Marshall Griffin

Missouri House Speaker Tim Jones, a Republican from Eureka, has created another interim committee, this time to examine how well state agencies respond to citizens who use their services.

The Interim Committee on Improving Government Responsiveness and Efficiency's first priority will be looking into the Department of Social Services.  The committee will be chaired by State Representative Sue Allen, a Republican from Town and County.  Allen also chairs the subcommittee that writes the budgets for DSS and for the departments of Health and Senior Services and Mental Health. 

Governor Jay Nixon (D) Wednesday signed eight bills into law that were passed this year by Missouri lawmakers.

Governor Jay Nixon has launched a major public effort to support his veto last week of a bill that would have cut Missouri's individual and corporate income taxes.

The Democratic Governor appeared before college and university officials Tuesday morning in Jefferson City, telling them that the GOP-backed proposal is the single greatest threat to public education he's seen in his career.

Lawmakers in Missouri will continue working on several issues this summer and fall in preparation for next year's legislative session.

Revenue collections in Missouri slowed a bit last month, but continued their overall upward trend.

From July of 2012 through the end of May, the state took in $7.3 billion in revenues, an increase of 10.4 percent from May of 2012.  The year-to-date increase from April of this year, though, was 11.2 percent.  Missouri Budget Director Linda Luebbering blames it on a drop in sales tax collections.

"People are still a little bit concerned about spending a lot of money, given the economy and the uncertainty at the national level," Luebbering said.

A Missouri lawmaker who threatened to resign unless one or both of his key bills survived the last day of the 2013 legislative session is staying put, even though both bills failed to make it out by Friday's deadline.

The last day of this year's Missouri legislative session has arrived.  Lawmakers will be pushing to get several more pieces of legislation across the finish line.

The House passed a package of tax credits on Thursday that's still awaiting action in the Senate.  The two chambers still differ on where to cap the state's most widely used incentives - for historic preservation and low-income Housing.  Ron Richard, the Senate's Republican Floor Leader, says he hopes to get some sort of economic development bill passed.

Legislation that would revive Missouri's ailing Second Injury Fund and seek to reduce the number of occupational disease lawsuits was passed Thursday by the Missouri House.  It had already passed the Missouri Senate during pre-dawn hours on Wednesday.

A bill is on its way to Governor Jay Nixon that would forbid the Missouri Department of Revenue from scanning and storing source documents of driver’s license and non-driver’s license applicants. 

Last month, Governor Nixon ordered the agency to cease scanning documents of conceal carry weapons applicants, but scanning for other license applicants continues. 

The bill approved Wednesday was sponsored in the Senate by Republican Will Kraus of Lee’s Summit.  He says he thinks the Nixon will sign the bill.

Legislation to redefine the relationship between liquor distributors, wholesalers and retailers has stalled in the Missouri Senate.

Early this morning, the Missouri Senate passed legislation that would fix the state's ailing Second Injury Fund.

The fund is designed to help disabled workers who suffer a second work-related injury.  It began running out of money after lawmakers eight years ago capped the surcharge businesses have to pay into it.  Senate Bill 1, sponsored by State Senator Scott Rupp, a Republican from Wentzville, would temporarily increase the surcharge.

A group of Republicans in the Missouri Senate has blocked a proposed constitutional amendment that would create a one-cent sales tax to help fund the state’s transportation needs.

The tax would require voter approval and would expire after 10 years unless voters renew it. Five percent of revenues raised would be designated for cities and another five percent for counties to pay for local transportation needs.  Those factors were not enough to sway several Republicans, including Rob Schaaf of St. Joseph, who conducted a filibuster Tuesday night.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, a Democrat, has vetoed legislation that would eliminate a tax credit for elderly Missourians who rent their homes.

House and Senate Republicans voted to do away with the so-called "Senior Citizens Circuit Breaker" as a means of shoring up funding for the First Steps program, which aids children with developmental disabilities. 

In his veto letter, Nixon voiced disapproval of using money designated for seniors for other purposes, and stated that the bill contained no tax credit reforms. 

The final week of Missouri's regular legislative session has arrived.  The Republican-led General Assembly and Democratic Governor Jay Nixon are pushing to get several things accomplished before Friday.  St. Louis Public Radio's Marshall Griffin tells us that the session, so far, has been one highlighted by partisanship and controversy.

Nixon vs. lawmakers, tax credit reform

The Missouri House has given final passage to legislation that would limit labor unions' ability to deduct dues and fees from the paychecks of public employees.