Lawmakers evaluate priorities with two weeks left of the Missouri legislative session
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
The last day of the legislative session moves closer by the minute, but lawmakers in Jefferson City are no closer to passing some of the bills that have been on the docket since January.
The state legislative session ends May 13 and the constitutional deadline for the state budget is May 6. Caucus leaders in the State Senate say the budget will be the top priority next week as American Rescue Plan funding bills still need Senate approval and both chambers need to conference before sending a final budget to the governor's desk.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Sen. Dan Hegeman (R-Andrew) said the conference will likely happen Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. A conference includes 12 lawmakers, six from the House of Representatives and six from the Senate, who will sit down and come to a compromise.
"There'll be some Senate positions that will be pretty hard and fast," Hegeman said.
The Senate added over a billion dollars to the budget sent over from the House.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers still have priority legislation on the table they'll try to push forward in the last few weeks. Many bills have been pushed to the backburner as lawmakers remain at a stalemate over the redistricting bill.
Republican majority leader Sen. Caleb Rowden (R-Columbia) said if it weren't for redistricting more bills may have been passed by now.
"A lot of the big stuff happens in the last couple of weeks, so it's always um long days long nights. It's a lot of tensions are usually fairly high on both sides, but we've been doing a lot of stuff behind the scenes, kind of stacked up, so hopefully, there are things where we'll be able to find compromise on some bigger issues," Rowden said.
Several lawsuits have been filed that ask courts to take redistricting out of the lawmakers' hands, but none have moved forward. Rowden said those lawsuits likely won't see any action, at least until after the session adjourns. Until May 14, Rowden said, there is still a chance redistricting will move forward at the Capitol.
Democratic caucus leader Sen. John Rizzo (D-Independence) said his party's priority, for the time being, is just to get the budget passed.
"First and foremost, we need to get this budget done next week," Rizzo said. "I mean, then you can't put the cart in front of the horse about what's gonna come after that. I mean, we have a constitutional deadline that is approaching that I think we're all well aware of."
However, Rowden said Republicans are still adamantly pushing forward an election integrity package and the Parents Bill of Rights.
