Kansas City Democrat: At least we're not Tennessee- yet

From Rep. Ingrid Burnett, D-Kansas City)

Looking ahead to the final weeks of the 2023 Legislative Session, there are still a lot of loose ends to tie up. The House sent the budget to the Senate on March 30 where it now awaits to be taken up by the Senate Appropriations Committee. 

During the debate on the House Floor, Representative Doug Richey, a Republican representing Liberty, added an amendment to every bill (meaning any and all entities funded by the state budget) that prohibits any funding for “staffing, vendors, consultants, or programs associated with ‘Diversity, Equity, Inclusion,’ or ‘Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging,’ or any other initiative which similarly promotes: 

1) the preferential treatment of any individual or group of individuals based upon race, color, religion, sex, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, national origin, or ancestry; 

2) the concept that disparities are necessarily tied to oppression; 

3) collective guilt ideologies; 

4) intersectional or divisive identity activism; or, 

5) the limiting of freedom of conscience, thought, or speech.“ 

This was met with significant resistance from my Democratic colleagues who pointed out that language such as this could jeopardize some of our federal funding for things like Medicaid and funding for vendors who contract with the state and have policies requiring diversity training or the participation of women and minority-owned businesses in their sub-contracting. 

This language went into the budget for every State Department, and each time it was met with loud objections and a demand for a roll call vote. 

At first, the amendment passed on a strict party-line vote, but by the time it got to the last round of funding, the count was enough to just barely pass. 

Another controversy in the House version was the Committee Chairman’s decision to strip all state funding for libraries. He was unhappy about a lawsuit that was filed on behalf of two library groups to overturn new legislation that bans sexually explicit material in school libraries. 

To be clear, NO state funds are being used in this suit. 

The ACLU filed the suit for the Missouri Association of School Librarians, and the Missouri Library Association in February, and asked the Circuit Court in Kansas City to find the law unconstitutional or clarify how and when it applies. 

Funding for the Governor’s plan to improve our highways is also in jeopardy with legislation passed out of the House that requires the State Road Fund be subject to appropriation by the General Assembly, rather than standing appropriated without legislative action. 

What this means is that rather than providing needed funds to support a long-range plan for the maintenance and improvement of our roads and bridges, the legislature would have the authority to approve (or not approve) these funds annually in the budget.

Currently, the budget total is $45 billion (and some change) As the Senate takes up the budget (hopefully this week), these are among the issues to be watched. Unlike in the House where we have a rule that requires us to take General Revenue from one budget item to increase funding to another, the Senate is allowed to tap into the currently 6+ billion-dollar reserve in GR. 

The Senate Approps Chair is signaling that the Senate will be stripping out some of the controversial and impulse items added by the House. 

Once the full Senate approves their version of the budget it is likely that we will then engage in conference committees that will determine which items remain the Senate position and which will remain the House position before the last vote is taken in both the House and Senate. 

By constitutional mandate, the final Legislature version of the budget must be completed and sent to the Governor by May 7, or we go back to the drawing board and start all over in a special session.

It's really hard to predict what else will come out of this session. Sports betting remains on the agenda, but it seems to be flailing in the Senate where there is dissension among the ranks as to how to handle the currently operating Video Lottery Terminals that are basically slot machines lite. 

Some want them regulated and taxed while others want them outlawed entirely. 

Criminalizing transgender children receiving gender-affirming care or being allowed to participate in certain sports, or use certain bathrooms are also priorities that are swirling around the capitol. 

Initiative Petition (IP) Reform bills are also likely to take up a lot of oxygen as we head into the final stretch, and as Key members of the House and Senate and Executive Branch angle to beef up their credentials for their eventual runs for higher office in the 2024 elections, I expect the theatrics to escalate, and I expect to be there! At least we’re not Tennessee – yet.