Missouri's 101st legislative session ended Friday, May 14th at 6:00pm. Well, that was the plan at least.
The entire session was a bottleneck of bills and nearly nothing was accomplished other than the President Pro Tem of the Senate, Dave Schatz, bickering back and forth with the House Speaker, Rob Vescovo. I'm sure there are details unknown to me but the biggest issue was the gas tax legislation, SB 262, that Schatz sponsored and wanted passed. He was holding every bill the House passed for ransom until his tax was headed to Governor Parson's office.
The Second Amendment Protection Act (SAPA) had passed the House in February and sat idle for weeks in the Senate, waiting on Schatz to move on it. SAPA did finally pass both sides of the Assembly, but not until the afternoon of Friday, May 14th, the very last day and nearly the last hour.
Prior to the final vote being cast for SAPA, the Senate literally walked out of the Senate chamber four hours early because the Democrat Senators were throwing a fit and filibustering. They were upset over some abortion drug language in the FRA, Federal Reimbursement Act, which did not end up passing at all because they quit. This little snafu means there will be a special session called so they can try to work out their squabble on the taxpayers' dime.
The drama actually started in the Senate in the wee hours of the morning Friday, sometime before 4:00am. I missed the first act. They were supposed to reconvene around 10:00 am but they didn't show up until sometime after 11:00am when the filibuster began anew.
If I hadn't been waiting for an important Covid liability & government overreach bill to be taken up on Friday, it would've been great entertainment had I only been able to have some popcorn and a soda. It was quite a drama. Senator Arthur should've had a tiara. She was the Drama Queen of the morning!
Disappointingly, the show did not go on. Schatz & Rowden and the rest of the Senate crew decided to call it quits four hours early and just leave.
That killed HB 1358, which would've protected healthy people from being quarantined, including our kids. It had already passed the House with bi-partisan support and we are nearly certain it would've passed and been on the Governor's desk. It also had amazing protections for individuals and small businesses in regard to Covid exposure liability claims as well as a few other great things related to the spreading of contagious disease.
When the House heard about the Senate quitting, the show resumed on the other side of the building. The reps were furious! As well they should have been and so was I. The killing of HB 1358 left a clear path for SB 51 to pass, which is worse than Governor Cuomo's version of healthcare.
The day started with the Democrat Senators complaining about how they are being pushed around by the Speaker of the House and that THEY are the upper chamber so it was about time they started acting like it. THEY are the ones who should be called in the shots, after all!
And the day ended with the representatives in the House ranting about how they are the ones getting bullied, which has been the case for years!
It was as bad as listening to my young sons fight over who got more ice cream in their dish after dinner.
In this case, and IMHO, the House and the people of Missouri got robbed.
Oh there were lots of swamp creatures contributing to the theft, that's for sure. Not just one is to blame. That would be like blaming the loss of the basketball game on the player who missed the last free throw.
What is identifiable is the serious abundance of RINOS in this Republican super-majority we have here in Missouri. You'd think with a super majority and a Republican governor we might actually get something done. But no. Too many RINOS and too much lobbying going on for that.
The democrats are actually thrilled!
I think it would be good to make a sign for the Capitol lawn,
"Capitol Wildlife Preserve.
Missouri RINOS located here.
No longer endangered."
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