Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo Archives

Missouri state senators and Missouri Supreme Court judges will observe State of State from upper gallery

January 26, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri Governor Mike Parson’s State of the State address Wednesday in Jefferson City will look different than any other State of the State speech in recent history.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson points during his State of the State Address on January 15, 2020 in Jefferson City, as then-House Speaker Elijah Haahr and Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe applaud (file photo courtesy of the governor’s Flickr page)

That’s due to COVID-19 precautions.

The Missouri House was not in session last week, due to COVID concerns. State Sen. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester, announced Friday that he’s tested positive for COVID. State Sens. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, and John Rizzo, D-Independence, announced on Tuesday that they will both quarantine, after being in close contact with someone who’s tested positive for COVID. Rizzo is the Senate Democratic Leader.

The State of the State Address is significant, because it’s the venue where the governor outlines his 2021 legislative priorities and his budget blueprint. The speech is delivered in the Missouri House chamber, before a rare joint session of the Legislature.

While the 162 current Missouri House members will sit at their desks like normal, Missouri state senators and the Missouri Supreme Court judges will be seated in the right upper gallery, for coronavirus safety precautions. State senators normally sit in chairs set up on the House floor, near the dais. The seven Missouri Supreme Court judges normally are seated to the governor’s right, near the front of the House chamber.

Missouri Capitol technicians have also worked to finish a projector for the Capitol Rotunda, which will serve as an overflow seating area for those who can’t get into the House chamber on Wednesday. Parson spokeswoman Kelli Jones tells Missourinet about 50 to 75 chairs will be set up in the Rotunda area, while maintaining social distancing.

Because of COVID issues, attendance in the Missouri House chamber will be limited on Wednesday. The joint session is expected to begin at 3 pm. Governor Parson will speak sometime after that. Jones says the governor has recently practiced his speech in the House chamber.

Missouri’s current operating budget is about $38 billion, which includes two supplemental budgets with federal money. The State of the State highlight’s the governor’s budget priorities. We’ll also learn Wednesday whether or not Governor Parson’s proposed budget includes a pay increase for state employees. That’s a big issue in mid-Missouri. More than 14-thousand state employees work in Cole County, making state government Jefferson City’s largest employer.

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, and other top House Democrats plan a press conference on Wednesday afternoon at 4, to respond to the governor’s State of the State Address.

Missourinet will have live coverage of the State of the State Address, beginning at 3 o’clock. Reporter Brian Hauswirth will also have live interviews with state lawmakers in both parties, after the speech. In addition to Missourinet, the speech will also be live-streamed on the governor’s Facebook page.

Missouri Amendment 3 debate centers around a nonpartisan demographer

October 15, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Both sides in the debate on Missouri’s Amendment 3 November ballot measure presented their case to voters Wednesday evening, in a virtual forum hosted by Springfield’s Drury University.

Missourians approved “Clean Missouri” in 2018, which required a nonpartisan demographer to draw state legislative districts. Amendment Three transfers that responsibility to governor-appointed bipartisan commissions.

State Sen. Dan Hegeman, R-Cosby, is the sponsor of Amendment 3. He notes his sprawling district, which has 15 counties, is the largest senatorial district in the state and is also the most rural district. Agriculture is the largest industry in northwest Missouri.

Hegeman says he respects communities of interest, both urban and rural.

“It is my great concern that our communities will find their voices diminished in Jefferson City (in the state Legislature), because of the liberal think tank ideas contained in the criteria of Amendment One, passed in 2018,” Hegeman says.

“No On 3” director Sean Soendker-Nickolson disagrees, saying that the aim of Amendment 3 is to create “super-safe districts”, where politicians don’t have to worry about voters back home. He also says Amendment 3 backers have placed a ban on gifts from lobbyists to lawmakers to distract voters from the redistricting issue.

“No one thinks those are real reforms, those are a smokescreen to distract voters from what’s really going on,” Soendker-Nickolson says.

Senator Hegeman notes he’s term-limited and will be leaving the Legislature in two years. He says redistricting will be a much fairer process with the bipartisan commission or commissions, with many voices looking at how the districts are drawn.

Hegeman opposes the idea of a demographer.

“You know it puts in charge in a great capacity an unelected bureaucrat that really would redraw how we do the state of Missouri, with fairly limited abilities to select that individual,” says Hegeman.

He says Clean Missouri places partisan preference over rural and urban communities. “No On 3” director Soendker-Nickolson disagrees with Hegeman, especially on the demographer.

“As Senator Hegeman’s colleague, (Senate Majority Leader) Caleb Rowden said just last week, the Republican majority leader, we actually pick the demographer, myself (Rowden) and the minority leader (State Sen. John Rizzo, D-Kansas City). It was a multi-step process on purpose,” says Soendker-Nickolson.

He also warns about the cost of Amendment 3, citing the official ballot language, which reads that “individual local governmental entities expect significant decreased revenues of a total unknown amount.”

Soendker-Nickolson says Clean Missouri passed with a large, bipartisan majority, noting it was backed by former U.S. Sen. Jack Danforth (R), the AARP, the League of Women Voters and others.

Wednesday evening’s forum was hosted by Drury University’s L.E. Meador Center for Politics and Citizenship. Senator Hegeman and Mr. Soendker-Nickolson spoke via zoom, and answered questions from moderator Dr. Dan Ponder, the Meador Center director. They also answered about 20 minutes of questions from the virtual audience.

Amendment 3 has also been a key issue in Missouri’s heated gubernatorial race and was discussed by both major candidates at Friday’s debate in Columbia.