Pre-filing of legislation for the 2017 Session began last week on December 1 for the Legislative Session that will convene on January 4, less than one month away. It will be very interesting to see how the General Assembly will work with the new Republican governor and his administration. One huge difference will be the shared political priorities being compatible with the majority of the General Assembly and the Governor’s Administration, and how we want Missouri to look as a state as we move forward.
Recently, House Speaker Todd Richardson took some time to outline part of what he sees for the 2017 legislative agenda. Speaker Richardson has had the opportunity to meet several times with Governor-Elect Greitens to discuss the common ground that can be found between the executive and legislative branches of state government. Some of their talks have centered around a future vision for what lies in store for our state. That vision is for a Missouri that respects and protects individual freedoms, for a Missouri that has a stronger, more vibrant dynamic economy than what we have today, and for a Missouri that seeks more good quality jobs for all its citizens. It also seeks a Missouri that has a strong education system for every student, no matter where they were born or where they live in the state.
The Speaker went to say that his top priority will be built around improving our state’s economy. That means labor reform, tort reform, and education reform. Continuing on, he said, “I think it will focus on these issues, as well as removing some of the government barriers that stand in the way of economic development. This will be a good agenda to start with.” Perhaps first on the agenda will be labor reform, including “Right-to-Work.” Missouri is poised to become the 27th state to pass this legislation, legislation aimed at preventing employees from being required to join a union as a condition of employment. Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas are already Right-to-Work states. Missouri may soon join their number.
In addition to Right-to-Work, tort reform, and education reform, ethics reform will soon follow. The Speaker pointed out that ethics and ethics reform will be very important as we move forward under the new administration, as our state’s citizens see this as a major priority.
As the General Assembly looks ahead to the 2017 Session, there is an understanding that we will face another very difficult budget situation. Governor-Elect Greitens is coming in at the middle of the FY17 budget year, which has already seen Governor Nixon withhold $150 million. It is projected that the new governor may have to withhold as much as $200 million more from this budget because of budget shortfalls.
The good news is that the state has seen revenue grow by as much as 4.5% since July. However, that news is countered by the fact that the state saw revenue numbers drop dramatically in the final months of the previous fiscal year, which put the state in a significant budget hole. Consequently, the state’s revenue must grow to prevent the need for any additional withholds and to restore the cuts that have already been made in the budget. Realistically, because growth at such a high level (6%+) is unlikely, the Budget Chairman will work with the new governor to find areas where budget withholds can be made without negatively impacting important state services and programs.
In addition to the concerns about the current budget, the state also faces a significant hurdle when it takes up the budget for the next fiscal year. That hurdle is the staggering cost of Medicaid and its related programs, including the growth in Medicaid. Furthermore, other state departments anticipate the need of an additional $150 million increase for their operating budgets for the next fiscal year. In order to keep up with all this, state revenues must grow by at least 6%, and in the event they do not grow at this level, the Budget Committee will be forced to take a serious look at ways to reign in the cost of Medicaid and the other programs.
This time is a time of anticipation—anticipation that a new governor and administration will have fresh ideas and fresh influence to help the state conquer all obstacles in its pathway as we move forward. It is also a time to be patient, support the new guys on the block as they get their footing and do our part to help ensure their tenure is one of success and satisfaction, not only for them but for the entire State of Missouri. We look to the future with bright hopes and positive expectations.
17 comments:
Why do folks like Reibolt expect anyone to believe that the State Legislature will do anything significant to help the people they represent? They congregate in Jefferson City and pick out some trivial issues that they pretend are important and then spin those to the public to make it appear that the Legislature has done something to earn their inflated salaries. Missouri has not enacted any meaningful legislation since they passed Term Limits.
Get ready for massive cuts in service. Why? Because the legislature has given too much revenue away via tax cuts to the corporate interests. The ordinary folks suffer. The spins try to hide the truth.
Missouri has not enacted any meaningful legislation since they passed Term Limits.
So its shall issue concealed carry regime, steady improvements to that, and allowing Constitutional Carry (CC) come January 1st are't "meaningful"? I mean, obviously the gun-grabbers think they're a very big thing, always claiming they'll result in "Dodge City!!!" despite Kansas preceding with CC for a year and a half without the real Dodge City becoming like the cliche. We on the other side definitely score this as "help[ing] the people they represent".
Allowing citizens in good standing effective means to defend themselves, especially as the Baby Boomers age in huge numbers (10,000 nationwide reach retirement age every day now) is not "meaningful"? This is clear in the required Missouri and other state permit classes, where the population trends to the older and less physically fit to defend themselves with other means. Note also our local law enforcement, Joplin city and Jasper Country, are 100% OK with this (although like most everyone else they're a bit concerned about CC, they and most if not almost all of us on the pro-RKBA side really want people to get training and education in the before carrying, but on the other hand we're both uncomfortable with the government being a gatekeeper here; we have to comfort ourselves with the observed fact that CC has not caused serious problems in the dozen or so states that already had it, and Vermont never banned carrying in the first place).
When I renewed mine a couple of years ago, 5% of the age eligible population of Jasper Country had been issued one, which is pretty normal for an area that's had a shall issue regime for a decade. Like it or not, I can't see how you can't score this as "meaningful", even if it doesn't touch on your favorite areas.
Give a Hillbilly a side arm and he thinks he is John Wesley Hardin.
@ 3:47
You cry about "gun grabbers" but cannot cite any instance in which guns were grabbed or politicians that threatened to do so. I have heard victim's families in Sandy Hook, Orlando, and other instances of mass shootings decry the sale of assault weapons, not deer rifles or other limited semi-automatic weapons with magazine capacities of ten rounds or less. I am a Democrat that owns deer rifles, shotguns, and pistols and would not vote for anyone that wanted to "grab" those weapons. I'm pretty sure the framers of the constitution did not anticipate AR-15's, AK-47's, Uzi's or Laws rockets for that matter. ATF does not allow any of these weapons to be sold "fully automatic"', although we both know the parts can be bought online to convert these weapons to automatic by laymen.
I have no problem, nor do Democrats with "Concealed Carry" permits when it involved classes in which responsible gun safety, training, and shooting instruction prior to the county sheriff issuing a permit for such. However, for the legislature to allow any moron without a felony conviction to carry a concealed weapon, that is ignorance personified. Be honest, you have training, do you believe that some of those all you have met in your daily interactions have the demeanor, intelligence or capacity to carry concealed? If you have ever been to the local range in Neosho, where there is no Range officer, then you have witnessed such incompetence.
If you want to be taken seriously then you should drop the gun grabber bullcrap, and not applaud the ignorance of our state's legislators. Not all Democrats or liberals hate firearms, many of us own them, handle them responsibly, and take their marksmanship very seriously. Don't be a name calling clown, think before you speak.
Know the signs....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8syQeFtBKc
You cry about "gun grabbers" but cannot cite any instance in which guns were grabbed or politicians that threatened to do so.
Where are you getting your time machine to know that, once challenged, I could not do this? You're also at best grossly ignorant on the subject; let me just cite two particularly notorious and California examples, DiFi's "Mr. and Mrs. America turn 'em all in", and their AG deciding that SKSs were "assault weapons" after all.
I'm pretty sure the framers of the constitution did not anticipate AR-15's, AK-47's, Uzi's....
Again, you are ignorant on the subject, advanced weaponry was already in development when the 2nd Amendment was passed as one of the condition of accepting the Constitution. If you want to throw all that away, well, it protects you just as much as it protects me.
ATF does not allow any of these weapons to be sold "fully automatic"', although we both know the parts can be bought online to convert these weapons to automatic by laymen.
Your ignorance knows no bounds, there are ~200K-250K fully automatic weapons in circulation, and the AFT has standards for how much time in a machine shop that's required to convert a semi-auto to full, it's not trivial nor can it be done by swapping parts, and they don't allow any such weapons to be sold (new full autos can't be sold to us civilians as of 1986).
I have no problem, nor do Democrats with "Concealed Carry" permits
OK, now you're dropping to blatant lying; you may have no problem, but ... OK, you are so very ignorant about so many aspects of this issue, maybe that's the problem here as well. Note, for an example close to home, how our governor earned a NRA F rating when he was AG. Note how many Democratic strongholds deny concealed carry in any form to citizens (e.g. Hawaii by statute, D.C. the same I think (it's being litigated), New Jersey in practice, Maryland unless you can show extreme need and only for the duration of that), or limit it to the politically connected (e.g. NYC quite infamously, San Francisco county, DiFi somehow managed to get one of two).
However, for the legislature to allow any moron without a felony conviction to carry a concealed weapon, that is ignorance personified.
The only ignorance on display is yours, for Constitutional Carry has been, as I noted, always the law of land in Vermont, and 8 other states already have it, without serious problems as I noted. If it was "ignorance personified", we'd have noticed from next door's Kansas that's had it for a year and a half.
Your gross, and since you believe you can pontificate on the subject anyway, unforgivable ignorance does not prompt me to listen to anything you suggest "for my own good". I think I'll just continue to be an active part of one of the most successful political efforts in US history.
Well then, it is time to level the playing field. Why not force the government to issue a weapon to every citizen when they reach the age of eight. Hey, even elementary student sometimes need to stand their ground. Just make certain that issued weapon includes instructions on how to claim self defense when they kill someone.
@ 4:02
I m sorry you are so afraid of Diane Feistein's ignorant comment in 1995, but guess what, it didn't sell then or now. The assault weapons ban was successful in reducing crime from assault weapons temporarily until gun manufacturers began producing larger magazines for semi-automatics. I am fully aware of Koper's assessment of the ban which stated "having assault weapons, particularly magazines less accessible to offenders, would reduce mass shootings.
Your second suggestion that when the 2nd Ammendment was passed in 1791 advanced weaponry was in development is laughable,, the Gatling gun was even developed until the 1860's.
Your next ignorant remark that 250k automatic weapons in the US convieniently omits the fact that to own one a machine gun requires a FEderal Firearms License. This license gives the ATF, FBI, or US Marshalls the authority to come to your home at ANY time and demand to see such weapon should they so choose. You should know this, as well as know that any qualified machinist can make a machine gun, especially with parts available online.
You talk about "time machines I have" but manage to polygraph my assertion that as a Democrat that I have a problem with concealed carry even after I said I do not. Wow, talk about a wacko. In a democracy people, all people vote on laws, not just Democrats. If you have a problem with democracy, that is your problem, not mine.
If you believe that any moron lacking a felony conviction has the right to carry concealed, then you must be one. I have seen your type at the Crowder Range where I shoot every couple of weeks. You empty your magazine with your pistol pointed toward others, you take your AR to the 50 yard targets and march on the target combat shooting. I have chastised such idiots in person, I would suspect you might have been one. Not a good idea to point a weapon at another person holding one.
Finally, I am quite capable of voting without having the NRA tell me how to vote. My brother, a lifetime NRA member, shoots with me on occasion and doesn't refer to me as a gun grabber until I pick up my weapon to shoot. Your generalizations about Democrats and booger eating morons carrying concealed, only proves your ignorance.
Re: Crowder shooters...remove your magazine not empty it.
Well then, it is time to level the playing field. Why not force the government to issue a weapon to every citizen when they reach the age of eight.
Change that to a sane 18 and you have the Swiss system, which has worked quite well for them for more than a century. You're even allowed to buy your weapon when you finish your reserve duty at age 45 or thereabouts, albeit nowadays with the "fun switch" fun settings of burst and full auto disabled.
I m sorry you are so afraid of Diane Feistein's ignorant comment in 1995....
BZZZT: You said:
You cry about "gun grabbers" but cannot cite any instance in which guns were grabbed or politicians that threatened to do so.
And I proved with two examples, one of DiFi's rhetoric, and one of California actually banning guns (albeit not a confiscation if you removed yours from the state), and you not only fail to acknowledge your gross error, and there's lots more examples of both, especially of rhetoric by politicians of significance, e.g. the Democratic party's nominee for President in 1988, Dukakis, who doesn't believe any of us should be able to own any guns, you turn it into an attack on me, and in the first sentence of your reply at that.
At this point I can't assume ignorance on your part and have to assume bad faith, and there's no point in debating a topic with such a person who also gets the facts so very wrong so very often.
@ 2:09
No, admit it, you can't prove anyone "grabbed your guns", less of all the "other side" that you accuse of wanting to do in your post. Is that all you got? You don't want to confirm that you believe any moron should be able to carry concealed, if they don't have a felony? Have you ever been to Crowder range and observed incompetence among shooters there? Don't want to admit you can't own a machine gun, without an extensive investigation and the loss of personal privacy? No, you don't want to go there, because you know you can't sell bullcrap to this Democrat. You remind me of a catfish, all mouth, no brain. Don't be a Trump chump, think before you speak.
It is interesting that you mentioned the Swiss Army system as an example of weapons distribution. As you probably know that distribution is not automatic. The Army draft applies only to male citizens. Only two thirds of those drafted are inducted. Those who fail induction are assessed a yearly tax for a period of twelve years based upon that failure to qualify. Those drafted must complete basic and specialty training before they are released to reserve duty. It is only at this point that they are issued equipment for individual storage. Each year the reservist must present his stored equipment for inspection during a period of active duty training. No ammunition is issued as that is strictly controlled in Army facilities and issued only upon individual call up. I could buy into such a system in the United States as I have long advocated for a reinstatement of the Draft in America.
I'm unsure why anyone would want the draft re-instated in the United States. The volunteer Army seems to work just fine, and when the draft was in effect, it was the minorities and poor whites that were the majority in service. The wealthy, as in our President-elect bought deferments to avoid service to country when their birth dates were selected. Does that in any way seem fair to those less fortunate? If you are requiring all to serve their country, at least that is fair, but it seems more communistic than democratic. Even the Swiss allow civilian service for conscientious objectors, which I am sure the rich, like Trump, would claim.
Wow, all the comments on gun control or lack of it and the Constitution read to keep and bear arms. Uh, they were thinking of muzzle loaders and not semi autos with hundreds of rounds available. But then:
Education is sorely lacking and parents are mostly responsible and some teachers are not prepared to handle all the retards being sent or forced upon them in the classroom.
Right to work is the right to not raise wages to decent level so a family can own a decent home, decent vehicle or purchase decent health care. Kill the union and employees do not present a collective voice only wanting to share in the mega spoils of the corporate hierarchy. Reiboldt is nothing more than a minion of the corporate culture to hold employees down to pre-1990 level wages while charging 2016 prices. But then:
You poor souls that voted for him and other republicans paid for by the big boys will never learn and will see what Trump, Long and Blunt will do for your standard of living. Poor slobs
I have to believe that all the religious types are actually going to learn what natural selection really means.
Post a Comment