Democratic Attorney General Chris Koster announced Thursday, April 11, that he would not appeal the ruling, which struck down a state law exempting moral objectors from providing certain forms of birth control, such as contraception. Koster announced that he would not appeal the ruling the same day state representatives adopted a resolution requesting him to appeal the federal court's ruling.

"The Republicans’ attempt to deny contraceptive coverage to women in Missouri is just plain foolishness," Koster said in a statement. "The Republican effort to deny contraceptive coverage cannot be supported by case law or sound public policy.”

While Koster said he would not appeal the ruling, he said in the statement that he had asked the court to clarify its ruling in order to "maintain the right of religious employers to exclude contraceptive coverage if they are also exempt under federal law."

The state law had exempted health care providers, such as employers and insurers, from providing mandatory insurance coverage for contraception, abortion and sterilization due to religious or moral objections. Providing that coverage is required by federal health care law.

In March, U.S. District Judge Audrey Fleissig issued the ruling and said the state law was "pre-empted" by the federal law.

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With pressure building in the state Capitol on officials accused of illegally sharing information on Missouri gun owners, the state House of Representatives gave its approval Thursday to a measure that clamps down on the government’s ability to retain that information and senators grilled top officials from the Highway Patrol and Department of Public Safety, with one senator calling for their resignations. 

In a broadly bipartisan vote, the House backed legislation that forces the state Department of Revenue to destroy copies of any “source documents” that people have to provide when they apply for an endorsement to carry concealed weapons on their state-issued identification cards. Such documents can include things like gun owners’ birth certificates.  The measure explicitly bans any state employee from sharing information about gun owners with the federal government.

Meanwhile, in the Senate Appropriations Committee, Republican senators grilled two top state safety officials. Led by Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, senators spent hours probing how the State Highway Patrol had released gun owners' data in response to a federal government request.

"It's not the responsibility of this committee to play 20 questions with every state agency to guess at what public money is being spent on to appropriate it to any agency," said Schaefer, who is the chairman of the Appropriations Committee.

Officials from the Department of Revenue initially denied that such records existed. But the head of the state highway patrol, Colonel Ron Replogle, confirmed Thursday that his agency had on two occasions sent the entire list of 163,000 Missouri permit holders to an investigator with the federal Social Security Administration.

He said the agent was investigating whether people who have concealed carry permits were fraudulently claiming social security disability benefits for a mental illness. People with mental illnesses are not able to have concealed carry permits in Missouri.

Andrea Spiller, the assistant director of the state Department of Public Safety, said that Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon has never been briefed about the release of gun owners' information, a statement that caused Sen. Ryan Silvey to express his disbelief.

"Do you think we're idiots?" Silvey asked Spiller, clearly exasperated.

Later, Silvey said that both Replogle and Spiller should lose their jobs as a result of the controversy.

"What I know is, if I was governor [sic], your resignation and your resignation would have been on my desk yesterday," said Silvey, R-Kansas City. 

Schaefer said that the appropriations committee might issue a Senate subpoena to bring the social security agent to Jefferson City for further questioning by lawmakers.

Later Thursday, House Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, called for Democratic Attorney General Chris Koster to open a formal investigation into the Department of Revenue and he said a House committee will also be scrutinizing the agency. Koster's office declined to comment on Jones' request.

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 A Group of at least 50 University of Missouri students converged on the State Capitol Thursday to push voting privileges for the student representative on the Board of Curators and other issues that affect students' everyday lives.   

The Associated Students of the University of Missouri rallied at the Capitol on Thursday for current legislation that has an impact on UM System students. The Associated Students of the University of Missouri is a non-profit student lobbying organization with participants from students of all four schools of the UM System.

Abigail Thomas, legislative intern for the student organization, said she is at the Capitol two days a week to advocate for UM System students on four specific issues. She said the four issues are getting a student vote on the Board of Curators, encouragement for students to major in STEM programs, funding for the UM System, and landlord-tenant relations.

Rep. Gail McCann Beatty, D-Kansas City, said she encourages students to come to the Capitol because the issues students face are different then the issues of her average constituents.

"When I can put a name and a face to an issue then it's a lot easier for me to advocate for that issue," Beatty said.

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As session at the Capitol is nearing a close, one Republican Representative says he is fighting to help improve certain children's education.

Dwight Scharnhorst's bill "Bryce's Law" was named after his grandson who passed away from complications related to autism, and he said he wants to create a better life for these children.

Scharnhorst said this bill would create a tax credit for individuals who donate to a special needs scholarship organization and would benefit all people involved.

"I want these children to have a chance for an improved quality of life, so that their family can enjoy their lives in a more comprehensive way," Scharnhorst said.

But opponent Jim Ward, of Crystal City Mo., said that it would be better not to specify individuals with particular disabilities, as it does not affect everyone.

While Scharnhorst said this bill can only improve the quality of these children's lives, Ward said clarification is needed for a situation where the cost of education exceeds the scholarship amount.

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Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency Wednesday night after a string of dangerous storms swept across Missouri, according to a press release.

Tornadoes reportedly touched down in the St. Louis region and other areas of the state, while heavy winds and rain caused power outages in the southern parts of Missouri.

According to the press release, Nixon will visit affected areas Thursday and meet with community leaders.

"We will continue to work closely with local officials to assess damages and provide any needed assistance," said Nixon, a Democrat.

The Senate approved a bill which prevents welfare benefits being used at adult entertainment places such as casinos, strip clubs and liquor stores.

Bill sponsor Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-St. Louis County, said she was dismayed where people were spending their benefits.

Chappelle-Nadal said the bill was "to make sure that the dollars that we have go to the people and especially the children that need those resources"

The bill would require benefits spent on adult entertainment to be reimbursed.

The bill faces another vote before moving on to the House.

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The sponsor of a bill to protect citizens' privacy from a new licensing system came under fire in the House Wednesday for ignoring another looming privacy issue.

Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, argued that a bigger problem already exists. The Missouri Department of Revenue, he said, is able to sell personal information to at least 4700 third parties, including insurance companies, lawyers and others who resell information.

"I’ve offered bills in 2011 and again this year to block it, but nobody’s interested because the lobbyists want to keep selling it. If we’re interested in privacy we will block the sale," Kelly said.

The bill sponsor, Rep. Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, said the bill would offer protection from the new licensing system. Richardson said the protection was no small thing, as it would stop outside parties from accessing 1.6 to 1.7 million personal documents in the next year.

Kelly voted to give the bill preliminary approval, despite his insistence that it was not a real solution to privacy issues.

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Sen. Jamilah Nasheed's bill that would allow St. Louis school’s tenured teachers to be fired based on incompetency reached a stand-still in the House Committee on Education on Wednesday.

The bill provides that tenured teachers who are deemed incompetent by the school would have 30 days to improve or be let go.

Under the current statute, St. Louis schools must give teachers a semester to improve before firing them.

Nasheed said she filed the bill to put St. Louis schools on an equal playing field as other schools in the state, which all follow the 30-day statute.

Most committee members did not oppose the bill itself, but the amendment that was added by Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D- St. Louis County, to pass the bill through the Senate.

The amendment states that the Department of Secondary and Elementary Education would need to go through the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules and the state board in order to change accreditation standards in St. Louis schools.

Mark Van Zant of the Department of Secondary and Elementary Education said the amendment is a step backward.

“This means it would step back the new accreditation plan that schools have already been preparing for,” said Van Zant.

Nasheed said getting the bill passed is going to require a little bit of give-and-take.

“I don’t think the bill you saw today is going to be the bill you see in the end,” said Nasheed. “I think there’s going to be some drastic changes.”

Committee chairman Rep. Steve Cookson, R- Poplar Bluff, said he thinks the committee will have to re-work the bill to pass it out of committee.

Cookson said he hopes the committee can pass the bill out next week.

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After Gov. Jay Nixon called for increased performance-based funding for higher education in his State of the State address this January, a funding model doing just that will finally reach the Senate floor for debate.

The higher education funding formula bill, sponsored by Sen. David Pearce, R-Warrensburg, was voted out of the Senate Education Committee Wednesday in a 7-2 vote.

The formula would divide higher education funding into six main categories within each institution, instead of just appropriating funds for each separate university or school.

Ten percent of the total funds would go toward performance-based funding. If an institution satisfies certain performance measures such as increased student retention, better graduation rates or improved learning, it would be eligible to receive this kind of funding.

Pearce stressed the importance of this kind of results-based funding instead of support as a result of political clout. He cited a $1.3 million amendment proposed in a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing Tuesday by Sen. Mike Parson, R-Bolivar, that sought additional funding for Missouri State University as an example of this.

"This is a ringing endorsement of why we need performance and formula funding," Pearce said.

A House bill that would create taxing districts to support University of Missouri Extension programming was also voted out of committee in Wednesday's hearing.

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The House General Laws Committee approved a proposed amendment to Missouri’s Constitution that would expand protections for Missourian’s right right to bear arms in a hearing Wednesday.

If it is placed on the ballot, the proposed amendment would ask Missouri voters whether or not an additional component should be added to the Missouri Constitution's section on the right to bear arms.

The addition would give every citizen the right to have, make and buy ammunition and other parts critical to the proper functioning of firearms. Under this provision these rights could not be infringed on and amounts of ammunition could not be limited.

The proposed amendment would also make it illegal for any state or federal tax or excess charge to be tacked on to ammunition and parts.

There was no debate or discussion on the bill before the vote.

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An effort to make it harder for misbehaving employees to get unemployment benefits continued Wednesday at a House hearing.

The House Workforce Development and Workplace Safety committee considered a measure that would broaden the definition of misconduct under which a fired employee could not be awarded benefits.

Bill sponsor Sen. Will Kraus, R-Jackson County, gave examples of instances where an employee received unemployment after repeatedly falling asleep on the job, using profanity in front of school children and chronic absenteeism.

“Our courts have liberally construed our definition of misconduct,” Kraus said.

The bill, passed by the Senate in February, would expand the definition to include chronic tardiness and absenteeism, violation of employer policies and actions that could cause the employer to be sanctioned or fined by regulators.

Instead of requiring a “wanton or willful” disregard for an employer’s interest, the updated definition would include a “knowing” disregard or violation of the employer's policies.

The new definition would also include conduct outside of the workplace that is “reasonably related” to the performance of the job. This drew criticism from labor advocates.

Otto Fajen, a lobbyist for the Missouri National Education Association, said he was concerned that the language was too broad.

“We want to make sure that if you’re looking at something away from the job, that it causes harm or has some effect,” Fajen said. “It’ll be the law of the land and it’s going to be looked at in excruciating detail.”

The committee did not take any action on the bill.

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The Department of Revenue came under fire once again from the Senate Appropriations Committee Wednesday morning about whether or not they are sharing Missourians' personal information with the federal government.                             

Republicans have been charging that the state Revenue Department has been sharing the information with the Department of Homeland Security even though such action is against Missouri law.

Committee chairman Sen. Kurt Schaefer presented documents at Wednesday's hearing that he said proves the department has been sharing the information even though they have denied doing so. Schaefer has threatened to hold back on approving the department's budget for next year until the matter is resolved.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reported Wednesday that the Missouri State Highway Patrol has turned over a list of concealed weapon permit holders to federal authorities on two occassions. The Tribune also reported Department of Revenue officials turned the list over to the Highway Patrol in January.

"I'll tell you right now, your budget for DMV (the Department of Motor Vehicles) in my opinion is at zero," Schaefer said.

Schaefer provided documents from the Revenue Department to the Department of Homeland Security, including a checklist that shows the requirements of the REAL ID act, that he said indicates the department's compliance with the federal REAL ID Act.

Revenue Department Director Brian Long said the checklist does not show Missouri's compliance with the REAL ID Act, it is just telling Homeland Security that Missouri's system is comparable.

According to a press release sent out Wednesday morning, State Auditor Tom Schweich said he will audit the Revenue Department after receiving a letter from multiple senators asking him to do so.

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Public employees would have to annually agree in writing to pay union dues under a measure approved by a House committee Wednesday.

The bill, which passed through the Senate in March, requires unions to collect forms each year from public employees to authorize automatic paycheck deduction for dues and the use of dues for political purposes.

Supporters of the measure say it increases the freedom of public employees to choose whether or not to contribute. Opponents have criticized the measure as an attack on unions.

The measure passed the House Workforce Development and Workplace Safety by a vote of 7-4.

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Recent evidence shows that the state Department of Revenue could be keeping a digital database of more personal information than state law allows.

For several weeks state lawmakers have accused the Department of keeping digital copies of documents used to obtain drivers licenses and concealed carry permits. Lawmakers claimed this database was created to comply with the federal REAL ID Act and has been shared with private entities.

Senator Will Kraus, R-Lee's Summit, sponsored a bill that would prevent the Department of Revenue from keeping such documents and force them to destroy any digital records they have been keeping.

Governor Jay Nixon and Alana Barragan-Scott, the state director of revenue, have denied the existence of such a database.

However, Senate Appropriations Chair Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, showed a document, previously retained by Nixon's administration, that shows evidence of the database.

"It's right here," Schaefer said. "I'm happy to share this document with anyone who wants to see it. They can look at the federal register. Let's just move beyond that. You can call it a magical database if you want. I just call it the Department of Revenue's database that they've said is required by REAL ID."

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Gov. Jay Nixon kept the pressure on Republicans on Tuesday to expand Missouri's Medicaid program, telling Senate Republicans that such a move would help poor families afford health care while bringing the state millions of federal dollars.

Nixon said he believes there is still time for Republicans to pass the expansion during the spring legislative session.

"I think the more I talk with legislators, the more focused they become on this opportunity," he said. ""We clearly have time to get this done. We clearly have time to move this forward. And I'll continue to press this."

Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey said Nixon fielded questions from his Republican members, but he said his position on changing Medicaid hadn't changed.

"There was no agreement with the governor to move forward on Medicaid expansion that came out of this most recent meeting," said Dempsey, R-St. Charles.

Nixon, a Democrat, met with House Republicans last week to push the expansion, which part of the federal health care law passed in 2009. The Democratic governor has also been traveling the state and meeting with local hospitals in recent weeks to tout the expansion's benefits right in Republicans' own districts.

The federal health care law requires states to expand their Medicaid programs to cover families who have an income that is about 138 percent of the federal poverty level, about $32,500 per year. The expanded coverage is to take effect Jan. 1, 2014, and the federal government would pick up the cost for the expansion's first three years.

Nixon also said he was going to meet with Senate Democrats and speak with U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius about Missouri's expansion efforts later Thursday.

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The House Budget Committee voted 17-9 Tuesday in favor of a measure to cut a property tax credit for low income renters.

The bill, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey, would bring $56.6 million back to the state budget, allowing it to be balanced for next year.

But Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, said the bill is a tax increase that unfairly targets the poorest of Missourians.

"I don't know why we don't include corporations and homeowners in this," Kelly said. "Why do we only go after those in society that are the least powerful?"

Dempsey, R-St. Charles, said the funds would be redirected appropriately in the budget, and that it would prevent abuse of taxpayer money for those who might use the check at the casino rather than for personal needs.

The renters tax credit measure is now headed to the House floor. If approved there, it will go to Gov. Jay Nixon.

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A House committee passed a measure Tuesday that asks the Missouri Attorney General to allow businesses to refuse health care insurance coverage for birth control and abortions to their employees.

The House Rules Committee passed a measure that would request the Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster to overturn a previous U.S. Court District decision so institutions can refuse to pay for health coverage items such as birth control if it goes against their religious beliefs.

Koster has until Friday to accept the request if the Measure passes on the House floor. House Speaker Tim Jones said the fast approaching deadline makes the measure very time sensitive. Jones said the measure would give religious institutions the right to refuse to include the birth control mandates of the federal health law in their insurance coverage.

"In it's essence, it provides protections for various institutions, religious and non-religious, but mainly focusing on religious institutions," Jones said in reference to the federal health law.

Rep. Steve Web, D-St. Louis County, said people claim birth control mandates restricts institutions' religious rights but that those same people are actually restricting the rights of others by not including birth control in their employees' insurance coverage.

"Contraception and things of that nature is a personal decision," Webb said. He said he understands both sides of the argument but said the measure limits women's rights and sets a bad example for the future.

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A resolution before Missouri House would recognize April 15, 2013 as "Jackie Robinson Day" in Missouri.

If approved, Missouri could celebrate next Monday the achievements of Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson as the first African-American Major league baseball player. and courageous civil rights activism.”

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Randy Dunn, D-Kansas City. It cleared the House Tourism Committee on Thursday April 4. Dunn said he is sponsoring that resolution also in recognition of the movie “42”, about the life story of Jackie Robinson.

“There is a lot of baseball fans at the Capitol,” he added.

That should be the reason of having this resolution approved. “I absolutely hope so,” he confirmed.

On April 15, 1947 Jackie Robinson played his first game in Ebbets Field for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He started his professional baseball career in early 1945 accepting a written offer from the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro leagues.

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Gun safety is still a hot topic in the state Capitol as one Democratic Missouri senator said Tuesday that she wants to create laws that require parents to notify schools they own a firearm.

Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-St. Louis County, said it should be a priority to keep firearms out of childrens hands by putting parents in charge.

Chappelle-Nadal said that the legislation needs to prevent children from getting access to firearms.

"In the urban areas, we have an absolute crisis on our hands," Chappelle-Nadal said. "Our colleagues in the senate have to find a way where we are not taking away the privileges of some, but allowing the deaths of so many."

But Sen. Brian Nieves, R-Washington, said the bill would never pass because lawmakers cannot force parents to inspect their children's rooms.

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With six weeks left in the legislative session, the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee concedes that a revised criminal code could fail to pass for a second straight year.

"If both houses can reach an agreement, I wouldn't be opposed to moving on it before this six week period is up, May 17 being our last day," Sen. Bob Dixon, R-Greene County, said, "But something of this magnitude I am very hesitant to rush."

This Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. Jolie Justus, D-Jackson County, has over 1,000 pages and introduces a new class of felony and misdemeanor. It also reduces penalties for non-violent criminals and streamlines language last updated in 1979.

Dixon said he would not rule out the possibility of a special session to pass the revision measure.

The House's bill to revise the criminal code is only slightly further along in the legislative process. It was voted out of committee last week and will face debate on the floor of the House.

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The Republican-backed Medicaid expansion plan may not make it through the House, but its biggest advocate has already accounted for the possibility of lacking support.

The House Government Oversight Committee passed a Medicaid bill Monday that combined four individual bills sponsored by Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City.

The bills targeted programs already accounted for in the larger Medicaid bill, also sponsored by Barnes.

"If we're not going to move forward with House Bill 700 I think it's a good idea to extend Ticket to Work," Barnes said.

The Ticket to Work program provides employees with disabilities with the opportunity to receive employment support services in order to encourage long-term employment and economic independence.

In addition to extending the life of the Ticket to Work program, the combined bills include provisions that would extend Medicaid to foster care children up to the age of 26, establish a ten-year Medicaid transformation task force and implement Medicaid tax reform.

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A national health care organization released a report Thursday that stated more than half a million Missourians would be eligible for tax credits under the Affordable Care Act.

Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, said more that 525, 000 people in Missouri will be eligible for health care premium tax credits under federal law in January 2014. Families USA is a national organization for health care consumers.

The federal health care law passed in 2009, requires almost everyone to own some type of health care insurance or pay a small fine. The requirement takes full effect in January 2014.

Pollack said the tax credits would benefit Missouri citizens with and without health care insurance.  

"They also will be eligible for those people who purchased insurance but increasingly are having a difficulty affording that coverage," Pollack said.

Missouri lawmakers don't directily oppose the tax credits but disagree with the federal health law in its entire form.  They are mostly opposed to the medicaid expansion requirement under the law.

Missouri Rep. Paul Fitzwater, R-Potosi, said he agrees with some parts of the federal health law but doesn't agree with it as a whole such as the Medicaid expansion requirement.

Fitzwater said Americans can become too dependent on government funds.

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The House budget subcommittee debated Thursday about how the funding for a $1.2 billion bond issue would be spent.

Rep. Margo McNeil, D-Florissant, said this bond issue would create jobs for Missourians and create funding for higher education across the state.

"This is a time when we need to be creating jobs," McNeil said. "It will actually have something to show for investment and the infrastructure of our universities, and so I think it will be a very positive, something that the legislature can do."

But Rep. Mark Parkinson, R-St.Charles said the proposal would put Missouri into more debt. He says the government needs to save money and use cash as funding instead.

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In a 29-2 vote, the state Senate gave its backing to a proposed constitutional amendment on gun ownership.

The measure, sponsored by Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, would put in front of voters a constitutional amendment that would alter the language on Missouri's existing gun laws.

Missouri’s current amendment states that it is the right of every citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of their home, person and property. Schaefer’s bill would add “family” to that list, and remove a provision that exempts concealed carry weapons.

It also adds two sentences to the section: "The rights guaranteed by this section shall be unalienable. The state of Missouri shall be obligated to uphold these rights and shall under no circumstances decline to protect against their infringement."

The measure now goes to the House. If it passes there, it would go before voters in November 2014.

"It simply says elected officials in the state of Missouri don't get the option to be disengaged in this discussion," Schaefer said. "You have to be looking out for the rights of Missourians as enshrined in the Constitution."

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A Democratic lawmaker said Thursday that drivers' information is being sold to private companies, and he said that problem is bigger than controversies about information being shared with the federal government.

Rep. Chris Kelly told the House Committee on Downsizing State Government that state law allows the Missouri Department of Revenue to sell information about drivers in large batches--everything from their eye color to their accident history. Kelly is sponsoring legislation that would restrict access to single records in an attempt to cut down on purchasing by firms that use the driver information for marketing purposes.

But information companies, like Carfax, say they use the license data for good purposes. Carfax lobbyist Chris Neal told the committee that his company needs access to that driver information to figure out if a car has been involved in an accident in the past.

This isn't the only controversy in the Capitol involving the Department of Revenue. Republicans have said the department is illegally sending information on gun owners to federal government. Kelly told the committee that he doesn't think that is happening.

"Some people are perpetuating a fantasy that the Department of Revenue is giving to the federal government drivers license information and [concealed carry of a weapon permit] information," Kelly said. "That is documentably [sic] false, but it is politically convenient."

A Department of Revenue official told committee members that some 4,700 people and entities have accounts to pay for driver information from the department.

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State lawmakers backed a bill that would ban drone surveillance without consent.

Three proposed amendments aimed to widen the scope of the ban, while Rep. Mark Parkinson, R-St. Charles, proposed an amendment to exempt model airplanes.

By installing a small camera in their model airplane, enthusiasts are able to fly the model "as if they were inside the model aircraft," Parkinson said. Parkinson worried that the cameras would turn a hobby into a criminal act.

Other amendments widened the scope of the ban to include manned aircrafts, the media, and observation without consent, causing concern among lawmakers who felt the amendments made the bill too vague.

"It criminalizes legal behavior," said Rep. Gina Mitten, D-St. Louis County. Mitten said the amendments would allow courts to throw out evidence of criminal behavior that had been recorded by persons flying for fun.

Law enforcement would still be able to use drones with a search warrant, just as the media would be able to with consent.

The house adopted all four amendments and perfected the bill.

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The Senate passed a bill Wednesday which would force Missourians to pay a sales tax on their vehicles no matter where they were purchased.

If Gov. Jay Nixon signs the bill into law, residents will pay a sales tax when they go to title their vehicle. The tax rate will be the sum of the state and local sales tax rates.

A 2012 Missouri Supreme Court decision ruled the Missouri Department of Revenue could not collect local taxes on vehicles bought outside of Missouri, much to the dismay of car dealers near the border in the state. Dealers in states like Illinois would advertise to Missourians it would be cheaper if they purchased a car in Illinois for this reason.

The bill also prohibits municipalities and counties from imposing a use tax on the vehicles.

Taxing jurisdictions that haven’t previously approved local use taxes will have to vote whether to discontinue collecting sales tax on titling of motor vehicles bought outside of Missouri. If they do not vote by 2016, they must stop collecting the sales tax. Also, the jurisdictions can hold a vote to repeal the tax at anytime.

The Senate passed the bill to the Senate earlier this session, and the House added language to the bill that Sponsor Sen. Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, said made the bill constitutionally “bullet proof.” The Senate approved these changes and sent the bill to the governor with a 32 to 0 vote.

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Methods to measure teacher and school merit were criticized in the Senate Education Committee Wednesday.

The committee heard two bills, one which would assign letter grades to schools based on the Missouri School Improvement Standards, and the other which would implement an evaluation system for teachers and principals based off of student achievement and improvement.

Most debate originated from the argument that the systems would simplify the performance of the education system and ignore factors such as the natural ability of students.

Mike Lodewegen, the director of Legislative Advocacy for Missouri Association of School Administrators, said a simplified evaluation system could not capture all of the factors affecting a student’s quality of education.

“We don’t feel that a single letter grade really indicates how well a school is doing,” Lodewegen said.

Supporters of the bill said the measures would allow parents to direct their efforts towards schools suffering the most, instead of focusing attention on successful school districts.

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Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon meet behind closed doors with the House Republican Caucus on Wednesday to discuss his plans to expand Medicaid coverage for the lower income.

Nixon emerged from the meeting expressing optimism.

"Under the three bears analysis, the porridge is a little warmer," he said at a session for reporters after the meeting.

Nixon said he is focusing on multiple areas in reforming Medicaid, such as protecting taxpayers with a sunset provision in case the federal government cannot keep its promise to pay for 90 percent of the cost of the expansion. Nixon also said market-based reforms can reduce costs and provide better care by introducing competition among private insurers to cover enrollees.

Nixon said there is a lot of work to do but he believes the legislative session has not hit halftime yet. Nixon said he supports some of the Medicaid expansion work of Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City. Barnes' bill passed the House Government Oversight and Accountability committee on Wednesday, and would allow private insurers to compete to cover Missouri's Medicaid enrollees.

The bill would expand coverage for adults earning incomes up to 100 percent of the federal poverty level and would require the state to ask for a waiver from the federal government. The Affordable Care Act requires states that opt-in to cover adults up to 138 percent of the poverty level.

Nixon also took the opportunity to contribute his thoughts on accusations that the Department of Revenue has given Missourians' personal information to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

"This Department of Revenue in this state of Missouri is not collecting a bunch of unuseful data to send to some sort of magical database someplace to mess with people," Nixon said. He said the attention the Senate has given to the issue is time the General Assembly could be working on Medicaid expansion.

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Despite being passed through the Senate, labor union workers continued to express concern about a bill that would eliminate automatic deductions from employee paychecks in a House committee meeting Wednesday.

Bill sponsor Sen. Dan Brown, R-Rolla, said he created the bill to protect the freedom of employees.

“The intent is to give employees an option to better direct their political contributions,” Brown said.

In order to pass the bill out of the Senate, Brown said Senators tailored the bill so it does not apply to “first-responders” such as firefighters and police officers.

Brown said the Senate approved the provision so those workers will not go on strike and risk the safety of people in their districts.

Union workers spoke in opposition to the bill and said it would not give them more freedom, but would weaken their organizations.

“I get that someone wants to weaken union workers because they make more money than non-union workers,” said Rep. Michael Frame, D-Eureka. “And their employees--these businesses--are making contributions to their opposition.”

Other labor union workers said this bill fixes a problem that does not exist because union employees already have the opportunity to opt out of automatic deductions.

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