Mike Lear – Page 60 – Missouri House of Representatives Newsroom

Proposal would ask voters for bonds to pay for new or improved veterans home

A House Republican wants to again propose asking Missourians to support adding to the number of beds in Missouri’s veterans homes.

Representative Lindell Shumake (photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Hannibal representative Lindell Shumake has proposed in the past two legislative sessions a resolution that would ask voters to approve $50-million in bonds to build a new veterans’ home. He plans to file on December 1 a similar proposal, though this time it could be for more money.

This time it could be for a new home, or for the replacement or expansion and upgrading of the state veterans home at Mexico, which is more than 30 years old.

“There’s some thought that the home in Mexico, Missouri, needs to be rebuilt,” said Shumake. “Of course our goal would be to expand bed space by however much we can.”

As Shumake’s proposal worked its way through the legislature’s 2016 session, he and others were told that the state already exceeds the federal Veterans Administration’s limit on beds in Missouri veterans homes of 1,257. That means if Missouri builds a new veterans home it would not receive a federal reimbursement for the construction. It could, though, for replacing a home.

Shumake would prefer for the state to build a new home, which would have around 150 beds, because that would go farther toward addressing the growing waiting list of veterans wanting to get into one. As of May more than 1,900 veterans were on that list, with roughly a third of those ready to enter a home now.

He plans to file his proposal regardless of whether the state Veterans Commission favors a new home or a replacement.

“Creating the fund, having it there available would be the first step certainly,” said Shumake. “Before it goes to the voters, though, we would want to have some more concrete ideas in mind as to if it’s going to be new or if it’s going to replace and increase the number of beds in an existing facility.”

Last year Shumake’s resolution cleared the House but stalled in the Senate. If approved, it would go before voters on the November, 2018 ballot.

House Minority Leader hopes to find common ground with Republican supermajority, governor

Kansas City representative Gail McCann Beatty has been elected Minority Floor Leader for the 99^th General Assembly when it convenes in January. She will lead a Democratic minority with 46 members in a chamber of 163 representatives.

Despite the challenges of being in a superminority and having an incoming governor from the opposing party, McCann Beatty said she looks forward to finding issues all sides can work together on.

“I’m going to reach out to the new governor and try to build a relationship with him and hopefully we can have a conversation about some of the things that are important to our caucus. I do not believe that everything that we do, that we’ll be on opposite sides,” said McCann Beatty. “I think there’s probably some things that we may be able to meet in the middle that are just good public policy for the state of Missouri.”

McCann Beatty said she already has a ‘decent’ relationship with House Speaker Todd Richardson (R-Poplar Bluff) and hopes to build on that, and find some things their respective caucuses can work on together.

“We still have a serious issue with infrastructure and that’s something that both sides understand that that’s a problem that we need to address, so the issue is how do we come together and come up with a good solution to resolve that.

“There are some education issues that we still need to address … I think there are still things we need to do to help get all of our districts where they need to be and early childhood education I think is one of those, so I think that’s something that I think both sides can agree that that’s something we need to do and we just need to figure out how do we do that,” said McCann Beatty.

McCann Beatty has been the ranking member of the House Budget Committee. She said that committee and the budget process have been areas where in the last few years her party has had the ability to accomplish some of its goals despite being in the minority. She expects that will continue.

McCann Beatty and her predecessor as minority leader, Representative Jake Hummel (D-St. Louis), have both said her party has remained relevant in the House despite being in the superminority. She expects it will remain so.

“I think we simply have to continue to focus on our message and those things that we find important. We’ve always stood for the working class, we’ve always stood for quality healthcare, we’ve always stood for quality education, we’ve always stood for a living wage, and those things won’t change. We’ll continue to put our message out there,” said McCann Beatty.

McCann Beatty takes over for Hummel, who leaves the House due to term limits and will serve in the Missouri Senate beginning in 2017.

House Democrats elected the rest of their leadership team following Tuesday’s election. The Assistant Minority Leader is Representative Gina Mitten (St. Louis), the Minority Whip is Kip Kendrick (Columbia), the Caucus Chair is Michael Butler (St. Louis), the Caucus Vice Chair is Randy Dunn (Kansas City), the Caucus Secretary is DaRon McGee (Kansas City), and the Policy Chair is Deb Lavender (Kirkwood).

House Speaker expects results, passage of right-to-work, after 2016 General Election

Missouri’s House Speaker is pleased with a general election that saw his party retain supermajorities in both his chamber and the state senate, as well as in the governor’s office and other statewide offices.

House Speaker Todd Richardson (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Republicans will have 117 members in the state House and 24 in the Senate.

Speaker Todd Richardson (R-Poplar Bluff) said he has spoken several times, including last night, with Governor-Elect Eric Greitens (R) and would meet with him soon.

“I think we’re going to find a tremendous amount of common ground and it’s built around a common vision for what Missouri looks like,” said Richardson, “That’s a Missouri that respects and protects individual freedom. That’s a Missouri that has a stronger, more vibrant, dynamic economy than we have today. It’s a Missouri that has a strong education system for every Missourian no matter where they were born or where they live.”

Richardson said for his party to have control of both chambers and the governor’s office presents something of a mandate to get things done.

“I’ve been very proud of the record of accomplishments of this General Assembly over the six years that I’ve had the chance to be here,” said Richardson, “The ability that we’ll have over the next two years to affect long-lasting positive change for the state is a unique opportunity and we’re going to be ready to seize on that as soon as the General Assembly comes back in January.”

Richardson said his chamber’s top priorities will be issues that his party believes will improve Missouri’s economy.

“That means a universe of labor reform, tort reform, and education reform,” said Richardson, “I think if we’ll focus on those issues as well as removing some of the government barriers to innovation and economic development, we’ll have the workings of a pretty good agenda to start with

Richardson expects that will include passage of legislation that supporters call, “right to work,” which aims to prevent employees from being required to pay union dues as a condition of employment.

“A lot of this election cycle was on that issue,” said Richardson. “There were clear contrasts between Governor-Elect Greitens and Attorney General Koster on that issue, and I think there’s always been and continues to be strong support for right-to-work in the General Assembly. I know it’s an issue that Eric [Greitens] cares deeply about and so I anticipate that will be something that moves its way through the General Assembly very quickly.”

Richardson said ethics reform will also be a priority early in the 2016 session, as legislators again attempt to pass a ban on gifts from lobbyists to lawmakers.