Sunday, April 24, 2011

A Moment with Mike -- Final Three Weeks of Session

There is a feeling of urgency in the final three weeks of session as we track bills that we have sponsored or issues that have yet to be resolved. The budget, which is of highest priority, is on schedule to be completed soon and several of our original goals for the year that help make Missouri more business friendly are on track.

An issue we hoped would be resolved by now is the redistricting of the congressional districts. The map that was originally drawn and passed by the House was not accepted as drawn by the Senate, and negotiations to reach an agreement between the two bodies on a map that can be agreed upon have not happened. Late night conferencing last week failed to bring agreement and the pressure builds as session nears completion. The House and the Senate must agree, pass a bill accordingly, and send it to the Governor for his signature. If he signs the bill it becomes law. If he does not sign the bill, it can come back to the General Assembly for an override attempt. If this would fail, the redistricting map would then be drawn by the courts. This brings much speculation on the final decision.

A piece of legislation that passed in the Senate last week would further cloud the issue; however, I believe that the chances of this being passed in the House are very close to the proverbial “slim to none” category. The bill would bring a resolution before the people that would let them vote on whether to cut the number of Representatives in the House from 163 to 103. The rationale is related to saving money; however, the amount saved would be very small in the big picture and representation of the people would be reduced. Representation is divided by population and those in the rural areas with sparse population are already at somewhat of a disadvantage. The area I represent in Northwest Missouri covers over 2,000 square miles, most of 4 counties and approximately 31 communities. This initiative would increase the size of rural districts tremendously, thus making it more difficult to keep in touch with constituents.

A bill that received approval in the Senate last week will allow us to use $189 million in Federal funding to bolster our education system. This bill, which was passed out of the House in February, will help bridge the gap created by shortfalls this year and the remainder will be used next year to maintain level funding for K-12 education. This was good news to those schools who were watching this closely. The addition of $20 million added back to transportation money was another step in the right direction. Another $20 million was added back to the Higher Education funding, making the cut to our colleges and universities less than 5%. We will continue to look for ways to support our education system at all levels.

We hope to resolve as many issues as possible before session comes to a grinding halt on May 13.

If you have questions, you may reach me at my Capitol number 573-751-9465, at the local district number, 660-582-4014, by email at mike.thomson@house.mo.gov or by mail at Room 401B State Capitol Building, Jefferson City, MO 65101

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