| Capitol Briefing for the Week of April 6, 2015 | |
Missouri Senate Passes Its Version of the Budget |
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JEFFERSON CITY — Approving a spending plan for the state is the only constitutionally mandated duty assigned to the Missouri General Assembly. This year, lawmakers are working toward sending the final version of the operating budget for Missouri’s Fiscal Year 2016 to the governor a few weeks earlier than normal. The next fiscal year will start on July 1, 2015. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, handled House Bills 1-13 in the Senate and highlighted several items in the $26.1 billion operating budget. After nearly 12 hours of debate that began late Tuesday afternoon and ended early Wednesday morning, the Senate recommended:
In addition, the Senate consolidated many appropriations in HBs 10 and 11, providing greater spending flexibility to the departments of Health and Senior Services, Mental Health and Social Services. The Senate’s position assumes efficiencies will be found by these agencies, offsetting the need for higher funding levels. Budget differences will be considered by members of conference committees. Senate Bill Signed Into Law Thursday, Senate Bill 149, sponsored by Sen. Mike Parson, R-Bolivar, was signed into law by the governor. The measure creates state and local sales and use tax exemptions for data storage centers and allows municipalities to enter into loan agreements, or sell, lease or mortgage municipal property for a technology business facility project. Senators Reverse Governor’s Action Wednesday afternoon, Missouri senators voted with their House counterparts to override the governor’s first veto of the year. House Bill 63 is sponsored by Rep. Tony Dugger, R-Hartville. The measure modifies provisions relating to persons seeking public office and will now become law. Senators Send Legislation to the Executive Branch House Bill 384, sponsored by Rep. Tom Flanigan, R-Carthage, would modify provisions relating to taxation; Senators Send Bills to the House Senate Bill 20, sponsored by Sen. Will Kraus, R-Lee’s Summit, which would create a sales and use tax exemption for materials and utilities used by commercial laundries; Conference Committee Work In addition to the budget bills assigned to Senate-House conference committees, other measures are receiving the same treatment, including Senate Bill 11, sponsored by Senate Majority Floor Leader Ron Richard, R-Joplin. His proposal would modify the law relating to the ethical behavior of public officials and lobbyists. Committees Consider Multiple Bills Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, chaired by Sen. Bob Dixon, R-Springfield, met to discuss: House Bill 152, sponsored by Rep. Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, which would add advertising a child to participate in a commercial sex act, a sexual performance or the production of explicit material to the crime of sexual trafficking of a child; House Bill 104, sponsored by Rep. Haahr, which would prohibit public higher education institutions from denying religious student associations benefits available to other student associations and from discriminating against them; House Bill 108, sponsored by Rep. John McCaherty, R-High Ridge, which would establish a two-year statute of limitations for claims of malpractice or negligence against mental health professionals; House Bill 95, sponsored by Rep. Miller, which would permit court-ordered reimbursement of insurance costs during dissolution of marriage proceedings; Senate Bill 439, sponsored by Sen. Paul LeVota, D-Independence, which would provide that Division 12 of the 16th Judicial Circuit would sit at the City of Independence; and Senate Bill 527, sponsored by Sen. Joseph Keaveny, D-St. Louis, which would specify that a majority of the circuit and associate circuit judges of the 22nd Judicial Circuit, sitting en banc, would appoint the sheriff of the City of St. Louis. The panel also voted “do pass” on: Senate Bill 235, sponsored by Sen. Dixon, R-Springfield, which would repeal a provision of law allowing attorneys in criminal cases to fax or mail their notice of entry of appearance; Also Tuesday, the Commerce, Consumer Protection, Energy and the Environment Committee, chaired by Sen. Mike Kehoe, discussed: Senate Bill 398, sponsored by Sen. Schatz, which would authorize municipalities to use design-build on water and waste water projects and prohibit such projects from being denied grants based on design-build utilization; and Senate Bill 520, sponsored by Sen. Kehoe, which would modify the per barrel fee for the inspection of certain motor fuels. The panel also voted “do pass” on: Senate Bill 222, sponsored by Sen. Schatz, which would ban political subdivisions from requiring the removal or relocation of infrastructure owned by a communication service provider, unless certain conditions are met;
Tuesday also saw the Seniors, Families and Children Committee, chaired by Sen. David Sater, R-Cassville, take up: Senate Bill 518, sponsored by Sen. Wayne Wallingford, R-Cape Girardeau, which would modify provisions relating to the reentry of children released from Children Division's custody; Senate Bill 525, sponsored by Sen. Brown, which would require the Children's Division to list an individual as a perpetrator of child abuse and neglect upon receipt of notice of a court order or judgment; Senate Bill 533, sponsored by Sen. Jeanie Riddle, which would require day care centers, preschools and nursery schools to notify parents, upon request, of whether there are any children attending who are not immunized; and House Bill 556, sponsored by Rep. David Wood, R-Versailles, which would modify provisions relating to the Children's Division.
Tuesday also saw the Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee, chaired by Sen. Mike Cunningham, consider and vote “do pass” on the following: Senate Bill 20, sponsored by Sen. Kraus, which would create a sales and use tax exemption for materials and utilities used by commercial laundries; Senate Bill 197, sponsored by Sen. Brown, which would modify provisions relating to the Joint Committee on MO HealthNet; Senate Bill 210, sponsored by Sen. Schaefer, which would extend the sunset on certain healthcare provider reimbursement allowance taxes and modify provisions relating to MO HealthNet and DSH payments; Senate Bill 230, sponsored by Sen. Romine, which would specify eligible healthcare providers and originating sites for the provision of telehealth services; Senate Bill 278, sponsored by Sen. Schatz, which would modify provisions relating to registration of certain motor vehicles; and House Bill 384, sponsored by Rep. Flanigan, which would modify provisions relating to taxation.
Wednesday, the Agriculture, Food Production and Outdoor Resources Committee, chaired by Sen. Brian Munzlinger, took testimony on: House Bill 233, sponsored by Rep. Diane Franklin, R-Camdenton, which would modify corporate registration report requirements for authorized farming corporations and family farm corporations; and House Bill 388, sponsored by Rep. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg, which would modify provisions relating to weight limitations for vehicles hauling livestock and agricultural products. In addition, the Jobs, Economic Development and Local Government Committee, chaired by Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Glendale, heard: Senate Bill 364, sponsored by Sen. Parson, which would specify when new political subdivisions would be effective for property tax assessment purposes; House Bill 514, sponsored by Rep. Mike Leara, R-St. Louis, which would authorize sites containing former automobile manufacturing plants in St. Louis County to qualify for State Supplemental Tax Increment Financing; House Bill 468, sponsored by Rep. T.J. Berry, R-Kearney, which would extend the last year of availability of incentives for new or expanded business headquarters from 2020 to 2025; House Bill 758, sponsored by Rep. Lyle Rowland, R-Cedarcreek, which would allow St. Francois County and Taney County to enact nuisance abatement ordinances; Senate Bill 405, sponsored by Sen. Hegeman, which would raise the outer threshold amount for a county to be eligible to collect a greater percentage of the total taxes collected as a fee; and Senate Bill 497, sponsored by Sen. Hegeman, which would modify the process for dissolving a special purpose district. The panel also votes “do pass” on: Senate Bill 539, sponsored by Sen. Brown, which would allow the county commission, or a county officer designated by the county commission, to provide passport services if the circuit court clerk does not provide the services. Wednesday also saw the Education Committee, chaired by Sen. Pearce, discuss: Senate Bill 465, sponsored by Sen. Schmitt, which would require each public college and university to post on its website specified information for each course that it offers; Senate Bill 530, sponsored by Sen. Onder, which would enact multiple provisions to protect the privacy of student data; House Bill 41, sponsored by Rep. Wood, which would repeal obsolete provisions of the elementary and secondary education foundation formula; House Bill 458, sponsored by Rep. Sue Allen, R-Town and Country, which would modify provisions relating to school district anti-bullying policies; and House Bills 578, 574 and 584, sponsored by Rep. Kathryn Swan, R-Cape Girardeau, which would require high school students and students seeking a high school equivalency certificate to receive a passing grade on a basic civics test. The Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee met the second time this week to take up: Senate Bill 511, sponsored by Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, which would require healthcare contractors providing services to prison inmates to provide certain information to the Office of Administration. Wednesday’s committee hearing schedule concluded with the Progress and Development Committee, chaired by Sen. Keaveny, hearing: Senate Bill 241, sponsored by Sen. Keaveny, which would prohibit the use of corporal punishment and the use of spanking to discipline students in public schools. The panel voted “do pass” on: Senate Bill 237, sponsored by Sen. Keaveny, which would bar discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity; and Thursday morning, April 9, the Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Sen. Kraus, took up: Senate Bill 462, sponsored by Sen. Schaefer, which would create an income tax deduction for certain penalties assessed under the Affordable Care Act and paid on a federal return; House Bill 32, sponsored by Rep. Hoskins, which would prohibit increases in user fees imposed by the state until 2019 and reauthorizes a deduction for job creation by small businesses; House Bill 440, sponsored by Rep. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester, which would allow sellers to advertise that sales tax will be assumed by the seller; and House Bill 111, sponsored by Rep. Sandy Crawford, R-Lebanon, which would change the laws regarding sales tax on used manufactured homes. The panel also voted “do pass” on: Senate Bill 421, sponsored by Sen. Dixon, which would modify ballot language for the public safety sales tax in Springfield; Also Thursday, the Veterans' Affairs and Health Committee, chaired by Sen. Brown, heard: Senate Bill 419, sponsored by Sen. Ryan Silvey, R-Kansas City, which would create the Health Care Transformation Trust Fund. The panel also voted “do pass” on: Senate Bill 342, sponsored by Sen. Brown, which would establish the Perinatal Advisory Council and set forth its duties;
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