Republican infighting led to legislative gridlock in Missouri

Good news for unions, but attacks on Labor expected to resume next session

Jefferson City – The contentious 2021 Missouri legislative session will go down as one of the most “do nothing” sessions in state history, the Missouri AFl-CIO reports.

The session got off to a contentious start when Governor Parson snubbed House Speaker Rob Vescovo as, for the first time, the State of the State address was delivered in the Senate chambers to a pared down audience due to COVID-19.

The feud between the Governor and the Speaker evolved into a shouting match in the hallways of the Capitol and continued to fester during the session, resulting in little, if any, communication between them.

The Senate fractured into several splinter groups during the session. The Conservative Caucus consistently snubbed Senate leadership and pursued its own agenda, leading to gridlock on most issues.

LEGISLATION
A total of 2,275 pieces of legislation were introduced during the Legislative Session.

“Our plate was full,” Jake Hummel, president of the Missouri AFL-CIO, said in a legislative wrap-up for Labor leaders.

The Missouri AFL-CIO was tracking over 250 bills at the height of the session, including:

• “Right-to-work” – the phony union-busting legislation Republicans just can’t let go, despite voters overwhelmingly rejecting it in 2018.
• “Right-to-work” by county.
• Reducing unemployment coverage for laid-off workers.
• Reducing minimum wage.
• Paycheck deception.
• School vouchers.
• Charter schools.
• Voter ID.
• Purging voter registration lists.
• Restricting voter rights.
• Initiative petition process restrictions.
• Mechanical licensing.
• A gas tax to fund road and bridge improvements.

PAYCHECK DECEPTION
“While there was no real appetite to pursue the phony ‘right-to-work,’ the legislature was primed to move on ‘paycheck’ but was held in check while waiting for the Missouri Supreme Court to rule on HB 1413,” Hummel said.

The high court last week ruled House Bill 1413 unconstitutional in its entirety, declaring “the exemption of public safety labor organizations in section 105.503.2(1)1 creates a scheme that effectively disfavors non-public safety Labor organizations and violates public employees’ right to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing.

The 2018 law has been declared unconstitutional in all of the lower courts. (See related story.)

With the Supreme Court’s decision delayed until after the session, Republican lawmakers’ latest paycheck scheme did not advance, but Hummel said, “This will most likely be priority number one in the next session.”

MEDICAID EXPANSION
The Republican supermajority in the legislature again rebuffed Missouri voters when both the House and Senate budget committees refused to fund Medicaid Expansion, which was approved in the August 2020 election.

“There was a possibility that Gov. Parson would implement the expansion without legislative approval, but he failed to do so,” Hummel said. “A lawsuit filed in Cole County Circuit Court will now likely require the Legislature and the Governor to live up to the will of the voters and the Missouri Constitution.”

FEDERAL REIMBURSEMENT ALLOWANCE
The session came to a dramatic end when the Senate failed to pass the Federal Reimbursement Allowance (FRA).

“For the first time in 30 years, the General Assembly failed to renew taxes on hospitals, nursing homes and pharmacies that are used to acquire matching federal money that funds the Missouri Medicaid program,” Hummel said.

A fight over the funds being used for birth control and abortion derailed the normally routine renewal, Hummel said, exposing deep fissures within the Senate GOP caucus and sparking a filibuster by Democrats that sunk the session’s final day.

“The legislature had kicked this can down the road before, but this time they kicked it too far and could not find it before the end of session,” he said.

As a result, lawmakers have no choice but to return to Jefferson City for a special session before the sunset on these taxes expires in September, he said.

In the end, only 69 bills (including 19 budget bills) were agreed to and finally passed in the 2021 session.