The Missouri House on the last day.

Missouri lawmakers concluded Friday, May 16, a legislative session marked by the Republican majority approving several of their priorities and derailing key efforts by Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon.

Republicans were able to override the governor's veto of a tax-cut package that had been a key item in the GOP agenda at the start of the session.

For Nixon, two of his major legislative proposals died in the legislature.

Like the previous year, his plan to expand Medicaid health-care coverage for adults earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level made little progress in the legislature.

In the House, the idea was rejected by a near party-line vote. In the Senate, a Medicaid expansion amendment offered in the closing days was killed by a filibuster.

Nixon's call for stronger laws on special interest money in politics and government got almost no attention in the legislature.

A brief debate on the issue was derailed by arguments as to whether the ethics bill should contain a provision re-instating voter-approved limits on how much a person can contribute to a political campaign.

Despite vehement opposition from Nixon, the legislature approved a phased-in tax cut for business and income tax payers that legislative staff estimate ultimately will cut taxes by $620 million. Nixon had warned that a drafting mistake in the bill eventually could lead to a $4.8 billion loss of tax revenues.

Nixon's veto of the plan was overridden with the help of a lone House Democrat who voted against the governor's veto.

The business and income tax phased-in cuts will not start until 2017.

But because each phase of the tax cuts requires a substantial revenue growth in a prior year, some legislators have predicted it could take decades before full implementation of the tax cuts.

At a post-session news conference, Nixon declined to comment in detail on his various legislative defeats. Instead, Nixon charged that lawmakers had passed in the closing hours a package of tax cuts that could cost the state more than $800 billion per year.

Nixon, however, did get legislative approval for his call to provide funding to rebuild the decades-old facilities at the Fulton Mental Health Hospital. And he won legislative approval for major increases in the education budgets -- if state tax collections grow faster than legislative budget leaders predict.

A gun-rights bill similar to one he vetoed last year died as a result of a dispute between House and Senate Republicans as to the details of the bill. By the time a compromise was reached and approved by the House, less than 20 minutes remained in the session for Senate approval -- making it an easy victim of a Democratic filibuster that blocked a Senate vote by the time of the 6pm mandatory adjournment.

Major issues approved by the legislature in 2014 include:

• Tax Cuts: In addition to the broad business and income tax cuts approved by overriding the governor's veto, a large number of tax breaks for various separate interests were adopted including sales tax exemptions for business purchase of power, personal seat licenses for stadiums, sales of some used cars and fast-food restaurant sales. Gov. Jay Nixon charged that the total cost of these tax breaks passed on the legislature's last day could reach $883 million per year. That would be higher than the $620 million in phased-in tax cuts the legislature had approved earlier in the year.
• Transportation Tax: Lawmakers submitted to Missouri voters a proposal for a ten-year increase in the sales tax of 3/4ths of a penny per dollar to fund transportation projects. If approved, the constitutional amendment would prohibit any increase in the gasoline tax and any toll road efforts by the Transportation Department during the ten-year period.
• Abortion: The legislature approved a measure to expand the required waiting period before a woman can have an abortion from 24 hours to 72 hours after contacting a physician and being advised about the procedure.
• Unaccredited Schools: A measure designed to reduce the costs of student transfers from unaccredited schools in St. Louis County and Kansas City cleared the legislature. The bill would impose restrictions in the right of students in unaccredited school districts to attend accredited districts of their choice. The measure includes a provision for coverage of some tuition costs for private school attendance in limited circumstances -- a provision attacked by the governor. The proposal also would prohibit what critics term "social promotion" of students.
•  Early Childhood Education: In separate education bill passed on the legislature's last day, lawmakers authorized funding to local schools for programs serving lower income children too young for kindergarten. Supporters argued it would help address some of the problems young children face in the state's unaccredited school districts.
• Child Protections: Missouri lawmakers approved two bills to protect minors from potential health hazards. One bill would prohibit the sale of e-cigarettes, or tobacco vapor devices, to minors. The other bill would require parental consent before a minor could use a tanning facility.
• School Prayer: Lawmakers voted to give students the right to organize prayers in school.
• Business Items: Lawmakers approved a couple of measures pushed by business interests. One would expand when a worker would be disqualified for unemployment compensation to include being fired for conduct off the job. Another bill would reduce the number of weeks of unemployment compensation eligibility when the unemployment rate drops below nine percent. Also passed was a ban on the Kansas-Missouri tax war in which Missouri was awarding tax breaks for Kansas area businesses to move from Kansas to Missouri.
• Common Core: Missouri's Education Department would be prohibited from adopting the national Common Core standards for school curricula under a measured passed on the last week. Instead, panels would be created to write a replacement set of standards during a two year period.
• Food Stamps: The legislature approved a welfare measure long-sought by Democrats that would allow resumption of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance ( Food Stamps) for persons convicted of drug offenses under some circumstances such as completion of a substance abuse program.
• Governor's Budget Powers: The legislature placed on the ballot constitutional amendment give the legislature power to overturn budget withholdings and delayed expenditure decisions by the governor. A state Supreme Court decision held that after the governor signs a budget item, he has almost unlimited power to block spending of the money without any review by the legislature.
  

Except for the tax cut with a veto overridden by the legislature, it's now up to Missouri voters on the constitutional amendments and the governor on the other issues to decide which actually will become law.

Major issues that died in the legislature include:

• Contribution and Lobbyist Limits: Despite repeated calls for action by the governor and secretary of state, measures to impose limits on campaign contributions and lobbyist expenditures got little attention in the General Assembly. Before the session began, Nixon had joined with a Republican senator -- Kansas City's Will Kraus -- in calling for the changes. But the issue died after opposition in the Senate.
• Gun Rights: The effort to make Missouri exempt from some federal gun laws died for the second year in a row because of disputes among Republicans as to the details.
• Red Light Enforcement: A Senate filibuster blocked a measure to clear legal questions about the ability of cities to use automated cameras to catch and fine traffic light violators.
• Tax Credits: For another year, lawmakers failed to impose cuts in the growing amount of money the state is losing in tax credits to developers -- primarily for low income housing projects and preservation of historic buildings. Nixon has called for reductions in tax credits for several years, but has encountered opposition in the House and among some in his own party in the Senate. A compromise tax cut bill that included tax credit reductions had been offered in the Senate to gain the governor's approval, but it was abandoned after Republicans argued for just a tax cut.
• Right to Work: The proposal to prohibit requiring a person to join a union or pay union fees to get a job never made it out of the House. It won first-round approval, but without enough votes that would be required for the final vote to send the bill to the Senate. So supporters never brought it up again. While promoted by some Republicans, the measure faced significant opposition among Republicans and did not enjoy total support from business.
  

Gov. Jay Nixon issued a scathing attack on state lawmakers for passing a package of special interest tax breaks in their closing hours that he charged could cost the state as much millions of dollars in lost taxes each year.

"The General Assembly today passed tax breaks for fast-food restaurants, power companies, personal seat licenses at stadiums, dry cleaners and the list goes on and on and on," Nixon said at a post session news conference less than one hour after the session adjourned.

Nixon's budget staff were still evaluating the total price tag, but estimated the various tax cuts would cost the state between $263 million to $883 million per year.

The tax breaks were contained in eight bills passed by the legislature. Some did not start as major tax breaks, but had tax-break amendments added later on in the process. Some of those tax break additions bore little relationship to the original purpose of the bill.

For example, one bill that started out as a simple requirement for the Revenue Department to notify merchants of changes in sales tax rules became a tax break package that the governor's staff estimates would cost the state up to $77 million per year. That bill included the stadium personal seat licenses tax break.

Nixon charged that one amendment "slipped in at the last minute" did not even get a cost estimate by legislative staff as normally is required for legislation.

"It took them less than a week, one day today, to abandon all fiscal restraint and to blow up their own budget with hundreds of millions of dollars in special tax breaks, not a penny of which are paid for," Nixon said Friday night.

Nixon has the power to veto all of the bills he cited, but the governor would not make a definite commitment as to whether he would veto all the bills, withhold budget appropriations to cover the lost taxes or both.

The eight bills cited by the governor are:

• HB 1296
• HB 1865
• SB 584
• SB 612
• SB 662
• SB 693
• SB 727
• SB 860

A Senate filibuster in the closing 20 minutes of the legislative session killed the measure that would have declared some federal gun laws and regulations invalid in Missouri.

Legislative action had been delayed until the last hour by a House-Senate dispute among Republicans over how tough to make penalties for federal workers who enforced federal provisions declared invalid under the bill.

The measure passed by the Senate would have subjected federal officials who enforced those gun laws to civil lawsuits and banned them for life from law enforcement employment with Missouri or local government.

The House version removed the employment ban, as did the last-day House-Senate conference committee version that got filibustered to death.

Last year, the governor had vetoed a similar bill citing a section that would have made a federal worker subject to state criminal prosecution for enforcing federal gun laws that the state bill declared invalid. That provision was removed in both versions of the 2014 bill.

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Lawmakers have reached a deal on a bill to nullify federal gun laws and establish sanctions against law enforcement who enforce federal gun laws.

The bill, called the Second Amendment Preservation Act, stalled in the Senate Thursday afternoon when Sen. Brian Nieves, R-Franklin, expressed major concerns with the House version of the bill for stripping language about punishments for law enforcement who violate the act's provisions.

However, Senate leadership declined to say whether or not the bill will be brought up before 6pm.

A similar bill was vetoed last year by Gov. Jay Nixon. Nixon's veto was overriden by the House, but the Senate failed to override.

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Missouri voters will have the chance to add a provision to the state constitution this fall barring unreasonable search and seizure of electronic communications.

If passed, the measure would extend the same rights given to personal documents to electronic data such as emails. The proposal, which will be seen on the November ballot, needs a simple majority to become law and would go into effect a month after the election.

Rep. Paul Curtman, R-Pacific, was the bill's House handler and said the decision has broad support among voters.

"I think that it makes perfect sense that if our hard copy data is protected form unwarranted searches and seizures that our electronic data also should be." he said.

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The Missouri House passed legislation on Friday, May 16, providing some funding for preschool in unaccredited Missouri school districts.

The bill also defines which ages can attend preschool and which ages are covered under early childhood education.

The House passed its version of the bill back in February, however modifications made in the Senate required another vote to pass the bill.

The bill passed the Senate 25-6, and the House passed it almost unanimously with 143 votes in favor.

The legislation is expected to be signed by Gov. Nixon in the coming days.

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The Missouri Senate voted to eliminate Common Core Standards in Missouri over three years, sending the bill to Governor Jay Nixon.

The legislation would establish two, 14 member committees to write the state's education standards in place of the controversial Common Core Standards. Under the bill, local school districts would also be able to write their own standards to complement the state's standards.

Sen. David Pearce, R-Warrensburg, is chair of the Senate Education Committee and praised the bill's sponsor Sen. Ed Emery, R-Lamar, for getting the bill passed.

"You took a very, very emotional issue one that people are very passionate about on both sides and worked together to come up with a good compromise." he said.

A spokesman for Nixon declined to comment on the matter Thursday night.

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A bill banning the enforcement of federal gun laws in Missouri was stopped in the Missouri Senate on Thursday because of changes made to the bill by the House.

Senator Brian Nieves, R-Franklin, said the changes made by the House have effectively killed any chance of it passing unless the House backs of its position.

"I want to make sure the world understands, that if the Second amendment preservation act dies, it dies at the hand of the House." Nieves said.

A similar bill was passed last year by lawmakers but was vetoed by Governor Nixon but lawmakers were unable to override Nixon's veto.

Representative Doug Funderburk, R-St. Peters, was not in the capitol on Thursday and unavailable for comment.

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The Missouri House passed an overhaul of the student transfer system 89-66 Thursday.

The bill restricts students abilities to transfer out of unaccredited school districts and into better schools in an effort to save unaccredited districts from bankruptcy. Right now, unaccredited districts like Normandy and Riverview are responsible for the transportation of students within the district to another school of the students choosing. The sending district is also responsible for the cost of tuition.

The new proposal would put parents in charge of finding a way to get their kids to different schools and would put a cap on the amount a receiving school district could charge Normandy or Riverview for tuition. The cap is set at 70 percent of tuition, but a receiving school district could theoretically accept less money than is mandated.

"If we continue on and let receiving districts charge full tuition, we're going to continue to bankrupt these sending districts like Normandy, and we're going to be writing checks from now on in terms of filling their funding because they can't spend more money than they take in and continue to survive," Rep. David Wood, R-Versailles, said.

Reasons for the bills opposition vary. Some lawmakers don't like that the proposal includes vouchers for students in unaccredited districts to eventually transfer to private schools. Gov. Jay Nixon has voiced concern over using public money to put toward private education. Democrats argue the bill hurts the students in unaccredited districts the most.

"They keep bringing up these poor black kids in Normandy, these poor black kids in the Riverview school district," Rep. Clem Smith, D-St. Louis, said. "And (they say) we've got to save them, but this bill doesn't do it."

The bill now moves to Nixon's desk for final approval. The measure passed the Senate, but not the House with a veto-proof majority.

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The final version of measure to expand the waiting period before a woman can have an abortion was cleared by the House and sent to Gov. Jay Nixon Wednesday, May 14.

The measure would require a woman to have contacted a physician and be informed about the consequences 72 hours before an abortion could be performed.

Current law imposes a 24-hour waiting period.

Supporters stress the bill simply provides more time for a woman to consider the decision.

"This does not make it illegal, it doesn't restrict access. It simply says we want additional time to be reflective" said the chair of the House Health Policy Committee -- Rep. Keith Frederick, R-Rolla -- when he presented the companion bill to his committee in January.

But during the Wednesday night House debate, an opponent charged a different motivation.

"Those of us who oppose this bill believe it is designed to demean and shame a woman in an effort to change her mind," said Rep. Judy Morgan, D-Jackson County.

This does not make it illegal, it doesn't restrict access. It simply says we want additional time to be reflective" said the chair of the House Health Policy Committee -- Rep. Keith Frederick, R-Rolla -- when he presented the companion bill to his committee in January.

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Missouri's House Speaker released findings Wednesday, May 14, that for the past few years Gov. Jay Nixon has used funds appropriated for the Child Protection Agency to pay membership dues to the National Governors Association.

Financial figures show that Nixon used more than $205,000 appropriated to the Children's Division fund to help pay for the Governor's Association dues.

House Speaker Tim Jones said this situation is disturbing.

"Apparently for the governor, despite what he says on his campaign stops around the state, he has made children his lowest priority, not his highest priority," Jones said.

In a written statement, Nixon said the speaker and budget chairman are well-aware of the funding because its been the same source for several years.

Nixon said this situation is a desperate distraction as the legislation session draws to a close.

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Missouri's House approved for this year's statewide ballot a sales tax increase for transportation of 3/4ths of a penny per dollar.

If approved by Missouri voters, the tax would remain in effect for ten years unless Missouri voters subsequently approved a ten year extension of the tax.

Transportation Department officials have warned the state lacks sufficient funds from existing highway taxes and federal funds to maintain the state's existing system.

The measure approved by the legislature includes ballot language that the proposal would generate $480 million per year for state transportation needs and another $54 million for local government transportation.

"The roads will continue to get worse if we don't find some sort of way to improve our funding," said Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City.

Before joining the Senate, Kehoe had been a member of the state Highways Commission.  "If we do not find additional funding by 2017, MoDOT's [the state Transportation Department's] budget will be so low that it does not have enough just to maintain the roads you're driving on," Kehoe said.

One of the House opponents did not dispute the need for more transportation money, but argued that a sales tax was unfair to Missourians who do not own cars and do drive, such as elderly residents in his district.

"While the truckers that are coming across the roads and tearing up the roads aren't going to pay anything extra," said Rep. Keven Engler, R-Farmington. "Typically they only stop in at truck stops, they don't stop to buy anything that is going to be taxed by this higher sales tax."

It will be up to the governor as to whether to place the measure on this year's August primary ballot or the November general election ballot.

The original proposal would have been a full penny-per-dollar sales tax increase, but the Senate lowered that in order to soften opposition.

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During his Tuesday afternoon press conference, Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon hit Republicans for refusing to expand Medicaid.

"Our economy is moving forward, but not nearly as fast enough, and there is a clear reason why: the legislature's continued failure to strengthen and reform Medicaid," Nixon said.

Nixon called on Republicans to expand Medicaid before they go home to their districts.

"I ask that they take action to prevent further damage to our economy and bring affordable health care to working Missouri families in Missouri," Nixon said. "It's the smart thing to do, it's the right thing to do, and this year, the consequences are very, very real."

Columbia Republican Sen. Kurt Schaefer said Nixon doesn't realize what expanding Medicaid would mean for Missouri.

"The governor doesn't seem to have any concern about the long term sustainability of the cost of Medicaid expansion," Schaefer said. "It's simply unsustainable."

When asked if Nixon's call for last-minute Medicaid expansion would happen, Schaefer all but shut that possibility down.

"I think there's no chance of it this session," he said.

If the legislature does decide to do something about Medicaid, they have until Friday at 6 p.m. to do so.

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A House-Senate conference committee tentatively agreed that parents would have to pay the transportation costs for a student who transferred out of an unaccredited district.

"We seriously curtailing the number of students who will transfer," warned Rep. Rick Stream, R-Kirkwood.

For children in the unaccredited north St. Louis County district Normandy, Stream said the transportation costs would be prohibitive for parents to get their children in accredited districts in south St. Louis County or St. Charles County.

"These parents do not have the financial wherewithal to transfer, to drive out to Kirkwood or Melhville or certainly Francis Howell on their own dime," Stream told fellow members of the conference committee Tuesday, May 13.

On the other side, the Senate's bill sponsor said the transportation costs charged to unaccredited districts for students to move to other schools was creating a financial hardship for the districts that threatened putting them into bankruptcy.

Stream agreed with the financial problems and said he still intended to vote for the conference version, despite his concerns.

Just hours after the conference committee session, Gov. Jay Nixon attacked their proposal for retaining provisions by which an unaccredited school district could cover some of the tuition costs for a student to attend a nearby private school.

"I think it's important to have clear options available for those parents, but I don't think one of  those options is violating the Missouri Constitution, shifting what we have been since 1821 and spending public dollars on private schools," Nixon said.

While critical of the legislative approach contained in both the House and Senate bills, Nixon did not directly threaten a veto.

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Two of the four leaders in the Missouri General Assembly are barred from running for office again because of term limits: House Speaker Tim Jones and Senate Democratic Leader Jolie Justus.

Rep. Jacob Hummel, D-St. Louis City, will enter his final term as a House member should he win reelection this fall.

Justus, D-Kansas City, said her time in the Senate has been an adventure.

"As a legislator you build on a career of ups and downs," Justus said.

She also outlined her hope for the legislature once she leaves.

"My hope for this state is that we get a little more balance in the legislature, that we have more moderate folks whether they be Republican or Democrat and that they can work together to work with our future governors no matter what party they are," Justus said.

Jones also reflected on his time as House speaker and all that comes with that job.

"The responsibilities and burdens, the ups and the downs as speaker are so much greater in scope than any other position in the House," Jones said.

Hummel said his biggest takeaway is the learning curve lawmakers must go through.

"The learning curve is really really really important," Hummel said. "When you get here, you really have to sit down, pay attention, understand the legislation, and survey the legislature."

The session ends Friday, May 16 at 6 p.m.

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The Missouri House approved a measure that would allow the state to create new education standards in place of the federal Common Core standards. It is now one step away from becoming law.

The House debated changes made to the measure during a conference committee between House and Senate members. Changes seek to protect student privacy and student data.

"We had a really good compromise, and now we have an even better compromise," Genise Montecillo, D-St. Louis County said.

Montecillo also said when new assessments are brought in to the schools the test scores tend to drop, but said she believes this is not a reason to not move forward.

Rep. Jeanne Kirkton, D-St. Louis City, said her constituents feared this would impact the efforts they have already taken to implement common core.

But the bill's sponsor Rep. Kurt Bahr, R-St. Charles, said the state will have Common Core for the next two years and then the new standards will be implemented.

"The investments that the schools have had over these last few years are not in vain," Bahr said. "It is not a hard stop as I may have preferred originally at the beginning of session, but it is certainly a pathway forward for our schools and our students."

The measure would create "work groups" composed of education professionals to develop and recommend new academic performance standards to take the place of the federal Common Core standards. These work groups would be required to submit their recommendations for new standards to the State Board of Education by October 1, 2015. If approved, the standards would be implemented beginning in the 2016 school year.

The House rejected the emergency clause approved by the Senate, that would allow the measure to take effect immediately following passage.

The measure now awaits the signature of the governor before becoming law.

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In a past-midnight session, Missouri's Senate substantially scaled down a House plan to authorizing early voting.

As the constitutional amendment cleared the House, it would would hold early voting for eleven days a week before the election. Early voting would not be allowed on Sunday, leaving nine days when early votes could be cast.

The Senate version would cut the early voting to six days and exclude both Saturday and Sunday.

The measure's Senate sponsor -- Sen. Will Kraus, R-Jackson County -- said his purpose was to hold down costs to government from early voting.

Critics charged the proposal is an effort to sabotage an initiative petition proposal that has been submitted to the secretary of state.

That proposal would establish a six-week early voting period and include both Saturday and Sunday as days that early votes could be cast.

But the Senate plan declared invalid any law that conflicted with the Senate provisions unless it specifically referred to the legislature's constitutional amendment.

The measure now returns to the House for consideration of the Senate changes.

Because it is a constitutional amendment, the legislature's proposal would require voter approval to take effect.

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Senate Democrats ended a late-night filibuster on abortion restrictions saying if they did not, Republicans would take the rare step of shutting off debate in the chamber.

The measure approved by the Senate would impose a 72-hour waiting period before an abortion could be performed after a woman had contacted a physician. Current law imposes a 24-hour waiting period.

The vote came in a late night session that did not end until after midnight.

Previously, the Senate had rejected amendments to exempt rape and incest victims from the waiting period.

"Where did we get to this point that we are so heartless to not care about victims of rape," asked Sen. Jamila Nasheed, D-St. Louis.

But supporters argued that taking a life was serious enough that time should be given to consider the decision.

"The taking of life is an extraordinary thing," said Sen. John Lamping, R-St. Louis County.

The measure returns to the House for consideration of changes the Senate made in the bill previously approved by the House.

The vote came as a small group of opponents had gathered outside the Capitol, later huddling under an entrance alcove as heavy rain poured.

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Missouri's House sent Gov. Jay Nixon Monday, May 12, a measure that would shut the door on open doors to tanning facilities for children.

The measure would require the parent of a child under the age of 17 to sign a written statement at a tanning facility before the kid can use a tanning bed.

Jackson County Republican Representative Gary Cross sponsored the bill and it received wide bipartisan support across the House.

The final vote was 103-38 and the bill now heads to Gov. Jay Nixon's desk for his signature or veto.

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Votes on measures to allow automatic red light violation enforcement and to provide a package of tax breaks for developers were blocked by Senate filibusters Monday, May 12.

The red light enforcement bill was prompted by a court decision holding that any traffic violation must assess points a driver's license.

Since the photograph taken by most of the red-light enforcements camera takes a picture of only the license plate, there is no means to identify the actual driver. As a result, several cities have suspended the enforcement system pending legislative action.

But Sen. Brad Larger, R-Maryville, rose to voice his opposition.

"We still have freedoms and liberties, or we used to, and this big brother idea, this big brother state that where there's a red light camera, the speed camera...at some point, enough is enough," Lager said.

The package of business tax breaks hit a filibuster from Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph. He offered an amendment that just added a single column, and then proclaimed to the Senate he had no intention of calling for a vote on his amendment -- effectively announced he was going to kill the bill.

Schaaf argued it was unfair to pick winners and losers for business tax breaks.

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The House passed a bill Monday, May 12 that bans the sale of electronic cigarettes and vapor products to minors under the age of 18.

Columbia Republican Rep. Caleb Rowden sponsored the bill. He says this bill is the best measure that can be passed with what the public knows about e-cigarettes.

"It deals with what we can deal with right now given the information that we know," Rowden said. "I think it very much lines up with the FDA ruling that was made."

The ruling Rowden references was handed down by the FDA in April.

"E-cigarettes have not been fully studied, so consumers currently don’t know the potential risks of e-cigarettes when used as intended, how much nicotine or other potentially harmful chemicals are being inhaled during use, or whether there are any benefits associated with using these products," the report says.

Another provision of the bill subjects e-cigarettes and vapor products to state and local sales tax, but does not subject them to regulations or taxes of tobacco products.

Rep. Jill Schupp, D-St. Louis County, took issue with that part of the measure.

"We need to leave open that door so that we ensure once the research and information is in, if need be, not unnecessarily, but if need be, we have the opportunity then to regulate this," Schupp said. "This preemptive strike against the FDA trying to ensure that young people do not begin a nicotine habit by starting with e-cigarettes is kicked aside by this legislation."

The bill passed with a bipartisan majority vote of 127-19 and it now goes to the governor for his veto or signature.

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Tesla owners bring their cars to the statehouse.

House GOP leader John Diehl, R-St. Louis County, said Monday that the House would not take up a bill that would prohibit Tesla from directly selling it's all electric cars to sells directly to Missouri ustomer.

The bill, approved by the Senate and backed by the state association of auto dealers would have required Tesla to sell its vehicles through licensed dealers.

“You can’t have two sets of rules for the same type of business in the state of Missouri,” Rep. Glen Kolkmeyer, R-Odessa, said.

In protest, a group of about a dozen Tesla owners brought their vehicles to the grounds of the statehouse.

Liz Gattra, the Co-Organizer of the St. Louis Tesla Enthusiasts says Tesla is changing the way people buy cars.

“Consumers should have choices about how they purchase things, so giving the consumers the ability to chose whether they want to purchase a car through a dealer, or purchase directly from a manufacturer like Tesla does, it should be their choice they’ll decide whether it is a good idea or not,” Gattra said. “And the market will determine if that survives.”

Rep Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, does not only think this needs to be regulated but opposes the procedure of the measure.

“The procedure was abusive. You shouldn’t slip major changes into a law in substitutes where nobody knows what is happening,” Kelly said.

Diehl's decision to sideline the bill came after Kelly and the House Judiciary Committee chairman, Stanley Cox, announced their opposition.

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A sponsor of a measure that would add sexual orientation to Missouri's anti-discrimination law said the NFL draft has no direct affect of the bill.

The St. Louis Rams drafted Michael Sam making him the first openly gay man in the NFL.

The bill sponsor, Rep. Kevin Engler, R-Farmington, said Sam being drafted in the NFL is not going to cause the measure to be brought up during the last week the legislature is in session.

Engler said it has nothing to do with the piece of legislation.

"What we're trying to protect is a guy that's working in a welding shop," Engler said. "And it says he gets fired because of it for just cause. It's a little bit different."

Sen. Jolie Justus, D-Jackson County, sponsored a similar measure and she said any progress in the LGBT community helps this type of legislation.

"I think that every time someone comes out publicly and helps advance the issue of LGBT equality it always helps us," Justus said. "There's no question about that."

The measure was heard in a House committee back in March and no action was taken on it.

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Former Gov. Joe Teasdale, who had campaigned under the nickname "Walkin' Joe Teasdale," died Thursday, May 8, from pneumonia.

Teasdale was elected governor in 1976, defeating incumbent governor Kit Bond. He served four years, losing his reelection bid to bond Bond in 1980.

His 1976 campaign focused on consumer issues. He promised to fire the Public Service Commission that regulates utilities, charging the PSC did not adequately protect consumer interests.

When Teasdale was told he did not have legal authority to fire the utility regulators, he met with them shortly after taking office to ask for their resignations.

None quit, immediately. But eventually a seat opened up for Teasdale to appoint the first consumer advocate leader to serve on the PSC - Alberta Slavin.

Teasdale adopted the nickname "Walkin' Joe" for a low-budget gubernatorial campaign that promised to walk across the state to win over voters.

After his defeat for reelection, he returned to private law practice in Kansas City. Teasdale did not return to a statewide political role.

Prior to his election as governor, Teasdale had worked in the U.S. Attorney's office for western Missouri and later was elected as Jackson County's prosecutor.

Teasdale was 78 years of age.

With little controversy, Missouri's legislature passed the state's $26.4 billion operating budget Thursday, May 8 -- one day ahead of the deadline.

The measure does not include Gov. Jay Nixon's call for expanding Medicaid coverage to persons earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level.

Democrats also complained that the measure did not include enough funds for public schools.

Republican budget leaders in the legislature have argued that Nixon based his budget on tax-collection estimates that were unrealistic.

The governor's original budget proposal presented in January would boost state spending by 11.6 percent. The budget passed by the legislature scales that down to a 6.4 percent increase.

The budget covers what is called a fiscal year that begins July 1 of this year.

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Senate Democrats filibustered a voter ID bill Wednesday.

The measure by Rep. Stanley Cox, R-Sedalia, would constitutionally require Missourians to have a valid photo ID, i.e. a driver's license, in order to vote.

Sen. Jolie Justus, D-Jackson County, said her brother in-law could not vote in an election in California, where a similar law was passed. He had just moved and did not have a California driver’s license because his birth certificate was from Kansas.

“This was a guy that was born in Kansas, United States of America, who served his country as a proud Marine for 25 years, who, as far as I know had never missed an election ever, and all of the sudden he was faced with a situation where he was not going to be able to get his government issued photo ID for driving because he did not have a birth certificate" Justus said.

Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis City, was the most passionate Democrat talking about the bill.

“According to the Secretary of State, Mr. President, an estimated 220,000 registered voters do not have the ID required to vote," Nasheed said.

The filibuster ended just after Nasheed pounded a 5-Hour Energy.

The debate ended with no vote.

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The Senate removed a provision that was in the House’s version and then passed the new version of the measure.

Sen. Scott Sifton, D-St. Louis County, said the provision should be removed to ensure local law enforcement would not be restricted to enforce the bill.

Sen. Kiki Curls, D-Jackson County, said she was grateful for the measure.

“We just need to make sure our children are safe,” Curls said.

Sen. David Pearce, R-Warrensburg, said this will be the first time Missouri has ever imposed a penalty provision on tanning beds.

“I more than likely will oppose the measure just because of the infringement that we are doing mostly on small business and personal responsibility,” Pearce said. “I think we are somewhat taking that away.”

Arkansas requires parental consent. Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma have no restrictions.

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What started out as a debate over taxation quickly turned into a verbal sparring match as two House members exchanged personal attacks against each other.

Rep. Wanda Brown, R-Lincoln, and Rep. Jeremy LaFaver, D-Jackson County, exchanged insults back-and-forth as House members looked on and occasionally "ooh'd" and "ahh'd."

Brown offered an amendment creating the "Tax-Me-More Voluntary Fund" and explained it.

"Anyone that is disgruntled with a tax cut, they can donate money to the state of Missouri," Brown said. "There are no caps on the amount that someone can donate to the state of Missouri."

LaFaver took exception to Brown's amendment.

"This amendment is a political stunt," LaFaver said. "So there's nothing new that your bill does except for it creates a name so that you can get your name in the newspaper, maybe show up on The Daily Show."

When Brown asked LaFaver, "Would you like me to name transgressions?" LaFaver said "Let's dance," and Brown obliged.

"You know, my big transgression was being tricked," Brown said. "Yours was smoking dope on the way back from the Democratic caucus. So if you want to get personal, you've picked the right person."

LaFaver later responded to Brown's attack.

"I wasn't surprised by that," LaFaver said. "She is often out of line, but she was out of line again this time."

Despite repeated requests to get her side of the story, Brown refused to talk after the exchange.

Brown's amendment passed by a 102-39 margin and the underlying bill did pass the House by a 91-53 margin.

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Filibusters by Senate Democrats blocked a vote on a measure that would extend the waiting period before an abortion from 24 to 72 hours.

The bill's handler, Sen. David Sater, R-Cassville, said the measure was meant to give women more time to make an informed decision.

"A woman should deserve the right to have all the information necessary to make the best, informed consent she can live with in the future," Sater said.

But Democrats who blocked the vote argued it was an anti-abortion and an anti-women bill.

Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis City, and Sen. Paul LeVota, D-Independence, argued that each time the bill has been introduced it has been by a man.

"Basically what that man is saying, is that a woman cannot think for herself, so I'm going to help her with that. I'm going to make sure she waits 72 hours because she doesn't know how to choose," Nasheed said.

Sater said his bill was not an anti-abortion bill because it in no way changed the laws allowing women to receive abortions.

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Police escort the remaining protesters as senators watch

A visitor's gallery of singing and chanting protesters calling for Medicaid expansion led to the arrest of 23 by Capitol Police.

"Do your job. Expand Medicaid," is just one of the many chants heard from the Senate public gallery, Tuesday April 6.

"People are sick and dying while you all enjoy quality health care" said the demonstrators, primarily made up of clergy members.

When police arrived, most of the protesters agreed to leave. Those who did not were arrested, according to a spokesperson for Capitol Police.

If the purpose of the protest was to pressure the Senate into passing expansion of federally-funded health care for the lower income, it did not work.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Dempsey, R- St Charles, said that succumbing to that type of behavior will be unlikely as it could encourage similar behavior on future issues.

Capitol police escorted the last of the protesters out after about an hour of chanting.

A spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Public Safety confirmed that 23 arrests were made after protesters refused to leave.

They were not handcuffed nor taken into custody.

Further charges will be determined by local Cole County prosecutor, but a spokesperson for the prosecutor's office said they had not received information on the matter, yet.

 Rev. John Bennett, one of the individuals issued an active arrest warrant, said he called the protest a "rally for dignity", and a mission to save the lives of hundreds of Missourians.

The protest caused the Senate to suspend its session for about one hour late Tuesday morning.

House Republicans Tuesday, May 6,  joined the Senate in voting to override Gov. Jay Nixon's veto of the $620 million annual tax cut package.

A lone Democrat -- Rep. Keith English, D-St. Louis County -- assured Republicans of their victory. Republicans hold one seat less than the two-thirds necessary to override the governor's veto.

The House GOP leader -- Rep. John Diehl, R-St. Louis County -- called English's vote a bold decision. Both Diehl and the House speaker said nothing had been offered to English.

English has been unavailable for comment and appeared on the House floor only to cast the decisive vote and then quickly left.

In a written statement issued a day before the vote, English said the cuts would help both small businesses and workers.

Gov. Jay Nixon issued a statement calling the law "a very real threat to the principles of fiscal discipline."

But when the the major portion of the income tax cuts would take effect is unclear.

The law does not go into effect until 2017. Then, each of the five stages of cuts in the income tax rate requires a $150 million revenue growth in one of the prior three years.

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The Missouri House Committee on Government Oversight heard public testimony on the Senate sponsored bill that would allow drug felons to use food stamps.

Testifying for the bill is Christine McDonald, a convicted drug felon.

McDonald told lawmakers the current law is unfair.

“I could have gone into the dope house and shot five people and walked out and got out of prison one day and got food stamps,” said McDonald.

The bill requires convicts to join or have previously completed a drug abuse treatment program.

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Just hours after the Senate voted to override Gov. Jay Nixon's veto of the tax cut bill on a straight party-line vote, the House adjourned for the day without taking a vote on the measure

The House debated the bill for over an hour Monday, May 5, before Majority Leader Rep. John Diehl, R-St. Louis County, cut off debate.

During the debate, Rep. Genise Montecillo, D-St. Louis County, criticized the bill for the harmful effects she says the bill has on education.

"Every one of us in this body ran on education," Montecillo said. "We made a promise to support the education of the children in our state and once again, we are abdicating that responsibility."

Republican Rep. Bill White of Joplin disagreed with Montecillo's argument.

"To say that this tax bill is somehow going to directly result in a cut to education is ludicrous," White said.

Rep. Myron Neth, R-Liberty, said the bill is about helping small businesses.

"I don't understand this war on our businesses," Neth said. "We are willing to go and give a billion dollar tax cut to one company and we're not willing to go and give that same money to the very people who are the job creators in this state who will create jobs."

To override Nixon's veto, House Republicans needed each of their 108 members and 1 Democrat.

Republicans seemed to have one Democrat who was willing to support the bill when Rep. Keith English, D-St. Louis County, released a letter announcing his intention to support the bill.

However, not every Republican was present. Rep. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, was not present for any of the votes taken.

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Sen. Will Kraus during debate on his tax bill.

The Missouri Senate overrode Gov. Jay Nixon's veto on a tax cut bill, Monday, May 5.

Nixon vetoed the bill by Sen. Will Kraus, R-Lee Summit, Thursday, May 1.

Democrats showed little opposition to the override. Several focused on lack of funding for infrastructure and education.

“I want to collect enough revenue to pay for things we think are important,” Sen. Paul LeVota, D-Independence, said.

The final vote passed 23-8. The bill now moves to the House. If the House votes to override the veto, Kraus's tax cut bill will become law.

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People across the Show Me State who support eliminating teacher tenure signed a request to put the measure on the November ballot.

Teach Great, a group in support of the initiative, said it turned in more than 275,000 signatures to the Secretary of State's office Sunday. It is calling the teacher initiative campaign the "Teach Great Initiative."

Marc Ellinger, an attorney for Teach Great, said he wants to make sure good teachers are rewarded.

"The current system in Missouri provides that how long you've been a teacher is more important than whether you're successful as a teacher," Ellinger said. "And, we want to change that."

Opponents of the ballot measure said eliminating teacher tenure puts too much emphasis on standardized tests.

Mike Wood, a lobbyist for the Missouri State Teachers Association, said students would have to take additional standardized tests.

“It’s going to take away from their [students] learning time,” Wood said. “For the taxpayers, they’re going to have to pay for the bill for these additional tests.”

Wood said MSTA plans to start educating voters on what the measure means for them and for teachers and students in Missouri.

The Secretary of State’s office will now separate the signatures by county. County clerks will then verify the signatures to guarantee the proposals are eligible for the ballot.

Election officials have until early August to confirm the signatures.

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