Hough moved SB 3 and SB 5 be combined into one bill and then moved to perfection. He also moved for the adoption of it.

The bill is a compromise one that has been worked on for months. Voted out of the Appropriations Committee last week, it then found itself on the floor. In the bill, income tax would be reduced to 4.95 percent and adds an additional trigger to get down to 4.8 percent. This is slightly more than the governor’s proposed plan, but it is still relatively close.

Hough also touted the bill’s impact on the lower part of the brackets.

“If you earn $14,000 or less you will not pay income tax in Missouri,” Hough said.

Sen. Andrew Koenig voiced his support for the bill also, saying it “makes the guard rails a little bit higher than it has been in the past.”

But there were also detractors from across the aisle.

Sen. Jill Schupp said she was concerned with the bill and it’s potential effects, noting: “Once we put it into place, there is no turning back.”

And Sen. Greg Razer floated a new idea as well. He suggested taking the money, saving it, investing it, and then writing checks to Missourians,

“Missourians are being sold a bill of goods” Razer said.

But there was also support from across the aisle as well. Sen. John Rizzo, the minority leader, classified the bill as a “masterful” job, and praised Hough’s bill.

“My intention will be to continue funding the things we have prioritized, the workforce development, the education lines in our budget at the same level that we have previously,” Hough said.

Hough also looked towards the future of Missouri, something that has been debated intensely when discussing this tax cut.

“I’ve always said that I think the best way to grow in the economy is to start investing in the next generation of the workforce,” Hough said.

The bill was then sent to the Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee, where it passed out of and on to the Senate floor. The bill was passed, and its ultimate fate will be decided by the House.

The bill will most likely run into some trouble in the House, where its numbers and additional triggers will be hotly debated.

Kelton Turner

Kelton is a 2023 graduate of the University of Missouri with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies. He is a native of mid-Missouri and likes to write politics at both the state and federal levels. Kelton joined the Missouri Times in April 2022

www.themissouritimes.com

The post Hough maneuvers tax cut bill through special session appeared first on The Missouri Times.

Most floor leaders who become speaker have a day or an accomplishment that you can point to that was when they took over the leadership of their caucus.

You can think back to the day that then House Majority Leader Todd Richardson gave a floor speech that literally turned around what was about to the first time a budget bill went down on the floor in recent memory.

Or the day that then House Majority Leader John J Diehl Jr brought along a dozen of his skeptical members and delivered the votes to pass the first tax cut in a hundred years.

On Wednesday, the current House Majority Leader, Dean Plocher, waded into a sea of pettiness, elitism, paranoia, and self interest, and when it was over, the man from the country side of Town and Country in urban-as-hell St. Louis County emerged with 82 votes for the ag bill and took his seat atop the Missouri Republican Party.

The drama began early in the day when Plocher had to step in and protect his members from a toxic vote while keeping the ag bill alive so that later in the day he could, through sheer force of will, rise 83 legislators above their own personal pettiness and deliver an ag bill, a huge win for Missouri’s leading industry.

Nothing about a special session is ever easy. Governor Mike Parson took a bet that would have tested the nerves of even the most experienced riverboat gambler. He had two years of MASBDA credits already in hand, and everyone including the ag groups to the few remaining people in his party that give a damn about rural Missourah were encouraging him to just stand pat, pocket sign the bill, and come back for more in January.

Well the at the blackjack table the ol’ Sheriff while showing 19 asked the legislature for one more card, and thanks to the gentleman from the country side of Town and Country he is on the verge of being dealt a 2.

If there is one thing the Governor has a reputation of getting his dander up over, its elitism. I don’t know this, but I’ve suspected from the start that one of the reasons he went all in and vetoed the original ag bill is the fact that you get six years of an eco devo program to build a Starbucks in St. Louis, but that you could only get two years of an ag program for a family farm in St. Clair County — and that has the stench of urban elitism all over it.

It was a tumultuous day from the start. The House could have just set aside their rules, there aren’t really rules in the House anyway outside of having 82 votes, and taken up the Senate bill. Then this would be over and the state would have a huge win.

However, it’s the Speaker who determines what is sent to committee and ultimately put on the calendar. So in a very shrewd legislative move, the House sponsor of the ag bill, Rep. Bradley Pollitt mirrored his bill to be the same as the bill the Senate passed the day before.

With two bills on the board, some people took it as a cue that they could play politics with it, so seeing as this is politics, of course they did.

After talking to everyone involved it appears there was a lack of communication between the leaders of each caucus as there were a handful of amendments filed by some House Democrats late in the process.

In the Democratic caucus meeting that morning it seemed that the vast majority of the caucus was prepared to support the bill, and no one in their caucus seriously expected their amendments to actually be added to the bill anyway.

However, one of the amendments filed was the foreign owned farmland bill. The vote last decade to allow the foreign owned Smithfield corporation to purchase a hog farming operation in north Missouri has been controversial from day one. In fact it’s one of the best issues to use against any Republican in a primary. You wouldn’t know it by looking at Governor Parson and soon to be US Senator Eric Schmitt but it really moves the needle in a Republican state Senate primary.

The amendment was taken very seriously for two reasons 1) Most members of the Republican caucus would have had to vote for it if it came to a vote, and 2) putting that on the bill would likely kill it and send special session into an open civil war of K-1 Republicans vs. W-2 Republicans.

No one seriously questions if this fight is coming, it’s just a matter of when. To date the civil war has been put off by K-1 Republicans, most of who are from rural Missourah, giving in and making frankly some pretty bizarre laws in order to pacify, or honestly just try to shut up for a minute from their near constant compalining, the W-2 Republicans who are mostly from the suburbs.

Think of it like this, there are two kinds of House Republicans; 1) those who would rather drink a Bud Light and talk baseball with Eric Schmitt and Mike Parson at a road side bar like Sputs Place near Rolla, or Chumbley’s in Trenton, and 2) there are those who would rather have a glass of wine and discuss some right wing “think tank” opinion with Josh Hawley at some place in the Central West End that my hillbilly dialect prolly can’t pronounce.

Now neither are right or wrong mind you, but they are certainly different approaches to life.

The lack of communication between the caucuses, the lateness of when the amendments were filed, and the toxicity of the foreign ownership of farmland issue led to the republicans not recognizing any Democrats during the discussion of the bill’s perfection.

Now, this did not set well with the Democrats or their leader Rep. Crystal Quade, and she began to see an opportunity unfolding to exploit a divided Republican caucus that had just disrespected her.

This first of all begs the question, why would Republicans be divided on an ag bill? Well this ain’t exactly your conservative republican party of John Ashcroft and Matt Blunt anymore. It’s far far more suburban and therefore far far more moderate.

The suburban Missouri Republicans had already began turning on their more conservative members from rural Missourah years before this ag bill. Many of them had already decided to sink a dagger in the hearts of their rural Missourah colleagues and kill the ag bill before they arrived in the City of Jefferson last week.

Now of course they would still expect those rural Republicans to shut up, sit down, and stay in line with the St. Louis agenda on a whole host of issues next year. However, the reason they have that expectation is because rural Missourah has given in time after time to St. Louis always trying to go along to get along. Not wanting a bunch of suburban wackos blowing up their Facebook page they just kick the can down the road weakening their schools, their law enforcement, etc. 

Regardless of when the fight is comes in the house between the reps who have stars from riding in ubers as customers, and those who have stars from driving them in ubers as employees, a trend will have to change in order to see the rural Missourah reps, who are the majority of the caucus remind their colleagues of that fact and tell them no.

For Wednesday, keep in mind that without the votes of the suburban Republicans, Plocher was going to have to rely the Democrats to get to 82. The Democrats he had just refused to recognize in order to protect his caucus, including those suburban Republicans.

Look, being a House Democrat is tough. Keep in mind they spend five months a year getting beat on every issue every day. They serve in a chamber where literally every rule is set to make sure they never, ever win. Handing someone in that situation leverage is always a dangerous game.

Their first opportunity to use that leverage came on the Fiscal Review Committee. It’s a committee that has to approve every bill perfected before it can be sent to the floor for final passage.

The problem here is that committee, as with most all of them, wasn’t set up with the needs of rural Missourians in mind. Further, one of the Republican members was absent and another had just lost a senate primary to a farmer and didn’t seem interested in participating in the committee’s work or helping the ag bill along.

At that point House Democrats on the committee, fresh off not being recognized during the debate, decided that they wouldn’t help move the bill out of fiscal review. Now remember earlier when I mentioned that the House has rules, but not really. Well the Speaker, in a commendable act of friendship, something to his credit he is known for, to his friend Rep. Don Rone simply added three more Republicans to the committee thereby making the Democrats’ votes unnecessary.

Still, it seemed apparent that in order to pass this bill Plocher was going to have to do a deal with the Democrats on third read. It seemed that the suburban Republicans decided their dislike for the way of life of their fellow members who live on county roads instead of cul-de-sacs was more important than their party being forced into deals with the Democrats.

You see there is a common belief in the city that the only livelihood and values worth protecting are the ones of folks driving a Prius and drinking some foreign concoction from Starbucks while writing something homophobic on their Facebook page. If you think everyone with that opinion is a Democrat or works at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, well then your just naieve.

So now Plocher was faced with two options 1) go to the Democrats hat in hand with concessions, or 2) put on a performance worthy or Richardson or Rod Jetton, or Steven Tilley, or Ron Richard and grind it out to 82.

He chose the second option.

There was a meeting called in his office with several of the Republican members who were on the fence, and some who entered the office a no on the ag bill.

During the meeting Plocher put on what was called by most everyone in the room a masterful performance laying out not just the case for the ag bill but the case against making him have to go negotiate with the Democrats over the bill. It was a risky strategy seeing them as a group instead of one on one, and a lot was on the line. If any one rep would have spoke up first saying that he just couldn’t vote in support of rural Missouri the entire group might have followed. Then who really knows what would have happened next.

Instead after a performance worthy of a Mike Kehoe or a Dick Webster, Plocher left the room with enough votes to carry the bill across the line.

It’s an odd thing that Dean Plocher who is from Town and Country in St. Louis County has to be the one to stand up for rural Missouri….in some cases against those from rural Missouri. Last I checked not one those folks from rural Missouri filed legislation to end the urban exclusive historic tax credits.

On the floor the Republicans lost some members who had previously been in support of the ag program. In a surprise, a very professional legislator and representative who is moving to the senate next year, Rep. Curtis Trent, was a flip on a bill he was previously in support of.

However, they were offset by five Democrats sticking with their yes votes on perfection including Reps. Mark Ellebracht and Wes Rogers, who everyone will miss. Of course the always savvy Rep. Tracy McCreery who will also be going across the rotunda to the Senate next January refused to flip flop and courageously stood in support of the rural part of the state. She will be an absolute statewide star by spring break of next session.

The board closed with 83 votes in favor, and a huge sigh of relief from rural Missouri and their biggest defender, Dean Plocher.

There are several questions that will come out of this very telling day in the house.

1 – Will rural House members continue their trend in electing House leadership that is committed to the entire state like Dean Plocher and not those who are obsessed with the whims of St. Louis, or Facebook, or urban interest groups.

2 – Will this wake up folks on school boards, Missouri Farm Bureau boards, county fair boards, etc. and have them ask themselves this one simple question: “Does your representative care as much about your friends and neighbors as Dean Plocher does?” If the answer is no, then what the hell are you gonna do about it?

Folks in Jefferson City are afraid of the loud angry right wingers in the suburbs. Maybe rural Missouri would get a better shake if they were a little afraid of us too?

3 – This was the House bill so its not passed yet, and I tend to doubt that was an accident. It will have to be passed by the Senate as well. Now a more skeptical hillbilly might surmise that the House is hoping to find a senator to be their boy and hold up the ag bill that they just allowed to come to a vote last week, in order to force the senate to pass the house tax cut bill. Further it could be that that there will be an effort to force K-1 House Republicans to vote for a house tax cut that they might find poorly crafted.

Can you imagine the joke a senator would become who volunteers to carry the jock of the house? They might make him address the chair as Mr. Speaker the first couple months of next session.

4 – If there are games played with the ag bill, will it lead to Senators Lincoln Hough and Andrew Koenig getting fed up and going to Rep. Plocher next week and start negotiating a package they can just take up and pass in January when the Gentleman from the paranoia district is lobbying.

5 – Its generally thought that Rep. Plocher was too important to reforming the reputation of the house to be considered for Attorney General. However, after this performance where he literally personally saved Governor Parson’s special session it might be that he is too talented to be allowed to leave state government in two years.

As always it will be interesting.

Check out the show this week. Senator Lincoln Hough is our featured guest, with an opinion maker panel of Reps. Ashley Aune, Keri Ingle, Kurtis Gregory, and the TWMP debut of the favorite son of the bootheel Rep. Jamie Burger.

Scott Faughn

Scott Faughn is the publisher of The Missouri Times, owner of the Clayton Times in Clayton; SEMO Times in Poplar Bluff; and host of the only statewide political television show, This Week in Missouri Politics.

The post This Week in Missouri Politics column: Plocher takes command to pass the ag bill appeared first on The Missouri Times.

Instead, DeGroot will be joining his longtime friend, Senator-elect Curtis Trent, as he moves from the lower to the upper chamber. DeGroot will be working as Trent’s chief of staff for this upcoming session. 

Since DeGroot withdrew his re-election bid before 5 p.m. on the Tuesday before the general election, the Missouri GOP will be able to select another candidate in his stead. 

Now that the dust is settling, DeGroot talked with The Missouri Times to reflect on his six years in the House and also talk about his future. 

DeGroot comes from humble beginnings. He worked for a country club in his native South Dakota, doing every job under the sun before a chance encounter brought him to St. Louis where he sold stocks and bonds for three years. From there, DeGroot earned a scholarship that allowed him to go to law school at St. Louis University which set him on the path to becoming an elected official. 

DeGroot represented HD 101, near the Chesterfield area, for six years, beginning in 2016. 

According to DeGroot, the first four years were spent on one thing in particular: tort reform. 

DeGroot recounted horror stories he had heard from journalists in St. Louis, writing stories about people who go to court for petty crimes, then being slapped with large fines and court payments they could not pay, leading to a vicious cycle of imprisonment and debt to the courts. 

In the legislature, DeGroot also championed HB 1987, better known as the Correctional Center Nursery Program. The bill “establishes a fund to establish a nursery in one or more of the correctional centers for women operated by the department.” For those eligible for the program, infants born to inmates while in custody can remain with their mother for up to 18 months. 

It’s a program designed to reduce recidivism while also giving newborn children an opportunity to bond with their mothers which could minimize the risks of cognitive and behavioral delays later in childhood. 

Although that specific bill did not make it through, the program lived on as an amendment to SB 683, which was signed into law this past summer. 

Trent, a Springfield-area Republican, won his primary against Brian Gelner, a beer executive. He is the GOP nominee for SD 20, running unopposed.

DeGroot and Trent met when they both were elected to the House in 2016. DeGroot said he was a little apprehensive about Trent at first but the two became fast friends and coworkers. They’ve worked on legislation together and shared a similar vision for policy. They even shared the same desk on the House chamber floor. 

But now, DeGroot will transition to Trent’s chief of staff, a behind-the-scenes position that is no easy task, even for a former legislator.

When asked about his choice to transition to an unelected role in the upper chamber, DeGroot said he thought he could be more of a help to Missourians by working alongside his longtime friend and colleague who he is confident will do a good job in the Senate. 

But it is no secret that this incoming class of Republican senators will have a tough session ahead of them. 

The Senate is still reeling from a very unproductive session. Brought on by a splintered group of Republicans known as the conservative caucus, vying for political dominance over the majority of the GOP caucus, so-called, Rowden Republicans. 

But just earlier this month the caucus unceremoniously disbanded while its leader Bill Eigel called for peace amongst fellow Republicans.

Politics aside, DeGroot does have mixed feelings about his departure from the House, which he called “bittersweet.” He also mentioned how excited he was to work with his friend and to see how this class of senators do. 

“I look forward to the challenge of working in the Senate with my best friend and a person I respect very much — Curtis Trent — I will truly miss not being in the Missouri House of Representatives,” said DeGroot.

 “I am proud of the legislation we passed during the time I served.  My only goal was to leave Missouri in a better place for my children, I think we accomplished that.”

Featured Image: Bruce DeGroot (PHOTO/TIM BOMMEL – HOUSE COMMS)

Kelton Turner

Kelton is a 2023 graduate of the University of Missouri with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies. He is a native of mid-Missouri and likes to write politics at both the state and federal levels. Kelton joined the Missouri Times in April 2022

www.themissouritimes.com

The post DeGroot withdraws from November ballot, joins Trent’s Senate staff appeared first on The Missouri Times.

“The Governor’s special session is an election season ploy to change the subject after suddenly discovering that eliminating Missourians’ reproductive rights isn’t the winning issue Republicans thought it would be,” Quade said in a press release put out just minutes after Parson’s Monday afternoon press conference. “It is also a textbook example of fiscal irresponsibility.”

Parson proposed a variety of cuts at a press conference Monday that are permanent and different from the rebate detailed in HB 2090, an income-tax-based bill that would have given a refund based on income-tax liability. Parson vetoed the bill on July 1. He has now proposed a 4.8% income tax rate, down from the current 5.3%. 

“Our tax cut proposal means that every taxpaying Missourian, no matter their background, income, or job description, will see a reduction in their tax liability,” Parson said. “Every Missourian will earn their first $16,000 tax-free and married joint filers will earn their first $32,000 tax-free, resulting in significant savings for millions of Missourians.”

Legislators and interested groups have criticized the way the cut is calculated. Currently, the Governor is proposing a cut based on income tax. This means the more a resident makes, the more a resident will save, keeping more money in the pockets of high-earning Missourians than low-earning ones. 

According to data from the Institue of Taxation and Economic Policy, the top 1% of Missourians would see by far the most benefit from the tax cuts, even when factoring in the new standard deduction for married and joint filers. The lowest earning Missourians, those making less than $22,000 annually, would see by far the least benefit.

A distracting proposal offered by Governor Parson would give a tax cut of $6000 to certain earners & $84 to others, according to the MBP — guess where most Missourians fall? Average median income for an MO individual in 2020 was $30,662 & household income was $57,290. #MOLeg pic.twitter.com/evwJEp6yOU

— Rep. LaKeySha Bosley (@TeamBosleyMO79) August 22, 2022

The proposal also doesn’t give a clear way to help pay for state revenue lost to the tax cut.

Parson met with Democratic House members Tuesday. 

“We had a nice conversation, to be honest,” said Rep. Peter Merideth, D-St. Louis City, a ranking minority member on the Budget committee. 

Meredith said that there was some pushback, but that there were also some things that House Minority Leadership and the Governor agreed on as well. 

The tax proposal has seen its fair share of backlash, however the other piece of legislation Parson wants to work on combined with tax cuts could make for a long, possibly contentious session. The opposite of what Parson wants after calling a session over two bills he vetoed.

“The Senate rule has the chance to come together, on both sides of the aisle, for what’s good for all Missourians,” Parson said at his press conference Monday after making remarks about his hope for a quick session.

The other bill on the table is HB 1720, a bill with stipulations regarding The Missouri Agricultural and Small Business Development Authority (MASBDA) and the longevity of the programs it holds authority over. Parson wanted more of the programs to be up for renewal after six years,  instead of the proposed two years, with a possible six-year extension. 

“Vetoing an ag bill is not something I took lightly or wanted to do,” Parson said Monday. “But we cannot leave our farmers, ranchers and business owners with a bad deal.”

The bill passed the House 111-26, with support from Democrats. Without their support, it is difficult to say if the bill would have passed. This need for Democrat support is something that will likely follow this bill into the upcoming session. 

But there are other aspects that could cause issues this session as well. 

Some members of the general assembly that are participating in this session will not be returning afterward. Many have lost their primary, which is a factor that could change their perspective on voting for or against legislation. 

Many members won their primary and some could use this session as a potential boost they could use for their gain in their upcoming general election. 

Either way, a session after primaries but before generals can certainly throw a wrench in the agendas of many legislators from both sides of the aisle In Jefferson City.

With Senate leadership elections looming, and in the wake of the conservative caucus’ “olive branch” many factors will be playing into the politics of the upcoming special session

The only thing we know for certain is that it will not be quick or easy.

Featured Image: Rep. Crystal Quade and the House Democratic Caucus holds a press conference (TIM BOMMEL/HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS).

The post Democrat pushback on tax cut could set stage for slow-moving special session appeared first on The Missouri Times.

“This is the time to fight back against ‘federal power grabs and government overreach that threatens to limit our freedoms,’” the letter said, quoting Gov. Mike Parson’s previous comments about the vaccine mandate. 

The request was signed by Sens. Jason Bean, Mike Bernskoetter, Rick Brattin, Eric Burlison, Bill Eigel, Karla Eslinger, Elaine Gannon, Denny Hoskins, Andrew Koenig, Tony Luetkemeyer Mike Moon, Cindy O’Laughlin, Bob Onder, Holly Rehder, Jeanie Riddle, and Bill White. 

President Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled plans for employers with at least 100 workers to require employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit weekly negative test results — a move expected to encompass about 80 million people. In addition, all federal employees and contractors doing business with the federal government will need to be vaccinated — forgoing the weekly testing option. 

In a news release Friday evening, the Governor’s Office promised a legal fight against the vaccine mandate, noting Parson has spoken with GOP leadership in the legislature and the Attorney General’s Office. 

“This assault on individual liberty and free enterprise is a poorly executed attempt by the Biden administration to reset after its disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan,” Parson said. “With our southern border in crisis and as we are experiencing out-of-control inflation, President Biden is desperate to divert attention from his failures. However, Missouri will not be a pawn in this publicity stunt that seeks to force Missourians to disclose private health care decisions and dictate private business operations.”

However, some conservatives in both chambers have upped the pressure for a special session to address the mandates. 

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“Nowhere in the Constitution does it give the president the power to force private citizens to vaccinate,” Brattin said. “If we don’t act, hundreds of thousands of Missourians will be affected and a dangerous precedent will be set. The federal government has no power to do this, and it’s our job as the elected voice of the people of Missouri to put our foot down and tell the president this isn’t going to happen in our state and our country.” 

Hough, one of the Republican senators who didn’t sign onto the special session request, said his constituents are concerned about the ramifications of the mandate, but he believes the best “remedy” is in court rather than a special session. 

“Everyone’s lives and businesses are different. I believe trying to do a ‘one-size-fits-all’ regulation will grow government and take away personal liberties,” Hough said. “I believe the best course of action is to pursue a legal remedy through the Attorney General’s Office.” 

Also notably missing from the request were Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz and Majority Floor Leader Caleb Rowden. 

“As a small business owner who would be subjugated to President Biden’s unconstitutional mandate, I, nor the Missouri Senate, will stand idly by and allow this inexcusable power grab to harm Missourians,” Schatz said in the news release from the Governor’s Office. “What the Biden administration is attempting to do will only worsen the workforce shortages businesses across the country are facing and is an absolute affront to our American freedoms.”

Biden addressed the pushback from Republican governors Friday, telling reporters: “I am so disappointed that particularly some Republican governors have been so cavalier with the health of these kids, so cavalier with the health of their communities.”

In Missouri, 57 people have died in the past seven days from COVID-19 with more than 10,400 positive cases identified during the last week. At least 54 percent of Missourians who meet the age requirement for the vaccine are fully inoculated. Nearly 78 percent of Missourians who are over the age of 65 are fully vaccinated, according to data from the state. 

Kaitlyn Schallhorn

Kaitlyn Schallhorn was the editor in chief of The Missouri Times from 2020-2022. She joined the newspaper in early 2019 after working as a reporter for Fox News in New York City.

Throughout her career, Kaitlyn has covered political campaigns across the U.S., including the 2016 presidential election, and humanitarian aid efforts in Africa and the Middle East.

She is a native of Missouri who studied journalism at Winthrop University in South Carolina. She is also an alumna of the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C.

Contact Kaitlyn at kaitlyn@themissouritimes.com.

The post Biden vaccine mandate: 16 GOP senators request special session appeared first on The Missouri Times.

President Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled plans for large employers to require workers be either vaccinated against coronavirus or submit weekly negative test results — expected to cover about 80 million people. In addition, all federal employees and contractors doing business with the federal government will need to be vaccinated — forgoing the weekly testing option. 

The announcement received immediate pushback by Republican governors and legislators around the country — and Missouri is no exception.

Lawmakers are back in Jefferson City next week for veto session, and several GOP members are pushing Parson to call them into a special session to circumvent Biden’s vaccine plan. 

Majority Floor Leader Caleb Rowden has said the legislature “should take action.”

And in the lower chamber, Reps. Nick Schroer and Tony Lovasco have teamed up on a two-fold plan for a special session. Lovasco has sent an official request to Parson for a special session while Schroer is leading a petition effort. The petition would need signatures from three-fourths of the members of each chamber.

The petition calls for the legislature to consider legislation related to “federal, state, or local government attempts to impose COVID-19 related vaccination mandates, testing mandates, mask mandates, vaccine passports, lockdowns, shutdowns, or any other similar encroachments on state sovereignty, private businesses, nonprofit organizations, schools, churches, religious organizations, working families, or individual liberty.” 

Similarly, Rep. Ben Baker of Newton County sent a letter to Parson Friday saying his constituents are “extremely concerned about the Biden administration’s overreach upon their businesses and personal lives.” Like others, he suggested a special session to run concurrently with veto session. 

“Every day it seems we are losing our freedoms and liberty as individuals at a rapid rate and we must take action to assert our states’ rights and push back against this radical agenda,” Baker said. “Missouri needs to lead this fight, after all we are the ‘Show-Me’ state!” 

Regarding federalism, this overreach is an insult to the Tenth Amendment. Regarding private business, this overreach relies heavily upon exploiting the business community's 'glove' with the 'hand' of government.

I am asking Governor Parson to call us into a Special Session.

— Doug Richey (@DougRicheyMO) September 10, 2021

Several Conservative Caucus members requested Parson call a special session early last month — way ahead of Biden’s announcement — to prevent businesses from requiring COVID-19 vaccinations. The cohort of six conservatives are planning a renewed letter to the governor, they said. 

Parson on Thursday said the Biden administration’s announcement was “unwelcome” in Missouri and could be “potentially dangerous” for families. 

“My administration will always fight back against federal power grabs and government overreach that threatens to limit our freedoms,” Parson said. 

A spokesperson for Parson did not immediately respond to an inquiry into just how many special session requests the office has received thus far. However, as of Thursday evening, a “confirmed decision” had not yet been made. 

Attorney General Eric Schmitt, a candidate for U.S. Senate in Missouri who has been adamantly pushing back against the Biden administration, said the latest mandate “will not stand in Missouri.” 

Biden addressed the pushback from Republican governors Friday, telling reporters:”I am so disappointed that particularly some Republican governors have been so cavalier with the health of these kids, so cavalier with the health of their communities.”

Missouri has also gone toe-to-toe with the federal government with a controversial gun law that declares federal laws that could restrict gun ownership as “invalid” in the state of Missouri. 

In Missouri, 60 people have died in the past seven days from COVID-19 with more than 10,150 positive cases identified during the last week. At least 54 percent of Missourians who meet the age requirement for the vaccine are fully inoculated. Nearly 78 percent of Missourians who are over the age of 65 are fully vaccinated, according to data from the state. 

Kaitlyn Schallhorn

Kaitlyn Schallhorn was the editor in chief of The Missouri Times from 2020-2022. She joined the newspaper in early 2019 after working as a reporter for Fox News in New York City.

Throughout her career, Kaitlyn has covered political campaigns across the U.S., including the 2016 presidential election, and humanitarian aid efforts in Africa and the Middle East.

She is a native of Missouri who studied journalism at Winthrop University in South Carolina. She is also an alumna of the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C.

Contact Kaitlyn at kaitlyn@themissouritimes.com.

The post Conservatives push Parson for vaccine mandate special session appeared first on The Missouri Times.

The potential waiver only applies to federal overpayments given from Feb. 8, 2020, through June 12, 2021, under the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), Mixed Earners Unemployment Compensation (MEUC), and Lost Wages Assistance (LWA). 

It covers non-fraudulent money given to Missourians through no fault of their own. Those who qualify for the waiver should be notified in July with instructions on how to apply, the department said in a news release. 

The Labor Department estimated earlier this year approximately $150 million in overpayments — of both federal and state funds — were sent to about 46,000 Missourians during the pandemic. Most of the overpayments were from federal funds, the department said. 

Lawmakers unsuccessfully tried to push through a forgiveness plan for Missourians who received these overpayments through no fault of their own. During multiple hearings, individuals testified regarding just how detrimental it would be for collections to start on those funds. A school bus driver told legislators she owed about $13,000 in erroneous overpayments. 

The Labor Department said it would begin collections on the state’s portion of the overpayments in August. It said it could not authorize a state waiver because Missouri law does not allow for it and federal guidance only applies to non-fraudulent federal overpayments. 

“I think we’re still going to work on the state portion of that. We’ve talked about that several times. I think we’ll be addressing that issue,” Gov. Mike Parson told reporters Wednesday. “If it was a legitimate mistake we’re fine with that, but if there’s anything besides that you’re not going to get a blanket waiver.”

More than half of Missourians who filed for unemployment in 2020 were new filers, Labor Department Director Anna Hui told lawmakers earlier this year. Monthly initial claims increased to more than 300,000 in 2020; in 2019, that number was less than 50,000. 

The first major spike came during the week of March 21 which saw 42,207 filings — more than 10 times the prior week. Weekly initial claims then remained above 90,000 for three weeks in a row. The increase coincided with quarantine and stay at home orders that shuttered businesses and left workers in a variety of industries without jobs. 

Although Labor representatives said they would work with individuals on payment plans, multiple individuals testified during committee hearings that they could not make contact with officials or said they were warned the state would begin to garnish their wages. 

A spokesperson previously told The Missouri Times about $40 million of the overpayments came from the state whereas $108 million was from federal funds. 

Missouri ended federal pandemic-related unemployment benefits by June 12 in an effort to encourage more Missourians to rejoin the workforce amid nationwide labor shortages. 

This story has been updated. 

Kaitlyn Schallhorn

Kaitlyn Schallhorn was the editor in chief of The Missouri Times from 2020-2022. She joined the newspaper in early 2019 after working as a reporter for Fox News in New York City.

Throughout her career, Kaitlyn has covered political campaigns across the U.S., including the 2016 presidential election, and humanitarian aid efforts in Africa and the Middle East.

She is a native of Missouri who studied journalism at Winthrop University in South Carolina. She is also an alumna of the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C.

Contact Kaitlyn at kaitlyn@themissouritimes.com.

The post Missouri unveils waiver for federal coronavirus unemployment overpayments appeared first on The Missouri Times.

Parson called on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to assist in Preliminary Damage Assessments (PDAs) in 17 counties. The teams will survey the damage of last month’s storms and flooding in preparation for an official request for assistance. 

“The extremely heavy rains that affected Mid-Missouri in late June resulted in flash flooding that caused significant and costly damage to roads, bridges, and other public infrastructure,” Parson said. “[Missouri State Emergency Management Agency] has continued to communicate with our local partners about damage estimates, and it is clear that a number of counties have sustained high levels of destruction and response costs and that Missouri is approaching the levels required to qualify for federal disaster assistance.”

The surveys will be conducted in Andrew, Boone, Buchanan, Caldwell, Callaway, Carroll, Chariton, Clinton, Cooper, Holt, Howard, Lincoln, Livingston, Moniteau, Montgomery, Ray, and Saline counties. Additional counties will likely be added to the request, according to the Governor’s Office. 

Storms caused extensive flash flooding in some parts of the state in the latter part of June, making their way to the capital city as the legislature reconvened for a special session. Flash flooding waylaid drivers and led to power outages across central Missouri. 

If approved, the Joint Damage Assessment teams will be made up of local emergency personnel, FEMA, and the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA). Teams survey local storm damage and estimate recovery costs. 

The survey would be the first step toward a Federal Emergency Declaration from the president, which requires certain damage thresholds on both a state and county level. 

The federal government approved a similar request after severe flooding in 2019, providing assistance to 25 counties impacted by the storms. However, Missouri is recovering at a pace faster than in past years, according to Parson.

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The Republican executive partially vetoed several appropriations bills, cutting line items amounting to nearly $115 million. The remaining budget emphasizes education, workforce development, and infrastructure, priorities of Parson’s administration. Cuts include allocations for charter school maintenance and incentives for state employees. 

“When the 2021 legislative session began, Missouri was still experiencing some of the hardest days of the global COVID-19 pandemic, which affected every state agency and Missourian,” Parson said. “Yet, the Missouri General Assembly stayed the course and delivered a balanced budget that responsibly allocates taxpayers’ hard-earned money.”

Here’s a look at some of the items vetoed from this year’s budget and what the state’s chief executive kept intact. 

What was vetoed?

A $5 million allocation of general revenue funds for deferred maintenance grants for charter schools was struck out; in his veto letter, the governor said the language was “unfairly limiting access to K-12 schools” and deferred maintenance was the responsibility of the charter sponsor, not the state. An additional $12.3 million was vetoed from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) budget, cutting a workforce diploma program for adults without a high school diploma, performance improvement initiatives, and teacher recruitment efforts in rural schools. 

Budget Stabilization funds also saw several cuts: Parson vetoed $2 million for the design and construction of a center for rural health innovation, an expense he said was “inappropriate under a capital improvements bill.” An additional $1.9 million for a non-profit innovation district for streetscape improvements, as well as two other local projects, were also cut due to their “minimal statewide or regional impact.”

Additional security for each chamber of the legislature was also vetoed, with more than $300,000 in general revenue and two security staff cut from the budget. Parson said the allocation would be duplicative given the work of Capitol Police. 

An additional veto cut $24 million to enhance pay rates for Department of Mental Health employees, as well as a $100,799 boost to the Department of Social Services’ director’s pay. 

Parson also cut general revenue funds earmarked for performance incentives for employees across the various state departments, totaling more than $5 million. Parson said alternative incentive structures were being considered in their place. State workers will also see a 2 percent raise. 

What did Parson sign off on?

The budget included several items related to infrastructure, a focal point of Parson’s administration. More than $154 million was earmarked for the State Road Fund, $10 million to increase broadband access to underserved areas, and $15 million for low-volume road maintenance and repair. 

The appropriations also include substantial investments in education and workforce development, including $252 million for the state’s new Office of Childhood, $13 million for the A+ Program, and $8.5 million for the fully-funded Foundation Formula. 

Additionally, Parson approved more than $30 million to recruit new employees for the departments of Mental Health and Corrections, as well as public defenders. 

The FRA

Parson moved on the budget shortly after approving a bill renewing the state’s Federal Reimbursement Allowance (FRA), a tax on health care providers that receives a federal match; failure to renew the tax would have resulted in a loss of up to $5.7 billion in federal funding. The legislature concluded an extraordinary session dedicated to the renewal Wednesday, passing a three-year renewal to avoid more than $755 million in withholds Parson warned of last week. 

“With billions of dollars in jeopardy and millions of livelihoods at stake, the majority of legislators put narrow political interests aside and passed an FRA renewal bill that protects Missouri’s most vulnerable populations and builds on our pro-life principles,” Parson said. “Without their efforts, we would be announcing unprecedented budget restrictions rather than these historic investments. To all those who helped get FRA across the finish line: We appreciate your work.”

The vetoes did not include items listed in Parson’s warnings, which ranged from major cuts to four-year universities to foster care and adoption services. 

Medicaid expansion, another battle in the legislature this year, is also absent from the budget. The issue is set to be addressed by the Missouri Supreme Court later this month.

The legislature signed off on its budget the week before the end of the regular session. Lawmakers will return in September to assess Parson’s vetoes. 

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The General Assembly passed a nearly clean FRA renewal package before the governor’s July 1 deadline but adjourned without advancing a bill from Rep. Nick Schroer that would prohibit public funds from going toward abortion facilities, affiliates, or associates. The bill would also enshrine the Hyde Amendment in Missouri in case of any potential actions at the federal level to repeal it. 

The House third read and passed Schroer’s bill Wednesday, kicking it to the Senate. 

But instead of taking it up during this special session, Senate GOP leadership said it would work with the House and the Governor’s Office “in the weeks and months to come to take definitive action to make these initial actions permanent,” noting their legal team said the session needed to be fully completed by Friday in order for the FRA package to tack effect by the end of September. 

The joint statement from Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz and Majority Floor Leader Caleb Rowden also said they would establish an Interim Committee on Medicaid Accountability and Taxpayer Protection to study the MO HealthNet program and work on the “continued protection of unborn life” in the state. 

Sen. Bill White has been picked to chair the committee with Sen. Karla Eslinger serving as vice chair. Other members include Sens. Mike Bernskoetter, Justin Brown, Mike Cierpiot, Bill Eigel, Elaine Gannon, Lauren Arthur, Jill Schupp, and Karla May. 

But some conservative members of the legislature were miffed by the announcement.

“The decision to adjourn is one that should be made by a majority of the members — not a minority of two,” Sen. Mike Moon, a member of the Conservative Caucus, told The Missouri Times. 

Sen. Bob Onder was perhaps the most vociferous supporter of adding language targeting abortion providers — specifically, Planned Parenthood — when the FRA renewal package was in the upper chamber. He attempted to attach an amendment to the FRA bill that would outright prevent Medicaid coverage for abortion providers and their affiliates, but it was defeated in a roll call vote with 11 Republicans joining all Democrats in defeating it.

Both Moon and Onder said leadership’s decision not to take up HB 2 “certainly doesn’t help” fracturing within the GOP. 

“I was especially disappointed that they did not consult with the caucus over this issue. It’s my understanding that House members were being told this morning that we would indeed be taking up HB 2,” Onder said. “There seems to be a great deal of will not to defund abortion providers during this extraordinary session. It’s hard to see how things will be different next session — I hope they are — but I don’t know how the dynamics are going to change.” 

“There was no reason we couldn’t have renewed the FRA and defunded abortion providers at the same time. All the arguments against it will still be there next session,” he continued. “I think there was a great will to get an FRA done that keeps money flowing to abortion providers and those who sought to do that accomplished their wish.” 

Eigel, the only Conservative Caucus member appointed to the interim committee, said on Twitter: “I just found out the Senate would adjourn without considering a defund of Planned Parenthood on HB 2. This is a disappointing day as many senators were not even asked for their opinion on adjournment.”

In a statement to The Missouri Times, Sen. Denny Hoskins echoed his fellow Conservative Caucus members’ sentiments of disappointment and the lack of consultation. 

Rowden defended the move as a “tough (and quick) decision” leadership had to make when faced with the possibility prolonging session could jeopardize the FRA extension altogether. 

“When you are in these leadership roles, there are no easy decisions. We didn’t expect everyone to agree with us — and that’s OK,” Rowden said. “Leaders lead even in tough moments, and that is exactly what Sen. Schatz and I did today.” 

Republicans squabbled over their pro-life bona fides during the special session called to renew the FRA. Some GOP lawmakers stressed the importance of renewing the Medicaid tax so some of the most vulnerable Missourians could continue to receive health care; others were steadfast in their beliefs the legislature needed to do more to tackle Planned Parenthood funding in the wake of a 2020 Missouri Supreme Court ruling preventing the legislature from defunding abortion providers through the budget. 

“I am incredibly disheartened and disappointed in the Senate neglecting to uphold their promise to Missourians that they will protect life at all levels,” Schroer told The Missouri Times. “Both Gov. Parson and the Missouri House made good on that promise, and we both took necessary action to stop taxpayer dollars from going to Planned Parenthood. Unfortunately, the Senate’s abhorrent failure to take up the monumental HB 2 is resulting in our hard-earned tax dollars going toward abortion providers and their affiliates as they continue to refer Missouri women to the death mill known as the ‘Hope Clinic’ just across the river.”

The FRA program taxes providers — covering hospitals, nursing homes, ambulances, pharmacies, and facilities for the intellectually disabled — which is then matched by federal dollars at a higher rate, reimbursing providers and leaving the state with extra money by reducing the burden on the state’s Medicaid program. 

Gov. Mike Parson signed SB 1 later Wednesday, extending the FRA by three years. He had warned he would have to withhold a “detrimental” $722 million from across state government, including to education and foster care services, if it was not renewed. He said failure to reauthorize the FRA would lead to a loss of $591 million in 2022 and $788 million in 2023. 

“With billions of dollars in jeopardy and millions of livelihoods at stake, the majority of legislators put narrow political interests aside and passed an FRA renewal bill that protects Missouri’s most vulnerable populations and builds on our pro-life principles,” Parson said. “To all those who helped get the FRA across the finish line: We appreciate your work.” 

Missouri Right to Life, on the other hand, praised the five senators and 13 representatives who voted against the FRA bill sans pro-life protections in its own statement Wednesday evening. 

Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman was one legislator who voted against the FRA because, as she said, she refused to “cave to those who had already surrendered this opportunity” to include pro-life language. She said she would pre-file the language of HB 2 as soon as she can. 

“As a mother, a Catholic, a conservative, and a woman I made a promise to the people of Jefferson County that I would take every advantage of every chance I had every day I represented them to end abortion in Missouri,” Coleman said.

Kaitlyn Schallhorn

Kaitlyn Schallhorn was the editor in chief of The Missouri Times from 2020-2022. She joined the newspaper in early 2019 after working as a reporter for Fox News in New York City.

Throughout her career, Kaitlyn has covered political campaigns across the U.S., including the 2016 presidential election, and humanitarian aid efforts in Africa and the Middle East.

She is a native of Missouri who studied journalism at Winthrop University in South Carolina. She is also an alumna of the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C.

Contact Kaitlyn at kaitlyn@themissouritimes.com.

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