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The Week of May 20, 2024

On the Floor

This last week was a whirlwind of activity as legislators made the final push to get their priority bills across the finish line and to the governor’s desk. Once again, we turned our attention to Senate Joint Resolution 74, which would make it harder to pass constitutional amendments, including initiative petitions, in Missouri. The Missouri Constitution currently sets a simple majority of the statewide vote for ratifying amendments. The latest version of SJR 74 would require future amendments to win both a statewide majority and majorities in at least five of Missouri’s eight congressional districts. The concurrent majority requirement would apply to both amendments placed on the ballot by the Legislature and those proposed by initiative petition. If an amendment passes, it would take effect at the end of 31 days after the election. 

Unfortunately, the Missouri House of Representatives sent back SJR 74 with the so-called “ballot candy” language added back in. Our original compromise was removing this language, and it is frustrating we had to come back to the same discussion. My colleagues and I once again held the floor and filibustered for 50 hours to remove this language from the bill. Eventually, we voted to send this legislation to a conference committee, but the House refused this proposal on May 16, pushing for the Senate to approve the House version.

With the session deadline quickly approaching, and the threat of another filibuster looming, the Senate adjourned early on May 17. The House was given the choice to pass a version without the “ballot candy” language or nothing at all, with the lower chamber ultimately deciding not to pass it.

If the bill had passed with the ballot candy language, when voters go to the polls, they would have seen a section stating that by passing the ballot measure, only individuals who are a legal resident of Missouri and a citizen of the United States could sign initiative petitions or vote to pass them. This is already the case and I believe this language only serves to trick voters into voting for the measure. Other ballot candy provisions included prohibiting using the initiative petition process to propose constitutional changes allowing public officials to receive gifts from lobbyists, increasing taxes on food, bar foreign governments from sponsoring or supporting initiative petitions, or reducing law enforcement funding. 

Other News

Senior Property Tax Freeze Credit

The application for the City of St. Louis Senior Property Tax Credit is now open. This tax credit was passed as a part of Senate Bill 190 during last year’s legislative session and signed into law by the governor. It allows the city to provide senior citizens with fixed city property tax rates while protecting other tax rates such as public schools, the public library, the St. Louis Zoo, museums, etc., from revenue reductions. Eligible seniors can apply for this credit online, via paper form or in-person at the assessor's office. Applications are due by June 30, and individuals can learn more about eligibility and necessary documents at the link above.

Lawmakers finalize state budget three hours before deadline

Following an unorthodox process that essentially skipped several key steps, the Missouri General Assembly on May 10 granted final approval to the various appropriations bills that make up the nearly $50.96 billion state operating budget for the upcoming 2025 fiscal year, which begins July 1. Lawmakers also approved an additional $717.1 million in spending for capital improvement projects.

Because the full Senate didn’t even take up the budget until just one day before the hard constitutional deadline for sending the bills to the governor, the House of Representatives simply granted final approval to what the Senate sent over, completing work on the budget with only about three hours to spare.

The rush to beat the deadline meant there was no substantive budget debate in the Senate, and the usual process of House and Senate negotiators crafting a final compromise in public hearings was skipped entirely. Instead, the House and Senate budget chairmen wrote the final bills behind closed doors, forcing other lawmakers to either except their work or finish the job this summer in an extra session.

The final operating budget more closely resembles the $50.08 billion plan the House approved in April than the $51.82 billion the Gov. Mike Parson requested in January. It contains significantly less spending authority than the roughly $52.3 billion the Senate Appropriations Committee had recommended.

With a multi-billion revenue surplus – largely from unspent federal pandemic relief funds – the lower spending levels in the final budget aren’t the result of a lack of available revenue, but a difference of philosophy. For years the House Budget Committee chairman has pushed to tighten state spending but never had sufficient leverage for his position to prevail. This time around, some senators inadvertently aided in his goal by causing procedural delays that resulted in the chamber not taking up the budget bills until right before the deadline.

Both members of the minority party and the governor said that with appropriations for Medicaid and many other programs well below anticipated costs for the FY 2025 Fiscal Year, the Legislature passed an incomplete budget that will require them to later pass what could be the largest supplemental spending bill in state history.

In addition, the governor recently signed into law legislation that calls for substantially increased spending for K-12 public schools, but none of those new costs are included in the upcoming budget. Despite the new, unbudgeted costs, the final budget reduced appropriations for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education by more than $1 billion from FY 2024 levels, mostly from the elimination of federal funds.

The situation prompted Missouri State Board of Education Chairman Charlie Shields, a former longtime lawmaker, to predict at a May 14 board meeting that the Legislature would need to pass “the mother of all supplemental budgets” to fill the gap, according to the Missouri Independent.

Supplemental budget bills, which add spending authority for a fiscal year already underway, typically are passed in the spring. With the governor leaving office when his term ends in January and the size of the FY 2025 supplemental expected to be massive, he has indicated he isn’t inclined to leave the task to his successor and could call lawmakers into a special legislative session sometime later this year to provide the additional appropriations.

House finalizes renewal of key Medicaid funding source

The Missouri House of Representatives on May 15 voted 136-16 to grant final approval to crucial legislation renewing a special tax on medical providers that generates more than $4 billion a year in funding for Missouri’s Medicaid program. The governor is expected to the sign the bill into law.

The tax, known as the Federal Reimbursement Allowance, currently is slated to expire Oct. 1. Senate Bill 748 would renew it for another five years. Hospitals, nursing homes and certain other medical providers voluntarily pay the tax, which allows the state to leverage additional federal Medicaid funding that then goes back to the providers as payment for services. The tax generates about $1.5 billion a year in state revenue to bring in another $2.5 billion in federal money.

Since failing to renew the FRA would blow a massive hole in state budget and wreak havoc on Missouri’s health care system, the periodic renewal bills traditionally had passed without controversy. That recently changed when a group of lawmakers in the Senate began blocking the FRA in an attempt to use it as leverage on other issues. This year, the Senate had to overcome a 41-hour filibuster by hardliners before ultimately voting 31-2 to advance SB 748 to the House.

Federal judge rules state food benefits program violates law

A federal judge in Springfield on May 9 ruled the Missouri Department of Social Services has violated federal law concerning its administration of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides food benefits for low income residents, and ordered the agency to come into compliance.

In his written ruling, U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool said the department has failed to follow federal law by subjecting those who apply for benefits to excessive call times. He also said the agency hasn’t provided legally adequate access for disabled applicants. Harpool noted federal law requires states to provide the federally funded – but state administered – SNAP benefits to all eligible applicants in a timely and fair manner.

“The evidence is overwhelming that the current administrative process utilized by Defendant fails to meet its obligations imposed by the SNAP program,” Harpool wrote. “The system does not timely, accurately and fairly service applicant households. The high percentage of denials based on failure to interview is a direct consequence of the failed administration of Defendant’s SNAP program. These denials are not based on the applicant’s eligibility but on the inadequacies of defendant’s process.”

The case is Mary Holmes, et al., v. Robert Knodell. The department could appeal Harpool’s ruling to the 8^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Thank you for your interest in the legislative process. I look forward to hearing from you on the issues that are important to you this legislative session. If there is anything my office can do for you, please do not hesitate to contact my office at 573-751-3599.