2016 Missouri Legislative Session
TO:
MACFPD
DATE:
January 7th, 2016
RE:
Legislative Activity – Week 1
January 6-7, 2016
The Second Regular Session of the 98th General Assembly convened at noon in Jefferson City on
Wednesday, January 6th. The theme to the opening week was ethics reform. Following last
year’s session that was inundated by scandal and gridlock, new leaders in both the Missouri
House and Senate have pledged to work together.
Opening Day Speech
The beginning of the new session is marked with speeches from the Speaker of the House and
President Pro Tem of the Senate. Speaker of the House Todd Richardson opened the first day of
the legislative session with a speech that grounded his colleagues with a reminder of the basic
reason they travel to Jefferson City. He asked his colleagues to do the best work they can do on
behalf of the people of Missouri. Speaker Richardson expressed that his first major task at hand,
as the leader of the House, will be to refer all ethics bills that have been filed to committee so
work can get underway to regain the trust of the people of Missouri. Speaker Richardson does
not want the House of Representatives to be a place of inaction, infighting, and indifference, but
rather a place where hard issues are tackled and real problems are solved.
In a rather unusual and untraditional fashion, the newly elected Senate President Pro Tem, Sen.
Ron Richard (R – Joplin), did not address his Senate colleagues with an opening speech outlining
the Senate agenda and legislative priorities for the 2016 session. Instead, the opening day of the
Senate was filled with introductions of Senator’s families, the honoring of former Missouri
legislators that have recently passed away, and thanking volunteers that came to the aid of those
affected by the recent floods in Eastern Missouri. Sen. Kurt Schaefer (R – Columbia) addressed
President Obama’s recent executive order to reduce gun violence by stating it imposed drastic
restrictions on the second amendment rights of Missourians. Later, during a press conference,
President Pro Tem Sen. Richard and the Senate Majority Floor Leader, Sen. Mike Kehoe (R –
Jefferson City), discussed their plans to create jobs for Missourians, build stronger communities,
and tackle ethics issues as a united and bipartisan Senate.
Thursday morning Sen. Richard brought to a vote SR 1181, which would bar media outlets from
the Senate floor. The measure passed by a vote of 26-4. After today, the media will no longer
be allowed to monitor debate from the floor. Sen. Richard noted this is a direct result from last
year’s media coverage of Senators personal conversations being tweeted live.
The legislature will meet Monday through Thursday each week until they adjourn at 6:00 p.m.
on Friday, May 13th.
Republican Super Majorities
Republicans hold veto-proof majorities in both the House and the Senate, with numbers that
exceed the two-thirds needed to override a gubernatorial veto. The Senate makeup is 24
Republicans, 8 Democrats with 2 vacancies. Senate district 11 previously held by Sen. Paul
LeVota from Kansas City and Senate district 23 previously held by Sen. Tom Dempsey from St.
Charles are the two vacant seats in the Senate. Both Senators resigned during the interim.
The House of Representatives has 117 Republicans, 45 Democrats and 1 Independent. Three
new Representatives, Plocher, McGee, and Rowland, won in a Special Election in November and
were sworn into office on Wednesday morning.
New Leadership
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Sen. Ron Richard (R – Joplin) ascended to the President Pro Tem position after the
resignation of former Pro Tem Sen. Tom Dempsey.
Sen. Mike Kehoe (R – Jefferson City) was elected Majority Floor Leader.
Sen. Bob Onder (R – Lake St. Louis) is the new Assistant Majority Floor Leader.
Sen. Joe Keaveny (D – St. Louis) remains as the Senate Minority Leader.
Sen. Gina Walsh (D – St. Louis County) retains her title as Assistant Floor Leader.
Speaker of the House, Rep. Todd Richardson (R – Poplar Bluff) was sworn in on the last
day of the legislative session last year.
Rep. Mike Cierpiot (R – Lee’s Summit) is the new Majority Floor Leader.
Rep. Denny Hoskins (R – Warrensburg) remains Speaker Pro Tem.
Rep. Jake Hummel (D – St. Louis) remains the House Minority Leader.
Rep. Gail McCann Beatty (D – Kansas City) stays as the Assistant Minority Leader.
Fast Start / Election Year / Right to Work Hangover in Senate
This session is off to a faster start than last year as the committee chairmen and committee
members remain largely unchanged from last session. There are already organizational
committee hearings posted for next week and hundreds of bills have been pre-filed in both the
House and Senate. We anticipate committee hearing assignments for next week to be made as
late as tomorrow afternoon and we will notify you as soon as any bills of interest are scheduled a
hearing time.
However, in a big Presidential election year such as 2016, state legislatures tend to get fewer
bills passed. Typically there is little appetite to make major changes or take on contentious
issues heading into election season.
The Senate Democrats may still have a bitter taste in their mouth after the Republicans shut
down debate in the Senate and forced a vote on Right to Work legislation in the last week of the
2015 session. The procedural move known as the Previous Question (PQ) is a tactic used almost
daily in the House of Representatives to cut off debate and force a vote; however, the procedure
is much more controversial in the Senate. A Senator’s ability to filibuster is a powerful tool to
keep the debate going while delaying a vote on a bill. The Senate Republicans called for the
Previous Question on the Right to Work bill and it passed the Senate. In return, the Senate
Democrats allowed almost no other legislation to pass in the last week of session. It is unclear at
this time, if the Democratic Senators will let bygones go or if the session will be off to a rocky
start.
The Right to Work bill passed both chambers and was vetoed by Gov. Nixon; however, the
House did not have the votes to override the veto.
Legislative Topics to Watch
Each session brings different priorities to the legislative session. This year we expect to hear
debate on the following major issues:
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Ethics Reform
Real ID
Transportation Funding
Abortion / Planned Parenthood
Law Enforcement
Guns
St. Louis Stadium Bonding
Right to Work / Labor Reforms
Medicaid Reform
911 / Emergency Calls System Updates
Medical Marijuana
Municipal Court Reform
Economic Development
State of the State Address
Governor Nixon will address a joint session of Missouri’s General Assembly for his final State
of the State address on Wednesday, January 20th at 7:00 p.m. The Governor will detail his
legislative priorities and present his recommended budget for FY2017 during the speech.
Missouri State Budget
The General Assembly may have a tough time drafting the new Fiscal Year 2017 budget this
session due to unforeseen factors such as low revenue collections, a $50 million loss of tobacco
funding, a smaller collection than expected from the tax amnesty program, and a vast increase in
our state’s Medicaid program. In addition to the array of issues depleting the state’s resources,
the various state departments were allowed to request new funding this year. This act has not
been allowed in recent years, which creates a laundry list of funding needs for lawmakers to
consider on top of the already long list of needs from the state’s programs and services. You
may review the requests per state department by clicking on the following link:
http://oa.mo.gov/budget-planning/budget-information/2017-budget-information/2017department-budget-requests.
The current fiscal year-to-date net general revenue collections are showing a 2.6% increase
compared to last year. The low increase is not good news as the current budget was built on an
estimate of 2.8%. This means lawmakers may have to consider new revenue sources or decrease
the state’s expenses.
One day before the legislature convened, Governor Nixon announced that he would release $35
million of tax amnesty funding from expenditure restriction status for healthcare providers to
receive a 1% rate increase along with dental services for Medicaid-eligible children, pregnant
women, blind, and nursing facility residents. The General Assembly projected the tax amnesty
program would collect $70 million and had used the funding in the current fiscal year’s budget to
provide 3% increases to healthcare providers. When the program only collected half of that
figure, Governor Nixon dropped the increase to 1% for all healthcare providers.
Governor Nixon will release his recommendations for the Fiscal Year 2017 Budget during his
final State of the State Address on January 20th. Once he announces his recommendations, the
House Budget Committee and Senate Appropriations Committee will review the details and
begin considering his requests as they draft their own versions of the Fiscal Year 2017 Budget.
The state’s $26 billion budget must be passed, per the Missouri Constitution, by May 6 th and will
go into effect on July 1, 2016.
2016 Elections
The 2016 Primary Election will be held on Tuesday, August 2, 2016. The filing period for
candidates wishing to file for office for the 2016 Election opens February 23, 2016 and ends at
5:00 p.m. on March 29, 2016. The candidates that have declared their candidacy for the various
positions are shown below.
Missouri House of Representatives
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All 163 seats of the House of Representatives are up for election in 2016.
Missouri Senate
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All of the odd numbered Senate districts are up for election in 2016.
Governor
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Democrat Attorney General Chris Koster
Republican John Brunner
Republican Eric Greitens
Republican Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder
Republican Catherine Hanaway
Lieutenant Governor
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Republican Senator Mike Parson
Republican Bev Randles
Democrat Brad Bradshaw
Democrat Representative Tommie Pierson
Secretary of State
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Republican Jay Ashcroft
Republican Senator Will Kraus
Democrat Robin Smith
Treasurer
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Republican Senator Eric Schmitt
Democrat Judy Baker
Democrat Pat Contreras
Attorney General
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Democrat Jake Zimmerman
Democrat Teresa Hensley
Republican Senator Kurt Schaefer
Republican Josh Hawley
2016 Dates of Interest
January 18
Martin Luther King Holiday, no session
January 20
State of the State Address, 7:00 p.m.
January 27
State of the Judiciary
March 15
Last Day to Introduce Bills in the House
March 17
Spring Break Begins Upon Adjournment
March 28
Easter Break, no session
March 29
Legislature Reconvenes
May 6
Appropriation Bills must be Truly Agreed and Finally Passed
May 8
Initiative Petition Signature Deadline to be turned into the Secretary of
State
May 13
End of Legislative Session, 6:00 p.m.
July 1
First Day of the New State Budget Fiscal Year
July 14
Last Day for the Governor to sign or veto legislation
August 28
Effective date of all legislation passed by the legislature and signed by the
Governor that does not carry specific effective dates or emergency clauses
Communication
Now that session has begun, a weekly report will be sent to you on items of interest to your
organization throughout the legislative session. Please review the list of recipients for your
organization on this email and let us know if there are any changes, deletions, or additions for
this session.
We consider it a great privilege to represent your interests in Jefferson City and hope this
communication is helpful. As always, please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of any
service to you related to state government. Listed below is all of our contact information:
Steven Tilley
Mark Habbas
(573)-768-4949
(314)-393-9757
[email protected]
[email protected]
Shawn Rigger
Thomas Robbins
(314)-630-2415
(573)-645-5912
[email protected]
[email protected]
Again, it is our privilege to serve your legislative needs and interests in Jefferson City.
Sincerely,
The Strategic Capitol Consulting Team