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After sending just 47 bills to the Governor in
the previous five months, the General Assembly
swallowed the equivalent of a big chunk of
Ex-Lax® Friday morning and passed 70 bills on
the session’s last day.
The logjam finally broke about 4am Friday when
House Speaker Rod Jetton (R-Marble Hill) allowed
a bill to repeal the so-called “village law” to
pass the Senate as long as it did not include an
“emergency clause,” which would have caused it
to become law immediately upon the Governor’s
signature. The deal ended a bruising filibuster
conducted by the “Village People,” a bizarre
cabal that included Democrats Victor Callahan
and Chris Koster, as well as Republicans Jason
Crowell and Luann Ridgeway. The House followed
suit about five hours later, unclogging the
legislative pipeline that had failed to flow
during the final week.
The “village law” was a measure passed last year
allowing individual landowners to bypass county
restrictions by declaring themselves to be
villages. Assuming the Governor signs the
repeal, which is not in doubt, the “village law”
will go away on August 28.
The effort to repeal the village law nearly tore
the House Republican caucus into pieces. On
Wednesday, House members found themselves
trapped on the wrong side of a bad vote. In
their efforts to send the Senate a “clean”
repeal of the village law, nearly 60 members
voted against strict regulations of sexually
oriented businesses. In the end, the sex
restrictions were added to the village repeal
anyway, then stripped (sorry for the pun) off
the bill in conference, so the vote against the
sex restrictions meant nothing more than fodder
for the upcoming election:
“Did you know Representative So-and-So voted to
protect the pornographers, and the prostitutes,
and the strippers that are destroying our
neighborhoods and threatening our children?”
With visions of horrible mail pieces lap dancing
in their heads, many Republicans blamed Jetton
for putting them in such a precarious position.
They caucused, and pointedly informed Jetton he
wasn’t welcome. According to some reports, the
caucus included talk of an effort to toss Jetton
out of the speaker’s office early.
But Jetton survived, and the House Republicans
were once again a happy family, especially after
the village law repeal was passed.
So, was it a successful session? As usual, it
depends on your definition of success. The
editorials in the mainstream press are ghastly.
But, if you wanted property tax reform, you got
it; if you wanted to do something about illegal
immigration, you got it; if you wanted to crack
down on drunken boaters, you got it; if you
wanted to make it harder for persistent drunk
drivers to keep driving, you got it; if you
wanted the legislature to fix a loophole in the
workers’ compensation system, you got it; and if
you wanted to make the ice cream cone the
official state dessert, you got it with a cherry
on top.
But if you wanted to go back to the old system
of Medicaid and restore all the cuts from 2005,
you didn’t get it; if you wanted a tax increase,
you didn’t get it; and if you wanted to force
Aquila to tear down a $140 million power plant
so the local county could issue a permit to have
it built back up again, you didn’t get that,
either.
Up close, the legislative process is
disconcertingly ugly, even repulsive to those
not professionally trained (insert lobbyists) in
the practice of making law. But, in the end,
it’s the final product that impacts people’s
lives, not the process. So, take a bite of the
sausage, and draw your own conclusions.
Here’s the sausage:
· Ethan’s Law, requiring for-profit swimming
pools to carry at least $1 million in liability
insurance.
· Massage therapists must be of good moral
character.
· Sanctuary cities are outlawed, and illegal
immigrants cannot receive public benefits, get a
driver’s license, get a job, or be transported
or concealed by others.
· Veterans get tuition discounts at public
colleges and universities.
· The legal limit for drunken boating drops from
.10 to .08.
· Many telecommunications services have been
largely de-regulated.
· Employers are prohibited from implanting
subcutaneous identification chips in the bodies
of employees.
· The so-called “Schoemehl Decision,” which
threatened to bankrupt the workers’ compensation
system, has been fixed.
· Used car dealers are given protections from
certain lawsuits.
· Convicted felons are prohibited from
possessing explosive weapons.
· Federal overtime standards are reinstated for
firefighters and others negatively impacted by
the flawed drafting of Proposition B passed by
the voters in 2006.
· Numerous additions to tax credit programs and
other economic development tools were passed.
· Criminal penalties were established for
mortgage fraud.
· A fund to supplement the salaries of county
deputy sheriffs was established.
· A deal to lure Bombardier to locate a large
plane manufacturing facility near Kansas City
was passed.
· Property tax relief, in the form of required
levy rollbacks during times of rising
reassessments and increased disclosure to
taxpayers, as well as an increase in the circuit
breaker tax credit.
· Registered sex offenders are required to
register all online identifiers and avoid
handing out candy at Halloween (no, we’re not
making this up).
· The village law is repealed.
· The Missouri Commission on Autism Spectrum
Disorders is established.
· The stalking and harassment laws are extended
into cyberspace.
· Anyone with two or more drunk driving
convictions must have his or her vehicle fitted
with an ignition interlock device that will only
allow the vehicle to be driven while sober.
· The National Animal ID Program must be
voluntary in Missouri.
· Rural electric cooperatives are allowed to
trim or remove trees and other vegetation that
could threaten service during storms.
· MOHELA is authorized to originate federally
guaranteed student loans.
· The ice cream cone is the official state
dessert.
· Several measures designed to catch thieves
stealing copper and other metals were
authorized.
· Campaign contribution limits were repealed.
· County coroners must be registered and
trained.
· An income tax check-off was created for the
Breast Cancer Awareness Trust Fund.
· An e-waste recycling program for old computers
and such was established.
· The Peculiar Aquila plant gets an ex post
facto blessing.
· A “hot weather rule” was created, prohibiting
utilities from denying service during brutally
hot days.
· Several incentives to spur investment in
renewable energy sources were established.
· A budget that spends more than it takes in was
passed.
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