Missouri governors will have more power over Missouri courts if the Missouri Plan is amended in November

(Missouri Digital News) -- On Nov. 6 Missouri voters will have the option to change the way top Missouri judges are selected.

Missouri Constitutional Amendment 3 is the culmination of a multi-year effort by a St. Louis County lawmaker to change the judicial nominating process.

The Missouri Non-Partisan Court Plan has been in place for more than 70 years as a way to eliminate partisanship in the selection of judges in Missouri. The intent of the plan is to have judges selected based on merit instead of political affiliation.

The plan is in charge of selecting judges to the state Supreme Court and Appeals Court. It also applies to lower level courts in St. Louis City and Jackson County. Greene, St. Louis, Clay and Platte counties have adopted variations of the plan to select judges.

The current system removes appellate level judges from having to campaign in partisan elections. Nominees for state appeals court and Supreme Court judges are selected by a seven-member panel composed of three gubernatorial appointees, three lawyers selected by the Missouri Bar Association and the chief justice of the Supreme Court.

"The original Constitution had the proper checks, and currently there is no check on the judicial branch of government as far as how we choose judges to the highest court. The Missouri Plan is currently controlled by one special interest group -- the trail attorneys," said Sen. Jim Lembke, R-St. Louis.

Lembke sponsored the amendment in the General Assembly.

The proposed change would eliminate the chief justice from the panel and give the governor four appointees to the commission instead of three, which would make his appointees the majority.

Lynn Whaley Vogel, president of the Missouri Bar Association, said there is no reason to amend the plan because it has served as a model for other states to eliminate partisanship.  

State pays out far fewer extended unemployment benefits than expected

Far fewer Missourians have collected the extended unemployment benefits compared to the numbers Gov. Jay Nixon's administration had identified when promoting the legislation.

Nixon had said that roughly 10,000 people were waiting to receive the benefits that had been stalled by the legislature with a filibuster in the Senate.

More than a week later, however, the Labor Department said only about 4,000 payments had been issued in those first days after the governor's signature on April 13. As of April 23, the department reports only about 8,500 payments had been made under the new extension.

The department, however, was unable to identify how many of the 10,000 persons cited in earlier arguments are actually still unemployed and have received the extended benefits.

A department spokesperson, Amy Susan, said payments may have involved multiple claims and that there is no data to indicate how many persons actually received benefits in one or more payments. She said it is impossible to keep track of every person eligible for benefits because different weeks bring different claims to the department.

"There is no way to say out of the 10,000 people how many people came back to claim extended benefits," Susan said. " ... It is so difficult because it is a large group of individuals and every week their circumstances change. It is so hard to pinpoint."

The bill signed by the governor renewed Missouri’s participation in a federal program that provides 20 weeks of additional benefits to people who already have been unemployed for a year and a half. If claimants still had money left when their benefits exhausted on April 2, then they are still eligible to receive their leftover balance.

Susan said about 8,500 payments have been transacted, although there is no way to know how many individuals are making those claims in the month since payments were exhausted. The department has no backlog of claims.

Sen. Jim Lembke, R-St. Louis County, led the Republican filibuster that kept the legislature from extending benefits for two weeks because he thought the state should not accept the federal money. Now, Lembke said he thinks the Department of Labor ought to be able to keep track of the number of people receiving benefits.

"I would think it is their responsibility to administer this program," Lembke said. "We certainly haven't heard anything from them in committee as far as being short-handed for administrating the program. Nothing we are doing currently in the legislative process should be affecting their ability to distribute these extended benefits."

The extended benefits provides $105 million in federal stimulus money to Missourians who have already exhausted other unemployment benefits, including emergency federal subsidies. As of April 16, the department had paid out $1.4 million, also compensating for the lost payments from April 2 when the program ended to April 13 when the governor signed the extension bill.

The labor department is still trying to contact people who are eligible to receive benefits. Susan said the people who have not received their benefits stopped making weekly contact with the Labor Department after the program exhausted, which took them out of the department's computer system.

To be eligible for the benefits, people must keep looking for work, make contact with vocational employers and check in with state career centers.

A March jobs report showed that Missouri added 24,300 jobs and the unemployment rate fell by 0.3 percent. Unemployment hovers around 9.1 percent in Missouri, according to information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Thirty-eight thousand unemployment claims were filed in March.

Unemployment benefits expire for about 10,000 Missourians

Unemployment benefits for about 10,000 Missourians will expire Saturday for those who have reached their 79-week limit for coverage. On Thursday, Sen. Jolly Justice, D-Kansas City, delivered an emotional rebuke against four of her colleagues who had blocked passage of a measure to authorize use of federal funds to extend benefits another 20 weeks. "So I want you to go home this weekend and talk to those families who will no longer be able to feed themselves because we're cutting off their benefits," Justice said in a breaking voice. Sen. Jim Lembke, R-St. Louis County, has been the leader in a filibuster that blocked the Senate from voting on accepting the federal funds. Lembke argued that the federal government is being reckless in spending money it has to borrow to expand the benefits. "The states are going to have to band together and say we're no longer going to be willing accomplices in what you're doing to our nation and to the next generation," Lembke said after Justice's rebuke. The House had passed authorization to spend the funds by an overwhelming majority nearly two months ago. The measure is one of two bills involving federal funds that Lembke and other fiscal conservatives in the Senate have blocked from getting a vote. Also stalled is authorization to provide $190 million of one-time federal funds to public schools. It passed the House a month ago without a single negative vote.

Some Missourians might soon be without their extended unemployment benefits

Roughly 23,000 Missourians still don't know whether they will see an unemployment check after April 3. The Senate adjourned for its legislative spring break Thursday [March 17] without voting on a plan to accept $81 million in federal money that would extend unemployment benefits from 79 to 99 weeks. Senate President Pro Tem Rob Mayer, R-Dexter, said he would have liked to see a vote on the plan before the break. "A few senators shouldn't hold up the progress of what's going on here and so if we have to use stronger measures we'll use stronger measures," Mayer said. Sen. Jim Lembke, R-St. Louis County, said he will continue to filibuster the bill if it is brought back up because he said it's wrong for the federal government to send borrowed money to the states. The Senate is scheduled to convene again on Friday, March 25.

House Budget Committee finalizes 2012 budget

The House Budget Committee ended debate in record time on Missouri's 2012 budget after a mark-up session Tuesday.

This year's mark-up lasted only one hour compared to last year's which took nearly three days. Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, credited the hard work of the Budget chairman, Ryan Silvey, R-Kansas City, and the fair process this year as the reasons the mark-up was historically brief.

"He was very professional, efficient, effective, bi-partisan and worked with people," Kelly said.

Rep. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis City, agreed with Kelly on Silvey's performance but said she wished the process was less "orchestrated" by House leadership.

The 13 House appropriations bills were all passed with only 1 no vote. Kelly said this has never happened before while he has been in office.

Missouri's amended $23.2 billion budget represents an overall 2.5 percent decrease from last year's budget and includes a 7 percent reduction in funds for higher education. Last year over 300 amendments were offered, but this year only 18 were brought before the committee.

The ranking member on the budget committee, Rep. Sara Lampe, D-Springfield, said "there simply is no more money" to make amendments.

Kelly offered an amendment which moved funds from the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MoHELA) to General Revenue. Earlier in the budget process the committee used $12 million from MoHELA to offset a reduction in the Access Missouri Scholarship Program. Today, Kelly motioned that the money for Access Missouri instead come from General Revenue which would provide more stability for the program from year to year since the money from MoHELA will not be available every year.

Kelly's amendment ultimately passed, but he said this issue will be contested in the Senate.

Lampe offered an amendment to add $8.9 million to the elementary and secondary education transportation fund. In order to fund her increase, Lampe proposed to eliminate Missouri's ethanol subsidy program. She said education transportation is underfunded by $55 million and that is "devastating" to rural school districts.

"I think our kids are worth it," Lampe said.

After opposition from the committee, Lampe withdrew her amendment before a vote.

Kelly also presented an amendment which would reduce Missouri House of Representatives mileage.

"We need to show our commitment to what we are asking everyone else to do," Kelly said.

The amendment was passed despite some opposition from committee members.

Some lawmakers said they were disappointed in the budget situation this year and the lack of available money.

Lampe said the budget cuts will continue unless the Republican majority is willing to have a conversation about increasing state revenue.

"There is no political will to do that ... we can't plug the leak anymore ... it's affecting our kids," Lampe said.

Lampe said instead of raising revenue, House Republicans have decreased it. She said the elimination of the corporate franchise tax passed by the House would cost the state $85 million in revenue.

Although the House committee has finalized the budget their continues to be debate in the Senate about the use of federal funds. Missouri has received $189 million from the federal government that must be spent by next year and only on elementary and secondary education. Some Republicans in the Senate have pledged to block that money along with other funds from the federal government.

"You have the federal government stealing from this generation and generations to come by spending money they don't have," Sen. Jim Lembke, R-St. Louis County, said in a radio interview on using federal money for unemployment benefits, which he blocked in the Senate.

Lampe, a former teacher, disagrees with their logic.

"Why would we turn down money for our kids? It's just insane," she said.

Nasheed also said many of the budget amendments passed in the House will face opposition in the Senate.

"It is a whole different monster over there," she said.

The budget will be sent to the House floor when the legislators return from their spring break on March 28.

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Republican Senate leaders put off vote to extend unemployment benefits

The Missouri Senate adjourned before noon on Thursday [March 3] without making a decision on extending unemployment benefits for more than 20,000 Missourians without jobs. The plan calls for the state to accept $81 million in federal money. This money would extend the maximum length of jobless benefits from 79 to 99 weeks for Missourians. Sen. Jim Lembke, R-St. Louis County, opposes the bill, saying Missouri lawmakers need to send a message to Washington. "You have the federal government stealing from this generation and generations to come by spending money they don't have," Lembke said. Lembke also said that nearly two years of jobless benefits is too long. Sen. David Pearce, R-Warrensburg, is the sponsor of the bill and said people collecting unemployment would much rather have a job. "For those who have a job, it's pretty easy to say that's too long, but when you're suffering and can't find a job, that's tough," Pearce said. Lembke filibustered the issue on Tuesday [March 1], saying more time on unemployment leads to fewer applicants for jobs. "We've got people saying we have jobs, but if you extend that, the people that generally work in our industry will not come back to work," Lembke said. Other GOP Senators said they are concerned about out-of-control federal spending, but both Republicans and Democrats said if Missouri turns down the money, it will be given to other states instead. Republican leaders say they will meet over the next week to discuss the bill. The extended benefits for an estimated 23,000 Missourians will run out April 3.