lawmaker served.

Watch House Press Conference on Campaign Finance and Ethics Proposal

In bold State of the State address on Jan. 28, Gov. Jay Nixon challenged the Republican-controlled General Assembly to accept a federally funded expansion of Medicaid eligibility that would pump billions of dollars into Missouri’s economy in the coming  years an create an estimated 24,000 new jobs in the state in 2014 alone. Nixon also threw down the gauntlet on reinstating campaign contribution limits, which majority Republicans repealed in 2008, warning that if lawmakers don’t act during this legislative session, he will push an initiative petition to bypass the legislature and take the issue directly to Missouri voters, who in 1994 first imposed contribution limits with 73.9 percent support.

Under the federal Affordable Care Act, states can increase their Medicaid eligibility threshold to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, which amounts to an annual income of about $15,000 for an individual or $31,800 for a family of four. The expansion has the support of the medical community, and Nixon noted that the state’s major business groups, such as the staunchly Republican Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Associated Industries of Missouri, also back expansion. In giving the official Republican response to the State of the State, however, House Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, flatly rejected the proposal.

Nixon also presented his proposed state operating budget for the 2014 fiscal year, which begins July 1. Nixon’s budget calls for $25.7 billion in total spending, an increase of $1.42 billion over FY 2013 appropriations. The bulk of the increase would come from federal dollars for the Medicaid expansion. The governor also called for an additional $150 million in education spending, with $100 million going to local school districts, $34 million to public colleges and universities and the remainder for other programs, including scholarships and early childhood education.

HIGHWAYS COMMISSION CHAIRMAN CALLS FOR TAX HIKE

Missouri State Highways and Transportation Commission Chairman Rudy Farber on Jan. 24 proposed a 1-cent statewide sales tax dedicated for transportation improvements that would raise an estimated $7.9 billion over the 10-year life of the tax. Farber, a Republican, said the money would be used for a long-overdue rebuild of Interstate 70 and other highway projects around the state and create an estimated 270,000 jobs over the next decade. Farber’s proposal would require the approval of both the General Assembly and Missouri voters.

The Missouri Transportation Department’s annual highway construction budget has plummeted from a high of $1.2 billion to about $700 million as it has been forced to shift much of its available revenue to paying back $2.6 billion in bonds the highways commission, MoDOT’s governing authority, issued to fund a construction boom in the 2000s. MoDOT officials for several years have said that without additional revenue the department will be limited to doing little more than maintaining the existing state highway system for the foreseeable future.

State Rep. Dave Hinson, R-St. Clair, is sponsoring a proposed constitutional amendment to put the proposed transportation tax on the November 2014 ballot. However, Hinson’s fellow Republicans, who control both the House of Representative and Senate, traditionally have been adamantly opposed to raising taxes. Under the proposed amendment, the transportation tax would expire after 10 years unless renewed by voters.

SENATE APPROVES TAX BREAKS FOR SPORTING EVENTS

The Senate on Jan. 31 gave final approval to legislation that would provide up to $3 million in annual tax breaks to encourage major sporting events, such as NCAA basketball tournaments or Olympic trials, to be held in Missouri. The bill, SB 10, now goes to the House of Representatives for further debate.

The Senate’s approval of the bill early in the legislative session is significant because in recent years senators have been fiercely resistant to creating new tax breaks without first reigning in some of the existing incentives that drain more than $600 million a year from the state treasury. The Senate’s position has led to a stalemate of sorts with the House of Representatives, which has preferred to expand tax breaks without reforming existing programs.

Led by U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill and Gov. Jay Nixon at the top of the ticket, Democrats claimed all but one of the statewide offices on the Nov. 7 ballot. Republicans, however, maintain their majorities in both chambers of the Missouri General Assembly.

What had been expected to be a close U.S. Senate race instead was a blowout as McCaskill claimed 54.7 percent of the vote to beat Republican U.S. Rep. Todd Akin by 15.5 points. Nixon also won 54.7 percent support to easily defeat Republican businessman Dave Spence, who garnered 42.6 percent of the vote. Both McCaskill and Nixon were seeking their second terms.

State Treasurer Clint Zweifel and Attorney General Chris Koster, both Democrats, also won second terms in office. Zweifel claimed 50.3 percent of the vote to beat Republican state Rep. Cole McNary of Chesterfield, who had 45.5 percent support. Koster garnered 55.8 percent support to post a 15.1-point win over Republican Ed Martin.

In the race to replace departing Democratic Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, state Rep. Jason Kander, D-Kansas City, narrowly defeated state Rep. Shane Schoeller, R-Willard, with  48.8 percent of the vote compared to 47.5 percent for Schoeller.

The lone Republican win for Missouri statewide office went to Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, who became just the second person ever to win a third term in the post. Kinder claimed 49.4 percent of the vote to defeat Democrat Susan Montee, a former state auditor who had 45.4 percent support.

In the General Assembly, Democrats picked up two seats in the Senate but lost four seats in the House of Representatives. Republicans will hold a 24-10 Senate majority and 110-53 House majority in 2013, marking the first time since 1981 that a party simultaneously has held veto-proof majorities in both legislative chambers.

MISSOURI VOTERS NARROWLY REJECT CIGARETTE TAX HIKE

Missouri voters on Nov. 7 narrowly defeated a ballot measure to increase the state’s lowest-in-the-nation cigarette tax while trouncing a proposed constitutional amendment to modify Missouri’s system for selecting state appellate judges. Voters easily approved two other ballot measures, one establishing local control of the St. Louis police department and a largely symbolic proposal relating to the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Proposition B would have increased the state cigarette tax from 17 cents a pack to 90 cents and also hiked taxes on other tobacco products, but it fell short with just 49.2 percent of voters in support. By defeating Proposition B, Missouri voters kept alive their 25-year streak of rejecting tax increases. Since approving a fuel-tax increase in 1987, Missourians have now defeated eight tax-hike measures in a row, including three proposed cigarette tax increases in the last decade.

Voters crushed Amendment 3, which would have altered the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan to give the governor more influence over the selection of judges to the state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, with just 24 percent in favor.

By approving Proposition A, which garnered 63.9 percent support, Missourians will finally restore control of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department to local city officials. The department was placed under state control in 1861 by Missouri’s pro-Confederate state government during the Civil War and has remained under state authority ever since, even though the department is entirely funded by city taxpayers.

Proposition E, which purports to prohibit the establishment of a health benefit exchange without approval by the General Assembly, passed with 61.8 percent support. The measure will likely have little actual effect, however, since under federal law if a state fails to establish such an exchange, the federal government will step in and do it for them.

STATE REVENUE COLLETIONS FOR FY 2013 UP 7.5 PERCENT

Net state general revenue collections were up 7.5 percent through the first four months of the 2013 fiscal year compared to the same period in FY 2012, going from $2.25 billion last year to $2.42 billion this year. Net general revenue collections for October 2012 increased 11 percent compared to October 2011, going from $470.1 million to $522 million.

The Republican-controlled General Assembly placed Amendment 3 on the Nov. 6 statewide ballot with the passage of Senate Joint Resolution 51 in May. SJR 51 passed 19-12 in the Senate, with just one more vote than necessary for passage, and 84-71 in the House of Representatives, with just two more votes than required. No Senate Democrats supported SJR 51, while just four Republican senators opposed it. In the House, only one Democrat voted for the measure, while 18 Republicans opposed it.

Amendment 3 is the culmination of a years-long effort by state Sen. Jim Lembke, R-St. Louis and the sponsor of SJR 51, and some other Republican lawmakers to modify Missouri’s system for choosing judges. While previous recent efforts proposed radically overhauling the Nonpartisan Court Plan or eliminating it outright, Amendment 3’s proposed changes are modest by comparison, although still significant.

The official ballot question prepared by the Secretary of State’s Office, along with the fiscal estimate prepared by the State Auditor’s Office, says:

“Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to change the current nonpartisan selection of supreme court and court of appeals judges to a process that gives the governor increased authority to: 

• “appoint a      majority of the commission that selects these court nominees; and
• “appoint all      lawyers to the commission by removing the requirement that the governor’s      appointees be nonlawyers?

“There are no estimated costs or savings expected if this proposal is approved by voters.”

JUDICIAL SELECTION IN MISSOURI HISTORY

From the adoption of Missouri’s first constitution in 1820 until 1850, the governor directly appointed all Missouri judges, subject to Senate confirmation, with appointees serving for life, unless they resigned or were removed from office for cause. This system mirrored the federal judicial selection system still in use today.

In 1850, Missouri voters ratified a constitutional amendment that made all judgeships elected positions, with judges serving fixed terms and periodically having to stand for re-election. Under this system, which remained in place for 90 years, judges ran in partisan elections similar to those for the state legislature or elected branch office.

Ideally, judges are supposed to be impartial arbiters of the disputes before them. But when judges must stand for election under a partisan banner, there is often a perception – and sometimes the reality – that their rulings aren’t based on the law but on the desires of voters and political supporters. So, in the early 20^th century, many states began considering reforms to take judicial selection out of the political process and instead choose judges based on merit.

Missouri’s solution was the Nonpartisan Court Plan, which was placed on the statewide ballot in 1940 via an initiative petition effort led by the Missouri Bar and lawyers’ organizations in St. Louis and Kansas City. The court measure appeared on the November 1940 ballot as Amendment 3, and voters ratified it with 54.6 percent support.

Following ratification, opponents of the Nonpartisan Plan did not accept defeat and persuaded the General Assembly to place a repeal amendment on the November 1942 ballot. Voters defeated that measure, Amendment 4, with just 35.7 percent in support.

During the Constitutional Convention of 1943-1944, which met to draft a replacement for the obsolete Missouri Constitution of 1875, opponents of the Nonpartisan Plan again targeted it for repeal. Convention delegates rejected this effort, however, and the Nonpartisan Plan remained a part of what would become the Missouri Constitution of 1945, which remains in use.

THE MISSOURI NONPARTISAN COURT PLAN

As originally enacted in 1940, the Nonpartisan Court Plan applied to judges of the Missouri Supreme Court, state Court of Appeals and trial-level judges of the St. Louis city and Jackson County judicial circuits. Trial judges in other judicial circuits continued to be directly elected by voters, and most trial judges are still elected today.

However, the constitution allows other judicial circuits to adopt the Nonpartisan Plan for trial judges with local voter approval. St. Louis County voters opted to do so in 1970, and voters in Clay and Platte counties followed suit in 1973. No other circuits adopted the plan until Greene County did so in 2008.

Under the Nonpartisan Plan, nominees for vacancies on the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals are chosen by the Appellate Judicial Commission. The commission consists of seven members: one judge of the Supreme Court, by tradition the chief justice; three attorneys elected by members of the Missouri Bar, one from each of the state’s three appellate districts; and three non-lawyers appointed by the governor, one from each appellate district.

The commission interviews applicants for a judicial vacancy and then submits a list of three finalists to the governor, who must appoint one of them to the bench within 60 days or forfeit the selection to the commission. Although governors occasionally have complained when their preferred candidates didn’t make the cut, no governor has ever passed on making an appointment.

After a Supreme Court or Court of Appeals judge is appointed, he or she must stand for a retention vote at the next general election after they have been on the bench for a full year and then every 12 years thereafter. In retention elections, voters merely vote “yes” or “no” on whether a particular judge should remain on the bench. Voters have never rejected a Supreme Court or Court of Appeals judge for retention.

For judicial circuits under the Nonpartisan Plan, the process is similar, except that each circuit has its own nominating commission that consist of just five members: the chief judge of the Court of Appeals district for that area, two local lawyers elected by members of the Bar and two local non-lawyers appointed by the governor.

Trial-level judges appointed under the Nonpartisan Plan also must run for retention in the next general election after they have been on the bench for a year and every six years thereafter in the case of circuit judges and every four years thereafter in the case of associate circuit judges. Only two trial judges have ever lost retention elections, Jackson County Judge Marion D. Waltner of Jackson County in 1942 and Clay County Judge John Hutcherson in 1992.

THE PROPOSED CHANGES OF AMENDMENT 3

The existing structure of the Appellate Judicial Commission intentionally minimizes the governor’s influence over judicial selection. Not only are just three of the seven commissioners gubernatorial appointees, their six-year terms are staggered so that it takes time for a particular governor to have any influence on the panel at all.

When a new governor takes office, all three sitting gubernatorial appointees to the commission have been chosen by a previous governor or governors. The new governor doesn’t get to make his first appointment until two years into his term, with his second appointment following at the end of his first term. If elected to a second four-year term, that governor fills the third and final spot halfway through that term.

State control of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department was established more than 150 years ago during the early days of the Civil War in an attempt by Missouri’s pro-Confederacy General Assembly to keep the department from being used against secessionists. Despite the end of the war, state control of the department has remained in place ever since, even though local St. Louis taxpayers, and not the state, are responsible for paying the department’s bills. The issue of local control last went on the statewide ballot in 1914, but voters crushed it with just 30 percent in support.

The tobacco proposal would increase Missouri’s lowest-in-the-nation cigarette tax of 17 cents a pack by 73 cents. If approved by voters, the new rate of 90 cents a pack would rank as the 35^th highest in the nation but well below the national average of $1.46 per pack. Missouri voters narrowly rejected increasing tobacco taxes in both 2002 and 2006.

Statutory initiatives require a number of signatures from legal voters equal to 5 percent of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election in six of Missouri’s nine congressional districts.  Carnahan’s office said the minimum wage proposal met the required number in four districts but fell about 1,100 signatures short in the 1^st District and about 500 signatures short in the 3^rd District, both of which are in the St. Louis area.  Carnahan’s office said the payday lending proposal hit the minimum number of signatures in five districts but fell about 300 signatures short in the 1^st District. Supporters of the two proposals plan to challenge the rejections in court.

Voters will decide whether to alter the state’s system for selecting judges after the House of Representatives on May 10 voted 84-71 to grant final approval to a proposed constitutional amendment that would make changes to the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan. The measure, SJR 51, cleared the House with just two more votes than necessary for passage and came on a largely party-line vote, with most Republicans in support and all but one Democrat opposed.

The Senate had previously approved SJR 51 on a vote of 19-12, with just one more supporting vote than needed. The proposed amendment bypasses Gov. Jay Nixon and automatically goes on the Nov. 6 statewide ballot for voter ratification.

Under the existing system, a seven-member commission is charged will selecting three finalists to fill vacancies on the Missouri Supreme Court and state Court of Appeals, and the governor is required to appoint one of those nominees or forfeit the selection to the commission. The commission consists of three lawyers elected by members of the Missouri Bar, three non-lawyers chosen by the governor and a Supreme Court judge, by tradition the chief justice. Because terms are staggered, the same governor doesn’t have the opportunity to appoint all of the non-lawyer commissioners until he is midway through his second term.

HJR 51 would remove the Supreme Court’s representation on the commission and fill the final voting spot with a fourth non-lawyer chosen by the governor. A retired judge would serve as a non-voting member of the commission, which would submit four finalists to the governor instead of just three. HJR 51 would also change the length of terms so that a governor could appoint a majority of the commission during the single term.

LAWMAKERS DEDICATE FUNDING SOURCE FOR VETERANS

The General Assembly on May 10 granted final approval to legislation that would create a dedicated funding source for state veterans homes and other veterans programs. HB 1731 would earmark most of the state’s casino entrance fee for veterans programs. The bill now goes to Gov. Jay Nixon, who is expected to sign it into law.

Entrance fee revenue had mostly gone to veterans programs until the late 1990s, when the bulk of the money was shifted to pay for early childhood education programs. Under HB 1731, early childhood programs would instead be funded by revenue from Missouri’s share of annual payments from tobacco companies that resulted from the settlement of a national lawsuit more than a decade ago.

FY 2013 STATE BUDGET CLEARS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The House of Representatives and Senate on May 10 granted final passage to the 13 appropriations bills that make up the $24 billion state budget for the 2013 fiscal years, which begins July 1. Lawmakers wrapped up work on the budget just a day ahead of the constitutional deadline for doing so.

Lawmakers kept basic state funding for local public school districts at roughly the FY 2012 level, although public education funding remains well short of what the state’s education funding law calls for. On higher education, most of the state’s four-year colleges and universities received slight bumps, while funding for the four-campus University of Missouri System and Missouri State University was kept flat.

Two major points of controversy were omitted from the final budget. One was a plan pushed by House Republicans to eliminate a $28 million health care program for the blind. Under the final budget, that program will continue. The other major controversy involved language inserted by Senate Republicans that would have prohibited the University of Missouri-St. Louis from continuing the operate the Sue Shear Institute for Women in Public Life, which helps train women for careers in government and elected office. That language was also removed.

PETITIONS SUBMITTED FOR FOUR BALLOT MEASURES

Supporters of four ballot measures that separately ask voters to increase cigarette taxes, regulate predatory lenders, increase the state minimum wage and grant St. Louis city local control over its police force submitted initiative petitions to Secretary of State Robin Carnahan by the May 6 deadline for getting on the 2012 ballot. Carnahan’s office must verify that each petition contains the requisite number of valid signatures no later than Aug. 7. Those initiatives certified by Carnahan will go on the Nov. 6 statewide ballot.

The predatory lending proposal, which would cap the annual interest rates on short-term loans at 36 percent, faces an additional hurdle since a Cole County judge in April struck down the ballot summary prepared by Carnahan’s office. The ruling has been appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court, but if the trial judge’s decision is upheld, signatures collected under the faulty summary likely would be declared invalid and prevent the measure from going on the ballot.

The other proposed initiatives would raise the state’s lowest-in-the-nation cigarette tax from 17 cents to 93 cents per pack, boost the state minimum wage from the current $7.25 an hour to $8.50 an hour and end the state’s control over St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. State control was enacted by Missouri’s pro-Confederate state government in the early days of the Civil War in an effort to keep the police force from being used against advocates of secession.

DRED SCOTT INDUCTED INTO HALL OF FAMOUS MISSOUIANS

Dred Scott, a slave whose fight for freedom resulted in an infamous 1857 U.S. Supreme Court case that helped precipitate the Civil War, was inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians on May 9. Scott was born in Virginia in 1795 but was living in Missouri in 1846 when he sued for his freedom.  Not long after the Supreme Court’s decision, Scott’s supporters purchased his freedom, and he died in St. Louis in 1858. Scott’s great-great-granddaughter Lynne Jackson of St. Louis attended the Hall of Famous Missourians induction ceremony in the chamber of the Missouri House of Representatives. A bronze bust of Scott will take its place among the busts of previous inductees in the Capitol Rotunda.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has agreed to follow the House of Representatives lead on sparing public colleges and universities from funding cuts in the state operating budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Gov. Jay Nixon had recommended reducing higher education appropriations by about $66 million when he offered his proposed $24 billion state operating budget.

The Republican-controlled House, which passed its version of the budget last month, spared colleges and universities from cuts in part by eliminating a $30 million program that provides health care for the blind. The Senate committee, which is also Republican controlled, has yet to decide if it will go along with the elimination of that program, which the governor opposes.

The Senate committee also modified a plan to provide many state employees with their first pay raises in four years. Nixon had recommended giving all state workers a 2 percent increase but not until Jan. 1 – halfway through the fiscal year. The House approved providing an immediate 2 percent raise, but only for employees who earn less than $70,000 a year. The Senate committee endorsed providing the immediate raise only to workers earning less than $45,000 annually.

Once the Senate committee finishes work on the 13 appropriations bill that make up the state operating budget, the bills will go before the full Senate for debate. After the Senate approves them, negotiators from both legislative chambers will work out a final version of the budget, which must win approval by a constitutional deadline of May 11.

SENATE VOTES FOR HIGHER HURDLE FOR TEACHER TENURE

The Senate on April 5 gave first-round approval to legislation that would double the amount of time a teacher must work for the same public school district in order to earn tenure. The bill requires another Senate vote to move to the House of Representatives.

SB 806 originally would have eliminated teacher tenure outright, but the Senate on April 3 voted 17-15 to gut the bill by amending it to merely call for a study of tenure, not its elimination. That action prompted the bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield, to temporarily shelve the measure before revising it to extend the years of service a teacher must put in to earn tenure from five years to 10 years. The longer vesting period would apply only to teachers who haven’t yet earned tenure by Aug. 28 of this year.

Opponents of teacher tenure contend it makes it virtually impossible to fire bad teachers. Supporters say that simply isn’t true and tenured teachers can still be dismissed for poor performance or other legitimate cause but that tenure merely entitles them to due process. The tenure bill is SB 806.

HOUSE COMMITTEE SEEKS TO REPLACE VOTER ID LANGUAGE

The House Elections Committee on April 3 approved a resolution aimed at replacing ballot language that a circuit judge invalidated a week earlier on a proposed constitutional amendment slated for the November statewide ballot that would grant the lawmakers the authority to impose photo voter identification requirements. It is appears unlikely, however, that the resolution would achieve its purpose.

The General Assembly passed the photo voter ID amendment, SJR 2, last year and in it included misleading ballot language that asked voters to approve the “Voter Protection Act,” even though the actual proposed amendment makes no mention of such an act and would instead restrict voting rights and potentially disenfranchise Missourians who don’t have a government-issued photo ID. In vacating the legislative ballot language, Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce said lawmakers should be given another opportunity to write valid language. It doesn’t appear, however, that lawmakers still possess the legal authority to modify legislation that passed a year ago.

HCR 53 nonetheless makes the attempt by creating replacement ballot language. The problem is the measure is a concurrent resolution without force and effect of law. As a result, it doesn’t appear that the Secretary of State’s Office, which is responsible for certifying ballot questions, could legally accept the new language. HCR 53 now goes before the full House of Representatives for debate.

HOUSE APPROVES ALLOWING ADVERTISING ON SCHOOL BUSES

The House of Representatives on April 5 narrowly approved legislation to allow school districts to sell advertising space on their buses. The bill, HB 1273, passed 83-65 and with just one more vote than the minimum necessary to send it to the Senate.

Supporters said allowing advertising on school buses would provide local districts a way to generate much-needed revenue. Opponents are concerned it would provide advertisers another opportunity to market junk food and other products to children. Although the bill wouldn’t prohibit most advertising targeting children, it would bar ads relating to alcohol, tobacco products or gambling, as well as those that are sexually explicit, political or religious in nature.

CHANGES TO WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION LAWS SENT TO GOVERNOR

The Senate on March 8 voted 23-8 to grant final passage to legislation that would make it easier for employers to escape legal responsibility for engaging in workplace discrimination. The vote was along straight party lines with Republicans in support and Democrats opposed. Because the House of Representatives had already passed the bill last month, it now goes to Gov. Jay Nixon, who vetoed similar legislation last year and is expected to do so again.

HB 1219 would substantially raise the legal bar for bringing claims of unlawful workplace discrimination based on race, gender, age, disability or religion. For cases that still manage to make to court, the bill would severely limit the amount of damages victims could recover.

LAWMAKERS APPROVE CHANGES TO WORKERS’ COMPENSATION LAW

By a vote of 87-68, the House of Representatives on March 7 sent a workers’ compensation bill to Gov. Jay Nixon. The bill, which the Senate approved 26-8 last month, was sought by Missouri business groups to undo many of the changes to the workers’ compensation system enacted in 2005 at the behest of those very same groups.

The 2005 overhaul set a higher legal bar for bringing workers’ compensation claims and removed certain types of injuries from the system. At the time, opponents warned that removing such cases from the workers’ compensation system would result in them being filed in civil court. Although the burden of proof is higher in civil court, so is the potential financial liability for employers if they lose. Business groups sought to reverse the 2005 changes after those predictions became reality.

This year’s bill, SB 572, still generated controversy, however, because it goes beyond merely undoing the now-disfavored 2005 changes. In particular, it would place occupational diseases, such as those suffered from asbestos exposure, under the workers’ compensation system. Claims for occupational diseases traditionally have been brought in civil court.

HOUSE COMMITTEE APPROVES FY 2013 STATE BUDGET

The House Budget Committee on March 7 approved the 13 appropriations bills that make up the roughly $24 billion state operating budget for the 2013 fiscal year, which begins July 1. The full House of Representatives will likely take up the budget bills shortly after its reconvenes on March 19 following its annual spring recess. Both the House and the Senate must agree on the budget bills by a constitutional deadline of May 11.

The most controversial move made by majority Republicans on the budget committee was to cut state health care services for the blind. The roughly $30 million in savings would be used to avoid funding cuts to public colleges and universities. House Democrats and Gov. Jay Nixon have steadfastly opposed eliminating health care for the blind.

FY 13 REVENUE UP SLIGHTY, STATE BORROWS FOR CASH FLOW

Year-to-date net state general revenue collections were up 2.4 percent through the first eight months of the 2012 fiscal year compared to the same period in FY 2011, going from $4.44 billion last year to $4.55 billion this year. Net collections increased 15.1 percent in February 2012 compared to February 2011, going from $345.8 million to $398.2 million.

The state also borrowed $150 million from the Budget Reserve Fund for cash flow purposes during February, bringing the total borrowed for the year to $225 million. The money must be repaid by a constitutional deadline of May 15.