After respite in Eminence, Nixon set to decide on legislation
The governor reiterated his concern about at least one bill on his desk: legislation cutting personal income, business and corporate income taxes.
The governor reiterated his concern about at least one bill on his desk: legislation cutting personal income, business and corporate income taxes.
Five months after taking the post, Missouri Department of Social Services Director Alan Freeman is resigning to return to his old job in St. Louis as president and chief executive officer of Grace Hill Health Centers Inc. Gov. Jay Nixon announced Freeman’s departure today, which comes just a week after the governor’s announcement, without details, that Ian McCaslin was being replaced as director of the department's Medicaid division.
With the exception of its laser focus on gun rights, the 97th session of the Missouri General Assembly that ended at 6 p.m. Friday pretty much reflected the recent tradition: The Republican majority portrayed it an “immense success,’’ the Democrats called it an extremist failure and Gov. Jay Nixon declined to say.
The Missouri House has sent to Gov. Jay Nixon a bill to revamp the state’s workers compensation system and repair Missouri’s financially troubled Second Injury Fund. House Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, called it “one of the crowning successes of this legislative session."
The Missouri House has overwhelmingly approved a bill to bar state agencies from scanning or retaining any personal documents, such as a birth certificate, that are presented to obtain a driver’s license or nondriver ID. It also authorizes people to sue the state over the issue, with no limit on damages.
The latest revenue figures for Missouri government, released Thursday, showed the state has taken in $400 milllion more than expected this fiscal year. The news prompted Gov. Jay Nixon to propose $86 million in one-time capital improvement spending. House Republicans upped the total to $121 million.
Some Republican state senators are raising questions about the state’s new system for producing drivers licenses, claiming that it may be a way for Gov. Jay Nixon to comply with federal anti-terrorism mandates, called REAL ID, over the General Assembly's objections.
Gov. Jay Nixon announced a changing-of-the-guard at the Department of Economic Development, the powerful agency in charge of divvying out economic development incentives. Department deputy director Mike Downing will serve as acting director of the agency, while Chris Pieper will return to Nixon's staff as a senior policy and legal advisor.
The anti-abortion group, Missouri Roundtable For Life, has filed an initiative petition that – if approved for circulation – seeks to ask Missouri voters in 2014 to restore campaign donation limits, which were eliminated in 2008. Such a move is in line with the views of Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat.
The sponsor of vetoed legislation allowing some counties to collect sales tax on certain vehicle purchases says he will not attempt to override Gov. Jay Nixon’s objection. Instead, state Sen. Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, will try to pass a new bill that satisfies the governor's concerns.