Capitol Calling

General Assembly considers options to aid Metro

One big piece of news emanating out of St. Louis is Metro's funding crunch.

The mass transit system provides bus and train service to St. Louis City, St. Louis County and portions of Illinois. With cuts to the service taking effect, lawmakers are looking at ways to help the system. That's the topic of my latest article for the St. Louis Beacon:

State Rep. Rachel Storch, D-St. Louis, argues the state needs to take immediate action; she proposes an emergency spending bill to ease a nearly $45 million deficit.

While lawmakers, such as state Sen. Bill Stouffer, R-Napton, and state Rep. Steve Hobbs, R-Mexico, fear the consequences of using state funding to help municipal transit systems, they are considering legislation to make the program self-sufficient.

House Budget Chair Allen Icet, R-Wildwood, proposes something of a third option: a one-time infusion of cash contingent on Metro's convincing voters to pass a tax increase for operating expenses. That option, however, could take months to implement.

If anything, the debate over Metro illustrates the political and structural complications of wrangling state aid for local transit systems. The General Assembly usually declines to help pay for mass transit, and a decision otherwise could set a new precedent.

Read the rest here.

KBIA Commentary: Karaoke Revolution

Only my twisted, karaoke-damaged brain would try to fuse Bobby Brown with Missouri politics.

It is a pretty open secret that I'm hopelessly addicted to karaoke. And while some might find my antics entertaining, I concede that my song preferences tend to differ from popular tastes.

In some respects, that puts me in the same boat as supporters of politicians such as U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas. How? Well, you'll have to listen to my KBIA commentary to find out for sure:

Griesheimer raps anti-CWIP campaign

Over the weekend, opponents of legislation that would undo CWIP with the hopes of constructing a nuclear power plant in Callaway County unleashed an ad campaign.

The group was funded in part by big businesses that could see their electricity rates go up if CWIP is repealed. And it was therefore not terribly surprising that the ads sought to portray the plan negatively over the airwaves.

But the move clearly upset Sen. John Griesheimer, R-Washington, who sharply criticized the companies that helped fund the ad. He said the CWIP process thus far has been a "fiasco:"

Griesheimer's comments prompted a response from Sen. Jim Lembke, R-St. Louis County:

The bill passed out of the committee 6 to 4. Lembke voted against the bill, while Griesheimer eventually voted for it.

CWIP bill heads to the Missouri Senate

Legislation that could pave the way for a new nuclear power plant in Callaway County narrowly passed the Senate Commerce Committee today.

On a 6-4 vote, the committee moved to send a substitute version of the bill out to the Senate for full debate. The substitute to Sen. Delbert Scott's bill was crafted by Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia:

Sen. Joan Bray, D-St. Louis County, said the new version of the bill looked an awful lot like the old version, which ran into serious problems in committee:

Senate committee to vote on CWIP bill

Computer crisis comes to a fortunate conclusion

Must...beat...Blockbreaker...

You may have noticed posts on this site have been rather erratic lately.

The culprit of that lethargic trend are computer problems. They were so severe, I had to mail my laptop for some much needed repair.

That decision meant that for over a week, I wrote a number of stories on my Blackberry. It was definitely a fun challenge to write lengthy news article over a phone, but it almost certainly doomed me forever to Blackberry addiction. I hear that affliction is worse than scabies.

In any case, my laptop is working again. And that means updates should become more brisk and constant over the next few days. Thank you for your patience.

Missouri Plan alterations heads to the floor

The House Rules Committee sent a proposed constitutional amendment altering the state's Non-Partisan Court Plan to the floor.

The resolution, which is sponsored by Rep. Stanley Cox, R-Sedalia, passed out of the Rules Committee 5-3. All of the present Republican members of the committee voted for the bill to be sent to the floor. All three Democrats voted against it.

The bill makes a number of changes to the plan that selects appeals court and Missouri Supreme Court judges. Those changes include allowing the governor to reject a panel, adding another lay person to the Appellate Judicial Commission and increasing the panel the governor chooses from to four.

Another version of Cox's amendment failed on the House floor last year. The amendment was almost unanimously opposed by Democrats. A number of Republicans also voted against the resolution.

Kinder opines on historic tax credit fight

At his press conference to condemn the MIAC report, I asked Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder whether he would be in favor of capping the Historic Preservation Tax Credit.

Kinder, the sole Republican statewide official, said he would be open to sizable cap on the program. He is not, however, in favor of a $50 to $75 million cap:

The issue essentially keeping an economic development bill championed by Gov. Jay Nixon from passing the Missouri Senate. Proponents of a cap say the package won't pass without changes to the program, while opponents say they will vigorously oppose alterations.

Flook! Flook! Flook!

As noted before, last night's debate on whether or not to accept Gov. Jay Nixon's plan to expand Medicaid was passionate and emotional.

Two speeches that stuck out were made by two lawmakers on opposite sides of the issue. One lawmaker who spoke against the measure was Rep. Tim Flook, R-Clay County. His speech was passionate and notable, that even Democrats chanted for him to continue after his time had expired:

The other speech I captured came from Rep. James T. Morris, D-St. Louis City. Morris, a reverend who is in is first term as a state representative, implored Republicans to suspend the rules so Nixon's plan could be debated:

Nixon, Kinder respond to the MIAC report

As noted below, a controversy arose this week over a report that, among other things, lumped in supporters of third-party political candidates into the "modern militia movement."

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder yesterday called for the director of the Department of Public Safety to go on administrative leave while an investigation occurred over how the report came about:

Gov. Jay Nixon responded to reporters' questions about the report earlier today. In is comments, Nixon sought to distance himself from the report.

Here's a clip: