In typical fashion, this legislative session was a mixed bag. It was marred by an ethics investigation into Speaker of the House Dean Plocher, dysfunction in the Senate and missed opportunities to pass important legislation (like our Commissioner Selection Bill). There were some positive items that were addressed as well. We will dig into some of this now.
The turmoil in the House Majority Caucus largely revolved around an ethics investigation into the current Speaker of the House and candidate for Missouri Secretary of State. This investigation was called to examine financial reimbursements through the Speaker’s Office. The allegations originated from friction within the House Majority Caucus Staff. There have been numerous news stories written about this process. I will not go into the details further. Needless to say, this investigation affected the referring of bills to committee and the friction in the House Majority Caucus caused tense moments throughout the session.
The Senate had another tumultuous session. There was the ever-present conflict between Senate Leadership and members of their Republican Caucus. Adding to the toxic environment were the number of sitting Senators running for statewide office. One of the Caucus priorities was to finally pass Initiative Petition ratification reform (More on that later). This issue had languished in the Missouri Legislature for years.
The 2024 Missouri General Assembly By the Numbers
- House Bills filed - 1,684
- Senate Bills Filed - 886
- Bills Passing Both Chambers - 29
- Bills Signed By the Governor (as of 6/10/24) - 6
When IP Reform (more about this below) was not one of the first issues sent to committee, a portion of the Senate Republican Caucus dubbed the “Freedom Caucus” began a 16-hour filibuster. This set the tone for the remainder of the session. The rest of the session was marked by infighting within the Senate Republican Caucus, plenty of photo-ops and video to use in campaign commercials. It is an open argument if the “Freedom Caucus” helped or hindered the movement of Republican Caucus priorities.
From what I saw, the answer is some of both. In speaking with the grassroots, the most frequently heard comment is, “Missouri is a red state. Why can’t we do things like Florida, Texas and Iowa?” There is much frustration that the Missouri Legislature cannot seem to move a few issues that have grassroots support in Missouri. This is a group effort in Jefferson City from the lack of involvement of our Governor, House and Senate Leadership and the rank-and-file membership.
School choice has been a priority of the Republican-led Legislature and the grassroots for some time. Missouri has moved that direction incrementally for several sessions. Last session, Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA) were established to allow state education dollars to follow the student instead of the school district. Senate Bill 727 (SB727) passed this session to continue this momentum. SB727 expanded the charter school program and ESAs, established grants to improve student literacy and increased the minimum annual salary for teachers. Many who home-school their children were hesitant to allow state funds into their programs. SB727 established a new category of Family Paced Education. This allows home schoolers to choose to accept state funds provided the student attended a public school for at least the prior semester.
Senate Bill 895 (SB895) addresses federal lockdown policies, clarifies the landlord-tenant relationship and protects private property rights. In 2020, there were mandates that a landlord could not evict a tenant who failed to abide by their lease agreement. The property owner was not able to receive rent payments while their mortgage on the property was still due. SB895 causes the landlord to file claims in a timely manner in order to help resolve issues for both parties.
The budget is always a focus of interest. Missouri’s budget has grown from $27 billion dollars six years ago to $54 billion in 2023. Most of this is a result of federal dollars that continue to roll off the US Treasury printing press. This year’s budget totaled $51.7 billion dollars. This was less than last year’s budget, less than Governor Parson requested and $1.3 billion dollars less than the Senate proposal. Highlights include funding for infrastructure improvements along I-49, I-70 and I044, funding for SB727 and rural broadband expansion.
There were other bills passed. For a complete listing, go to house.mo.gov and click “Truly Agreed” in the House Legislative Dashboard.
Initiative Petition (IP) ratification reform is one priority that failed once-again to get over the finish line. There were several bills introduced in both chambers. Senate Joint Resolution 74 (SJR74) is the legislation that moved through the process the furthest.
Missouri allows for the State Constitution to be changed by a vote of the people if an issue receives the requisite number of petition signatures. Currently, that number is roughly 170,000. Petitioners must gather signatures in at least 5 of the 8 federal congressional districts equal to 5% of the previous election vote total for Governor in the previous election. Any Initiative Petition reaching that threshold then needs a simple majority of votes in favor in the next election.
One of the items proposed in SJR74 was to change the ratification procedure to a concurrent majority. This would require an initiative petition to receive a simple majority vote statewide as well as in a smaller political subdivision (federal congressional districts, State Senate District, State House District, etc.) SJR74 required a statewide majority vote and a simple majority vote in at least 5 of Missouri’s Federal Congressional Districts.
Other items included stating “only” Missouri and US citizens could vote in an election. Current state statute reads that “all” Missouri and US citizens can legally vote in an election. This is a semantic difference that has been exploited in other states to permit non-citizens to vote. Think of it this way. If you invite people to your house and say all dogs are welcome, that can be read that cats, birds, mice, etc. can come as well. If you say only dogs are welcome, that means only dogs can show up.
This and other stronger language was unable to overcome Democrat opposition to pass the Senate. The Resolution was stripped to only the concurrent majority requirement and sent to the House. The House added portions of the stronger language back to the resolution passed it and sent it back to the Senate. (Both the House and the Senate must pass identical versions of legislation) Since the House and Senate versions differed, the House requested the Senate adopt their version of the resolution or grant a conference where the differences could be worked out. The Senate refused to do either. So, the resolution died this session.
Another bill that failed to pass this session was our Convention of States Commissioner Selection Bill (SB1410 in the Senate, HB1442 in the House). This bill establishes the process the Missouri legislature would follow to select commissioners to any Article V Convention of States Meeting. We passed out of the Senate Rules, Joint Rules, Resolutions and Ethics Committee early in the session. We did not reach a floor vote in the Senate due to the turmoil described above. We did not receive a committee hearing in the House.
While this is very frustrating as we have the votes on the floor to pass in both chambers, we still made progress. Many of the members creating challenges in the Legislature are terming out or running for other offices. The leadership taking over in the House and Senate next session are much more friendly to the grassroots. They are also more supportive of Convention of States Action. We strengthened key relationships with legislators this session and are well-positioned to advance our legislation next year.
Keep in mind that We The People usually benefit more when the legislature does less. It is incredibly difficult for a bill to navigate the legislative process successfully. What was further confirmed this session is when our grassroots are more engaged, we have better success in the legislature. We have more and more evidence daily that the Article V convention of states process is the only peaceful and constitutional solution adequate to address the governmental problems we have today.
This is where you come in. Get involved. Volunteer. Stand up. Show up. Speak up. We understand this takes most of us out of our comfort zone. We understand this takes effort. It is much more preferable to make the effort to save our republic now than to allow tyranny to continue to advance. Attend our Statewide Calls the 2nd Monday of the month at 8pm. Go to www.conventionofstates.com/takeaction to learn about leadership opportunities in your area or statewide. Together, we can do our part to preserve liberty and defend our Constitution.
In liberty,
Brett
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