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Departing Missouri House Speaker Haahr reflects on successes, disappointments (AUDIO)

November 19, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s outgoing House Speaker says life issues and the largest tax cut in state history are some of his biggest successes in the Legislature.

Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, gavels the chamber into session on August 24, 2020 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, was first elected to the House in 2012. He’s finishing his eighth and final year in the House, due to term limits. He’s also finishing his term as Speaker.

“I was very proud of the work we did on the pro-life bill last year, I thought that was a big thing,” Haahr says. “Prior to me being Speaker, I carried also the largest tax cut in Missouri history and that was a really big one, I think, for our constituencies in the state.”

The 2019 abortion legislation essentially banned abortions once a fetal heartbeat was detected. The House vote was 110-44, and the Senate approved it last year after about 15 hours of filibuster and negotiations behind the scenes.

Haahr is the first and only House Speaker from Springfield in state history, and says that symbolizes Springfield and southwest Missouri’s growing political and economic influence. He says boosting funding for Missouri State University is another success he’s proud of.

“Worked really hard last year on bringing Missouri State University’s funding on parity with other schools, and so we did a $10 million increase to them to get them to a place where they’re funded equally with all the other schools,” says Haahr.

Haahr says this has been talked about for years and even decades, and that to get it done while he was Speaker is very important.

While Haahr has been Speaker, State Rep. Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, has served as House Minority Leader. While the two have disagreed on issues like abortion and Medicaid expansion, they have worked together on issues involving Greene County, such as Missouri State funding and Hailey’s Law, which was sponsored by State Rep. Curtis Trent, R-Springfield.

Haahr has said several times from the House dais that while he and Leader Quade frequently disagree on policy, they both share a love for Springfield.

Haahr became speaker on November 1, 2018. His predecessor, former House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, resigned the day before to take over as state Medicaid director. Haahr campaigned hard for House GOP candidates across the state in the fall of 2018, helping Republican Mary Elizabeth Coleman unseat State Rep. Mike Revis, D-Fenton. He also helped protect Republican seats in swing districts across the state.

Not all of Haahr’s priorities have passed in the Legislature, even with GOP supermajorities in both chambers and a Republican in the governor’s mansion.

During an interview in his Capitol office in Jefferson City last week, Haahr reflected on some of his disappointments. He says Hyperloop is one of his biggest disappointments.

“I had made a real strong push to try to bring the Hyperloop to Missouri,” Haahr says. “And they chose West Virginia. We were one of the three finalists that got really close but we didn’t get it. I think in 15 or 20 years that will have a transformative impact on West Virginia’s economy.”

Speaker Haahr says that would have jump-started Missouri as a leader on an issue of transportation importance.

Virgin Hyperloop chose West Virginia for its futuristic tube travel test track and certification center, but has said Missouri is not out of the picture. Haahr is hopeful that will still happen.

Haahr is speaker until the end of the year, and expects the House to be in session in December to take up COVID liability during the ongoing special session.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with outgoing Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, which was recorded on November 10, 2020 at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City:

https://cdn.missourinet.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/bh-speakerhaahr.mp3

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Business, Education, Health / Medicine, History, Legislature, News, Transportation Tagged With: abortion bill, COVID liability legislation, former Missouri House Speaker Todd Richardson, former State Rep. Mike Revis, Hailey's law, Hyperloop, Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, Missouri State University funding, special session, Springfield, State Rep. Curtis Trent, State Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, West Virginia

Parson signs megabill with partial motorcycle helmet repeal

July 14, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Gov. Mike Parson has signed into law today a bill with a component that lets some motorcyclists cruise without a helmet. Under House Bill 1963, a massive state transportation proposal, motorcycle riders can go helmetless if they are at least 26 years old, have medical insurance and have proof of financial responsibility.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson briefs Capitol reporters in Jefferson City on June 16, 2020 (photo courtesy of Governor Parson’s Flickr page)

The wide-ranging bill is sponsored by Rep. Travis Fitzwater, R-Holts Summit.

The bill also includes the following provisions:

•Lets a state commission create a public-private partnership to build a potential Hyperloop tube travel system in Missouri

•Bans the use of eminent domain to build a high-speed tube transport network

•Allows medical alert symbols to be put on IDs for a variety of different health conditions, including diabetes, heart conditions, epilepsy and autism

•Removes “facial feature pattern characteristics” and eye spacing from the definition of biometric data for REAL IDs

•Lets the state design and launch a digital driver’s license program that applicants could use the same way as a regular driver’s license

•Names a portion of a state highway in Clinton after fallen police officer Gary Michael, who was killed in the line of duty in 2017

•Designates part of State Highway 7 in Clinton after fallen police officer Christopher Ryan Morton, who was killed by a gunman in 2018

•Names a portion of State Highway 9 in Platte County after longtime Kansas City Chiefs radio announcer Bill Grigsby

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Health / Medicine, Legislature, News, Transportation Tagged With: Bill Grigsby, Clinton police officer Christopher Ryan Morton, Clinton police officer Gary Michael, governor mike parson, Hyperloop, REAL ID, Representative Travis Fitzwater

Missouri House passes bill aimed at transporting people in tubes

February 14, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

An effort to bring a Hyperloop to Missouri has picked up some steam again. The Missouri House passed this week legislation that would add the ultrafast tube travel system to the list of projects that could be funded through public-private partnerships, like ports and light rail systems are.

Dev Loop (Virgin Hyperloop’s test track in the Nevada desert)

Think of a Hyperloop like the cylinders you put your deposit in at the bank drive thru. The vacuum-like system whisks the container through a tube to a bank teller in a matter of seconds.

A Hyperloop is said to haul passengers in a much larger version of the vacuum-like system and go up to 640 mph. Hyperloop officials say travelers could get from St. Louis to Kansas City in about 30 minutes.

The end goal of some legislative supporters, including House Speaker Elijah Haahr of Springfield, is to build a roughly 250-mile track from St. Louis to Kansas City – a project that could cost about $10 billion. Elected leaders have said a Hyperloop is not an effort the state is going to pick up the tab on. Instead, it would need to be headed by a private firm.

Rep. Travis Fitzwater, R-Holts Summit, says both Kansas City and St. Louis have made the top 10 of Virgin Hyperloop’s list of places it’s looking to build a 15-mile test track. The track could help federal regulators decide whether the system can be certified and used commercially to carry passengers and cargo.

Fitzwater says his bill would also ban the government from taking private land to build a 15-mile test track in Missouri.

“I think it was important, but honestly I don’t think impacted the bill that much. That’s why we passed it with that piece on it to dissuade concerns from members of our caucus in particular that had a real issue with being consistent,” he says.

Some Democrats voiced concern that banning eminent domain would create roadblocks to getting a certification track built.

The measure, House Bill 1963, is headed to the Senate. Sen. Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, is expected to carry the bill.

Earlier stories:

Missouri House Speaker, Majority Leader say Hyperloop should happen
https://wp.me/p16gMv-vMD

Task force: Hyperloop would fuel Missouri economy by billions, make 17k jobs
https://wp.me/p16gMv-vMp

Is flooding a problem for a potential Hyperloop in Missouri?
https://wp.me/p16gMv-vjP

Push for Hyperloop certification track in Missouri
https://wp.me/p16gMv-vjy

Engineers rally around study about transporting Missourians through tubes
https://wp.me/p16gMv-sp9

Coalition hyped up about tubes taking you from KC to St. Louis in 31 minutes
https://wp.me/p16gMv-sfe

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Business, Legislature, News, Transportation Tagged With: Hyperloop, Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, Representative Travis Fitzwater, Senator Caleb Rowden

Task force: Hyperloop would fuel Missouri economy by billions, make 17k jobs

October 28, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

A task force says a high-speed tube travel system – like a Hyperloop – is estimated to create up to $3.6 billion annually in economic impact and create as many as 17,200 new jobs in Missouri. The group’s 176-page report released today also says the travel network could reduce I-70 vehicle crash injuries and fatalities up to 50%.

Photos courtesy of Virgin Hyperloop One Twitter page

Vice-Chair Andrew Smith says Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr tasked the members with creating a road map to commercialize a Hyperloop in the state.

“What has to happen initially is a certification track, that would be between ten and twelve miles long, that would allow the system to reach maximum speeds, that would test it under various conditions and where the national regulators, the federal DOT, could come and certify it for human safety,” says Smith.

Virgin Hyperloop One has a one-mile test track in the Nevada desert with a non-commercial sized pod reaching test speeds up to 245 mph.

A Hyperloop is said to have the ability to haul passengers by as much as 670 mph from Kansas City to St. Louis in about 30 minutes. The cost for a test track, which Smith says would be mostly private funding, is estimated to be roughly $300 million to $500 million with the goal of building the site in one to two years.

He says the reason why Missouri should lead the charge of a test track instead of leaving it to Virgin Hyperloop is that launching a new mode of transportation requires government involvement to regulate and certify. He also says a Hyperloop would likely intersect and connect with other forms of transportation.

Hyperloop One’s Dev Loop test track in the Nevada desert (Photo courtesy of Virgin Hyperloop One)

Smith says a Hyperloop would move things faster and cheaper.

“Highways did not eliminate railroads. Airplanes did not eliminate highways,” says Smith. “Hyperloop is not going to eliminate any existing mode of transportation or freight delivery.”

In early November, Virgin Hyperloop One plans to submit a Request for Proposals for the construction of a certification track and make a decision on the bidding process in early 2020. The location of a recommended test track is up in the air. The task force estimates a full 250-mile Hyperloop track along Interstate-70 would cost about $7 billion to $10 billion and be mainly privately funded.

“I would look to sovereign funds – you know sovereign investment funds, major international hedge funds, major infrastructure investment groups,” says Smith. “There are pretty well-known players out there that are not shy about how much money they have to bring to the table.”

Photo courtesy of Virgin Hyperloop One

Another critical piece of the report recommends that the University of Missouri system partners with several universities to form an international research center. The report says the project must get $50 to $100 million for research and development within the next three years.

Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe and Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr of Springfield are both releasing details of the report during stops today in Kansas City, Columbia and St. Louis.

Previous stories:

Is flooding a problem for a potential Hyperloop in Missouri?

https://wp.me/p16gMv-vjP

Push for Hyperloop certification track in Missouri

https://wp.me/p16gMv-vjy

Could ‘Hyperloop’ tube travel thrive in Missouri? New group aims to find out, accelerate construction

https://wp.me/p16gMv-uQg

Missouri coalition launches study about speedy passenger tube rides

https://wp.me/p16gMv-sOP

Coalition hyped up about tubes taking you from KC to St. Louis in 31 minutes

https://wp.me/p16gMv-sfe

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Business, Legislature, News, Transportation Tagged With: Hyperloop, Missouri, test track



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