Missouri's Senate approved a $27 billion budget for state government after a lengthy argument about growing Medicaid expenditures and education spending.

The budget approved Thursday, April 7, covers the fiscal year that will begin July 1.

Total state spending would grow by 4.7 percent under the Senate plan -- slightly less than the 5.0 percent increase proposed by Gov. Jay Nixon and approved by the House.

For another year, the state would not meet the legal minimum that is supposed to be provided for the School Foundation Program that provides funds to local public schools.

Sen. Jill Schupp, D-St. Louis County, complained the 2.1 percent increase for primary and secondary education was too small.

"We're still not fully funding," charged the former school teacher. "We're still breaking our promise to our kids."

But Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, said that increased costs in Medicaid, which provides health care for the lower income, prevented a larger increase for education.

The total Social Services Department budget would grow by more than $600 million -- a 7.0 percent increase.

The legislature cannot cut spending in the budget for Medicaid and several other department programs that involve legally-defined services for which anyone who meets the qualifications are legally entitled.

Despite Schaefer's warnings about Medicaid spending, Democrats sought to remove language in the budget bill designed to prevent the administration from expanding the number of persons eligible for Medicaid.

That proposal was defeated by a near party-line vote.

Higher education fared better than primary and secondary education under the spending plan with a 5.6 percent increase under the Senate version of the budget.

The Senate restored all but $1 million in cuts to the University of Missouri's budget that the House had adopted in response to how the institution had responded to last fall's student protests.

The Senate's version retains a $1 million cut in the budget of the university system's budget.

The state's spending plan will now head to a House-Senate conference committee to work out their differences.

Lawmakers have until May 6 to complete action on the budget because of a constitutional provision prohibiting action on the budget during the final week of the legislative session that will conclude at 6 p.m. on May 13.

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By a straight party-line vote Thursday, April 7, the Senate Rules Committee members voted to order the top executive of St. Louis Planned Parenthood to appear before the state Senate on April 18.

The resolution, which now goes to the full Senate, calls for Mary Kogut to explain why her organization has failed to comply with a Senate subpoena demanding documents on abortions performed by the organization.

The legal counsel for the Senate's president pro tem -- Todd Scott -- called the resolution an "invitation" to discuss any objections to the formal subpoena that had been delivered to Planned Parenthood on Nov. 24, 2015.

But he also said that the penalty for failure to comply with the subpoena could include a fine and a sentence in the county jail.

St. Louis Planned Parenthood's attorney, Chuck Hatfield, argued before an earlier Rules Committee hearing on the resolution that the subpoena would violate federal privacy rights.

The Senate committee adopted a similar resolution demanding the appearance before the Senate of the owner of the pathology lab which handles the fetal remains of fetuses aborted at the Planned Parenthood facility.

Uber and similar taxi-hail alternative companies would be subject to state requirements under a measure approved by the House Thursday, April 7.

The regulations would require drivers or the companies to have auto insurance, post pictures of drivers on the digital application used to get rides and make the cars easily identifiable. The ride-sharing company also would be required to conduct criminal background checks on their drivers.

But some argued the bill did not go far enough.

"The reason regulations are in place is because people get hurt from time to time on bigger scales," said Rep. John Rizzo, D-Kansas City. "They're not isolated incidents."

The bill's opposition also said the lack of a requirement for drivers to serve low-income areas will hurt poorer citizens.

Those in favor of the bill said Uber and its competitors are bringing welcome competition to the industry.

"If we allow them to use the free market, it's going to create business and we'll be happy," said Rep. Mike Moon, R-Lawrence County. "If you don't like it, don't use it."

The proponents also said taxis are no safer than ride-sharing vehicles and create unnecessary regulations to save their monopoly.

Statewide regulations for ride-hailing companies like Uber would go into effect at the start of next year, if the law is passed.

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Daily fantasy sports websites, such as FanDuel and DraftKings, would be exempt from the state's gambling restrictions and gambling taxes under a measure approved by the House Thursday, April 7.

Supporters of the measure said the game is not gambling because a small amount of players make most of the money from the games.

"The argument is that this is not gambling, this is a game of skill, not dissimilar to someone who hones their craft as a college athlete becoming a pro to be paid for what they do," said Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia.

The bill's opponents said the games have a chance element and would take away from much needed education funding.

"We have casinos in the state of Missouri that are paying taxes toward education and we're giving a corporate carve-out to this particular special interest group and they're not having to pay the taxes for education," said Lyle Rowland, R-Cedarcreek.

The bill passed the House by a vote of 104-38. It now goes to the Senate.

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Missouri's House has voted to let adults ride motorcycles without helmets.

Those in favor of the bill said people should have the choice to wear a helmet or not.

"Thirty-one states in the nation do not require their riders to wear a helmet," said Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Springfield, and the bill's sponsor. "It's time that Missouri join those states and give our individuals freedom."

Supporters also said Missouri is losing tourism dollars to surrounding states that allow helmet-less cyclists. Rep. Delus Johnson, R-Andrew County, said a similar measure in Michigan was effective in bringing tourism back.

"They created 2,700 jobs in tourism because of the influx of motorcycle riders coming into that state," said Johnson.

Rep. Deb Lavender, D-St. Louis County, said the bill would also create jobs in the medical field.

"We can look at it as a jobs bill for hospitals, orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, and certainly physical therapists," said Lavender. "It does keep us in business."

Opponents added that the measure imposes a tax burden on the state's citizens, who would have to pay for the continued rehab and surgery for the unprotected in motorcycle accidents.

"We are going to pay for this," said Rep. Bill White, R-Joplin. "Your freedom ends where it encroaches on the rest of us, and this definitely encroaches on our tax dollars."

The measure, sent to the Senate Thursday, March 7, would retain the helmet requirement for those under 21 years of age, have not taken a motorcycle education course, have less than $50,000 in insurance coverage or have an instruction permit.

The bill passed the House Thursday, April 7, 103-43.

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While Missouri's Senate was debating the education budget, the Missouri Department of Education across the street was left in the dark -- literally. 

Power to the Jefferson State Office Building went out on Wednesday, April 6, and remained out for most of the day Thursday.

Among the few found in the facility Thursday was the Commissioner of Education, Margie Vandeven, who had to walk up several flights of stairs to reach her office.

"So yesterday, Wednesday around 2 p.m., the power went out," Vandeven said. "We have been notified that two breakers have blown, and that they will be repairing those, and we were anticipating that it would be returned this afternoon, but we aren't curtain at this point."

Employees of the department were told to stay home on Thursday, April 7th, due to lack of power.

"We currently do not have access to telephone services, electricity, and WiFi," Vandeven said. "So our employees are better off doing there jobs from home."

Power was restored later Thursday afternoon, at about 3:30pm, although one staffer said it took quite longer for computer systems to come back up.

The Jefferson Building is one of the state's larger offices in the Capitol complex.

As of late Thursday afternoon, the building is still without power. Vandeven went on to say that she is working closely with the electrical company to get the power turned back on, but does not know exactly when electricity will be restored.

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Missouri Senate passed a bill that will move to the House for a vote to increase the gas tax by 5.9 cents per gallon on Wednesday, April 6.

Missouri has one of the lowest gas taxes in the country, so if the bill passes in the House this could mean a big impact for Missouri citizens.

The measure would require statewide voter approval to take effect.

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JEFFERSON CITY - The Missouri Senate gave first round approval to a bill that would add restrictions as to when police can deadly force.

Current law authorizes deadly force if necessary to apprehend someone who has or is attempting to commit any type of felony crime. The bill approved by the Senate Wednesday, April 6, would narrow the provision to only felonies involving "serious physical injury" or the threat of such injury.

A similar measure in response to the August 2014 shooting of Michael Brown passed the Senate last year, but died in the House.

The legislation, approved Wednesday, April 6, also would add provisions under which a person could file a lawsuit for violation of constitutional rights. It also would authorize the attorney general to file a civil lawsuit on be half of a person whose constitutional rights had been violated.

Senate critics said they feared this could lead to increases in trivial lawsuits.

"The concern, ultimately, is that, if we have a new state cause of action that in any way is more lax than the federal standard, then our state courts would be flooded with potentially frivolous lawsuits," said Sen. Bob Onder, R- St. Charles County.

The bill requires another vote before moving to the House.

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The Missouri House looked at the benefits and disadvantages of potentially legalizing industrial hemp. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Paul Curtman, R-Union.

Supporters argued that industrial hemp would increase Missouri's revenue instead of having to import the product.

Representative Bob Burns from St. Louis County said growing industrial hemp would benefit Missouri farmers, but big corporations prevent some from voting in favor of the bill due to greed.

Opponents worry there would be issues down the line with farmers trying to deposit money from selling industrial hemp into banks.

Representative Sandy Crawford from Dallas County, who is in opposition of the bill, said with similar legislation passed in Colorado they saw banking issues.

"In Colorado with the legalization of marijuana those vendors cannot even put that money in banks," Crawford Said. "They actually take bags of money to the Department of Revenue in Colorado because they cannot bank that money."

The bill passed by a 98 to 40.

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A six month cooling off period before an elected state official could register as a lobbyist was agreed upon by House-Senate conference committee.

The conference version splits the difference between the House, which approved a one-year delay after the office term had expired, and the Senate approach that would allow a statewide elected official or legislator to begin as a lobbyist immediately after the office term had ended.

The conference committee adopted a Senate amendment that would make the revolving door policy apply to all elected officials from governor down, regardless of one's political ambitions for the following election.

The bulk of the debate was over the effectiveness and length of the proposed cooling off period.

Sen. Jason Holsman, D-Kansas City, said that other senators on the floor have raised concerns that the cooling off period would limit former elected officials from pursuing lobbying careers for which their legislative experience has made them qualified.

"I'm just worried and concerned that we're going to back here at some point in time with somebody who says this is a violation of my equal protection rights," Holsman said.

But Sen. Bob Onder, R-St. Charles County, said that citizens feel that the Senate's zero-day limit effectively removes the intention of the bill.

"You took the revolving door out of the revolving door," Onder said. "That's how the public perceives it, rightly or wrongly."

Though both the representatives and senators agreed a cooling off period would be beneficial, there were concerns about proposing a piece of legislation that would pass through the Senate.

The six month ban beginning at the end of the elected term, according to bill sponsor Rep. Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, serves as a compromise.

"I think for compromise sake the discussion of 'you have to sit out a legislative session,' and then you potentially have the summer and fall of that year to prepare yourself if you're going to move into a lobbying situation, you can set that up," Rowden said.

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The Missouri House passed a bill Tuesday, April 5 that will exclude online fantasy sports play from gambling regulations.

"No other state has legislatively assigned this as gambling or gaming," bill sponsor Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick, R-Shell Knob, said while defending this bill.

Representatives went back and forth, arguing whether or not online fantasy sports play falls under the same umbrella as traditional gambling.

"This is certainly a game of chance," Rep. Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, said.

The bill was passed at the conclusion of the hearing.

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A House measure would allow motorcyclists in the state to ride without a helmet, with minor restrictions.

Those in favor of the bill say people should be able to choose whether they wear a helmet. They also said the state is losing tourism dollars to surrounding states that allow cyclists to opt out of wearing helmets.

"Thirty-one states in the nation do not require their riders to wear a helmet," said Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Springfield, the bill's sponsor. "It's time that Missouri join those states and give our individuals freedom."

Opponents said the measure imposes a tax burden on the state's citizens, who would have to pay for the continued rehab and surgery for the unprotected in motorcycle accidents.

"We are going to pay for this," said Rep. Bill White, R-Joplin. "Your freedom ends where it encroaches on the rest of us, and this definitely encroaches on our tax dollars."

The bill includes some exceptions for riders under the age of 21, those who have not taken a motorcycle education course, those who have less than $50,000 in insurance coverage or have an instructional permit. All individuals included in those exceptions would still be required to wear a helmet.

The House bill passed by a close voice vote and needs one more affirmative vote to pass to the Senate.

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A measure to save an aluminum plant in Southeast Missouri needs one more vote before moving to the Senate.

The bill would allow aluminum manufacturer Noranda and its energy suppliers to work together to set an energy rate, almost completely bypassing government approval. It also provides for broad changes to Missouri's energy infrastructure through rate restructuring.

The Noranda aluminum plant in New Madrid has filed for bankruptcy and is currently undergoing court-ordered restructuring.

Ameren, a Missouri and Illinois energy company, is working to keep the Noranda plant functional. The aluminum company is Ameren's top consumer, consuming almost ten times more megawatts than the next-highest consumer, according to the News-Tribune.

Opponents argued the bill's changes to the energy rate-structure are too severe.

"This brand-new language makes a radical shift in the way utility rates are assessed," said Rep. Margo McNeil, D-St. Louis County.

The bill's proponents say New Madrid needs the factory working to keep its citizens employed.

"The impact that this has had on New Madrid R-1 School District is $3 to $3.5 million," said Rep. Donald Rone, whose district includes the city. "That's roughly a third of their budget."

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The Senate Rules Committee heard a subpoena to require the CEO of Planned Parenthood's St. Louis region to appear on the chamber floor.

Mary Kogut faces 10 days in jail and a $300 fine for contempt of the Senate.

Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, sponsored the measure and said Planned Parenthood has failed to provide any documents asked for by the Senate Committee on the Sanctity of Life.

The attorney defending Planned Parenthood, Chuck Hatfield, said they are willing to release certain documents. However, many of them contain patients' private information, so the organization was unwilling to redact the papers or release them without redaction for fear of being subpoenaed either way. Hatfield called for a discussion on the best course of action with redaction.

Schaefer, who is a candidate to be the state's attorney general, said Planned Parenthood is simply stalling and should provide the information asked for as soon as possible.

The committee will vote on the measure Thursday.

A bill passed out of a House committee Tuesday, April 5, that would exempt noisy and pungent farm land from ordinances on disturbing the peace.

The bill has been nicknamed "the rooster bill," by the bill's sponsor, Rep. Joe Don McGaugh, R- Carrollton, after a man was charged with a peace disturbance because his rooster would not stop crowing.

"The Missouri Farm Bureau brought this to me basically as urban areas kinda sprawl out into rural areas," McGaugh said.

McGaugh went on to say that it is up to the responding police officer to determined if the noise and smell is offensive on the land.

"It is late in the session, but we are hoping that we can get this bill on the floor in time," McGaugh said.

The measure now heads to the full House.

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The state Senate gave first round approval to a bill to give towns more time to win voter approval for a tax on auto sales by non-Missouri licensed vehicle dealers.

Currently, many local governments in Missouri have until the end of 2016 to put local sales taxes on out-of-state vehicles or vehicles bought by another individual to a vote.

In 2012, Missouri's Supreme Court struck down a law allowing cities to impose taxes without voter approval on auto sales from persons out of state or not registered auto dealers.

In response, the legislature gave cities until 2016 get voter approval for the tax.

The bill approved by the Senate would delay the deadline for getting voter approval to 2018.

The bill originally provided a later deadline of 2020. But that sparked opposition from Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph.

"They have time, they could do it, but basically what were doing is saying no, no, no you don't have to do this work. You can go ahead and just collect up the money," Schaaf said. "You'll get to spend it. You don't have to do anything, you don't have to go out of your way to put the issue on the ballot in November. You just get to keep collecting the money until 2020."

After an extended debate by Schaaf, the bill's sponsor -- Sen. Jay Wasson, R-Nixa -- offered an amendment for the earlier deadline. He said the bill aims to protect the little guy from unfair tax-breaks from people buying cars in other states.

The bill will also establish the Missouri Task Force on Fair, Nondiscriminatory Local Taxation Concerning Motor Vehicles, Trailers, Boats, and Outboard Motors. The task force will review the disparity in taxes that the 2012 Supreme Court decision created.

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Missouri's Senate gave first round approval to a measure that would boost the state's tax on gasoline by 5.9 cents per gallon.

The increase, approved Wednesday, March 30, would require statewide voter approval to take effect.

That Missouri voters would have the final say addressed the objections of Senate members who had fought a much smaller increase last year.

It was termed a "welcome development" by one of last year's leading critics -- Sen. Robb Schaaf, R-St. Joseph.

"The people will have an opportunity to weigh in and decide whether or not they want to pay more taxes," Schaaf said.

Schaaf, however, predicted voters would reject the increase.

But the measure's sponsor was more optimistic.

"When you pull and you buy 15 gallons of fuel which a lot of little cars have, 13 or 15 gallons, somebody looks there and says 'well it's going to cost about 18 cents (more) to fill up today, but gee whiz, we're going to have a nice, safe road to drive on." said Sen. Doug Libla, R-Poplar Bluff.

Under the measure, the gasoline tax would rise from among the nation's lowest of 17 cents per gallon to 22.9 cents.

The increase would raise $125 million additional funds per year for the state Transportation Department, based on department figures. Cities and counties would get $54 million more for local roads.

Unlike last year's measure, there would not be a higher increase for diesel fuel -- an omission Schaaf criticized arguing trucks cause a disproportionate amount of damage to highways.

Last year's measure won first round approval in the Senate after a lengthy filibuster, but was blocked from getting a final Senate vote by the Senate's Governmental Accountability Committee that reviews the costs of legislation.

A similar measure was killed by the House Transportation Committee last year.

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It would be a crime to sell or even possess powdered alcohol under a measure given first-round approval by Missouri's House Wednesday, March 30.

Although intended to be mixed with liquid, such as water, supporters said the product was posing a danger when consumed my minors without being diluted.

"This is not a regular alcohol product. This is untested, it's heavily unregulated and it's dangerous for the people in our state," warned Rep. Jack Bondon, R-Belton.

But critics in the House disagreed.

"Powdered alcohol that when mixed water becomes alcohol that is already legal. Have you ever had powdered Gatorade", Rep. Tracy McCreery, D-St. Louis County, asked one of the bill's supporters. "I don't know about you, but I don't eat powdered Gatorade."

The House ultimately approved the measure 95-56.

Under the bill, violation would be a misdemeanor crime punishable by a fine of up to $750 or 15 days in jail.

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Tire replacement, dent removal, windshield fixing, and missing keys would be covered in all service contracts in Missouri under a House-approved bill.

Rep. Margo McNeil, D-St. Louis County, said the bill supports a contract outside of the typical, regulated car insurance industry.

"If they want to have this become a true insurance product, it ought to be something that is under the supervision of the Department of Insurance," McNeil said.

Rep. Bob Burns, D-St. Louis County, said he has had great personal experience with service contracts and believes the added protections make the agreements better for both the consumers and providers.

"Just yesterday, it saved me about 700 dollars on my vehicle."

The measure also allows drivers to call their own towing company in the event of a crash, rather than the local police department's preferred company.

The bill passed the House by a vote of 145-6 and will move to the Senate.

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A Missouri Constitution amendment would define life at conception, after legislative and voter approval.

About 80 people packed into the hearing room, the vast majority were pro-life activists, to share their views. With people standing on the walls around the room, combative testimony and figures of fetuses were displayed to make each side's point clear.

Opponents told the House Children and Families Committee said measure was unlikely to pass a judicial review. About 30 people were willing to speak in support of the measure, though time only allowed four people in opposition to testify.

Family physician Ed Weisbart, who now volunteers to treat disadvantaged people across the country, said outlawing abortion is putting religious belief into law.

"This law, as written, would impose the legislature's personal opinions onto the overwhelming majority of women, denying some of them access to basic women's health care," said Weisbart.

Those for the amendment said all life must be protected, and the distinctive human characteristics of a fetus, from conception on, should be protected as a human life. They argued that, because murder charges exist to punish a killer of a pregnant woman for the unborn human, there is already legal precedent for defining life from conception on.

One pro-life lawyer who said she was conceived out of rape, Rebecca Kiessling, said a human life should be respected and appreciated for the possibilities of his or her final form.

"The beauty of personhood is that there are no exceptions," Kiessling said.

The contentiousness of the hearing came to a peak when Rep. Stacey Newman, D-St. Louis County, was cut off by committee chairwoman Diane Franklin, R-Camdenton, for bringing up gun rights during a discussion of life's sanctity. At one point Franklin seized control of the floor to require Newman stay on topic. The chairwoman eventually did not allow the woman testifying to respond to Newman's question.

Limiting the donation of fetal tissue and parts to scientific research was also heard in the House committee, with similarly fervent testimony.

Those in favor of the bill say life should be sacred and recognized from conception while using the body parts for research detracts from that empathy. Opponents say the measure will limit researchers' ability to improve treatments for all living people.

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Without a dissenting vote, Missouri's Senate passed and sent the governor a measure that would ban state elected officials from working as paid political consultants for other state officials.

The measure would cover sitting legislators and statewide elected officials.

The proposal to ban sitting officials from taking money from their colleagues initially was raised by legislators in 2006 in response to the payments that House Speaker Rod Jetton was getting from a few legislators for political consulting work.

Critics charged it was a conflict of interest because as speaker, Jetton had significant influence to advance measures sponsored legislators who were paying him for his political advice.

In 2008, Republican Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder called for the ban, citing Jetton had added more legislators to his list of clients.

This year, Republican legislative leaders promised swift action on ethics bills.

But except for the political consulting restriction, the other measures have stalled in the Senate.

That chamber rejected the House-passed provision to impose a one-year cooling off period after leaving office before a state elected official could register as a lobbyist.

Senate debate was suspended after Senate opponents attacked a House-passed bill to restrict lobbyist gifts to elected officials.

The bill for a cooling-off period before becoming a lobbyist has been sitting in a House-Senate conference since March 1. The lobbyist gift-ban bill has not been debated by the Senate since Feb. 23.

• Get the political consultant bill, CCS HB 1983
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In a decision that could have sweeping effects on states, the Cole County circuit court struck down key provisions of a law passed last year that limits how much of a city's budget can be financed by municipal court fines.

The court held unconstitutional a provision that imposed lower limits for cities in St. Louis than cities in other counties.

In a brief decision issued Monday, March 28, Circuit Judge Jon Beetem held the provision violates a the "special law" restriction of the state Constitution that restricts the legislature from passing a law that is limited to a specific local governments.

For years, Missouri lawmakers have gotten around the restriction by avoiding use of a local government's specific name.

Instead, a specific government is identified by limiting the law to conditions that only one local government can meet.

In the traffic-fine law, St. Louis County was identified as "any city, town, or village located in any county with a charter form of government and with more than nine hundred fifty thousand inhabitants."

Only St. Louis County meets that definition.

Dozens of laws have been enacted using that legislative wording trick that now is in question.

For example, in 2010 the legislature gave Jefferson City authority to impose a tax on hotel room rentals by referring to the city as " any home rule city with more than thirty-nine thousand six hundred but fewer than thirty-nine thousand seven hundred inhabitants and partially located in any county of the first classification with more than seventy-one thousand three hundred but fewer than seventy-one thousand four hundred inhabitants."

The court also struck down a provision adding reporting requirements on municipal courts as violating a constitutional prohibition imposing a obligation on local government without covering any additional costs the requirement would impose.

The legal challenge to the municipal court fines was filed by one dozen communities in St. Louis County.

Under the law, only 12.5 percent of the budget of a city in St. Louis County can be financed by minor traffic fines. For all other cities, the limit is 20 percent of the city's budget.

Attorney General Chris Koster said he would appeal the decision directly to the Missouri Supreme Court.

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