Bob Nance Capitol Report for May 7, 2009
By: Rep. Bob Nance
36th District
“Our priority this week is to finish the 2010 state budget. It is a difficult process and we must keep in mind that the money we are allocating is your money.
Almost all bills are now heavily laden with amendments and the bills must be scrutinized for bad legislation.”
- Bob Nance
Transparency in Government
Every year, Missourians pay state taxes so that our government departments and programs can run fully funded. You as a taxpayer deserve the right to see exactly where your money goes.
House Bill 544 adds the Missouri Accountability Portal as a permanent staple of our state government. This web-based application is an easy-to-search database of state purchases and the distribution of funds for state programs. It will be updated each business day to ensure that citizens have access to current information.
HB544 also creates a committee of legislators to track all expenditures from the federal stimulus funds. The committee will be made up of two members of the House, and two members of the Senate who will oversee contracts and grant reporting. The Governor and the General Assembly must ensure that these billions of dollars are spent in a way that will boost our state’s economy and ease the burden on our citizens.
Other Legislation
HB247. Revises the definition of “eligible student” as it relates to the Nursing Student Loan Program to allow individuals seeking certain degrees on a full- or part-time basis to participate in the program.
HB 272. Establishes the Alzheimer’s State Plan Task Force within the Department of Health and Senior Services to assess the impact of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia on residents of this state.
HB 359. Allows the Highways and Transportation Commission to enter into more than three design-build highway project contracts.
SB542.The act adds two additional eligible participants in the State Treasurer’s linked deposit loan program: individuals who want to produce their own energy from renewable resources; and political subdivisions seeking to finance capital improvements or other significant programs.
The act modifies criteria of several other eligible participants in the linked deposit loan program. It removes the requirement that alternative energy operations must sell fuel or power generated by their operations. It removes the requirement that farming operations must not possess more than 60% equity in the operation. The act makes an exception to the maximum loan per job requirement for job enhancement businesses that incur significant costs for equipment or capital improvements. The maximum number of employees of an eligible small business is increased from 25 to 100.
SCS for HB 132 passed through both bodies and the best part was allowing Public Safety to determine on an individual basis if convicted offenders are permitted to sell alcohol. I must thank the House members for their bipartisan support.
I received a great experience participating in a special conference committee on SS SCS HB 395 (last weeks report). Negotiating with the Senate to come to an agreement on a bill protecting our seniors was “not so bad”, at least when I look back on it. The Senate and House agreed on the substance of the bill. The bill contained almost 25 pages and we disagreed on one paragraph. You won’t see much press on this because it is not controversial.
In your service,
Bob Nance
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