At right: Blevins Elementary of Eureka visits the Capitol on April 20, 2011.Following tumultuous thundering storms, powerful tornadoes and swirling floods, Spring time weather and gentle sun drenched skies were a welcome reprieve this week as we returned to the Capitol for our final two weeks of Session. Final budget battles loomed as we successfully and finally came together on House/Senate compromises that gave us a balanced Budget with no tax increases and yet allocated 23 billion dollars in a fair and judicious fashion…
“Let us be sure that those who come after will say of us in our time, that in our time we did everything that could be done. We finished the race; we kept them free; we kept the faith” – Ronald Reagan
Passage of Vetoed House Bills
Although the following bill was vetoed by the Governor on May 2, 2011, the Missouri House and Senate voted, in a bipartisan fashion, to override the Governor’s veto on May 4, 2011.CCS SS HCS HB 193, Missouri’s Congressional redistricting bill was passed by a majority veto override vote in the House and the Senate and was delivered to the Secretary of State. The representative will of the people drew and passed the new Congressional Districts map and then overrode the Governor’s veto. The courts will not draw the district lines, the elected representatives of the people have done so, as is our constitutional duty.
Third Reading & Final House Passage
The following bills were given final approval by the House and sent to the Senate for further consideration. For more information regarding any specific bill, please visit www.house.mo.govHCS#2 SJR 2, sponsored by Rep. Stanley Cox (R-118), has been third read and finally passed in the House. This resolution proposes amending the Missouri Constitution to require a person to provide valid, government issued, photo identification, in order to vote in Missouri. Our history is full of Americans who spent their entire lives trying to gain this very basic and precious right. The fight to gain voting rights continued for many years. I want to be the first to tell you, this fight is over. You may not have heard it yet, but yes, it is true, all Americans aged 18 or over are allowed to cast ONE ballot in each election. So now that this fight is over, it is time to make sure we guarantee the integrity of the voting system by making sure this precious right is not abused.
HCS SS#2 SCS SB 8, would provide protection against co-employee liability lawsuits in cases involving workers’ compensation. This bill passed with a House Committee Substitute and was sent back to the Senate. Currently, the Senate has refused to concur and has requested a conference to address their concerns.
HCS SS SCS SB 58, sponsored by Rep. Charlie Denison (R-135), was third read and finally passed. This bill addresses a variety of issues related to transportation.
HCS SS SB 135, which I am in full support and sponsored in the House, would modify provisions pertaining to the storage and dispensing of motor fuel and extends the expiration date for the environmental laws relating to dry-cleaning facilities to August 28, 2017.
HCS#2 SB 3 is another bill related to elections and the requirements for advanced voting and the providing of photo identification.
HCS SCS SB 163 deals with the changes in composition of the MU Board of Curators due to the loss of a Congressional district. This bill is the same as HB 174.
HCS SB 173 passed the House with a committee substitute and was sent back to the Senate. The Senate has refused to concur and has called for either a conference to address their concerns, or for the house to recede from its position. As it is, this bill would require the Joint Committee on Missouri's Promise to develop long-term strategies and plans for developing a modern infrastructure and transportation system.
HCS SCS SB 219 deals with the fees that can be charged by owners of ATM’s for out of country account transactions.
HCS SB 282 has a number of effects related to elections and public contracts. In particular, it moves the presidential primary from February to March.
Truly Agreed To and Finally Passed
This legislation has been passed by both the House and the Senate and is now headed to the Governor’s desk for consideration. For more information regarding any specific piece of legislation, please visit www.house.mo.gov.SS SB 101 states that contractors, who perform roof or other residential exterior work, will not be allowed to offer monetary payment of a homeowner's insurance deductible as incentive to hire the contractor.
SS SB 55 classifies sawmills and planing mills as agricultural and horticultural property instead of commercial property for the purpose of relieving excessive taxation on the industry.
SS SB 306, SB 83, SB 165, were also truly agreed to and finally passed.
Congressional Redistricting Update
Most importantly this week, the House and the Senate finally agreed to a final compromise map to complete the constitutional duty of the State Legislature in drafting eight new Congressional Districts for our State. As many of you are aware, it is the duty of the General Assembly to complete the task of Congressional Redistricting, every ten years, following the national census. After weeks of stalemate and tense negotiations, a valuable compromise was finally reached as both Chambers passed a final proposed map with overwhelming majorities of support. This bill was vetoed by the Governor. Since the Governor decided not to heed the work of the Legislature, in order to prevent this issue from going to the Courts and being decided by unelected judges, the House and Senate voted to override the Governor’s veto. This is a serious matter that affects every single person in the State, hundreds of hours went into the process and the final product is a fair, compact, contiguous map that is good for all of the citizens of our State.
Budget Update
I am extremely proud of the 96th General Assembly and the work we accomplished in passing a balanced budget. The fiscal year 2012 budget heavily funds our state’s most important priorities without increasing the tax burden on our already economically strapped citizens. This required an enormous bipartisan effort and was a huge accomplishment. The most impressive aspect about the development of the 2012 budget was our ability to hold the funding for K-12 at 2011 levels while increasing transportation funding for school districts. As impressive as our work on the budget has been, an even more impressive effort will be required to prepare our state for future budget shortfalls as the struggle to recover from our nation’s recession continues. In Missouri, smart, conservative budgeting has proven to provide the type of stability necessary, not only to survive this economic recession, but to actually see some growth in revenue. Continuing this economic policy in the future will place Missouri in an enviable economic environment of growth.
Charter Schools
Public education in America continues to lag behind other nations in the ability to educate our children. This is an extremely alarming situation as it severely impacts our ability to compete on the world stage. Continuing to allow the public school system to fail our children will have dire consequences. Some want to blame this on a lack of funding, however, when you look for a positive correlation between increases in educational funding and efficacy in education, it does not appear to exist. The truth is, the solution to this problem will require a variety of measures. One of these measures was the passage of HB 473 (Charter Schools) out of the House of Representatives last week. This bill establishes the Missouri Charter Public School Commission and regulates the operation of public charter schools in certain districts. The purpose is to provide options to students and help improve school district performance. We have finally moved forward in a positive, proactive, substantive way to truly place parents in charge of their children’s education, to advance serious education reforms and to address the true problems facing public education in a positive way.
Big Government Get Off My Back
Last week the House truly agreed to and finally passed SS SCS HCS HB 45. This bill changes the laws regarding the Big Government Get Off My Back Act and provides additional incentives for responsible businesses that provide health benefits to those new, full-time employees. In particular, a $10,000 tax incentive for each new full-time job created or a $20,000 incentive for each new full-time job created when the business offers health insurance and pays at least 50% of the premiums of all full-time employees. The bill also seeks to limit and reduce the amount of regulations that Government forces onto small businesses that simply cause them to spend time doing paperwork instead of growing their enterprise. This bill is a positive step in the direction of strengthening Missouri small businesses.
Michelle Moore Needs Your Help
Michelle Moore is a great friend and colleague back in the St. Louis region. We found out that she is projected to be on the kidney donor wait list for 3 years. Do you know someone who can help? Please visit http://www.atraditionallifelived.com and/or http://twitter.com/Michelle_Moore for more information. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BEING TESTED FOR DONATING YOUR KIDNEY TO MICHELLE, PLEASE CALL 314-362-5365 OR 800-633-9906 - OPTION 2 - BEFORE APRIL 25TH.
Visiting the Capitol
I always enjoy it when constituents visit the Capitol and want to thank all who make the journey. If you ever find yourself in or around Jefferson City at any time during the year, please feel free to visit us! Stop by the Majority Leader’s Office in Room 302 and we will be happy to meet and greet you!
Personal News & Notes
If you know anyone who would be interested in receiving this Capitol Report, they can click the “Capitol Report Signup” button on my member home page at www.house.mo.gov and enter the appropriate information to receive the Capitol Report. As the days grow a great deal longer under the Capitol Dome, we want to encourage you to keep up with the flurry of legislative activity.
As the Session moves speedily towards its end, the days do continue to grow longer and are filled with ever increasing tension and stress. As Majority Leader, I am in command of every single piece of Legislation as it moves through the House Floor for consideration and debate and exhaustion is an ever present experience. During these most trying days of Session, I remain ever thankful to my entire Capitol staff, Jody, Tom and Tad, for continuing to deal with me! I also am ever grateful to the folks who continue to patiently await my complete “return home” and who keep everything running smoothly in my absence, Suzanne, Katie and Abby at the homestead, and of course, my great partners and colleagues at my law firm of DosterUllom, LLC. Finally, if we can ever be of any assistance to you at your State Capitol, do not hesitate to contact us at: 573.751.0562 or you can reach my primary assistant, Jody, at: jody{dot}williams{at}house{dot}mo{dot}gov.
Until our next update, I am, and remain, in your service.
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