Each year the Missouri General Assembly meets from early January till the middle of May. The legislature also comes back every September to review and possibly overturn any items vetoed by the governor.
The governor, alas, maintains the power to ruin vacation season for the state’s Representatives and Senators by calling them back to Jefferson City for one – or more – Extraordinary Sessions. While the governor selects topics for these special sessions, most anyone can suggest a reason to get the gang back together.
Already, nine special reasons have been floated…
- Federal Reimbursement Allowance Medicaid Tax Extension
- Congressional Redistricting
- Ban on Critical Race Theory Use In School Curriculum
- Control of the Kansas City Police Budget
- Urban Crime
- Election Security (including Voter I.D.)
- Eminent Domain Use in Agricultural Areas
- Ban on Funding Planned Parenthood
- Federal COVID Stimulus Fund Spending
Not to get too far into the reeds, but the FRA extension is a multi-billion dollar item. Without action the tax ends this fall.
Hospitals, pharmacies and such pay the restricted tax. That causes Washington to send more money to Missouri, resulting in more Medicaid funding going back to hospitals, pharmacies and friends. While it sounds like a Multilevel Marketing scam, well, yeah, but it accounts for around $4 billion in Missouri’s Medicaid budget.
The Missouri Senate knew the FRA needed to get extended…they left Jefferson City before doing that anyway.
Congressional Redistricting is another “must do.” Alas, even the flawed data from last year’s mishandled census won’t be available till fall. The legislature must approve a plan before filing for the 2022 elections begins…rather, they should meet that deadline – and, leave time for court challenges to the Republican super-majority’s gerrymandering.
I know, that sounds pessimistic. After all, the Republicans could push for fair district lines: that’s about as likely as it raining Skittles.
Some among that super-majority support the other seven items on my list. These may be valid concerns, or, just talking points for next year’s campaigns. For example, it’s now dogma among Missouri Republicans that public school boards, administrators and teachers can’t be trusted to teach “correct” history. Critical Race Theory disturbs the notion that Africans got to America on The Love Boat. The GOP praises local control except when they don’t agree with what the locals want, especially when it involves police funding or how to fight crime. Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft maintains that his office can’t be trusted to oversee fair elections unless ‘those people’ get excluded from the polling place by Voter I.D. rules, restrictions on when and where to vote and such.
Now, they that run the state think letting new monster power lines and pipelines crisscross Missouri is a good thing. Meanwhile, rural Republicans think farmland ought to have more protections than their leaders want to provide. Some rank and file GOP legislators have questions about the billions in federal COVID money sitting in Jefferson City accounts instead of assisting struggling families and businesses. Like the pro-life crowd, I don’t think they’ll get their own special session.
Still, the potential exists for weeks upon weeks of extra work for the legislature to finish what they ought to have done earlier, and, to respond to the whims of His Accidency, Mike Parson – the one person in the state who gets to decide what’s special.
Glenn