Sullivan Republican: Gun bill was symbolic

Much time has been wasted by the state legislature the past few years with a series of bills and resolutions that mean absolutely nothing. The sponsors of those bills and resolutions always claim to be sending a message to the federal government when, in fact, they are sending a message to their base and to the people who keep pouring money into their campaign accounts.

In a newsletter published today, one day after the veto session, Rep. Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, tells his constituents that HB 436, the gun bill, was "largely a symbolic piece of legislation."

These symbolic pieces of legislation cost taxpayers thousands upon thousands of dollars each year and accomplish nothing.

Wednesday September 11^th the Missouri General Assembly convened for our annual veto session.  We had a chance to make history in one of the most anticipated veto sessions in recent memory.  Republicans hold a veto proof majority in both chambers & our Democratic governor vetoed an unprecedented 29 bills and an additional four line-item vetoes in various budget bills. By the early (Thursday morning) hours, a total of 10 bills were overridden, the most ever in a single veto session.  While some may tout these numbers as a triumph of the legislature over the governor, I see it more as an indication that our chief executive needs to become more engaged in working with us rather than against us.  Yes the governor had major philosophical differences with the legislature in regard to the two biggest bills, highlighted below, but many of the other bills were vetoed because of minor issues the governor had.  These are things that could have been fixed if our chief executive had worked with us to develop a compromise everyone could accept.  Going forward it is my hope that the governor will see the wisdom in working with the legislature so we can move Missouri in a positive direction together.

HB253 which received massive amounts of media attention would have given Missourians their first tax break in nearly 100 years. Our office received hundreds of emails and phone calls, with support and opposition split 50/50. What wasn’t emphasized was this bill was crafted with safety mechanisms in place to protect our state budget. The yearly tax decrease (phased in over a 10 year period) would only take effect if revenues exceeded $100 million more than the previous year.   With the prospect of a veto override in his sights, the governor withheld over $400 million from the budget including $66 million from K-12, even though we ended fiscal year 2013 with a surplus of over $200 million. This morning Governor Nixon released $215.2 million of the withheld amount.  Additionally, the $1 million appropriation for the Pike-Lincoln Technical Center (originally vetoed and overridden yesterday) has now also been withheld. The misinformation & scare tactics used by Governor Nixon since vetoing the bill in early June worked and we were unable to reach the 109 needed votes override the veto.  The governor had indicated his willingness to work on a bi-partisan tax reform bill next year.  I hope he holds true to his word.  I believe people know how to spend their money better than government does. If we want to see true economic growth, we need to not only improve our business climate but allow hardworking Missourians to keep more money in their own pockets.

 Another bill that received media attention was HB436. It was labeled as one if the strongest pro 2^nd Amendment bills in the nation. With Washington’s ever encroaching anti-gun presence we felt it was time to push back. Taking or limiting guns from law-abiding citizens will not curb any of the gun violence issues our country is facing. In fact, our neighbors to the east in Illinois have some of the strictest gun laws in the nation while their largest city, Chicago, has one of the highest gun related death tallies. The Second Amendment Preservation Act was largely a symbolic piece of legislation that said any federal gun act that will restrict law-abiding, gun owning Missourians would be null & void. In the House, we were able to secure the votes to override the veto.  However once this bill was debated and voted on in the Senate, they were two votes short of the override.

While the legislature fell short in its efforts to override the governor’s veto of the income tax cut bill and the Second Amendment Preservation Act, the House and Senate were able to put several other bills of substance on the path to becoming law.  These pieces of legislation will go into effect as the law of the land in 30 days.  In the following weeks I will send updates regarding our 10 successful veto overrides.