Maysville Archives - Missourinet

Final week in Missouri legislative session: Wayfair, gas tax, PDMP and Grain Belt still unresolved

May 9, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

Expect some long days and nights at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City this week, with just five days left in the 2021 legislative session. There are still a number of major bills that are pending, including legislation on transportation, prescription drug monitoring, Wayfair legislation and eminent domain.

State Sen. Holly Rehder (R-Scott City) speaks on the Missouri Senate floor in Jefferson City on March 9, 2021 (file photo courtesy of Harrison Sweazea at Senate Communications)

The session ends Friday evening at 6, under the state Constitution.

The gas tax legislation is the top priority for powerful Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz (R-Sullivan). Schatz’s Senate Bill 262 would increase Missouri’s gas tax by 12.5 cents per gallon, by 2025. The increase would be phased in by 2.5 cents each year.

Schatz, the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, the trucking industry and other supporters note Missouri’s 17-cent gas tax has remained the same since 1996. They also note that the state Department of Transportation (MoDOT) has had to dip into reserves for federal matching funds. The bill has bipartisan support. Opposition has primarily come from Republicans who oppose new taxes.

Schatz’s bill has received final approval in the Missouri Senate, and has been referred to the House Fiscal Review Committee. He’s hopeful that it will get to the Missouri House floor before Friday’s deadline.

Another key bill we’re watching this week is prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) legislation from State Sen. Holly Rehder (R-Scott City). She’s filed PDMP for the ninth straight year: eight in the House and this year in the Senate. The bill has passed several times over the years, but it’s never been the same version in both chambers.

A PDMP is an electronic database that collects data on controlled substance prescriptions within a state. Missouri is the only state in the nation without a PDMP.

State Rep. J. Eggleston (R-Maysville) speaks on the Missouri House floor on March 4, 2021 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Rehder’s Senate Bill 63 would establish the “Joint Oversight Task Force of Prescription Drug Monitoring” within the state Office of Administration. Members would be selected from the Board of Registration for the Healing Arts, the Board of Pharmacy, the Board of Nursing and the Missouri Dental Board.

Rehder’s bill received final approval from the Missouri Senate in early April. It’s waiting for debate in the Missouri House. She and other supporters say 49 states currently have a PDMP, and that informed doctors make better decisions. Opponents, such as State Sen. Mike Moon (R-Ash Grove) worry about potential data breaches.

Another key bill that’s a priority for GOP Governor Mike Parson involves Wayfair. State Sen. Andrew Koenig (R-Manchester) has filed Senate Bill 153. It received final Senate approval in March, and is waiting for debate in the Missouri House. State Rep. J. Eggleston (R-Maysville) is the House sponsor.

Governor Parson called on lawmakers to address Wayfair, during his January State of the State Address.

“I hope the House and Senate will consider legislation to address the unfair advantage online retailers have over small businesses in Missouri,” Parson told lawmakers in January. “I am a strong supporter of lower taxes- in fact, I have signed several tax cuts into law. However, our small businesses, especially in smaller communities, are getting crushed right now because they cannot compete with huge online retailers.”

Another key bill that could hit the Senate floor this week involves eminent domain and the Grain Belt project in rural northern Missouri.

Governor Mike Parson, Congressman Jason Smith (to the governor’s right) and State Sen. Jason Bean (R-Holcomb) discuss the feral hog issue with USDA and the U.S. Forest Service on March 29, 2021 (photo courtesy of the governor’s Twitter page)

State Sen. Jason Bean (R-Holcomb) has filed Senate Bill 508, which has been heard by the Senate Commerce, Consumer Protection, Energy and Environment Committee. Under the bill, the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) could not issue a certificate of convenience and necessity for a merchant line, until county commissioners in each county through which the line will be built pass a resolution supporting the project.

Senator Bean’s bill is aimed at Grain Belt, also known as Invenergy. The PSC has approved their request to build, own and manage a high-voltage transmission line across eight northern Missouri counties. Those counties are Buchanan, Clinton, Caldwell, Carroll, Chariton, Randolph, Monroe and Ralls.

The PSC has determined there is a need for the service, and that the service promotes the public interest.

However, the Missouri Farm Bureau, the state’s largest general farm organization, has urged lawmakers to approve Bean’s legislation, saying it’s about protecting private property. Missouri Farm Bureau says using eminent domain for this project sets a dangerous precedent and “makes it easier for our state to become the transmission superhighway for the Green New Deal.”

Invenergy says this would be Missouri’s largest energy infrastructure project, and that it would support 1,500 construction jobs over three years. They also say it would deliver millions of dollars in annual energy savings for 39 Missouri towns, and would improve electric reliability to help avoid future emergency outages.

The Missouri House approved a bill related to Bean’s earlier this session.

One issue that we likely won’t hear much discussion on during the final week is gaming. State Sen. Denny Hoskins (R-Warrensburg), who chairs the Senate Economic Development Committee, told Missourinet last week that he doesn’t see a path forward for any gaming bill this session.

Missouri House Oversight Committee chair announces DOLIR is suspending collection of unemployment overpayments (AUDIO)

April 16, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

Just two days after being grilled again by state lawmakers in both parties, the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DOLIR) is suspending all collection of unemployment overpayments, at this time.

Missouri House Special Committee on Government Oversight Chair Rep. Jered Taylor (R-Nixa) speaks on the House floor on March 4, 2021 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Missouri House Special Committee on Government Oversight Chairman State Rep. Jered Taylor (R-Nixa) made the announcement on the House floor Thursday in Jefferson City, to bipartisan applause.

“So I just want to let the members (state representatives) know that all collection efforts for all Missourians, 46,000 people who are having overpayment collection efforts being taken on them right now, are all on pause and again that’s due to the work that our (oversight) committee did so thank you, Mr. Speaker,” Chairman Taylor says.

DOLIR has posted a short message on its website, which confirms what Chairman Taylor said on the floor.

DOLIR has testified that the state overpaid more than $150 million in unemployment benefits last year and that 46,000 Missourians have been impacted by the unemployment overpayments.

Taylor says collections are being suspended “until we get the work done in this body.”

“And it’s due to the good work of the Government Oversight Committee, so I just wanted to thank the members for holding the Department (of Labor) accountable and holding them to what they agreed to to our body,” says Taylor.

State Rep. Raychel Proudie (D-Ferguson), the oversight committee’s ranking Democrat, has raised the same concerns that Taylor has.

The issue has been the subject of several bipartisan hearings by the Oversight Committee, which also learned about the COVID pandemic’s massive impact on Missouri’s economy and on the unemployment system.

DOLIR Director Anna Hui testified in February that Missouri paid out $236 million in unemployment benefits in 2019. That number increased to $5.1 billion in 2020, due to the pandemic.

During that February hearing, lawmakers in both parties said that Missourians who didn’t commit fraud should not have to repay money, because the state made the error.

State Rep. Richard Brown (D-Kansas City), the assistant minority floor leader, told Director Hui that a woman he knows received a letter in January, asking her to repay $23,000. Representative Brown has said the woman doesn’t have the money.

During the February hearing, State Rep. J. Eggleston (R-Maysville) read a letter from a northwest Missouri teacher who was told that she must repay $9,000, because of the state’s error. Representative Eggleston said that day that the teacher wishes she had been denied unemployment, to begin with.

Click here to listen to the short announcement from House Special Committee on Government Oversight Chairman State Rep. Jered Taylor (R-Nixa), which was made on the Missouri House floor on April 15, 2021:

Missouri House Ethics Committee meets in closed session for 50 minutes

September 22, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

House Ethics Committee Chairman J. Eggleston, R-Maysville, speaks on the Missouri House floor in Jefferson City on May 15, 2020 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The Missouri House Ethics Committee met in closed session Tuesday afternoon in Jefferson City, but what they discussed is unknown.

The committee gaveled-in at about 12:30 p.m. for a roll call, before immediately voting to go into a closed session.

A Missourinet reporter waited outside the Capitol hearing room during the 50-minute closed session, and didn’t see any state lawmakers who aren’t on the committee enter the room.

Committee Chairman State Rep. J. Eggleston, R-Maysville, spoke to Missourinet after the closed hearing, saying that confidentiality rules prohibit him from commenting on these matters.

Flags to fly at half-staff Wednesday in northern Missouri’s DeKalb County, to honor sheriff

June 9, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s governor has ordered flags to be flown at half-staff at government buildings in northwest Missouri’s DeKalb County on Wednesday, to honor the sheriff who was killed in a traffic crash last week.

Flags flying at half-staff

Sheriff Andy Clark was killed last Wednesday on Highway 36 at the Osborn junction, while carrying out his duties and responding to assist one of his deputies on an emergency call.

Sheriff Clark, who lived in Maysville, was 43 years old.

“Sheriff Clark devoted more than 23 years of his life as a law enforcement officer committed to protecting his fellow citizens and making his community stronger,” Governor Parson says, in a written statement. “He served Missouri with heart and grit, and his final act of public service was responding to assist one of his deputy sheriffs at an emergency scene. Sheriff Clark’s career is an example of public service of the highest order.”

The Missouri State Highway Patrol’s crash report says Sheriff Clark was traveling southbound on Highway 33 in a pickup, when he crossed over eastbound Highway 36. Another vehicle struck the passenger side of the sheriff’s truck.

The Patrol’s report says the crash happened at 11:20 last Wednesday morning, and that Sheriff Clark was pronounced dead at Mosaic Hospital in St. Joseph at 12:07 p.m.

Buchanan County Sheriff Bill Puett tells our St. Joseph affiliate KFEQ that Mr. Clark was a good man and an outstanding sheriff, who was passionate about serving his community. Puett says it’s a hard loss to take.

Governor Parson’s proclamation says Andy Clark was appointed as DeKalb County Sheriff in September 2016, and was elected in November 2016. Clark had also previously worked for both the Maysville and Cameron Police departments in northwest Missouri.