Legislators in the Senate approve mega-project tax credits
Missouri’s Senate approved up to $240 million in tax credits during eight years to Bombardier, a Canadian aircraft company, that supporters say could bring 2,100 new jobs to Missouri.
Although the tax credits are aimed at attracting a jet-manufacturing plant in Kansas City, it was a Kansas City area senator who delivered the first attacks against the proposal.
Sen. Matt Bartle, R-Lee’s Summit, said it was a mistake to invest tax resources into manufacturing when the economic future for the state lies with new technologies.
“American’s are unwilling to work for the going rate for manufacturing, and it’s been this way for 50 years. For 50 years manufacturing jobs have been moving to countries where the wage base will work for less,” Bartle said.
The bill’s sponsor is the Senate’s GOP floor leader, Sen. Charlie Shields, R-St. Joseph.  He argued that Missouri would not lose because the bill would require the company to refund the tax credits after the plant became operational.
Another issue was that legislators said they were concerned they were investing in a foreign company rather than a Missouri based company.
Supporters replied that the high-salary jobs required by the bill, along with the requirement for health insurance coverage for workers, would benefit Missouri workers.
During the opening hours of debate May 1, Shields addressed the personal relationship of the governor’s family with the company.
Shields acknowledged that Gov. Matt Blunt’s sister — Amy Blunt — worked for a Kansas City law firm retained by Bombardier.
The tax-credit proposal now goes back to the House, which had approved a much higher, $880 million package of tax credits for the Canadian firm.
The House can accept the $240 million Senate plan or demand a conference committee to work out the differences in the remaining two weeks of the legislative session which ends May 16.
Missouri legislators pass — then reverse — a bill to outlaw chemical abortions
A bill passed April 29 by the Missouri Senate to toughen regulation of drugs that can be used for production of methamphetamine was thrown back to the Senate and reversed.
Earlier in April, the House of Representatives tacked on a provision to the bill to ban the drug used for chemical abortions.
The amendment added by the House would have made mifepristone, also known as RU-486, a schedule I drug. Other schedule I drugs include marijuana, opium and morphine.
But the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Norma Champion, R-Springfield, said the inclusion was a staff drafting error.  So, she asked the Senate to reverse its action, only after reporters began to raise questions.
Although the Senate did not intend to approve that ban, it did have strong support in the House.
On April 29, the Senate reversed its earlier approval of the bill and re-passed a version without the controversial section on RU-486.
The measure now goes back to the House, which can accept the Senate version or demand a House-Senate conference committee.

Officials say voter ID ruling likely won’t change much in Missouri
State legislators from both parties said April 28, the federal Supreme Court´s decision to uphold a voter photo identification law will not affect Missouri because of a previous state Supreme Court decision that takes precedence.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld 6-3 an Indiana statute requiring voters to present a photo ID, saying such a requirement “surely does not qualify as a substantial burden on the right to vote, or even represent a significant increase over the usual burdens of voting.”
But two years ago, the Missouri Supreme Court struck down 6-1 a similar law based on voters´ protections outlined in the state´s constitution. It ruled that requiring voters to present photo IDs was unconstitutional.
House Minority Leader Paul LeVota, D-Independence, said each case dealt with separate laws on different levels of government, and therefore, cannot affect each other.
The U.S. Supreme Court decision was based on the U.S. Constitution.  The Missouri Supreme Court decision was based on the Missouri Constitution.
Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, who oversees the state´s elections, issued a news release saying the U.S. Supreme Court´s decision will have little impact on Missouri.
In 2006, the state Supreme Court found that almost 240,000 Missourians, many of them registered to vote, lack a proper government-issued photo ID such as a driver´s license or passport. The court wrote that obtaining such identification “creates a heavy burden on the fundamental right to vote.”

House minority leader raises stir over campaign contributions limit
Two of three Republicans who have been asked to abstain from an impending campaign finance vote in the state House say they have yet to decide whether they will in fact abstain from voting.
Reps. Ron Richard, R-Joplin, Allen Icet, R-St. Louis County, and Joe Smith, R-St. Charles, were named in a March 18 Missouri Ethics Commission release that stated they would have to return campaign contributions if the Missouri legislature did not overturn the caps on campaign limits.
Legislation that has already passed through the Senate would repeal individual campaign finance limits and mandate that donations over $5,000 would have to be disclosed within 48 hours of the gift.
Democrats have asked the three legislators to abstain from voting on the legislation, claiming they would each benefit financially from the vote.
Icet and Smith said they have not decided whether they would abstain from voting. Richard could not be reached for comment.
House Democrat Leader Paul LeVota, D-Independence, sent out letters April 28, asking some Republicans not to vote on the important measure.
Other important House Democrat leadership members signed on to LeVota’s news release.
The legislation is poised to be brought up in the House.
If the bill passes the House without changing, it would then head to the governor’s office.
If the bill is amended, then the House and Senate would have to hammer out the differences in the legislature’s remaining two weeks.

MOHELA given power to issue student loans
Missouri’s House sent the governor a measure that will allow the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA) to directly issue federally-backed loans for college students.
Under current law, MOHELA is restricted to purchasing loans issued by other financial institutions.
MOHELA has argued it needs the measure to secure its financial health.
Under the proposal, the agency would be limited to issuing no more than 10 percent of the total of federal loans issued in the state.

Lawmakers apply sex-offender registration laws retrospectively
The House Crime Prevention Committee approved legislation that would force sex offenders to register even if they were convicted prior to the adoption of the state’s registration laws.
Any laws requiring the collection of DNA analysis, and any laws restricting sex offenders from residing near a school or child-care facility, would also be applied retrospectively.
The bill now is in the House Rules Committee awaiting assignment on the calendar of bills for debate by the full House.

Amtrak funding gets approved
State House and Senate budget negotiators agreed to provide $8 million in operating subsidies to keep the two passenger trains running between St Louis and Kansas City.
The House budget committee had cut the subsidies nearly in half when the budget passed in March. House members then complained of the frequent delays caused by freight travel along the tracks.
Sen. Bill Stouffer, R-Napton, said it was important to work out the on-time performance of the trains.
“We’ve got to improve performance because people simply cannot trust the trains to be on time now and once we get on-time performance improved then I think we will see ridership go up,” Stouffer said.

House gives approval to tax bill
The Missouri House spent the majority of the afternoon April 30 debating the state’s 2005 Medicaid cuts after a restoration proposal came from an unlikely source — an anti-tax Republican.
Rep. Steve Hunter, R-Joplin, put Democrats on the spot by proposing an amendment to a tax bill that would increase taxes more than $300 million in order to restore the cuts.
House Democrats such as Judy Baker of Columbia cried foul over Hunter’s proposal, calling it unconstitutional and a convenient political tool, as passage of this bill is extremely unlikely with only two weeks left in the legislative session.
Hunter touted his anti-tax credentials and told Democrats they finally had an opportunity to restore the cuts to Medicaid, which Democratic leadership has consistently touted as one of their top priorities.
Hunter said his proposal would take from the rich, or anyone making more than $50,000 per year, and redistribute their tax dollars to Medicaid recipients.
Hunter was the only person in the House to vote for the amendment. It failed 1-146.
The amendment was part of a bill that would remove the federal income tax liability for corporations. The bill still needs final approval from both chambers of the legislature before May 16, to pass.
While rejecting the tax increase, the House did approve another amendment to let Missourians seek a refund of state gasoline taxes they pay during the summer.
But with a couple of weeks left in the legislative session, the measure faces a long haul to get to the governor’s desk.