Missouri will exempt Social Security, public pension payments from state income taxes

By Rudi Keller

Missouri Independent

Gov. Mike Parson on Thursday signed the tax cut he said a week earlier was responsible for his decision to veto most of the 201 spending items he cut from the state budget.

The bill, exempting Social Security benefits and public pension payments from income tax, would reduce state general revenue by an estimated $309 million annually. It would also allow counties to hold a vote on whether people 62 or older should be exempt from increases in their annual property tax bills.

The bill passed with broad bipartisan support – only two House members voted against it – but not without some misgivings among Democrats, said Rep. Peter Merideth, D-St. Louis.

Under current law, exemptions allowed for retirement income are phased out for single taxpayers earning more than $85,000 and married couples with incomes above $100,000.

“I was not thrilled with it,” Merideth said. “But honestly, to me, it was the best of the options presented.”

The Republican House leadership was pushing for a $1 billion cut in corporate and income taxes. The bill’s property tax language began as a cap on increases in assessments for all property owners.

“Many of us agree that there is a real problem with seniors right now that are on fixed incomes dealing with inflation and property taxes are a big part of that,” Merideth said.

Homeowners around the state, especially in metropolitan areas, are seeing massive increases in their assessments due to the recent rise in real estate prices. And while provisions in the constitution require rates to be rolled back when overall assessment increases exceed inflation, individual property owners could still see big increases if their property assessment went up more than the general average.

Parson’s decision to cite the tax cut for retirement benefits as a reason to veto spending items is not playing well with lawmakers. Budget leaders from both chambers said this week they will consider overrides, and said fiscal policies pushed by the governor, more than the retirement exemption, are doing more to reduce state revenues.

“Maybe the governor’s concerned about what possible, further tax reductions that the legislature may be looking at, but that’s not necessarily how, in my opinion, you build this budget,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, said in an interview this week.

Missouri took in $13.2 billion in general revenue in the year that ended June 30. The state was also holding surplus funds of nearly $8 billion. Parson vetoed $555 million in spending, including $365 million in general revenue appropriations, from the $16 billion in general revenue items in the budget.

Growth in state revenue slowed, however, to 2.7% during fiscal 2023 and is expected to be just 0.7% in the current fiscal year. It is a large income tax cut passed last year, not the retirement exemptions, responsible for slowing growth, Merideth said.

“It’s one thing to blame this tax cut,” Merideth said, “but really, the real tax cut that’s gonna be costing us money is the other one.”

State Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, R-Parkville and sponsor of the bill, could not be reached Friday morning for comment.

Automobile sales tax

Tucked into a bill that will ban texting while driving for all motorists is a provision requiring automobile dealers to begin collecting sales tax at the time of a purchase.

​​At a February hearing, Missouri Association of Auto Dealers lobbyist Jay Reichard estimated that up to $60 million in auto sales taxes were delinquent. The dealers are paying an extra administrative fee for the new computer system, estimated to cost $120 million, and the system is designed for dealers to collect the tax.

Every motorist on the road knows if a fellow driver has paid the sales tax on a vehicle by looking at their license plate. If it is a paper temporary tag, the tax is still due because it must be paid at the state license office at the time a person registers their ownership of the vehicle.

“We think this is a great thing for our customers,” Reichard said in a May interview. “They want to go to one place and get the job done.”

Auto dealers are the only retailers who do not collect sales tax at the time of sale, he noted.

For an article in May, The Independent found a half-dozen temporary tags in a short period in Columbia, including one that had expired on Christmas Day.

The texting provision, which currently applies only to drivers under 21, will take effect on Aug. 28.

A driver could not be cited for a violation, however, unless the officer stops the car for another reason. That is similar to the law governing seat belt violations.

Parson signs remaining bills, adds another veto

(From Gov. Mike Parson)

Today, Governor Mike Parson signed 31 pieces of legislation into law and vetoed one legislative bill, Senate Bill (SB) 189, passed by the Missouri General Assembly. With this action, Governor Parson has signed or vetoed all legislation approved during the 2023 Legislative Session.

"Today, we took action to close out all remaining bills from the 2023 session, and we appreciate all the Senators and Representatives who worked tirelessly, on behalf of their constituents, to get this legislation across the finish line," Governor Parson said. 

"These bills we are signing today ensure a safer, stronger, and more efficient Missouri, and we hope to celebrate these accomplishments with legislators and Missourians soon."

Signed Legislation:Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR) 7 - America 250 Missouri Commission
SB 20 - modifies provisions related to retirement
SB 24 - creates new provisions relating to vulnerable persons
SB 28 - modifies provisions relating to access to public records of the Missouri State Highway Patrol
SB 34 - allows Missouri school districts and charter schools to offer elective social studies courses on Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament
SB 35 - modifies provisions relating to child custody and child support enforcement
SB 40 - modifies provisions relating to background check requirements for employment in certain fields
SB 45 - modifies provisions relating to health care
SB 63 - creates new provisions relating to financial institutions
SB 70 - modifies license reciprocity provisions and adopts the Counseling Interstate Compact for professional counselors
SB 75 - modifies provisions relating to retirement systems
SB 94 - establishes tax credits for the production of certain entertainment

 
SB 101 - enacts provisions relating to property and casualty insurance
SB 103 - modifies judicial proceedings
SB 106 - modifies provisions relating to public health
SB 109 - modifies provisions relating to mining
SB 116 - modifies provisions relating to the disposition of the dead
SB 127 - enacts state designations marked by the Missouri Department of Transportation
SB 138 - modifies and creates new provisions relating to agriculture
SB 139 - enacts provisions relating to state designations
SB 157 - modifies provisions relating to professions requiring licensure
SB 186 - modifies provisions relating to public safety
SB 190 - modifies provisions relating to tax relief for seniors
SB 227 - modifies provisions relating to the culpable mental state necessary for a homicide offense
SB 398 - enacts provisions relating to motor vehicles
House Bill (HB) 115 - modifies provisions relating to licensing of health care professionals
HB 202 - modifies provisions relating to environmental regulation
HB 402 - modifies provisions relating to health care
HB 417 - provides incentives for certain individuals to obtain employment-related skills
HB 447 - modifies the duties of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
HB 802 - authorizes the conveyance of certain state property

NOTE: Governor Parson is planning certain ceremonial bill signings with bill sponsors and stakeholders as schedules allow. Information will be shared as it is confirmed.

Vetoed Legislation:SB 189 - relating to public safety

Governor Parson is vetoing SB 189 due to the following provisions included in the bill:Section 610.140 - could allow criminals convicted of sexual offenses, including sexual exploitation of a minor or the promotion of child pornography, to have their records expunged and be removed from the sex offender registry. The provisions also include changes to how expungement requests are evaluated but fails to detail specific standards of proof for the court to consider.
Section 650.058 - expands the qualifications for restitution from those who are exonerated based on DNA evidence to those who were later determined to be innocent through a habeas corpus proceeding and those whose convictions are set aside per a prosecutor’s motion to vacate the judgment. The change also increases the restitution amount by more than 75 percent for eligible individuals.This provision requires the State to pay the expanded and increased restitution requirements; however, Governor Parson does not believe every taxpayer across the State should be responsible for prosecutorial errors made at the local level.

"SB 189 contains many public safety measures that we support and would like to sign into law, including Blair's Law, Max's Law, increased penalties for violent repeat offenders and gun crimes, and strengthening the public defender system," Governor Parson said. 

"However, in this case, these unintended consequences unfortunately outweigh the good. Missourians know I am a law and order Governor and that improving public safety is a cornerstone of our administration, but I cannot sign this bill with these provisions as they are currently written."

For more information on legislation visit senate.mo.gov. To view Governor Parson's veto letter for SB 189, please click here.

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Governor Parson Signs Legislation.JPG

Noel man charged with manslaughter, DUI in connection with 2021 head-on collision

A Noel man has been charged with manslaughter in the first degree and driving under the influence of drugs in connection with the December 14, 2021 death of Johnny Houck, 72, Jay, Oklahoma. The head-on collision occurred on OK 43 near the Arkansas line.

Delaware County District Court records indicate charges were filed against Dustin Shane Tygart, 38, an arrest warrant was issued and bond set at $21,000.

Details of the case are included in a search warrant affidavit filed February 17, 2022 and unsealed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. 

The warrant was requested to preserve Tygart's blood and urine samples from Freeman West Hospital, Joplin, where he was airlifted with serious injuries following the crash.

From the search warrant affidavit:

On Tuesday, December 14, 2021, at approximately 8:27 AM, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP) Northeast Region Communications Center (NERC) was notified of a two-vehicle, head-on collision that occurred on State Highway 20 near East 370 Road in Delaware County, Oklahoma. 

Troopers Carl Turner (“Trooper Turner”) and Brett Watson (“Trooper Watson”) initially responded to the collision scene. I was notified of the collision, and after being briefed on the preliminary information, responded to investigate. 

Trooper Turner was the first trooper to arrive at the scene. He observed one vehicle at rest in the roadway, fully engulfed in flames, in the northbound lane. Before Trooper Turner’s arrival, bystanders had pulled the driver out of that vehicle due to the fire, and they were near the vehicle when Trooper Turner arrived. 

The other vehicle in the collision, a 1988 Chevrolet pickup was at rest partially blocking the southbound lane. Troopers later learned that the driver of the Chevrolet was ejected during the collision. The driver of the Chevrolet was identified as Johnny Houck, who was later pronounced deceased at the scene by Grove EMS due to injuries sustained during the collision. 

Law enforcement later confirmed that Mr. Houck was a member of the Cherokee Nation at the time of his death. The vehicle that caught on fire was not identifiable. The driver of the unknown vehicle was identified as Dustin Shane Tygart. 

Suspect Tygart was flown to Freeman Hospital in Joplin, Missouri, and admitted in critical, but stable condition. Due to Suspect Tygart being intubated, investigators were unable to speak with him at Freeman Hospital. 

Medical staff refused to allow a trooper access to Tygart’s medical room, so blood samples were not obtained. However, medical staff withdrew blood for medical purposes, and the non-consumed blood samples were preserved to be obtained at a later date pursuant to a search warrant. 

The contents of the vehicle Suspect Tygart was driving were consumed by the fire. However, during scene processing and documentation I noted clothes in a plastic bag were placed in the rear of the vehicle after the fire had been put out. 

I learned Grove EMS medical personnel had removed the clothes from Suspect Tygart during medical treatment, put the clothes in a plastic bag, and then placed the bag of clothes in the rear of the Suspect Tygart’s vehicle. 

Based on the collision evidence, the damage to both vehicles, and statements from two witnesses, troopers determined Suspect Tygart was driving northbound on SH-20 and Mr. Houck was driving southbound. Tygart drove left of center and collided head-on with Mr. Houck in the southbound lane of SH-20. The area of impact was discovered in the southbound lane and was indicated by a gouge and tire mark. 

Two witnesses to the collision were identified and gave statements to the events they observed, and of their actions, before and after the collision. The first witness was driving a semi-truck and was directly behind Suspect Tygart while driving north on SH-20. 

Witness One observed a red SUV, the vehicle Tygart was driving, swerving across the center line. As Suspect Tygart approached a set of curves, he crossed the center line again and collided head-on with Mr. Houck’s Chevrolet.

The second witness (“Witness Two”) was driving directly behind Witness One’s semi-truck. Witness Two stated he observed the red SUV swerve across the center line multiple times before the collision occurred. 

Witness Two stated that when Suspect Tygart’s SUV approached the curve, he drove left of center and the collided with the other vehicle. 

Both witnesses exited their vehicles and assisted both drivers. Ultimately, the Suspect Tygart’s SUV caught on fire so both witnesses extracted him from the vehicle. One of the witness vehicles was equipped with a Samsara windshield mounted camera. I obtained the video files from the trucking company. 

Based on a review of the digital video, Suspect Tygart could be seen swerving within his lane and driving left of center before the collision occurred. 

As Suspect Tygart approached a right-hand curve, he drove through the curve, he crossed the centerline and collided head-on with Mr. Houck’s vehicle. From my observation of the evidence, I believe that Suspect Tygart’s driving behavior before the collision is consistent with a person driving under the influence of an intoxicant. 

This driving behavior is depicted in the digital video obtained from a witness vehicle, and statements made by the two witnesses to the collision that indicated Suspect Tygart was swerving and crossed the center line multiple times. 

On December 20, 2021, I interviewed Suspect Tygart at Freeman Hospital in Joplin, Missouri. Suspect Tygart stated he did not remember the events leading up to the collision, or the collision itself. 

Suspect Tygart recalled getting off work around 7:20 AM, then driving to S and S convenience store in Jay to meet a friend named “Justin.” Suspect Tygart stated he then gave a female subject a ride to another store in Jay, but he did not remember the name of the female subject. 

During the interview Suspect Tygart denied any drug use the night before and morning of the collision. However, he stated the last time he used Methamphetamine was about the Friday before the collision occurred. Suspect Tygart also stated he recently had a “dirty” drug test that was sanctioned by his Probation and Parole Officer (PO) in Missouri. 

On December 22, 2021, FBI Special Agent Steven Colon and I spoke with Amber Stegall, Suspect Tygart’s PO, and gathered information related to Suspect Tygart’s recent drug usage. Stegall stated the last time she had a scheduled visit from Suspect Tygart, she suspected Suspect Tygart was coming down from his last drug use. The visit occurred on Tuesday, December 9, 2021. 

Stegall said she told Suspect Tygart to take an unscheduled urinalysis to test for illicit drugs on that day. Suspect Tygart was allotted two hours to provide a sample to test but was unable to. Suspect Tygart ultimately admitted to Stegall that he had used Methamphetamine sometime around December 1, 2021. 

Suspect Tygart signed a client admission form stating he had used illicit drugs and was cited for a violation of his probation. I am also now aware that when the hospital tested Suspect Tygart’s blood on December 14, 2021, for purposes of medical treatment, that it was positive for methamphetamine and amphetamine. 

Joplin man pleads guilty to cocaine, fentanyl trafficking

A Joplin man pleaded guilty this morning in U. S. District Court in Springfield to cocaine and fentanyl trafficking.

Judge David P. Rush ordered a presentencing investigation for Emilino Maturino, 25. No date has been scheduled for sentencing.

Maturino, 25, admitted to trafficking drugs in Jasper County between November 30, 2020 and February 7, 2022.

Agenda posted for Joplin City Council work session

 

GOP legislative leaders won’t rule out overriding Missouri governor budget vetoes

By Rudi Keller

Missouri Independent

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s budget vetoes weren’t necessary to protect state finances and could lead to overrides when lawmakers meet in September, Republican legislative budget leaders said Wednesday.

(Photo- House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, left, shares a light moment with Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Lincoln Hough during a May conference committee meeting.- Rudi Keller/Missouri Independent)

While overrides, both for budget items and other legislation, became common when Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon was in office, a governor has only been overridden twice in modern state history when the same party controls the legislative and executive branches.

That could change in September, after Parson on Friday vetoed 201 spending items, totaling $555 million, included in the budget approved by lawmakers in May. Each of the 68 vetoes Parson issued on a capital construction bill packed with local spending items included a statement that he was acting “to help ensure the financial stability of Missouri beyond my administration and the current General Assembly.”

That is not correct, House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith told The Independent.

“I do appreciate the sentiment and that he’s concerned about the overall bigger picture, but I disagree that this is causing a problem,” said Smith, a Republican from Carthage.

The state ended the fiscal year Friday with about $7.8 billion in surplus funds, including $5.7 billion of general revenue. General revenue beat expectations for the year at $13.2 billion and the budget approved by lawmakers uses just under $16 billion before vetoes. Parson vetoed $365 million in general revenue spending.

Funding for infrastructure and public safety projects sought by lawmakers and communities will be priorities in discussions, already underway, about the vetoes, Smith said.

“I would look there first to talk about potential overrides,” he said.

The Missouri House voted to override four of Parson’s line-item budget vetoes during the 2022 veto session but a badly divided Senate did not agree on any of them. Because budget bills start in the House, only overrides that are successful in that chamber can be considered in the Senate.

“There’s definitely conversations going on” about possible overrides, said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield .

He’s been fielding calls from fellow lawmakers, community leaders and program advocates asking about Parson’s actions, Hough said.

“There’s plenty of people out there who are frustrated and or disappointed, but the thing that I would say is there’s an awful lot of good stuff in the budget even after the governor went through his vetoes,” Hough said.

Parson’s actions left several very large items added by lawmakers untouched. He signed onto Hough’s proposal to spend $2.8 billion, including $1.4 billion general revenue, to widen Interstate 70 after proposing a partial plan with a cost of $859 million.

Parson also agreed with plans to spend $300 million for a new state psychiatric hospital in Kansas City, $171 million to boost pay for direct care workers in residential programs and $100 million added in the House for work on low-volume rural roads.

Hough said the vetoes were not necessary for the state to maintain a healthy fund balance or uphold its bond rating – a reason also repeatedly cited by Parson.

“It was about this time last year I was driving back and forth to Jeff City, it seemed like every other week, to have meetings on the largest tax cut in the history of the state,” Hough said.

The bill passed last year, which accelerated and expanded earlier cuts, cut the top tax rate from 5.3% to 4.95% with an additional cut coming on Jan. 1 to 4.8%.

“We passed a fully implemented, billion-dollar income tax cut,” Hough said. “And now we’ve got the governor saying, ‘we’ve got to watch out for the future.’”

Parson cut almost every item lawmakers added to the construction budget and dozens of items throughout the operating appropriations. The initial reactions from lawmakers on social media included anger and frustration.

Republican Sen. Nick Schroer accused Parson of “effectively defunding the police in O’Fallon by vetoing an incredibly important and vital training center to be used by police across our state.”

The appropriation for $12 million required a 50% local match. In addition to citing the state’s financial needs, Parson’s veto declared the entire project a local responsibility.

Schroer was also upset Parson vetoed $5 million for a no-interest loan to St. Charles for drinking water infrastructure improvements.

“The St. Charles County delegation worked their ass off for our people just to be vetoed by someone who couldn’t pick up a phone, email, text, write a letter, or send a Harry Potter carrier owl,” Schroer wrote on his Twitter account.



State Rep. Louis Riggs, R-Hannibal, tweeted a photo of an auto crash snarling traffic in his hometown as evidence of why the earmark he sought was needed.

“The day after $2 million was vetoed to fund the #HannibalBypass, this is US 61 in Hannibal today,” Riggs wrote. “For bonus points, on a holiday weekend.”

Along with state finances, calling projects a local responsibility was a “recurring theme” in the vetoes, Smith said. He will be looking for “intellectual consistency across the state budget” to determine if he agrees, he said.

State revenues are expected to grow at a very slow rate during the fiscal year and there is a tax cut that would reduce revenue by about $300 million annually on Parson’s desk. Neither is a reason to cut so deeply into the legislative earmarked spending, Hough said.



“Maybe the governor’s concerned about what possible further tax reductions that the legislature may be looking at,” he said, “but that’s not necessarily how you build this budget.”

Memo shows Missouri AG helped craft governor’s plan to weaken open records laws

By Jason Hancock

Missouri Independent

For two years, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has pushed unsuccessfully to allow government agencies to withhold more information from the public and charge more for any records that are turned over.

And according to a 2021 memo obtained by The Independent, one of the architects of Parson’s plan to weaken government transparency laws was Andrew Bailey.

 

At the time, Bailey was serving as the governor’s general counsel. In January, he was sworn in as Missouri’s attorney general, the office in charge of enforcing the Sunshine Law and making sure government agencies are complying with its provisions on open records and public meetings.

Since he stepped on the public stage for the first time late last year as Parson’s pick to replace Eric Schmitt as attorney general, Bailey has faced criticism from transparency advocates — first over the governor’s office slow-walking release of documents from his time as general counsel, then for a massive backlog of public records requests within the attorney general’s office.

The 2021 memo, which Bailey brought with him when he moved into the attorney general’s office, has intensified that criticism.

David Roland, director of litigation for the libertarian nonprofit Freedom Center of Missouri, can’t say with certainty that the memo represents Bailey’s true feelings, he said, as opposed to simply putting the governor’s ideas in writing.

“But the very clear consequence of this memo is that someone — whether it’s the governor, whether it’s the attorney general or whether it’s people that are very influential officials — is really intent on ratcheting down the level of transparency in Missouri government,” he said.

Between the memo and his actions as attorney general, it is clear that Bailey “is not a Sunshine Law devotee,” said Jean Maneke, an attorney for the Missouri Press Association. “And he’s certainly not dedicated to the public’s right to know.”

Madeline Sieren, spokesperson for the attorney general’s office, said that in 2021, Bailey was instructed as Parson’s general counsel to “collaborate with other stakeholders to propose legislative ideas that would modernize the Sunshine Law.”

Asked about whether Bailey believes the legislature should implement the proposed changes outlined in the memo, Sieren would only say that the attorney general “is committed to providing transparency for all Missourians.”

"More restrictive direction"

In June 2021, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that Parson’s office improperly redacted public records, charged exorbitant fees and knowingly and purposely violated the state’s open records law.

Months later, The Independent reported on a presentation made to Parson’s cabinet about proposed changes to the Sunshine Law that the governor’s office intended to make a priority heading into the 2022 legislative session.

But the outline of Parson’s plan actually came together months before the Supreme Court verdict.

 

Bailey and Parson’s policy director, Kayla Hahn, laid out in a May 2021 memo a wide array of changes aimed at limiting access to public records. Included was a proposal that would reverse the Supreme Court’s decision by allowing government agencies to charge fees for the time attorneys spend reviewing records requested by the public.

The memo contained myriad other ideas that transparency advocates say would essentially gut the Sunshine Law by closing records and meetings to public scrutiny.

“Government is supposed to be open to the public,” Maneke said. “The public has a right and a need to know what is happening with their tax money and in their name. If this memo is to be believed, the attorney general doesn’t agree with that.”

Sieren said in an email to The Independent that one of the goals of the 2021 memo was to draft a plan to align the Sunshine Law with the guidelines of the federal Freedom of Information Act.

What that really means, Roland said, is making the Missouri Sunshine Law much weaker.

“The Sunshine Law, as currently written in Missouri, provides a greater degree of transparency than is required under the federal Freedom of Information Act,” he said. “The memo makes a great deal about trying to harmonize the two, and it only ever wants to harmonize in the more restrictive direction.”

The Sunshine Law is one of the very few areas of the law, Roland said, “where a citizen is supposed to “have a very definitive thumb on the scale in their own favor.”

“And that’s not an accident,” he said. “It’s because Missourians, when we adopted the Sunshine Law, recognized the importance of government transparency. We wanted to make that abundantly clear for the courts. So that when these issues were disputed in the courts, the courts would understand.”

Bailey’s memo seeks to change that, Roland said, by instructing courts to take a less expansive view of the Sunshine Law.

Many of the provisions in Bailey’s memo found their way into legislation filed during the 2022 and 2023 sessions. None of the bills picked up much momentum, and only one cleared a Senate committee this year with most of the more controversial proposals removed.

Public records backlog

Last month, The Independent reported on a massive backlog of records requests in the attorney general’s office.

As of mid-June, the attorney general’s office was working on 374 pending records requests filed by the public. Of those requests, 150 were filed since Bailey took over the office in January and 224 were inherited from his predecessor Schmitt, who was elected to the U.S. Senate last year.

Last week, the attorney general’s office said the number of pending requests has grown to 389.

The result: The public often has to wait more than a year for requests to be completed and taxpayer-funded records to be turned over.

 

For example, The Independent filed a request in February asking for documents about the attorney general’s investigation of a transgender care center in St. Louis. The attorney general’s office sent notice last week that the records won’t be made available until Feb. 5, 2024.

Sieren said the attorney general is “adding two more full-time positions to process Sunshine Law requests for our office, in addition to the two full-time employees our office currently has.”

KSN programming removed from DirecTV

DirecTV is no longer carrying KSNF programming as of 6 p.m. Sunday. The programming of KODE, which is managed by KSNF owner Nexstar Broadcasting, has not been carried on DirecTV since October.

The news releases of Nexstar Broadcasting and DirecTV are printed below:

(From Nexstar Broadcasting)

Tonight (Sunday) at 7 p.m. ET, DIRECTV removed from its satellite, cable, and streaming systems the network and local community programming provided to more than ten million of its subscribers by 159 local television stations owned by Nexstar Media Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXST) (“Nexstar”). 

 The disruption in service affects DIRECTV, Uverse and DIRECTV Stream subscribers. DIRECTV and Nexstar were unable to reach a new distribution agreement allowing the DIRECTV the right to continue airing the highly rated programming on Nexstar’s local stations. In addition, DIRECTV rejected Nexstar’s offer to extend the current distribution agreement to Oct. 31, 2023.

As a result, millions of Americans across the country have lost their access to local news, traffic, weather, sports, and entertainment programming, critical updates regarding summer storms and tornadoes, as well as the upcoming battle in soccer for the Women’s World Cup, and Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game.

DIRECTV and Nexstar were also unable to reach an agreement to allow DIRECTV the right to continue carrying Nexstar’s national cable news network, NewsNation. Millions of DIRECTV subscribers have lost access to the news and analysis of such shows as “Elizabeth Vargas Reports,” “Cuomo,” “Dan Abrams Live,” and “Banfield.”

Nexstar has been negotiating tirelessly and in good faith in an attempt to reach a mutually agreeable multi-year contract with DIRECTV since May, offering the same fair market rates it offered to other distribution partners with whom it completed successful negotiations in the past year. Nexstar routinely reaches amicable retransmission and carriage agreements with its cable, satellite, and telco partners—in the last three years alone, the company has successfully completed agreements with more than 500 distribution partners.

Following DIRECTV’s actions, subscribers in 113 Nexstar markets including Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Denver, have lost access to thousands of hours of vitally important local news, just as the summer storm season is raging. In addition, as a result of DIRECTV’s actions, subscribers will not be able to view Women’s World Cup Soccer, British Open golf, LIV Golf, MLB’s All-Star Game, and all of the entertainment programming provided by Nexstar’s network partners, CBS, FOX, NBC, ABC, The CW and MyNet. If the interruption in service continues for a protracted period of time, DIRECTV subscribers are at risk of losing access to pre-season NFL Football, and perhaps the opening games of the 2023-24 football season.

Nexstar remains hopeful that a resolution can be reached quickly to return to viewers their favorite network programming, live sporting events, in-depth local news, and other local content relevant to their communities, as well as critical emergency updates for which DIRECTV is charging its subscribers.

Consumers and viewers affected by the blackout can phone DIRECTV at 800-531-5000.

(From DirecTV)

The nation's largest local broadcaster, Nexstar Media Group, is forcing the temporary loss of more than 200 stations for DIRECTV, DIRECTV STREAM and U-verse customers in more than 100 metro areas following the recent contract expiration. After denying Nexstar's demands for DIRECTV to pay more than double the previous fees for the same content, DIRECTV lost the rights to offer Nexstar-controlled ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and CW stations in select markets, as well as NewsNation.

Since the end of 2022 alone, Nexstar has threatened or removed stations it owns or controls from DIRECTV (Oct. 2022), Verizon FIOS (Oct. 2022), Comcast Xfinity (Dec. 2022), DISH Network (Jan. 2023), FuboTV (Feb.-March 2023) and Altice USA-Optimum (March 2023).

"Nexstar has a long track record of forcing programming outages in an effort to unnecessarily raise prices for everyone at the expense of the communities they are licensed and entrusted to serve," said Rob Thun, chief content officer of DIRECTV. "We will continue to work with Nexstar to reach an agreement and will take all necessary actions to provide our customers access to their favorite programming while protecting them from unwarranted price increases."

Nexstar owns or controls many different combinations of multiple ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX affiliates serving the same communities across 36 different metro regions. Nexstar continues to manipulate loopholes to exceed the 39% national ownership cap, and has made public statements lauding its 68% reach across all U.S. TV households. That means viewers in many metro areas will temporarily lose several local broadcast stations at the same time. What's more, Nexstar also seeks to force the CW and less popular channels into DIRECTV lineups, which would only increase costs for customers.

These demands come at a time when, according to the FCC, pay TV viewers are already paying an estimated $200 annually for local station programming designed to be free over-the-air. Additionally, ratings for broadcast networks have continued plummeting 46% in total viewers since 2010, and Nexstar itself has acknowledged that the major networks have shifted key live sports and other popular programs online, making many of Nexstar's top-rated shows and events less valuable.

Nexstar has additionally been withholding 27 stations that it controls but does not own from Mission and White Knight Broadcasting across 23 of these very same metro areas from DIRECTV, DIRECTV STREAM, and U-verse homes since mid-October of last year. On March 15 DIRECTV filed an antitrust suit in federal court, and on June 30 DIRECTV filed a legal complaint with the FCC, describing how Nexstar and its sham sidecars are conspiring to manipulate the cost of retransmission consent to American consumers.

While DIRECTV continues negotiations to return Nexstar programming to DIRECTV, DIRECTV STREAM and U-verse, customers can access much of the news, sports and entertainment programming on both local station and national network websites and apps, streaming services, and over-the-air.

Ongoing information and status updates are available at www.tvpromise.com.

Missouri company plays central role in downfall of Biden loan forgiveness program

By Annelise Hanshaw

Missouri Independent

At the center of the U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program on Friday was a little-known Missouri nonprofit that goes by MOHELA.

Based in St. Louis, the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority is a quasi-governmental entity created by state lawmakers in 1981 to service student loans.

And when former Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt (pictured) went looking for legal standing in order to bring a lawsuit challenging the president’s program, he relied on the relationship between the state and MOHELA — even though the company wanted nothing to do with the lawsuit.

On Friday, the six conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with Schmitt that, despite the company’s reluctance, MOHELA gave Missouri standing to sue. The court then struck down the program, with Chief Justice John Roberts accusing the executive branch of a power grab over the legislature.

“Today, we have concluded that an instrumentality created by Missouri, governed by Missouri, and answerable to Missouri is indeed part of Missouri; that the words ‘waive or modify’ do not mean ‘completely rewrite;’ and that our precedent — old and new — requires that Congress speak clearly before a Department Secretary can unilaterally alter large sections of the American economy,” Roberts wrote.

The ruling affects more than 777,000 Missourians with federal student loans who would have received $10,000-$20,000 of relief under the proposal.

In addition to Schmitt, five other attorneys general from Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and South Carolina filed the case in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, seeking to bar the Secretary of Education from providing student loan relief.

The attorneys general argued the secretary didn’t have authority and the forgiveness program would hurt state tax revenue.

The Supreme Court had to decide whether Missouri’s attorney general could sue on behalf of MOHELA before determining the validity of the loan relief.

The district-court judge dismissed the case, saying MOHELA can represent itself in litigation. But the Supreme Court reversed that decision, finding that MOHELA is an “instrumentality of Missouri.”

“The secretary’s plan will cut MOHELA’s revenues, impairing its efforts to aid Missouri college students. This acknowledged harm to MOHELA in the performance of its public function is necessarily a direct injury to Missouri itself,” Roberts wrote.

Some predict that debt cancellation would increase MOHELA’s revenue. Projections from the Roosevelt Institute show a steep increase as MOHELA takes over federal loans dropped by other servicers and is paid for each cancellation.

The dissenting opinion, written by Justice Elena Kagan, said MOHELA qualifies as a third party, not an arm of the government. Thus, Missouri had no standing to bring the lawsuit, she argued.

“If MOHELA had brought this suit, we would have had to resolve it, however hot or divisive. But Missouri? In adjudicating Missouri’s claim, the majority reaches out to decide a matter it has no business deciding. It blows through a constitutional guardrail intended to keep courts acting like courts,” Kagan wrote.

Although MOHELA is named 85 times in the court’s opinion, the nonprofit’s employees were opposed to the loan servicer’s inclusion, as recently revealed by the Student Borrower Protection Center.

This month, the SBPC released internal MOHELA emails it obtained through Missouri’s Sunshine Law showing employees discussing the case, with some confused at the organization’s inclusion in the lawsuit.

“Are we the bad guys?” one asked.

“The MO state AG needed to claim that our borrowers were harmed for standing, so they’re making us look bad by filing it not only with MO on it, but especially bad because they filed it in MO,” another employee wrote.

In October, U.S. Rep. Cori Bush sent a letter to MOHELA’s executive director Scott Giles and asked for the company’s stance on the attorney general’s lawsuit and accused MOHELA of being involved.

MOHELA had been largely silent up to that point.

“​​In Missouri alone, your efforts to halt cancellation could rob Missouri families — particularly Black and brown families who are disproportionately impacted by the student debt crisis — of more than $12.7 billion in life-changing economic relief,” Bush wrote.

MOHELA responded to Bush’s letter by distancing itself from the litigation. It informed the congresswoman that it was not involved in the decision to file the federal case.

“MOHELA has not had, and does not have, a contractual relationship or agreement with the Missouri Attorney General’s Office on any topic including as to student debt relief. The only communications between MOHELA and that office as it relates to student debt relief, is that the office recently filed a series of sunshine law requests on MOHELA seeking copies of documents relative to MOHELA’s federal loan servicing contract,” the company wrote in a letter to Bush.

 

Attorneys argued that loan cancellations would deprive MOHELA from the interest it would otherwise receive. Bush asked the organization about its capacity to serve as the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program servicer.

MOHELA took over the PSLF program July 1, 2022, after the former servicer resigned. These loans are not the Federal Student Aid contested by the attorneys general and are actively being forgiven.

MOHELA said it had “available funds in excess of operating expenses” with its reserves dedicated to student financial aid.

“We are committed to meeting the expectations and requirements as directed and administered by Federal Student Aid,” it said.

Federal student loan relief isn’t new. The secretary of education has paused student loan payments during national emergencies historically through the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003, or HEROES Act.

In March 2020, then-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos chose to use this precedent to stop payments and the accrual of interest during the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As federal employees in the Biden Administration looked toward the resumption of loan payments, they learned that Americans were at a higher risk of delinquency and faced economic pressures, the secretary of education said in litigation..

The Department of Education decided that $10,000 in relief, and $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients, would keep delinquency rates at or below pre-pandemic levels.

The secretary of education was planning to use the HEROES Act to forgive the payments, but Friday’s Supreme Court decision found that would be beyond the scope of the act. The secretary said he is allowed to “modify” the HEROES Act, but Roberts wrote that the widespread student-loan forgiveness was beyond a simple edit.

Schmitt, who was elected to the U.S. Senate in November, wrote on Twitter he was “proud to have brought this case.”

“Working folks who paid off their loans or took another path shouldn’t have to pay for the unpaid loans of the tenured college professor,” he said.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said on Twitter that the ruling showed a commitment to inequality.

“On eliminating student loan relief, the Supreme Court again shows its activist stripes,” he wrote, “working overtime to protect the wealthy, erase opportunity for the poor, and to build permanent inequality, harming the chance for millions to build their lives free of burdensome debt.”

Despite $8 billion surplus, Missouri governor vetoes $550 million in state spending

By Rudi Keller

Missouri Independent

From the $8,000 set aside so the Lone Jack Police Department could buy rifles to $46 million for an allied health building at St. Louis Community College, Gov. Mike Parson’s veto ax fell heavily on earmarked spending as he finished work on the coming year’s Missouri budget.

Parson announced his actions late Friday on the $51.8 billion budget approved by lawmakers in May, with only eight hours left before the start of the new fiscal year. In all, he made 201 vetoes, cutting $555.3 million by reducing some lines but more often eliminating items entirely.

In almost every veto, Parson cited the need to maintain the state’s strong financial position. There is a tax cut bill that would reduce revenue by $300 million awaiting action, the vetoes state, and the overall budget increases annual general revenue spending by $200 million.

“I have vetoed this provision in an effort to help ensure the financial stability of Missouri beyond my administration and the current General Assembly,” Parson repeats numerous times in his veto messages.

Parson issued his vetoes despite a record state general revenue surplus. The state treasury was holding $5.9 billion in general revenue on May 31 – about $1 billion more than the expected surplus when the fiscal year ended Friday. And revenues, while well off the double-digit growth of past years, was $118 million more than estimated for the year through Thursday.

“Our revenues are up, businesses are growing and investing, and we maintain a historic revenue surplus, but we must not spend just for the sake of spending,” Parson said in a release detailing his budget actions.

On a few vetoes, Parson went beyond a general worry that the item was too expensive and must be cut to maintain the state’s fiscal health. He cut $8.5 million set aside for a no-interest loan to Magnitude 7 Metals for pollution controls on its Marston aluminum smelter in southeast Missouri.

The loan, Parson wrote, violates a Civil War-era provision of the constitution “which prohibits the lending of public credit to any private person, association, or corporation except under specific circumstances that do not exist here.”

Parson did approve several initiatives from lawmakers – expanding his $859 million plan for widening portions of Interstate 70 to a $2.8 billion plan for adding extra lanes across the state is the most notable one. He also approved $300 million to build a new psychiatric hospital in Kansas City and $171 million to boost pay for direct care providers in residential programs for people with developmental disabilities.

But items large and small fell by the wayside, including several in Springfield, the hometown of Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Lincoln Hough. Parson cut out $28 million for improvements on a stretch of Interstate 44, $34 million for improvements to LeCompte Road, $12 million for a sports complex and $2 million for a not-for-profit science center.

“This is a local responsibility with minimal statewide impact,” Parson wrote about LeCompte Road, repeating a sentence that is included with dozens of other vetoes.

Hough issued a statement soon after Parson’s action, but did not address the cuts directly. The budget addresses major needs, Hough said, and was the result of weeks of negotiations within the General Assembly.

“I believe this final budget uses the surplus funding available from the federal government and the monies entrusted to us by the people of Missouri to aggressively improve our state while remaining fiscally responsible with an eye towards the future,” Hough said.

In announcing his budget cuts, Parson highlighted spending on transportation and infrastructure, with $379 million for road and bridge projects in the Missouri Department of Transportation’s rolling five-year program, $248 million for broadband deployment within the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program and $60 million for safety improvements at rail crossings.

However, his veto pen hit some road projects sought by lawmakers, with Parson often noting they were not in the MoDOT plan or identified as regional priorities.

Parson also said in his release that he was pleased with the education funding provided by lawmakers, including $233 million to fully fund school transportation, $70.8 million to boost core funding for colleges and universities and money to support minimum teacher pay of $38,000 statewide.

However, Parson cut $16.8 million for four-year universities that would be dependent on a new performance-based funding model. The model is not ready and does not need to be funded, he wrote.

Missouri doesn’t just have a large general revenue surplus. It also has almost $2 billion in other funds, mainly additional federal aid for state services like Medicaid tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, that can be spent like general revenue.

The growth in revenue in the current year, about $340 million, will be enough to trigger the next round of tax cuts in a bill passed last summer. For 2024, the top income tax rate in Missouri will fall to 4.8% from 4.95%.

The rate was 6% a decade ago.