Website | Newsroom | Columns | Legislation
| “With just days remaining in the first regular session of 2017 and only a handful of bills granted final passage, the Missouri Senate was essentially shut down for three days because of infighting among members of the majority party. This marks the third straight year internal dysfunction has brought the chamber to a standstill late in session, jeopardizing the passage of dozens of bills. From May 1 to May 3, the Senate practically conducted no official business as some senators aired at length various grievances that have contributed to the current situation.
The continuous dysfunction between members of the majority party has produced the current gridlock in the Missouri Senate; the body has an intraparty gridlock. With the gridlock, the General Assembly is at an unfortunate standstill. Legislators who have chosen to fulfill their electoral duties — to put the people of Missouri first — are only a small minority. Instead of passing meaningful legislation that will better the lives of all Missourians, such as minimum wage increases and anti-homelessness measures, some of my colleagues have given into partisan antics by opposing much-needed legislation. Members of the majority party have chosen to fight among themselves, exposing the ever-growing fractures in their platform, leadership and ability to govern effectively. Moreover, I am disappointed that at a time when I am attempting to pass bills addressing the sex trafficking of innocent children, protecting victims of domestic abuse, emphasizing education among our youth, and raising awareness about mental health and suicide, which is taking the lives of some of our state’s best and brightest, partisan members in this chamber opt for focusing their attention on unconditional party loyalty, personal opposition ads, and obstruction of legislative progress in the Senate. Sexual abuse, suicide and homelessness are not only Republican or Democratic, urban or rural, black or white, rich or poor issues. These problems penetrate the hearts of our communities, schools and families across this state. Why should addressing the well-being of children be at the mercy of intraparty quarrels — quarrels that extend to the executive branch? Perhaps shackling common-sense measures — saving the lives of Missourians who have mental health concerns and children who have been kidnapped and sexually exploited — to the malevolent grip of factional members of the majority party is the new norm for this Legislature and foreshadows many noxious and hapless legislative sessions to come. Some will assure us it is not. I hope they are right.” – Sen. Nasheed On the Floor On Monday, May 1, session convened at 4:00 p.m. and began with prayer from the Reverend Doc. Ensuring. Following the prayer, senators offered several amendments to the Senate journal in order to clarify perceived errors. Following business, Sen. Nasheed was appointed to various conference committees to address disagreements over the budget between the Senate and the House and promote bipartisan cooperation. Senator Nasheed was appointed to a conference committee for the following House Bills: House Bill 2– Appropriates money for the expenses, grants, refunds, and distributions of the State Board of Education and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education; House Bill 3– Appropriates money for the expenses, grants, refunds, and distributions of the Department of Higher Education; House Bill 5– Appropriates money for the expenses, grants, refunds, and distributions of the Office of Administration, Department of Transportation, and Department of Public Safety; House Bill 8– Appropriates money for the expenses, grants, refunds, and distributions of the Department of Public Safety; House Bill 9– Appropriates money for the expenses, grants, refunds, and distributions of the Department of Public Safety; House Bill 10– Appropriates money for the expenses, grants, refunds, and distributions of the Department of Mental Health, Board of Public Buildings, and Department of Health and Senior Services; House Bill 11– Appropriates money for the expenses, grants, and distributions of the Department of Social Services; House Bill 12– Appropriates money for the expenses, grants, refunds, and distributions of statewide elected officials, the Judiciary, Office of the State Public Defender, and General Assembly; House Bill 17– To appropriate money for capital improvement and other purposes for the several departments of state government; and House Bill 19– To appropriate money for purposes for the several departments and offices of state government; for planning and capital improvements. On Tuesday, May 2, after the reading of the bills, the Senate then adjourned under the rules. Last Tuesday ended in an unusual manner, with the Senate being convened for a total of 10 minutes only to be adjourned until Wednesday, May 3, 2017 at 10 a.m. Bills and Committees Senate Bill 217 – On Tuesday, May 3, the House Rules Committee voted on and passed, with a vote of 13-0, SB 217 out of committee to be placed on the House Calendar for Perfection. The bill would allow soup kitchens and homeless shelters to be eligible for current tax credit for donations to food pantries. With session coming to an end and the Senate in gridlock, a majority of the Senate’s bills have been stalled. Nonetheless, Senator Nasheed continues to fight and find various avenues for her bills to continue through the legislative process. One avenue is that senators can attach their bills to other ones as amendments. Doing so will allow a bill that may not otherwise receive consideration to get some floor time. Appropriations The Republican-controlled General Assembly on May 4, approved a $27.75 billion state operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year that eliminates services for many elderly and disabled Missourians and slashes funding for higher education while providing local public schools a relatively modest funding boost. The 13 appropriations bills that make up the operating budget provide the legal authority for the state to spend money during the 2018 fiscal year, which begins July 1. In his budgetary recommendations, the governor, a Republican, called for saving about $52 million by eliminating nursing home and in-home care services for more than 20,000 disabled and elderly Missourians. As a result, in its current form, the budget would eliminate nursing home and in-home care services for about 8,000 Missourians instead of the 20,000 suggested by the governor. The budget includes, however, contingency provisions to fully restore those services if the Legislature passes legislation to establish the Missouri Senior Services Protection Fund. The budget cuts operational funding for four-year and two-year higher education institutions by nearly 6.6 percent. The $909 million in general revenue appropriations for higher education in FY 2018 is less than the $911.56 million in general revenue spending authorized for higher education in FY 2000, nearly two decades ago. While the budget increases basic state funding for local public school districts by $48 million over FY 2017 levels, that amount is the smallest annual increase in five years and is well below the recent average increase of $88 million a year. Because lawmakers of the majority party last year overrode a gubernatorial veto to slash more than $400 million of the amount of additional money needed to claim full funding of K-12 schools under state law, the $48 million bump provided in FY 2018 meets the new statutory definition of full funding. The budget was passed this week, which is in accordance with the state constitutional deadline. Other News The Governor’s Committee to end Homelessness The Governor’s Committee to End Homelessness (GCEH) had its first meeting on Monday, May 1. The gubernatorial-appointed members met to discuss the mission and goal of the committee, which is to end homelessness in Missouri. For further reference, meetings will be held on the first Monday of each month in Columbia, Missouri. More information about the committee and the meetings can be found on www.endhomelessnessmo.org. Internal dysfunction again shuts down Senate With a May 5 constitutional deadline for passing the state budget for the upcoming fiscal year looming, however, senators agreed to temporarily set aside their differences to allow for final passage of the appropriations bills. Once the budget is finished, it remains unclear whether the shutdown will be reinstituted during the final week of session, which under the state constitution must end no later than 6 p.m. on May 12. As of May 4, only 12 non-appropriations bills have been granted final passage. In at least the last 20 years, the fewest non-appropriations bills to pass in a single regular legislative session was 67 in 2000. During the 2016 session, the legislature passed 129 non-appropriations bills. Governor admits to violating campaign finance law The governor on April 28, admitted to violating state campaign finance laws by failing to disclose his campaign’s use of a donor list from the nonprofit organization he used to run. The Missouri Ethics Commission fined the governor’s campaign $1,000, but the bulk of the fine will be suspended so long as $100 is paid within 45 days and neither the governor nor the campaign commits any further violations in the next two years. If a campaign uses another organization’s donor list, which is a valuable fundraising tool, it is required to report the list as an in-kind contribution. The governor’s campaign committee failed to do so with the donor list of The Mission Continues, a charity for aiding former veterans that the governors founded and ran until he decided to run for office. The governor signed a joint stipulation of facts with the ethics commission admitting to the violation. Although during his campaign he vowed to fight alleged corruption in state government, the governor has dogged questions about his own ethics since taking office, including his acceptance of untraceable “dark money” campaign contributions, his refusal to disclose the amounts donors gave to pay for his inauguration ball, his use of an independent committee to circumvent Missouri’s campaign contribution limits, and the financing of political attacks against lawmakers, mostly fellow Republicans, who have been displeased him. Net General Revenue collections up 3.1 percent so far in Fiscal Year 2017 Net state general revenue collections for the first 10 months of the FY 2017 increased 3.1 percent compared to the same period in FY 2016, going from $7.4 billion last year to $7.6 billion this year. Net general revenue collections for April 2017 decreased by 3.3 percent compared to those for April 2016, going from $1.2 billion last year to $1.17 billion this year. Year-to-date general revenue collections had been running at 4.3 percent through March. General revenue collections must increase 7 percent to cover all of the spending authorized last spring by the Republican-controlled General Assembly. To put the budget in balance, however, current governor, a Republican, and his predecessor, Democrat Jay Nixon, implemented a combined $350 million in midyear spending restrictions. |