Missouri end of session

Morning folks.

This is from St. Louis Post and recounts the deeds of the Missouri leglislature.

How major bills fared in Missouri Legislature
Saturday, May. 16 2009

PASSED

STIMULUS PROJECTS Allocates $381 million in federal stimulus funds for capital projects and other expenses, including $12 million for Metro and $12 million for China freight hub at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.
(HB22)BUSINESS INCENTIVES Boosts Quality Jobs subsidies for businesses that provide health insurance. Doubles annual tax credits available for developer Paul McKee’s project in St. Louis. Caps historic tax credits.
(HB191)HELMETS Removes the requirement that motorcycle riders wear a helmet, provided they are over the age of 21 and not on an interstate highway.
(SB202)SEWER FEE Bars Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District from charging homeowners a stormwater fee if they don’t use district’s sanitary sewers and their runoff doesn’t flow to district storm sewers.
(SB242)EDUCATION Allows merit pay for St. Louis teachers and makes a variety of changes to elementary and secondary education. (SB291)ASSESSOR Seeks voter approval of constitutional amendment requiring the St. Louis County assessor to be elected.
(SJR5)FEE OFFICES Requires competitive bidding for fee offices that issue drivers licenses and delays mandatory vehicle inspections for new cars.
(HB683, HB381)FUNERALS Strengthens state oversight of prepaid funeral industry.

(SB1)VETERANS TAX CUT Exempts 15 percent of a veteran’s military pension from state income taxes in 2010, with the exemption growing each year until it reaches 100 percent in 2016.
(HB82)UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION Expands unemployment benefits by 13 weeks this year and increases the amount of unemployment benefits paid to jobless workers using $133 million in federal stimulus funds.
(HB1075)BINGO Allows more frequent bingo games and lowers bingo taxes.
(HB620)PATERNITY Allows men to contest paternity up to two years after the accusation. (SB141)TEXTING WHILE DRIVING Prohibits drivers 21 and younger from sending, reading or writing text messages while driving.
(HB62)CRIME Stiffens penalties for some sex crimes, removes a provision of law that allows defendants in domestic violence or rape cases to have their names removed from public records, bans beer bongs on certain Missouri rivers and changes other crime-related provisions.
(HB62)ONLINE GOVERNMENT DATA Requires the state to maintain the Missouri Accountability Portal and provides each legislator a key to Capitol Dome.
(HB544)COURTS Makes changes to judicial system, most of them technical. Provisions that would have changed the makeup of judges in St. Louis area did not make the final bill. (HB481)

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Did Not Pass

AMEREN Would have allowed utility to charge consumers for new nuclear plant while it is under construction and changed other Public Service Commission regulations.
(SB228)ACCESS MISSOURI Would have equalized scholarships for students at public and private four-year institutions instead of giving private college students larger grants.
(HB792)MISSOURI PROMISE Would have allowed all public high school students to participate in A-plus scholarship program and expanded program to cover third and fourth years of college for eligible students.
(SB558)TAX CUT Would have reduced state individual income tax rate to 5.5 percent from 6 percent on earnings over $9,000.
(SB71)ADVANCE VOTING Would have allowed voters to cast ballots for two-week period starting three weeks before the election.
(HB59)VOTER ID Would have changed constitution to require state voters to present photo IDs to vote. (HJR9)PAYDAY LOANS Would have capped the interest on payday loans.
(HB150)AUTISM Would have required insurance companies to cover autism treatment for those under 18.
(SB167)ZOO FEE Would have allowed St. Louis Zoo, St. Louis Art Museum, Missouri History Museum and St. Louis Science Center to charge admission for people from outside the district. (SB508)ETHICS Would have outlawed the practice of lawmakers working as political consultants; instituted a one-year freeze on lawmakers from lobbying; and made various changes to campaign finance law.
(HB648)INCOME TAX Would have proposed constitutional amendment replacing individual and corporate income tax with a sales tax on goods and services.
(HJR36)CHILD CARE Would have imposed stricter regulation on child care facilities.
(HB383)RED LIGHT Would have regulated red light camera use.
(HB241)MINIMUM WAGE Would have frozen minimum wage for tipped workers.
(HB258)HEALTH CARE Would have expanded subsidized health care to low-income adults and used $146 million in hospital taxes and federal funds to pay for it.
(SB306, HB156)ABORTION Would have created crime of coercing an abortion and strengthened waiting period law
. (HB46)JUDGES Would have sought voter approval of constitutional amendment changing how the state’s top judges are selected by giving more power to the governor and Legislature. (HJR10)OPEN MEETINGS Would have strengthened training and penalty elements of Sunshine Law and also exempted police internal affairs reports.
(HB316)CONSTRUCTION BONDS Would have sought voter approval of constitutional amendment to issue $800 million in bonds for higher education and other state buildings. (HJR32)SECRET BALLOT Would have proposed constitutional amendment requiring secret ballot for union formation in response to bill in Congress that might give employees choice on issue.
(HJR37)GUNS Would have included university campuses in the list of places concealed weapons are allowed and expanded the “castle doctrine” to include apartments.
(HB668)SUDAFED Would have required a prescription to obtain common cold and allergy medicine by declaring pseudoephedrine a controlled substance.
(HB496)VACANCIES Would have required special elections to fill midterm vacancies in the offices of lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, and U.S. senator. (HB681)
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/politics/story/18FBAB0AE2767ECC862575B8000B25B3?OpenDocument

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bill number at the end and not beginning . Mixed bag with more not getting done than getting passed. Some not passed are victory by the way for folks in the state.

For all the celebration, dems did not get commanding lead to reform Missouri. Nor are all the dems on the same page as the voters on some of the issues.

Some bills never saw the light of day like the ones supporting universal health care