The Mood at the Capitol

The first week of session was marked with many rumors of potential drama. We had heard that there would be a challenge to speaker Patterson's position in the House mounted by Representative Sparks. So he had also heard that Senator Moon intended to make significant changes to the Senate rules and would have eliminated most of the power of the Senate President Pro Ten position. Representative Sparks did in fact mount a challenge and received 10 out of 163 votes for his speaker bid. Senator Moon did not attempt to change the temporary rules, but he may still do so when the permanent rules come to a vote. Both the House and Senate are currently operating under temporary rules until they return next week. We are not expecting major changes in the Senate, assuming Senator Moon is not successful, but we are expecting major changes to the committee structure and operation in the House.

Given that this is an odd numbered year following an election, we are seeing all new leadership teams in both the House and the Senate. The House is preparing to make dramatic changes to their committee structures and the Senate is also taking its time in making early committee appointments. What this means is that we are unlikely to see any committee meetings until the week of the 27th. We still don't have any idea who the House committee chairs will be and the full list of committees has not even been officially approved. We usually have a pretty good idea at this point of who the chairs will be, even if it isn't official. Given the challenge to speaker Patterson's position that happened on Tuesday, have not received a leaked list. We have a better idea of who the Senate Committee Chairs will be, but that is all still unofficial.

Over 2,000 bills have been filed so far this year. The team at Jones Advocacy Group has been reading each and every bill and are tracking all bills of interest. A link to the tracking list can be found at the end of this report.

Education

Issues around public school funding, curriculum, and school choice will once again be on the forefront in the Missouri Legislature. The usual folks have filed legislation to limit cirriculum and prevent any kind of cultural competency or diversity education. The more influential legislators have filed bills that are about allowing all students to have open enrollment within the public schools of the state or allow for public funding of private schools. We will be monitoring the state of these bills and send out a call for volunteers to speak when the time comes.

voting rights

The ususal bills attempting to attack voting rights and discourage the registration of all eligible voters have been filed. On the other hand, a variety of provisions to protect election workers and make it easier to vote have also been filed. We are also seeing a repeat of last year's attacks on the citizen's iniative petition powers. Watch for more information as the bills that are most concerning and show the most promise become clear.

criminal justice

As with all the other previous categories, both ends of the spectrum are covered in this year's legislative filings. There is a near even split between legislation filed to make the criminal legal system more just and balance and those that are designed to create an even more punitive system for those without power and money. These bills usual get combined into a single criminal law bill by the end of the legislative session. The goal is to prevent the worst provisions from getting in and get at least a few good ones on the books.

Discrimination

When members of the NAACP leadership say that the Travel Advisory is still in place or that we are entering another era of Jim Crow they are often met with skepticism. Yet, there are multiple bills filed this year that remove protections from racial discrimination and even a few that prevent any private contracts from including equity considerations. These bills prove that we are not over-estimating the danger we are in. These bills will be our highest priority this year. We will need any and everyone who possibly can to come to Jefferson City when they are up for a hearing to make our objections known.

Tracking List

https://govwatch.net/report/aXrLkmnWp7



*This list is continually updated and improved. If you have questions, please contact Sharon Geuea Jones at sharon@jonesadvocacy.com.