Previously:

Opening of the 2014 legislative session – photos (January 8, 2014)

House Democratic Caucus press conference – Jefferson City – January 8, 2014 (January 8, 2014)

House Democratic Caucus press conference – Q and A – Jefferson City – January 8, 2014 (January 9, 2014)

House Republican Caucus press conference – Jefferson City – January 8, 2014 (January 10, 2014)

“…Putting a billion dollar band-aid on a broken system does not improve health care outcomes. And, in fact, uh, two major pieces of information came out this week  – the State of Delaware, uh, did a Medicaid expansion, completed Medicaid expansion last year. They were handed a bill this year, uh, at the very beginning of this year that said they had to come up with an initial twenty-five million dollars. Secondarily, there was a major study that came out of Oregon that said that Medicaid expansion does not pro vue, not improve access to health care or health care costs and actually visits to the E R have increased. So, before we just dump money into the same old, uh, broken system let’s look at reforming it and making it better so more Missourians could benefit…”

Here’s what the Oregon Medicaid study really said

By Ezra Klein

May 2, 2013 at 3:11 pm

….The initial batch of results was released in August 2012. The data covered the first year of the Medicaid expansion and found that the folks on Medicaid were getting more care, reporting better health (both physical and mental), and seeing fewer financial problems than the people who weren’t on Medicaid.

The second set of results was released Wednesday. The data now covers two years and, importantly, includes clinical measures of health rather than relying on the reports of the study participants. These results are more mixed, but also more telling.

Here’s what we can say with certainty: Medicaid works as health insurance….

[….]

….There’s voluminous evidence that managing diabetes and treating depression and being able to go to the doctor improves health. You have to be willing to throw quite a lot of existing theory and evidence out the window to believe that stuff won’t pay off down the road….

Medicaid calculation change could cost Delaware $25 million

Jan. 2, 2014

[….]

“….There’s nothing wrong with what the federal government did,” Landgraf said. “It’s just that it was terribly unfair that they gave us preliminary numbers that we’re basing our budgets on and all of a sudden there’s a dramatic shift in that number.”

Medicaid, which is jointly funded by the state and federal governments, provides health insurance for the poor and disabled. More than 215,000 are enrolled in Delaware, a number that’s growing due to a slow and imbalanced economic recovery….

….By 2020, the federal government will pay 90 percent of the health care costs for new beneficiaries and higher reimbursements for about 40,000 adults making up to 100 percent of the poverty level already receiving Medicaid. Stephen Groff, director of the state’s Medicaid program, said the calculations indicate that the expansion under Obamacare will still financially benefit the state in the long run….

[….]

On Wednesday afternoon the House Republican Caucus held a press conference in the House Lounge after the opening of the legislative session in Jefferson City. Speaker Timothy Jones (r) took questions from the media after his prepared remarks.

Speaker Timothy Jones (r) taking questions from the media at a press conference

in the House Lounge after the end of the first day of session on January 8, 2014.

This is the first half of the question and answer session.

The video:

The transcript:

Speaker Timothy Jones (r): I have many of my caucus members here who can get more specific on some of these issues if you’d like to speak to any of them or address your questions to them. Uh, in addition, uh, the issue that will, of course, be here at the beginning of session, all the way through and at the end, the budget, our House Budget chairman, Rick Stream, is here to answer those questions. So, happy to take any questions.

Question: Mister Speaker your, your, your comments on the speech on, on school choice, does that mean that [inaudible] here is essentially dead in the House?

Speaker Timothy Jones (r): Uh, I’m not sure, I’m not sure I understand the question, premise of the question.

Question: You’re, are you saying that, that you opposed to giving school districts in St. Louis County and Kansas City area the right to refuse kids transferred out of unaccredited schools [inaudible]?

Speaker Timothy Jones (r): As I’ve said, uh, I am hopeful that all students continue to have the option for a good education. You know, I think we need to remember where this law came from. Uh, this law was passed with great foresight by a Democratically controlled General Assembly many, many years ago, and I believe, signed into law by a Democratic governor. I applaud their foresight. They, they, this was, this was an option that, that folks hoped would never happen , but in the case, if we had failing schools with, with no, with no end in sight for the status quo that this law would take effect. And I would say that it is a large bipartisan coalition that is very excited that for the first time in nearly forty years kids have an opportunity to escape the failing districts that they have, that they have been consigned to because of their zip codes. So, I’m willing to consider, uh, any legislation that will allow school districts to operate in a better efficient manner and to help them, uh, deal with the new, with the new law that’s been affirmed by our Supreme Court. But I want to make sure we protect the students’ choice, the students’ opportunities to finally have the opportunity for good education.

Question: What, what do you say to those school districts in St. Louis County that have been arguing [inaudible] that they don’t have adequate resources, facilities, and enough teachers to handle the potential numbers that’d be coming in from Normandy School District?

Speaker Timothy Jones (r): You know, it’s interesting that you bring up that question. I actually was speaking with uh, former, uh, well, I, I actually don’t know his current status, but the superintendent of the Ferguson Florisant School District, Dr. Art McCoy. And I, I had a meeting about a month or two ago and he said we have the capacity, and any superintendent who wants to try and serve these children can absolutely do so. I know that shortly after Dr. McCoy accepting new students into his district he was, he was placed on some form of, uh, of, of leave. And I don’t know what his current status is. So, it seems that the education establishment continues to want t punish those who want to change the status quo and not work with us to change these districts that have been failing for so long. So, I, I would, I would take the words of Dr. McCoy to heart. I think if, eh, if, uh, if, if a school district wants to help the children in these failing districts they can do so. And I’ve spoken to many superintendents who have said, we just need some parameters, we need some tweaking, but, uh, I think to, to completely end the opportunity for choice is huge mistake for kids of our state.

Question: Is making some changes to the transfer law a priority for you this session?

Speaker Timothy Jones (r): You know, I will be happy to, to, uh, you know, education is a priority for me. Helping kids succeed is a priority for me and I think it’s a priority for our caucus. So I will be happy to consider, uh, any piece of legislation that will assist in that regard.

Question: Is it broadening choice? Is that still on your agenda? Because right now you talk about choice, but it’s only for students that are in the failing districts. Are you gonna push again for something, tax credits , vouchers, however you want to put it, to, to broaden out that choice?

Speaker Timothy Jones (r): You know, I, I won’t be filing any particular legislation in that regard but I’ll, I’ll wait to see what my caucus members file and what people want us to move forward on.

Question: Do you think the current law. If no changes are made, can work as it is now? Or do you see this as a law that needs some clarification to it?

Speaker Timothy Jones (r): Well, this law has been in effect for several months now and the world has not come to an end in the world of public education. As I said, I think if superintendents and, and local school leaders want to make this law work I think they can. If they feel they need some assistance from the legislature I invite them to come up with a proposal, uh, uh, to, to make it better.

Question: And are you concerned at all there’s those urban districts that are saying that they could go bankrupt if nothing’s done to fix this transfer situation?

Speaker Timothy Jones (r): They have gone bankrupt or they could go [crosstalk], they could go bankrupt?

Question: They could go bankrupt.

Speaker Timothy Jones (r): Well, I think we’ll have to wait and time, time, time will see exactly what changes we need to make. As I said, I’m more than happy to consider, uh, any proposals that are put before us to make sure that kids are the number one priority here.

Question: Income tax cuts, uh, how are they going to be different than last year?

Speaker Timothy Jones (r): Well, I know those bills, uh, have been drafted and will, and will soon be filed. I, I think there’s going to be, uh, probably some bills that are filed that may be very similar to the ones last year. I think you’re also gonna see some new proposals that focus on families, uh, middle, middle income families, uh, on small businesses. So I think you’re gonna, because, because we don’t know if the Governor is interested in providing tax relief for any Missourian I think you’re gonna see a number of options being put on the table. So the Governor can pick and choose, uh, as to whether he wants to provide tax relief for anyone.

Question: Have you talked with the Governor about this?

Speaker Timothy Jones (r): Uh, he, he, uh, he and I have not spoken on this subject.

Question: Do you plan to?

Speaker Timothy Jones (r): Uh, my door is open to the Governor, uh, any day, any time. I’m, I’m actually free this afternoon if he’d like to stop by and talk about tax relief.

Question: Subject of education funding, the Governor and the House Democrats have both called for more funding for the foundation formula. I believe you’ve used the term, appropriate funding for public education. What do you consider appropriate?

Speaker Timothy Jones (r): Well, you know, the House has always been committed to more funding for education. Every single year I’ve been here the Missouri House, uh, has, has appropriated more money for education, except during the, the incredibly difficult budget years where we had to cut nearly a billion dollars out of the budget. And then we held education harmless. So, that’s been a priority for us. The Governor has been the one that’s used the most severe budget axe on the education system. He has time and again cut millions of dollars out of higher education. He’s withheld transportation dollars from K through twelve. Uh, you know, the, the Governor has used our education dollars and our budget in general, uh, to, to whatever his whims may be. Uh, I, I, I know you’re gonna see some significant legislation this year to prevent the Governor from using the budget, uh, as his own personal slush fund, to follow the constitution and to follow the appropriations, uh, as he signs in the bills that the General Assembly passes. So, last year the Missouri House, I believe, appropriated more money in a single year than ever before to K through twelve education. We’ll continue to make that priority again.

Speaker Timothy Jones (r).

Question: Mister Speaker [crosstalk].

Question: Will you expect any leadership support for any type of, say, alternate Medicaid proposal that would include both reforms and somewhat of an, of an increase or expansion of the, basically, what Representative Barnes has been working on?

Speaker Timothy Jones (r): You know, the Missouri House had several bills last year that, that moved, uh, moved forward, um, and involved transforming Medicare, uh, Medicaid and reforming Medicaid. Uh, there’s also been some stand alone reform bills. Uh, as we saw last year the Missouri Senate, um, was simply not interested in the topic. And we need a partner in this if we’re gonna move forward, uh, in, in actually getting the issue across the finish line. In the mean time I’m, I will be more than happy to move legislation forward, uh, along the same lines that we did last year, transforming Medicaid, making it better. We have a broken system. Putting a billion dollar band-aid on a broken system does not improve health care outcomes. And, in fact, uh, two major pieces of information came out this week  – the State of Delaware, uh, did a Medicaid expansion, completed Medicaid expansion last year. They were handed a bill this year, uh, at the very beginning of this year that said they had to come up with an initial twenty-five million dollars. Secondarily, there was a major study that came out of Oregon that said that Medicaid expansion does not pro vue, not improve access to health care or health care costs and actually visits to the E R have increased. So, before we just dump money into the same old, uh, broken system let’s look at reforming it and making it better so more Missourians could benefit.

Previously:

Opening of the 2014 legislative session – photos (January 8, 2014)

House Democratic Caucus press conference – Jefferson City – January 8, 2014 (January 8, 2014)

House Democratic Caucus press conference – Q and A – Jefferson City – January 8, 2014 (January 9, 2014)

“…We have never before seen a federal government, uh, act in such a way to infringe upon our rights and liberties, upon our privacy, uh, con, big, big data, big government are walking hand in hand to try to do all they can to insert themselves into our daily lives like I’ve never seen before in my lifetime…

Volume 5: The National Security Agency and Fourth amendment Rights [Church Committee]

[NSA][July 1, 1969][….]

MINARET specifically includes communications [co]ncerning individuals or organizations involved in civil disturbances, anti-war movements/demonstrations and [mi]litary deserters involved in anti-war movements.

[….]

Book II: Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans [Church Committee] [April 26, 1976]

[….]

Intelligence agencies have collected vast amounts of information about the intimate details of citizens’ lives and about their participation in legal and peaceful political activities. The targets of intelligence activity have included political adherents of the right and the left, ranging from activists to casual supporters. Investigations have been directed against proponents of racial causes and women’s rights, outspoken apostles of nonviolence and racial harmony; establishment politicians; religious groups; and advocates of new life styles. The widespread targeting of citizens and domestic groups, and the excessive scope of the collection of information, is illustrated by the following examples:

(a) The “Women’s Liberation Movement” was infiltrated by informants who collected material about the movement’s policies, leaders, and individual members….

[…]

Some of us are older than others.

On Wednesday afternoon the House Republican Caucus held a press conference in the House Lounge after the opening of the legislative session in Jefferson City. Speaker Timothy Jones (r) addressed prepared remarks to the assembled media and onlookers.

Speaker Timothy Jones (r) (center, at the microphone) and a substantial portion of the House Republican Caucus

in the House Lounge after the end of the first day of session on January 8, 2014.

The video:

The transcript.

Speaker Timothy Jones  (r):  Good afternoon everyone. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Thank you all for being here. I want to thank all the members of my caucus, uh, for attending as well.  Uh, well, welcome to the first day of another legislative session here in the Missouri House. And, as you heard, um, I intend our agenda this year to focus on four major policy areas – growth and opportunity for all Missourians, guaranteeing access to a great education, generating affordable and abundant energy, and guarding and protecting Missouri values that so many Missourians, uh, regardless of political party, hold dear.

Uh, providing growth and opportunity for Missourians means we’ll con, we’ll continue to consider any policy, any positive legislative change that will give our citizens, our workers, our employers the opportunity for new jobs. That, that is, that is our job number one – creating that business climate here in Missouri so jobs, business owners want to come here.  Removing barriers, uh, reducing, reducing the role of government in our lives, that as we saw last year, tends to just make economic climates worse across our country. Uh, we’re gonna create a business friendly and job creating environment here with a lower tax burden, reduced regulatory burdens, and ending costly, frivolous litigation.

Uh, our, our priorities are gonna be in tax relief. Missourians need and want lower taxes. We’ve heard that time and time again in all of our districts across the state. Why is that true? Because many Missourians see our bordering states doing exactly that – reducing tax burdens on their citizens, on their family farmers, on their small, uh, small and medium sized businesses. And they’re seeing positive economic growth. I mean, this, these are, these are not politics, these are policy changes. And the states around us that have reduced tax burdens have seen explosive growths, uh, in their budgets, in their revenues, in the jobs they’ve created, in the wages for their workers. And that simply means that we will then have more opportunity to, to increase funding for education and for our, our health care system for those in our Medicaid system.

Uh, Missourians also want us to engage in significant tax credit reform, like the Missouri House did last year, hoping that our colleagues in the Senate take another, uh, good look at what was a very positive step in that direction, uh, ending the Governor’s practice of picking winners and losers through centralized planning. Missourians want tax breaks for all, not just a few chosen few.

Medical malpractice reform. You know, I, as I’ve toured the state I, I’ve heard this time and time again from the health care providers, uh, along the bordering areas, between our states and states like Oklahoma, uh, and Kansas, and Arkansas. We are bleeding jobs in our health care industry because other states are now more welcoming to our health care providers. And that means our patients are being put at risk as well. As, as more and more dollars are spent on legal defense funds and less and less on access to care and, uh, research and development, uh, our entire health care industry, uh, is at serious, serious risk. The State of Kansas upheld nearly the identical law that our Supreme Court, uh, threw out a couple years ago. And if you want to know how we can have reasonable medical malpractice caps here in our state, why those are constitutional, why those are appropriate I would urge everyone to go back and dust of Judge Mary Russell’s dissent and read that. The argument is made there.

Uh, worker freedom. Twenty-four states, nearly half the country have now empowered their workers over old entrenched union bosses and given workers the ultimate freedom to make their own choices. In this day and age I don’t understand why workers can, why, why we can’t trust workers with that choice. They should have that freedom. Why? Because again, many of our bordering states have implemented or have those policies. They’re seeing explosive growth in their economies. The top three things that job creators look at when they are looking, uh, at all the options available to them across the country are a state’s tax policy, regulatory policy, and that’s where your, your labor laws fall, and litigation policy. If you’re not competitive in those three areas they pass you by.

Education reform. We must continue to work towards a public education system that provides an excellent education for all. There is no reason why, uh, we should have some of the best performing schools in the nation and at the same time, a few miles away from some of these highest performing schools, have some of the, the worst schools in the country that have been failing for forty years. The status quo is not what we should continue to want to pursue. We should want to pursue change, positive change so every student, whether they’re in an urban area, suburban area, or a rural area has access to a great quality education. Funding is definitely part of the equation, but you have to have accountability, you have to have choice in order to obtain success.

Uh, generating affordable energy. Our infrastructure is aging. We need to look at investing in an aging infrastructure if we’re gonna continue to enjoy some of the lowest utility rates, uh, in the country. This is a bipartisan issue that I’m looking forward to working on with my colleagues across the aisle to make, to guarantee that the consumers, uh, in our state continue to have abundant affordable energy, but that that energy is available, uh, in the decades to come.

And finally, uh, another issue that has enjoyed great bipartisan support, and that’s guarding and protecting Missouri values. We have never before seen a federal government, uh, act in such a way to infringe upon our rights and liberties, upon our privacy, uh, con, big, big data, big government are walking hand in hand to try to do all they can to insert themselves into our daily lives like I’ve never seen before in my lifetime. And the Missouri House stood up against this type of big government intrusion, successfully last year on, on several accounts. We exposed Governor Nixon’s Department of Revenue for their unlawful practices. We held the Department of Social services accountable and continue to do so, in their closure of records relating to child abuse cases. Uh, we, we also exposed, uh, the Department of Social Services’ attempt to permanently move people to the entitlement state and off of temporary assistance.

You know, Missourians want a hand up, not a hand out. Missourians want to work. We’ve always been an industrious state. And if you go back and, and, and look, uh, in our nation’s history, this is a bipartisan issue. Uh, both John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy spoke about the value of work, of getting people off, eventually, of that public subsist, subsistence and moving them into the work force. And if we can just implement, uh, smart policies in these areas we will create the opportunity for all Missourians to share in prosperity for all.

So I’ve outlined, uh, the agenda. Uh, it’s gonna be a very vigorous year. It’s gonna be, uh, I, I believe, a positive year for Missouri. Uh, we’re gonna, we’re, we’re gonna be getting to work, uh, nearly immediately and right away.

Speaker Timothy Jones (r).

A bill, filed today:

SECOND REGULAR SESSION

HOUSE BILL NO. 1302

97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES REMOLE (Sponsor), FITZWATER, CIERPIOT, ROWDEN, STREAM, KELLEY (127), SHULL, LOVE, LYNCH, MESSENGER, MORRIS, HANSEN, REHDER, SHUMAKE, MOON, LAIR, THOMSON, WALKER, DUGGER, ENTLICHER, ALLEN, FLANIGAN, GRISAMORE, RICHARDSON, TORPEY, HICKS, CURTMAN, REDMON, RHOADS, BAHR, FRANKLIN, PIKE, WOOD, PHILLIPS, ROWLAND, HINSON AND JONES (110) (Co-sponsors).

5125H.01I       D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk

AN ACT

To amend chapter 1, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to the right of Missourians to heat their homes and businesses using wood-burning devices.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:

           Section A. Chapter 1, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 1.450, to read as follows:

           1.450. All Missourians have the right to heat their homes and businesses using wood-burning furnaces, stoves, fireplaces, and heaters.

Really?

Previously:

Campaign Finance: the almighty dollar (January 5, 2014)

Campaign Finance: paying Peter, who then pays Paul (January 7, 2014)

Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C091068 01/09/2014 HOUSE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE, INC Grow Missouri 308 E High Street Suite 301 Jefferson City MO 65101 1/7/2014 $40,000.00

[emphasis added]

Grow Missouri has had a recent benefactor:

C131097 12/20/2013 GROW MISSOURI Rex Sinquefield 244 Bent Walnut Westphalia MO 65085 Retired 12/19/2013 $245,000.00

C131097 12/31/2013 GROW MISSOURI Rex Sinquefield 244 Bent Walnut Westphalia MO 65085 Retired 12/30/2013 $250,000.00

[emphasis added]

Fancy that.

Previously:

Opening of the 2014 legislative session – photos (January 8, 2014)

House Democratic Caucus press conference – Jefferson City – January 8, 2014 (January 8, 2014)

“…Well, first of all, I don’t feel that we should be leveraging the children of this state on anything. They should be our number one priority…”

Yesterday afternoon the House Democratic Caucus held a press conference in the House Lounge after the opening of the legislative session in Jefferson City. After prepared remarks by Minority Floor Leader Jacob Hummel (D) and Assistant Minority Floor Leader Gail McCann Beatty (D) they took questions from the press.

The video:

The transcript:

Minority Floor Leader Jacob Hummel (D): Questions.

Question: There is not agreement between the Governor and, uh, legislature on a consensus revenue estimate, so a couple of questions there. Where does your party stand on how much money the state should, uh, plan on having next year? And does that play into where you hope to see money come to the foundation formula? Do you think there’s more money there that can be pumped into that, or where is that gonna come from?

Minority Floor Leader Jacob Hummel (D): Well, first of all, I haven’t seen the, uh, Governor’s budget proposal, but I assume that that is where his, uh, numbers are coming from. Uh, look, I think we know that the, the House is going to, the Governor is gonna start with his number and the House Budget Committee will start with their number. You know, if, if they want to go ahead and start cutting money from education, from fully funding the foundation formula, um, and not try to trust the Governor’s number then that’s up to them. Then they can be in the position to go ahead and cut things from education. So, do I know which number is the absolute correct answer? I don’t. And I don’t think, I don’t think that it’s fair to say that either one, either one party does, so.

Question: From a position of a minority with fifty-two members you can’t force much, um, in the House of Representatives. So, you’re gonna have to rely on public pressure in some ways to [inaudible] the Republicans. What do you intend to do that would be different from what happened last year on Medicaid that would, uh, create that pressure to [inaudible] move ahead on this bill?

Minority Floor Leader Jacob Hummel (D): Well, first of all, I think that there’s enough people within the majority party that would vote for Medicaid expansion if someone in the Speaker’s office had the courage to let it come to the floor for a vote. How are we going to know if no one will bring it up for a vote? The Chamber of Commerce in Missouri as well as numerous chambers of commerce across the state have come out more strongly in favor of this. You know, they realize that this is a huge, uh, job creation tool. Why is it that the majority only wants to listen to the business community when it suits their agenda? I don’t think it’s fair to say that they want to say that, okay, fine, we can’t expand jobs in the state unless we do this. They’ve come out and said they think this is gonna create twenty-four thousand jobs. I mean, they agree with us. We’re not always on the same page as the Chamber of Commerce.

Question: Yeah, but chances are that, you know, barring peasants with pitch forks coming up here and pushing the Speaker in to this, um, up to the dais, uh, to get a vote on that, how do you, how do you get that pressure on him?

Minority Floor Leader Jacob Hummel (D): Well, what we have been doing is we’ve been going, in the interim, we went around the state for quite a while. Uh, we went to different areas of the state and we tried to inform the voters and the citizens that this is the right thing to do. And we’re gonna continue to do that. Um, and as you said, it’s up to public pressure to get these guys to do what they [inaudible], so.

Assistant Minority Floor Leader Gail McCann Beatty (D): Just a, a quick comment, too. I think as we start to see some of these hospitals start to close I think, uh, a lot of our counterparts are gonna have to rethink, uh, how they vote on this.

Minority Floor Leader Jacob Hummel (D): For the first time in history BJC has laid off employees. I mean, if that’s not an eye awakener I don’t know what is.

Question: Where would you like to see the minimum wage increase to? What is your, what, what’s your proposal  [inaudible]?

Minority Floor Leader Jacob Hummel (D): That’s Representative Roorda. Let’s let Representative Roorda  answer that, it’s his bill.

Representative Jeff Roorda (D): Thank  you, Jake. Uh, well, first of all, it’s great to be part of a team that is bringing common sense solutions to the table, uh, instead of what we heard in a very red meat speech from the Speaker today that, uh, I think folks notice that, uh, his own caucus was not excited about. We saw nothing but unenthused golf claps, uh, throughout the Speaker’s speech. And I think it’s because it’s an extreme speech, uh, that offers no bipartisan attempt to work with the Governor to pass important legislation. Uh, and I don’t think that’s reflective of the Speaker’s entire caucus, so.

To confirm what, uh, my friend and leader said, I think we’re gonna advance issues like minimum wage, House Bill 1098 was filed in early December. That seeks to raise minimum wage to eight dollars twenty-five cents per hour. Uh, for tipped employees it, it raises their percentage of minimum wage from fifty percent to sixty percent. It also, uh, doubles the damages, uh, for employees who were not, uh, paid properly under the minimum wage statutes. So, uh, it very closely mirrors the, uh, petition initiative, uh, that just fell few signatures short of getting on the ballot in November two thousand twelve. And it’s common sense legislation I think, uh, Missourians of every stripe can agree that it’s good for our state and good for our economy.

Question: Do you keep the COLA on?

Representative Jeff Roorda (D): Keep the COLA, yes.

Representative Jeff Roorda (D).

Question: Last year, uh, Representative Barnes, uh, worked on an alternate Medicaid proposal that would include, uh, a smaller increase with some, uh, market based reforms mixed in. And he’s been working on that over the, uh, since the last session ended. Is that something the House Democrats can get behind?

Minority Floor Leader Jacob Hummel (D): I, absolutely willing to sit down with Representative Barnes and, and discuss the proposal. I mean, the Speaker created special interim committees. So did the Senate. So tell me now why after we have been working on this the entire interim that all of a sudden they’re, it’s just not gonna be brought up. I mean, why did we waste all the taxpayers’ dollars having these interim committees if they weren’t going to do anything? And, you know, the Speaker said in his speech that he was tired of the Governor picking winners and lose, losers as he did in the Boeing proposal. Unless I’m mistaken, I could’ve swore the Speaker voted for that proposal. So, I’m confused on where he’s going with that.

Question: Question for some of your, uh, maybe for some of your members with the Education Committee. But, on the transfer issue if there comes up an opportunity to leverage that with some of the other issues that, uh, uh, Speaker Jones or the Republicans have been favorable for are there any that you can see working with or using as leverage?

Representative Genise Montecillo (D): Well, first of all, I don’t feel that we should be leveraging the children of this state on anything. They should be our number one priority. Educating our children in this state should be our number one issue that we’re addressing this session. Um, without that everything else falls by the wayside. So, no, I don’t believe that our children should be wagered. Uh, there were bills last year, I filed a bill, and, and several of us did and we were told that unless the Speaker’s legislation was moved ours wouldn’t see the light of day and it didn’t. That’s wrong. If we know something is gonna provide good education outcomes that should be a priority.

Representative Genise Montecillo (D).

Question: What would you like, do you have a proposal on the transfer law in terms of what changes you, your caucus supports on, on that law?

Minority Floor Leader Jacob Hummel (D): No, we don’t, we don’t have a, you know, we’ve looked at the proposal that being brought forward in the Senate. Um, we think there’s some good ground work there, think there’s some changes that probably need to be make, be made. But, um, and I’ll let Representative McNeil. She’s not here. [crosstalk] Well.

Representative Genise Montecillo (D): Representative McNeil does have, um, she’s working on legislation. She’s not present today.

Minority Floor Leader Jacob Hummel (D): I think there’s some common sense things that we can, we can start with. Like, I think that it’s, I think that it’s not out of the picture to say that the receiving districts can at least have some common sense way to set classroom sizes. Certainly I don’t think that they should be able to lower them they way some of them have below the number of students that they already actually have in class. Uh, but I think that there’s, there should be some reasonable expectations to, uh, take in mind classroom sizes in those proposals. And there’s some other things that we can work on, but, um, it’s a tough issue as everybody knows.

Representative Genise Montecillo (D): I think one other point to understand and, it’s worrisome to me that the Speaker said that the transfer issue doesn’t seem to be a priority for him.  Back in St. Louis we have students that already lost their teachers this year. They, when they return to school after the snow storm they are going to brand new schools. Their school has closed. I don’t, I cannot understand how that’s good, um educational policy for our children.

Minority Floor Leader Jacob Hummel (D): Any other questions? Okay. Thank you.

Minority Floor Leader Jacob Hummel (D).

Previously: Opening of the 2014 legislative session – photos (January 8, 2014)

“…The speaker said that we need new, fresh ideas. None of those ideas were new. They were the same ones, over and over, again. All of the crazy stuff that was, uh, brought to the floor last year…”

This afternoon the House Democratic Caucus held a press conference in the House Lounge after the opening of the legislative session in Jefferson City. Minority Floor Leader Jacob Hummel (D) and Assistant Minority Floor Leader Gail McCann Beatty (D) started with prepared remarks.

Minority Floor Leader Jacob Hummel (D).

The video:

The transcript:

Minority Floor Leader Jacob Hummel (D): Everybody, thank you, thank you all for being here today.  I appreciate, uh, everyone’s time.  Welcome back to, uh, session after a very brief break, um, in the news stories.  Uh, here to present our legislative priorities for this year on Elvis’ seventy-ninth birthday. Representative Mayfield wanted me to mention that in case anybody was curious.

Um, our number one issue, of course, is, is Medicaid. Uh, there’s no issue that’s before us that could be any more important. Uh, we came together in a bipartisan fashion, uh, to try and lure Boeing here, um, obviously without success. But, when you look at, at what we did, both sides of the aisle, to bring that issue to the forefront in a short time and try to create jobs in this state, it shows that we can do it.

We came together to try and create eighty-five hundred jobs in this state. We did it in record time. There is no reason whatsoever that we cannot create twenty-four thousand jobs in this state in the same manner. We’ve left twenty-four thousand jobs on the table last year. We cannot afford to do it again.

We support the Governor’s proposal to fully fund the foundation formula by twenty-seventeen. It’s been a long time coming and it’s something that we’ve needed across the state. We talk a lot about education reform in this state – it’s never about making sure that our schools and our high, higher education facilities are fully funded as they should be. That is one of our top goals for this year, is to support the Governor’s agenda.

We support a responsible fix to the school transfer issue. Uh, everyone knows that that is a, a huge problem. We think there are absolutely responsible ways that we can work together to get this issue fixed. What we don’t think is that we should be putting some of the majority’s extreme school reform issues tied to that legislation. We need to fix what’s going on right now and leave the crazy stuff to another day.

Um, we also support a raising of the Missouri minimum wage. We think that that is important to, as we talk about job creation to bring the people at the bottom of the social layer to create a living wage so that they can provide for their families to begin to crawl out of poverty. And when you talk about the problems in some of our schools what people never talk about is the problems at home. The problems of people trying to feed their families, to make sure that there’s a place for their kids to sleep at night, and get them to school on time. You can’t do that on minimum wage. Representative Roorda, um, has a bill that he’s working on to do that.

We are going to present a bill to found, uh, to, uh, implement the school transfer issue. Uh, Representative Carpenter is going to, has a bill that he’s been working on the entire interim, uh, to our tax proposal, not a tax proposal that will drive an eight hundred million dollar hole in the state budget and one that will create tax breaks for the wealthiest corporations, but one that will give tax relief to ninety-eight percent of Missourians and will be revenue neutral.

We think that all of these things can be accomplished in this session and there’s no reason that we can’t tackle these.

Um, I do want to say that I was a little disappointed in the lack of bipartisan tone that came out of the Speaker’s, um, announcement today on the floor, on his priorities. Uh, we came together in December and look what we got done for the state. Maybe it didn’t work out, but that’s what the citizens of this state expect. They expect us to work past our differences and create jobs. The speaker said that we need new, fresh ideas. None of those ideas were new. They were the same ones, over and over, again. All of the crazy stuff that was, uh, brought to the floor last year – Sharia law, uh, drones – all that stuff’s been filed again. It’s nothing new. There’s no new ways to create jobs in this state. The Speaker wants to talk about right to work. It’s amazing then that Express Scripts is adding fifteen hundred jobs in St. Louis, that Boeing is adding several hundred jobs, Ford is adding, um, a thousand jobs, General Motors is adding jobs. We’ve created forty-four thousand new jobs from January twenty-thirteen to now. Forty-four thousand. Our unemployment rate, while at six point one percent is still unacceptable, it had been below the national average for, I think, fifty-one consecutive months. We’re doing something right. Right to work is not gonna help anybody in this state, except to lower wages for the people of Missouri.

So, my Assistant Minority Floor Leader Gail McCann Beatty has, uh, something to say and then we’ll take questions.

Assistant Minority Floor Leader Gail McCann Beatty (D): Good afternoon. So as we go into the two thousand -fourteen session two of our top priorities will be Medicaid expansion and the school transfer law.

The expansion of Medicaid represents the largest jobs creation bill that we have seen in generations, creating twenty-four thousand jobs in the health care industry alone. Our tax dollars are already going out to other states. It’s now time for us to bring our tax dollars back home.

School transfers are, are bankrupting school districts in the St. Louis area and the Kansas City School District is destined for that same fate. We must make, we must make common sense changes to our school transfer law. Our Missouri students are entitled to a quality education regardless where they live. We won’t improve our struggling districts by putting them in bankruptcy. We must be careful not to hurt the receiving districts. These districts should have the ability to set reasonable class limits to avoid overcrowding. We must act now. We cannot hold our children hostage to advance personal agendas. We have an obligation to Missourians to move forward without getting bogged down in unrelated issues in pushing personal agendas.

Minority Floor Leader Jacob Hummel (D): And one more thing,  I did forget one of our proposals. I’m sorry, I got the page turned.  Um, Representative McManus is, uh, leading our effort on ethics reform this year. It is not the same bill that we proposed last year. It is a much stronger version, uh, one that we think is, is desperately needed in the state. And he will be, he will be filing that probably either this week or the beginning of next week.

Assistant Minority Floor Leader Gail McCann Beatty (D).

The second regular session of the 97th General Assembly commenced at noon today in Jefferson City.

Architectural detail in the Missouri capitol building.

Expectations for any legislative accomplishment or any significant bipartisan agreement during this session have already been low.

Representative Chris Kelly (D) – the first member on the floor before the start of the session.

Speaker Timothy Jones (r) partisan remarks to the House pretty much insured that there’s not going to be any progress on legislation on a number of issues. Medicaid anyone?  

Speaker Timothy Jones (r) addressing the House.

State Auditor Tom Schweich (r) watches the proceedings in the House from a side gallery.

Representative Jill Schupp (D).

Rep. Vicki Englund (D).

Representative Chris Kelly (D).

“The welfare of the people shall be the supreme law” – noble sentiment, rarely accomplished.

And definitely not in this session of the General Assembly.

The mood throughout the day could only be described as subdued.

A detail from the Thomas Hart Benton painting in the House Lounge.

Via TPM:

In a surprising move Tuesday, six Republicans joined Senate Democrats to break a filibuster and advance a three-month revival of unemployment insurance that recently expired for some 1.3 million Americans.

On the off-chance that you’re wondering, Roy Blunt, our Republican Senator from Missouri was not among the Republicans who were at least willing to discuss putting the welfare of jobless Americans before partisan ideology – in spite of the fact that, as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s Tony Messenger points out, people don’t have jobs because there aren’t any to be had:

Both liberal and conservative economists point out that the long-term unemployment problem is as bad as it’s been since after World War II. Kevin Hassett, an economist with the conservative American Enterprise Institute and former adviser to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, calls it “a huge emergency.”

So far, two days later, there’s no statement from Blunt – that I can find, at any rate – explaining his vote, so we’ll have to extrapolate for the time being from his past rhetoric and his predictable willingness to always toe the party line. My guess is that he’ll make some half-hearted statement that repeats one or the other of the strategies many in his party are adopting to try to take the sting out of their heartlessness: to wit, unemployment benefits somehow hurt the jobless, discourage full-employment, and that fiscal responsibility demands spending offsets.

The last reason, the demand for spending offsets, is especially risible. When Democrats in the House did, during the original budget negotiations, offer to pay for extending unemployment benefits by cutting agriculture subsidies – those very subsidies enjoyed by our Missouri Rep. Vicky Hartzler, incidentally – that wasn’t the type of spending cut that Republicans were willing to accept.

But there are, of course, other types of corporate welfare that could be cut in order to pay for extending jobless benefits. Oil subsidies, for instance. I’m going to be waiting with baited breath for Senator Blunt’s effort to excuse his vote(s). If I hear one word about fiscal responsibility from Senator “Big Oil” Blunt, the go-to guy for the energy industry who thinks oil subsidies, along with other types of corporate welfare are always just tickety-boo, I’ll spit. And if anyone buys this crap coming from Blunt, I might suffer cardiac arrest. Why not? Who wants to live in a world where folks are so stupid that they’ll buy Roy Blunt as a fiscal conservative?

In fact, who wants to live in a world where anyone buys the GOP as the party of fiscal responsibility? Spending offsets are simply a strategy designed to deflect disapproval and disguise a turnip as cake – as in let them eat cake. There’s a reason that the House leadership is trying to soften GOP rhetoric on the topic.  But no matter how they talk about it, it’s hard to make meanness attractive. As Brian Buetler notes in Salon:

But conservatives – even reform conservatives – are oddly indignant about the suggestion that they would support doing something that actually helps the poor. As always, for any given way of helping people, conservatives are against it because there’s some other better way. But they never actually favor helping.