Missouri Government News for the Week of March 31, 2008

A phase-in of the funding formula to distribute state dollars to public schools was debated between Representatives Allen Icet and Margaret Donnelly on this week's edition of the public television show Jeff City Journal.

The funding formula bill, which was passed in 2005, calls for a seven year phase-in which Democratic Representatives say is too long.

Get the radio story here

.	Missouri House members vote to ban new casino licenses for two years. (04/02/2008)

If this legislation passes, Missouri riverboat casinos will be unable to receive a casino license until the year 2010.

The bill specifically effects Kansas City, and the extreme competition with border rivals.

Democrats who oppose the bill say the gambling industry is profitable and popular, bringing in revenue to the state of Missouri.

Get the radio story here.

.	Senate rejects proposal removing attorney general's power over no-call list (04/02/2008)

The Missouri Senate adopted an amendment Wednesday to keep the status quo of the state do-not-call list. A bill expanding the provisions of the program put the Public Service Commission in charge of the list.

Majority Floor Leader Charlie Shields, R-St. Joseph, said the attorney general's office uses the success of the program to its political gain. Shields forced debate over the bill to conclude and laid it over to the informal calendar.

The next action remains unknown.

Get newspaper story here.

.	After months of delay, Missouri legislators finally got around to hearing the governor's plan for expanding health care (04/01/2008)

Missouri legislators were urged to consider a bill that would expand health care for lower income families under the Insure Missouri plan.

The plan would provide coverage opportunities to 200,000 uninsured Missourians.

Those that testified against it said transformation of the health care system would not be a successful approach for the low income population.

Get the radio story.

.	Bare-headed bikers get the OK from the Missouri House (04/01/2008)

The house gave first-round approval to a bill that would not require adults to wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Gary Dusenberg, R-Jackson County, would make that law for persons 21 years of age and older.

Opposing Rep. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, says this change would kill more Americans and leave Missourians paying for the cost.

Get the radio story here.

.	Death penalty moratorium faces uphill climb (04/01/2008)

A moratorium would be imposed on the Missouri death penalty with a bill from Rep. Bill Deeken, R-Jefferson City.

The bill would also create a 10-member bipartisan commission to analyze death penalty cases.

However, with only six weeks left in the legislative session, passing the bill will be an uphill battle.

Get the radio stories here.
Get the print story here.

.	The Senate votes to crack down in illegals (04/01/2008)

The Senate gave first-round approval to a package of provisions to block state services to illegal foreigners and toughen laws against hiring of illegals.

The bill, however, takes a two-sided approach.

It also would grant immunity for someone to drive an illegal to a hospital or a soup kitchen. And it would allow some illegals to remain enrolled in public universities and junior colleges.

The measure faces one more Senate vote before going to the House.

.	The House passes a constitutional amendment limiting local property tax increases (04/01/2008)

The Missouri House passed a proposed constitutional amendment with an overwhelming majority that would limit local property tax increases.

Sponsor of the bill, Rep. Charles Portwood, R-St. Louis County, says the proposed amendment is a broad-based package to bring tax relief to the voters.

Get the radio story here.

.	Senate finance hears a package of bills that would overhaul Missouri elections (03/31/2008)

With primary season in full swing, some Missouri senators are looking to complete major overhauls that could change election procedure in the state.

The Senate Financial Committee heard a package of election-reform bills Monday afternoon.

Get the newspaper story here.
Get the package of radio stories on independent candidates.
Get the package of radio stories on initiative petition efforts.

.	Alternative teacher certification bill brings opposition from professors, teachers' unions (03/31/2008)

During a House committee hearing, professors from William Jewell College and the University of Missouri-Columbia opposed a Senate bill allowing the American Board of Certification for Teacher Excellence to start a program in the state.

The committee passed the bill with a 6-1 vote.

Get the newspaper story here.

.	Initiative reform bill gains private support (03/31/2008)

The Senate Finance Committee heard from lobbyists for more than a half dozen interest groups Monday in favor of a bill that would require all petitioners to be Missouri citizens. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Mike Parson, R-Bolivar, said he had not lined up any of these witnesses.

The bill would also keep petitioners from being paid per signature and force them to carry only one petition at a time. Parson said these regulations would prevent fraud in the initiative process.

Get the radio stories.

.	Missouri representative draws a faint line between spectatorship and lawmaking (03/31/2008)

State Rep. Jeff Roorda, D-Barnhart, called Monday for a prohibition on tax credits for professional sports teams that do not place a minimum one-year ban on athletes who test positive for steroids.

However, the same day that he filed the bill that would keep money from these teams, Roorda was feeding money back into such organizations as he attended opening day for the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

Get the radio story here.

.	The Senate votes to let MOHELA issue loans. (03/27/2008)

The Senate gave first-round approval Thursday to a measure that would let the college loan agency originate up to 10 percent of federally backed loans for college students.

Currently, the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority can only purchase college loans issued by banks.

The right to originate loans would generate a higher rate of income for the agency. The bill was part of an agreement reached last year to gain approval for the governor's plan to use $350 million of the agency's assets for a statewide building construction program.

.	Missouri's House passes a $22 billion budget. (03/27/2008)

The House finished work Thursday on the state's operating budget, slashing about $100 million from the spending plan Gov. Matt Blunt had presented to lawmakers earlier this year.

House Democrats raised objections, arguing for more money for education and restoring cuts the administration had made in the Medicare program that provides health care coverage for the lower income.

On a near straight party-line vote, the House rejected a Democratic motion to reject the education budget in order to add more funds for local schools.

For some time, Republican budget leaders in the legislature had been arguing for scaling back the Republican governor's spending plans because of the predictions of a national economic downturn.

The House-passed budget now goes to the Senate.

Get the newspaper story on the higher education budget.
Get the budget.
Get the education budget roll call.
Get the welfare budget roll call.

.	Senate Democrats filibuster the nomination of a fellow Democrat (03/27/2008)

Senate Democrats blocked a confirmation vote on a top aid to former Congressman Dick Gephardt, D-St. Louis.

Kevin Gunn, Gephardt's former chief of staff, has been nominated by the Republican governor for a seat on the utility-regulating Public Service Commission.

Democrats filibustered the confirmation vote, arguing that Gunn still had an active campaign committee for political office.

The office Gunn had been seeking was a vulnerable Republican Senate seat now held by the chamber's president pro tem.

Republicans said the Democrats were upset because the nomination caused Gunn to drop his campaign for the Senate seat.

Get the radio story.

.	The Senate votes to require bio-diesel amid a split among rural lawmakers. (03/27/2008)

Rural lawmakers argued on both sides before the Senate passed a proposal to require bio-diesel for trucks, similar to the requirement imposed for gasoline in 2006.

Supporters argued requiring ethanol-based fuel helped farmers and reduced dependency on foreign oil.

But other rural lawmakers argued the ethanol requirement for cars has driven up the cost of corn feed for hogs and cattle. One legislator said it also was a cause for rising food costs.

Get the roll-call vote.

.	Missouri's college loan program hits financial problems (03/26/2008)

MOHELA's board is scheduled to consider holding off on a $5 million transfer of its assets to the state because of financial difficulties.

The Associated Press quotes the college loan board's executive director as saying the agency has lost $12.9 million.

The board has scheduled a Friday meeting to discuss aborting the scheduled transfer.

At the urging of Gov. Matt Blunt, legislators passed a plan in 2007 for transferring MOHELA assets to the state for a building construction program.

Under the plan, the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, the agency, provided the state with an immediate $230 of its assets. After that, MOHELA is to transfer $5 million every three months to the state for the next six years -- but with the right to stop a payment if financially necessary.

. Missouri's House begins work on a trimmed-down budget. (03/25/2008)

Gov. Matt Blunt's budget plans would be trimmed by about $100 million under a budget package the House began debating Tuesday.

The House is expected to spend much of the week working on the $22 billion spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

The governor's spending recommendations would spend most of a projected $506 million surplus in general revenue -- leaving slightly more than $50 million by the end of the next fiscal year. Legislative budget leaders have expressed concern that was too small a cushion given predictions of an economic downturn.

The House cuts may not be the end of the legislature's revisions to the governor's package. House Budget Committee Chairman Allen Icet said another $100 million is expected to be removed by the Senate -- so each chamber can take equal credit, or blame.

.	Lawmakers target sex offenders. (03/25/2008)

Sex-offender legislation dominated the lawmakers' agenda on their first day back after Easter break.

The Senate gave first-round approval to a constitutional amendment designed to allow registration of sex offenders convicted of sex offenses before the registration requirement became law.

The Senate proposal is in response to a state Supreme Court decision prohibiting retrospective application of the registration requirements convicted before the requirements had been passed.

Just a bit later, the Senate approved a measure that would require a registered sex offender to stay at home on Halloween night, turn off the outside lights and post a sign that no treats or candy are available at the residence.

On the other side of the statehouse, the House Crime Committee heard a registered sex offender argue that treatment programs can rehabilitate offenders.

The committee was reviewing bills that would bar registered sex offenders from being near public parks, swimming pools or day care facilities.

.	Missouri's governor releases a portion of demanded e-mails. (03/24/2008)

The Associated Press reported Monday that Gov. Matt Blunt's office has complied with some of the document demands from the attorney general's investigation.

The three-member team of the attorney general is investigating allegations of illegal e-mail destruction by the governor's office.

The AP reports the governor's office has released 2 of the 45 document requests by the investigation. But both sets of released documents involve records that others previously had requested from the governor's office.

Previously, the governor's office had told the investigating team it would cost them nearly $541,000 to cover the expenses in complying with the document requests. The governor's office then issued its own document demand for virtually every e-mail record held by the attorney general's office.

.	Jay Nixon seeks to stop the Missouri River spring rise. (03/24/2008)

Attorney General Jay Nixon filed a request with the U.S. district court in St. Louis seeking a restraining order to stop the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from proceeding with its plans for a "spring rise" on the Missouri River.

In 2004, the Corps had adopted plans for release of extra water held in upstream reservoirs in an effort to encourage spawning of the pallid sturgeon.

The state has been waging an ongoing battle against the plan, arguing resulting spring floods would harm Missouri property owners along the river and agriculture.

Nixon based his latest effort on the recent flooding. "A spring rise could cause or aggravate flooding of fields in parts of central and western Missouri that were not hit as hard by the rain, in addition to causing an entirely avoidable increase in misery for those Missourians who are being flooded out now," Nixon was quoted by his office as saying.

NewsBook: Missouri Government News for the Week of March 31, 2008