By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A St. Joseph state representative says a move by Missouri House leadership to kill a $513 million capital improvement package poisoned the water in the legislative session, contributing to it coming to an abrupt halt.
House leaders bypassed House Bill 19, one of the budget bills, and didn’t allow a vote on it the Friday before the last week of session.
State Rep. Bill Falkner, a Republican from St. Joseph, says leadership didn’t even consult with Republican members before they skipped the vote on the bill.
“I would have loved to ask questions prior to not voting on it,” Falkner tells KFEQmmunity. “I don’t think a lot of stuff was thought through. And I understand the budget concerns that many had, but I questioned it, yes.”
St. Joseph had a vested interest in the bill. Within its construction projects was money for the new UMKC dental school on the Missouri Western State University campus and additional money to make improvements at the Chiefs Training Camp at Missouri Western.
Falkner defends the legislature’s move to strip the minimum wage bill approved by voters of its sick leave provisions. Voters in November approved the initiative petition which raises the state minimum wage to $15 an hour and provided sick leave for certain hours worked.
Falkner claims the legislature had to remove the sick leave provision or risk losing jobs.
“A lot of businesses (were) talking about laying people off,” according to Falkner. “So that was a concern.”
Falkner says Republicans felt they had to take the step, even if critics accused them of overturning the will of the voters.
“We felt that we owed it to the business community to try to fix that.”
The Missouri Senate adjourned two days early after approving the change to Proposition A and agreeing to send the abortion issue back before voters. Senate leaders reasoned anger from Senate Democrats over the move by Senate Republicans to cut off debate and force a vote on the bill would prevent the Senate from accomplishing anything else in the remaining two days left in the session.
The House returned on Thursday to work on a few pieces of legislation before leaving Jefferson City with another day left in the session.
The decision to end the session early left work undone, primarily an incentive package designed to finance a new ballpark for the Kansas City Royals and renovate Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the Chiefs.
Falkner expects Gov. Mike Kehoe to call a special session to revisit the issue, because without it, the two teams could move.
“You know, the threat is real, not only from the state of Kansas, but Nashville and Salt Lake City,” Falkner says “There (are) several communities that would love to have the Chiefs or the Royals.”
Falkner says it was fallout from House leadership skipping over HB 19 and all of its construction projects throughout the state that inflamed emotions and created tremendous tension in the last week of the session in Jefferson City.
“I’m sorry that things ended up the way they did and I think with us not passing House Bill 19, I think that sent it into a spiral.”
If so, it was a spiral the legislature couldn’t come out of.
As for the possibility of a special session, Gov. Kehoe, during a news conference on Friday, indicated he would call the legislature back in special session to consider the Chiefs/Royals financing and possibly the capital improvement package killed by Missouri House leadership.
You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.
