End of Session Update Cooperative School Districts of Greater Kansas City May 18, 2020
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Steven R. Carroll & Associates Legislative Consultants-Lobbyists-Attorneys at Law 215 East Capitol Avenue Jefferson City, Missouri 65101 Phone: 573-761-5952 Fax: 573-761-7490 Missouri General Assembly Legislative End of Session Update Cooperative School Districts of Greater Kansas City May 18, 2020 The historical 2020 legislative session now belongs to the ages. In many ways this legislative session could have been titled “the session of the unknowns.” It has been 102 years since a legislative session had to deal with a pandemic. Not since the legislative session during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic has witnessed so many uncertainties. I started my fifth decade of being involved in state government this session. Over the years I have witnessed a lot, but never a session quite like this because of the coronavirus. The legislature lost six weeks of the session while they were temporarily shut down. When the legislators came back to finish the session, it was as if they were chasing a runaway roller coaster. In all my years I have never seen so many large omnibus bills being drafted and trying to get passed. The House alone took 26 non-controversial Senate bills and turned them into huge multi-issue bills in the hundreds of pages. Almost all of these massive bills were defeated in the final days of the session. In addition, for the first time that I know of, the Senate reconsidered a truly agreed to and finally passed bill and overturned it. This bill, HB 1862, was a conference committee report and included the Speaker of the House’s priority issue, which was to take away eminent domain from the Grain Belt Energy Group. While the House passed this measure in the original bill, the Senate has always killed it. However, the House slipped this provision, which had nothing to do with the original bill, into the conference report of HB 1862 without the Senate’s knowledge. The Senate voted on the conference report and passed it, only to find out a day later that they had passed this measure without knowledge of this addition. Thus, on Thursday night before the last day of the session, they made a historic motion to reconsider this TAFP bill, whereby it killed the speaker’s top priority bill. Some senators were furious that the House had attempted to pass a bill in such a way and there were numerous points of personal privilege on the Senate floor Thursday night condemning the actions of the House. Nothing like some fireworks towards the end of the session. There were individuals working in the capitol, both elected and unelected, who felt legislative leaders should not have called the legislature back in session during this pandemic. In addition, many felt that if they were called back into session, the legislature should only pass a new state budget. Regardless, the legislature did meet its constitutional obligation and passed a new state budget on May 8. There is a strong possibility that we will be having at least one, if not several special sessions, this coming summer and fall to deal with upcoming budget issues and issues surrounding the coronavirus. As reported to you earlier, there were over 2,000 bills that were filed during this legislative session, even though it was a shortened session. However, only approximately 50 bills made it across the finish line. Many legislators felt that few legislative bills should be voted on with the public having so little input and the capitol being closed during the six-week period. However, a few pieces of legislation did make it to the governor’s desk, even though many, many more died. Below is a quick list of some of the main bills that were approved or failed for your review. APPROVED • Clean Missouri: Places a constitutional amendment on the ballot that asks voters whether to overturn a new legislative redistricting process approved by voters two years ago. (SJR 38) • COVID-19 tests: Uses federal funds to pay for COVID-19 testing expenses covered by a Missouri resident’s health insurance. (HB 1682) • Federal stimulus checks: Ensures Missouri’s federal stimulus checks won’t be taxed as income. (SB 676) • Fentanyl trafficking: Makes it a felony crime to knowingly distribute, manufacture or attempt to distribute or manufacture more than 10 milligrams of fentanyl, any of its derivatives or any mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of fentanyl. (HB 1896) • Fire protection districts’ vehicles: Expands weight and load restrictions for fire protection vehicles. (HB 1693) • Longer sentences for gun crimes: Eliminated probation, suspended sentences or parole for some repeat felony offenders, as well as for anyone who uses a weapon to commit a “dangerous felony.” Also increases the minimum sentences for several crimes, including armed criminal action when the weapon used is a gun. (SB 600) • Mail-in voting: Allows voters to use mail-in ballots this year in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19. (SB 631) • “Tort reform”: Limits certain civil lawsuits and establishes more stringent standards for punitive damages. (SB 591) • Vaping in schools: Bans vaping on public school property and buses. (HB 1682) • Vehicle hijacking: Creates the new criminal offense of “vehicle hijacking,” which would be a felony offense. (SB 600) FAILED • Charter school funding: Would mandate new local funding streams for charter schools. (HB 1664) • Charter schools: Would expand charter schools in Missouri beyond St. Louis and Kansas City. (SB 603, SB 649) • Child sex abuse: Would remove the statute of limitations for filing civil lawsuits in cases of childhood sexual abuse. (HB 1411) • College athletes: Would allow college athletes to make money from their names and images, and allow them to have agents, financial advisers or legal representation to help them negotiate contracts. (HB 1564, HB 1792) • Dog breeds: Would keep municipalities from banning particular dog creeds. (HB 2241) • Drones over prisons: Would ban drone flights over prisons, sports stadiums and mental health facilities. (HB 1963) • Grain Belt: Would prevent the Chicago-based company Invenergy from using eminent domain to build the Grain Belt Express, a high-voltage electric transmission line. (HB 2033, SB 618) • Guns in schools: Would allow school districts to use volunteers as school protection officers and require them to carry concealed firearms. (HB 1961) • Liability protections for nursing homes: Would shield nursing homes and other medical providers who act “in good faith” during the COVID-19 pandemic from civil lawsuits. (SB 662, SB 580) • Missouri non-discrimination act: Would prohibit discrimination in Missouri based on sexual orientation and gender identity. (HB 1527) • Prescription drug monitoring program: Would create a statewide electronic prescription monitoring database and require medical providers to track drug prescriptions with the potential for abuse. (HB 1693) • Public employee retirement systems: Would mandate all employee retirement system employees’ salaries to be added to the government accountability portal. (HB 2476) • Robot delivery: Would create guidelines to regulate autonomous delivery devices in Missouri. (HB 2290) • Seclusion rules: Would outline new rules on how schools can restrain or isolate students. (HB 1568) • St. Louis Police Residency: Would remove the requirement that police officers live in the city. (HB 1604) • Tampon tax: Would reduce the state sales tax on tampons and pads to 1.2%, the current tax rate for most food, down from the current rate of 4.2%. (HB 1306) • Tax break for cable companies: Would reduce the fees that cable companies pay to local municipalities. (HB 1700) • Testing for medical pot: Would allow employers to test employees and prospective employees for medical marijuana, and give employers the discretion to act based on the test results. (SB 610) • Transgender children: Would bar Missouri doctors from providing some medical procedures and therapy to transgender kids, something advocates called abusive and dangerous. (HB 172, HB 2051) • Virtual education: Statewide expansion program for virtual education with no local school district oversight. (SB 996) • Voter ID: Would replace a provision that governs provisional ballots for voters without a photo ID that the Missouri Supreme Court ruled was unconstitutional. (HB 1600) • Wayfair tax: Would allow Missouri to collect sales taxes on purchases made from companies without a physical presence in the state. (HB 1700) • Work requirements for Medicaid recipients: Would require those covered by the public health insurance program who are “able-bodied” and between the ages of 19 and 64 to work, attend school, search for a job or volunteer for at least 80 hours a month. (SJR 106, SJR 32) • Worker’s compensation mandates: Worker’s compensation expansion for certain claims for first responders. (SB 671, SB 710) Also attached with this report is the list of bills we were tracking for you and where they ended up. In addition, attached are summaries of all the bills that were truly agreed to and finally passed for your review as well. In regard to public education, this was an extremely busy and difficult year in trying to stop numerous harmful bills to public education. I am pleased to report that not one major problematic bill made it through the legislative process. Statewide charter school expansion, new local funding for charter schools, expansion of virtual education, charter school open enrollment, tax credit vouchers and many other state mandates for local school districts and school boards were all defeated. In regard to the budget, the legislature did fully fund the foundation formula. To date, the governor has not withheld any funds from the formula. However, DESE has sent out a notice that it is withholding $60 million from school districts because of the loss of gaming revenue. This revenue equals about one million dollars a day that comes from casino revenue, and thus far, the casinos have been closed approximately two months.