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Missouri's 2013 Veto Session Begins Wednesday

Marshall Griffin/St. Louis Public Radio

The showdown between Missouri's Democratic Governor and the Republican-led General Assembly finally arrives this week, as lawmakers return to Jefferson City for their annual veto session.  Governor Jay Nixon struck down 29 bills this year, with most of the post-veto attention falling on two bills in particular, a controversial tax cut proposal and an even more controversial attempt to nullify federal gun control laws.  St. Louis Public Radio's Marshall Griffin takes a look at what may or may not happen on Wednesday.

2013 veto session preview

Campaign to prevent House Bill 253 override attempt

Governor Nixon has spent the summer campaigning against House Bill 253, which would cut state income tax rates for individuals and corporations.  Supporters say it'll enable Missouri to compete with neighboring states that have also cut taxes, primarily Kansas and Oklahoma.  But Nixon vetoed the bill on June5th, and one week later kicked off his anti-override campaign before a group of Higher Education officials in Jefferson City.

"All that we have achieved, and all that we can achieve, is now in peril," Nixon said.  "With a price tag of $800 million a year, House Bill 253, which I vetoed, represents the great single threat to public education that I’ve seen in my career."

The Governor would take that same message to cities and towns all across Missouri over the next three months, telling people that the tax cut would drain funding from education, children with autism, the poor, the disabled and the elderly, as well as threaten the state's AAA credit rating.  Nixon also harped on language in the bill he says would eliminate tax exemptions for prescription drugs and college textbooks.  The anti-253 campaign appears to be working.  In late July, House Speaker Tim Jones (R, Eureka) appeared on St. Louis Public Radio's and the St. Louis Beacon's Politically Speaking podcast, where he admitted that he doesn't think he'll have the two-thirds margin needed for an override.

"Thenumber sort of fluctuates every day," Jones said.  "Somebody says 'well, I don't know,' or 'yes I am'…unless those individuals and others who have concerns can look me in the eye and say, 'Mr. Speaker, I'm going to vote for the override,' then there is no reason for me to bring it up, because I don't think there'll be a single Democratic vote for the override."

The most recent count shows around a half-dozen Republicans saying they won't vote for an override of House Bill 253.

Gun control nullification override attempt

Meanwhile, many observers say the so-called Second Amendment Preservation Act has a better chance of being passed than the tax cut bill.  House Bill 436 would declare any federal gun control law that violatesMissourians' Second Amendment right to be "null and void."  During debates back in April, the sponsor, State Representative DougFunderburk (R, St. Charles), said the bill is not about guns, but about restoring a proper relationship between federal and state governments.

"This bill removes the noose the federal government has been gradually putting around the necks of its citizens and pulling it tighter, and tighter, and tighter," Funderburk said.

But the Governor and Attorney General Chris Koster (D) are both opposing it, saying it would open up police departments to lawsuits from anyone arrested under the proposed law.  And last week, police officials across the state chimed in, including St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch.

"Local police catch over 70 percent of all the bank robberies in this country," Fitch said.  "If we make a traffic stop, and a guy's leaving a bank after a bank robbery, and we arrest him and he's got a firearm and we turn him over to the FBI, we have just violated this new state law, should it pass."

The police chiefs of St. Louis city and Kansas City have also condemned the bill, along with the state's Police Chiefs and Sheriffs' associations.  David Robertson is a political science professor at the University of Missouri – St. Louis.  He says their voices may have turned the tide in the battle over federal gun control nullification in Missouri.

"Twoweeks ago, I would have said that this had not just the best chance of being overridden, but it was likely to be overridden," Robertson said.  "Concerns about law enforcement may have introduced some wavering among legislators who might have thought (that) this bill wouldn't have had much impact."

Majority Floor Leader JohnDiehl(R, Town and Country) said last month during another Politically Speaking podcast that he thinks the House will take up anywhere from five to seven bills for override.  They include the anti-gun control measure and a bill that would remove the names of people from the state's online sex offender registry, if their crimes were committed while they were juveniles.  Veto session is set for Wednesday at high noon, and it could last more than one day, depending on the number of overrides lawmakers decide to attempt.

Follow Marshall Griffin on Twitter:  @MarshallGReport

Copyright 2021 St. Louis Public Radio. To see more, visit St. Louis Public Radio.

Missouri Public Radio State House Reporter Marshall Griffin is a proud alumnus of the University of Mississippi (a.k.a., Ole Miss), and has been in radio for over 20 years, starting out as a deejay. His big break in news came when the first President Bush ordered the invasion of Panama in 1989. Marshall was working the graveyard shift at a rock station, and began ripping news bulletins off the old AP teletype and reading updates between songs. From there on, his radio career turned toward news reporting and anchoring. In 1999, he became the capital bureau chief for Florida's Radio Networks, and in 2003 he became News Director at WFSU-FM/Florida Public Radio. During his time in Tallahassee he covered seven legislative sessions, Governor Jeb Bush's administration, four hurricanes, the Terri Schiavo saga, and the 2000 presidential recount. Before coming to Missouri, he enjoyed a brief stint in the Blue Ridge Mountains, reporting and anchoring for WWNC-AM in Asheville, North Carolina. Marshall lives in Jefferson City with his wife, Julie, their dogs, Max and Mason, and their cat, Honey.
Marshall Griffin
St. Louis Public Radio State House Reporter Marshall Griffin is a native of Mississippi and proud alumnus of Ole Miss (welcome to the SEC, Mizzou!). He has been in radio for over 20 years, starting out as a deejay. His big break in news came when the first President Bush ordered the invasion of Panama in 1989. Marshall was working the graveyard shift at a rock station, and began ripping news bulletins off an old AP teletype and reading updates between songs. From there on, his radio career turned toward news reporting and anchoring. In 1999, he became the capital bureau chief for Florida's Radio Networks, and in 2003 he became News Director at WFSU-FM/Florida Public Radio. During his time in Tallahassee he covered seven legislative sessions, Governor Jeb Bush's administration, four hurricanes, the Terri Schiavo saga, and the 2000 presidential recount. Before coming to Missouri, he enjoyed a brief stint in the Blue Ridge Mountains, reporting and anchoring for WWNC-AM in Asheville, North Carolina. Marshall lives in Jefferson City with his wife, Julie, their dogs, Max and Liberty Belle, and their cat, Honey.
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