Former Gov. Joe Teasdale, who had campaigned under the nickname "Walkin' Joe Teasdale," died Thursday, May 8, from pneumonia.

Teasdale was elected governor in 1976, defeating incumbent governor Kit Bond. He served four years, losing his reelection bid to bond Bond in 1980.

His 1976 campaign focused on consumer issues. He promised to fire the Public Service Commission that regulates utilities, charging the PSC did not adequately protect consumer interests.

When Teasdale was told he did not have legal authority to fire the utility regulators, he met with them shortly after taking office to ask for their resignations.

None quit, immediately. But eventually a seat opened up for Teasdale to appoint the first consumer advocate leader to serve on the PSC - Alberta Slavin.

Teasdale adopted the nickname "Walkin' Joe" for a low-budget gubernatorial campaign that promised to walk across the state to win over voters.

After his defeat for reelection, he returned to private law practice in Kansas City. Teasdale did not return to a statewide political role.

Prior to his election as governor, Teasdale had worked in the U.S. Attorney's office for western Missouri and later was elected as Jackson County's prosecutor.

Teasdale was 78 years of age.

With little controversy, Missouri's legislature passed the state's $26.4 billion operating budget Thursday, May 8 -- one day ahead of the deadline.

The measure does not include Gov. Jay Nixon's call for expanding Medicaid coverage to persons earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level.

Democrats also complained that the measure did not include enough funds for public schools.

Republican budget leaders in the legislature have argued that Nixon based his budget on tax-collection estimates that were unrealistic.

The governor's original budget proposal presented in January would boost state spending by 11.6 percent. The budget passed by the legislature scales that down to a 6.4 percent increase.

The budget covers what is called a fiscal year that begins July 1 of this year.

• Get the budget.
  

Senate Democrats filibustered a voter ID bill Wednesday.

The measure by Rep. Stanley Cox, R-Sedalia, would constitutionally require Missourians to have a valid photo ID, i.e. a driver's license, in order to vote.

Sen. Jolie Justus, D-Jackson County, said her brother in-law could not vote in an election in California, where a similar law was passed. He had just moved and did not have a California driver’s license because his birth certificate was from Kansas.

“This was a guy that was born in Kansas, United States of America, who served his country as a proud Marine for 25 years, who, as far as I know had never missed an election ever, and all of the sudden he was faced with a situation where he was not going to be able to get his government issued photo ID for driving because he did not have a birth certificate" Justus said.

Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis City, was the most passionate Democrat talking about the bill.

“According to the Secretary of State, Mr. President, an estimated 220,000 registered voters do not have the ID required to vote," Nasheed said.

The filibuster ended just after Nasheed pounded a 5-Hour Energy.

The debate ended with no vote.

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The Senate removed a provision that was in the House’s version and then passed the new version of the measure.

Sen. Scott Sifton, D-St. Louis County, said the provision should be removed to ensure local law enforcement would not be restricted to enforce the bill.

Sen. Kiki Curls, D-Jackson County, said she was grateful for the measure.

“We just need to make sure our children are safe,” Curls said.

Sen. David Pearce, R-Warrensburg, said this will be the first time Missouri has ever imposed a penalty provision on tanning beds.

“I more than likely will oppose the measure just because of the infringement that we are doing mostly on small business and personal responsibility,” Pearce said. “I think we are somewhat taking that away.”

Arkansas requires parental consent. Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma have no restrictions.

• Get the bill, HB 1411
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What started out as a debate over taxation quickly turned into a verbal sparring match as two House members exchanged personal attacks against each other.

Rep. Wanda Brown, R-Lincoln, and Rep. Jeremy LaFaver, D-Jackson County, exchanged insults back-and-forth as House members looked on and occasionally "ooh'd" and "ahh'd."

Brown offered an amendment creating the "Tax-Me-More Voluntary Fund" and explained it.

"Anyone that is disgruntled with a tax cut, they can donate money to the state of Missouri," Brown said. "There are no caps on the amount that someone can donate to the state of Missouri."

LaFaver took exception to Brown's amendment.

"This amendment is a political stunt," LaFaver said. "So there's nothing new that your bill does except for it creates a name so that you can get your name in the newspaper, maybe show up on The Daily Show."

When Brown asked LaFaver, "Would you like me to name transgressions?" LaFaver said "Let's dance," and Brown obliged.

"You know, my big transgression was being tricked," Brown said. "Yours was smoking dope on the way back from the Democratic caucus. So if you want to get personal, you've picked the right person."

LaFaver later responded to Brown's attack.

"I wasn't surprised by that," LaFaver said. "She is often out of line, but she was out of line again this time."

Despite repeated requests to get her side of the story, Brown refused to talk after the exchange.

Brown's amendment passed by a 102-39 margin and the underlying bill did pass the House by a 91-53 margin.

• Get the bill, SB 693
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Filibusters by Senate Democrats blocked a vote on a measure that would extend the waiting period before an abortion from 24 to 72 hours.

The bill's handler, Sen. David Sater, R-Cassville, said the measure was meant to give women more time to make an informed decision.

"A woman should deserve the right to have all the information necessary to make the best, informed consent she can live with in the future," Sater said.

But Democrats who blocked the vote argued it was an anti-abortion and an anti-women bill.

Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis City, and Sen. Paul LeVota, D-Independence, argued that each time the bill has been introduced it has been by a man.

"Basically what that man is saying, is that a woman cannot think for herself, so I'm going to help her with that. I'm going to make sure she waits 72 hours because she doesn't know how to choose," Nasheed said.

Sater said his bill was not an anti-abortion bill because it in no way changed the laws allowing women to receive abortions.

• Get the bill, HB 1307
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Police escort the remaining protesters as senators watch

A visitor's gallery of singing and chanting protesters calling for Medicaid expansion led to the arrest of 23 by Capitol Police.

"Do your job. Expand Medicaid," is just one of the many chants heard from the Senate public gallery, Tuesday April 6.

"People are sick and dying while you all enjoy quality health care" said the demonstrators, primarily made up of clergy members.

When police arrived, most of the protesters agreed to leave. Those who did not were arrested, according to a spokesperson for Capitol Police.

If the purpose of the protest was to pressure the Senate into passing expansion of federally-funded health care for the lower income, it did not work.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Dempsey, R- St Charles, said that succumbing to that type of behavior will be unlikely as it could encourage similar behavior on future issues.

Capitol police escorted the last of the protesters out after about an hour of chanting.

A spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Public Safety confirmed that 23 arrests were made after protesters refused to leave.

They were not handcuffed nor taken into custody.

Further charges will be determined by local Cole County prosecutor, but a spokesperson for the prosecutor's office said they had not received information on the matter, yet.

 Rev. John Bennett, one of the individuals issued an active arrest warrant, said he called the protest a "rally for dignity", and a mission to save the lives of hundreds of Missourians.

The protest caused the Senate to suspend its session for about one hour late Tuesday morning.

House Republicans Tuesday, May 6,  joined the Senate in voting to override Gov. Jay Nixon's veto of the $620 million annual tax cut package.

A lone Democrat -- Rep. Keith English, D-St. Louis County -- assured Republicans of their victory. Republicans hold one seat less than the two-thirds necessary to override the governor's veto.

The House GOP leader -- Rep. John Diehl, R-St. Louis County -- called English's vote a bold decision. Both Diehl and the House speaker said nothing had been offered to English.

English has been unavailable for comment and appeared on the House floor only to cast the decisive vote and then quickly left.

In a written statement issued a day before the vote, English said the cuts would help both small businesses and workers.

Gov. Jay Nixon issued a statement calling the law "a very real threat to the principles of fiscal discipline."

But when the the major portion of the income tax cuts would take effect is unclear.

The law does not go into effect until 2017. Then, each of the five stages of cuts in the income tax rate requires a $150 million revenue growth in one of the prior three years.

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• Get the bill, SB 509

The Missouri House Committee on Government Oversight heard public testimony on the Senate sponsored bill that would allow drug felons to use food stamps.

Testifying for the bill is Christine McDonald, a convicted drug felon.

McDonald told lawmakers the current law is unfair.

“I could have gone into the dope house and shot five people and walked out and got out of prison one day and got food stamps,” said McDonald.

The bill requires convicts to join or have previously completed a drug abuse treatment program.

• Get the bill
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Just hours after the Senate voted to override Gov. Jay Nixon's veto of the tax cut bill on a straight party-line vote, the House adjourned for the day without taking a vote on the measure

The House debated the bill for over an hour Monday, May 5, before Majority Leader Rep. John Diehl, R-St. Louis County, cut off debate.

During the debate, Rep. Genise Montecillo, D-St. Louis County, criticized the bill for the harmful effects she says the bill has on education.

"Every one of us in this body ran on education," Montecillo said. "We made a promise to support the education of the children in our state and once again, we are abdicating that responsibility."

Republican Rep. Bill White of Joplin disagreed with Montecillo's argument.

"To say that this tax bill is somehow going to directly result in a cut to education is ludicrous," White said.

Rep. Myron Neth, R-Liberty, said the bill is about helping small businesses.

"I don't understand this war on our businesses," Neth said. "We are willing to go and give a billion dollar tax cut to one company and we're not willing to go and give that same money to the very people who are the job creators in this state who will create jobs."

To override Nixon's veto, House Republicans needed each of their 108 members and 1 Democrat.

Republicans seemed to have one Democrat who was willing to support the bill when Rep. Keith English, D-St. Louis County, released a letter announcing his intention to support the bill.

However, not every Republican was present. Rep. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, was not present for any of the votes taken.

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Sen. Will Kraus during debate on his tax bill.

The Missouri Senate overrode Gov. Jay Nixon's veto on a tax cut bill, Monday, May 5.

Nixon vetoed the bill by Sen. Will Kraus, R-Lee Summit, Thursday, May 1.

Democrats showed little opposition to the override. Several focused on lack of funding for infrastructure and education.

“I want to collect enough revenue to pay for things we think are important,” Sen. Paul LeVota, D-Independence, said.

The final vote passed 23-8. The bill now moves to the House. If the House votes to override the veto, Kraus's tax cut bill will become law.

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People across the Show Me State who support eliminating teacher tenure signed a request to put the measure on the November ballot.

Teach Great, a group in support of the initiative, said it turned in more than 275,000 signatures to the Secretary of State's office Sunday. It is calling the teacher initiative campaign the "Teach Great Initiative."

Marc Ellinger, an attorney for Teach Great, said he wants to make sure good teachers are rewarded.

"The current system in Missouri provides that how long you've been a teacher is more important than whether you're successful as a teacher," Ellinger said. "And, we want to change that."

Opponents of the ballot measure said eliminating teacher tenure puts too much emphasis on standardized tests.

Mike Wood, a lobbyist for the Missouri State Teachers Association, said students would have to take additional standardized tests.

“It’s going to take away from their [students] learning time,” Wood said. “For the taxpayers, they’re going to have to pay for the bill for these additional tests.”

Wood said MSTA plans to start educating voters on what the measure means for them and for teachers and students in Missouri.

The Secretary of State’s office will now separate the signatures by county. County clerks will then verify the signatures to guarantee the proposals are eligible for the ballot.

Election officials have until early August to confirm the signatures.

• Get the radio story

The Missouri Senate approved a measure Thursday, May 1, that would require the State Board of Education to develop and recommend new academic performance standards in place of the federal Common Core standards.

Supporters say Common Core provides national standards for states to base their schools' curricula.

During the Senate's lengthy debate Tuesday evening, Democratic Senator, Jamilah Nasheed questioned the republican party's opposition to the measure.

"How did we get here in terms of the disconnect within the Republican Party, where you have so many republicans running away from Common Core when they were the ones that initiated it, supported it," she said.

But Republican Senator Ed Emery said he has always had issues with Common Core standards, because it was implemented by the governor with little outside input.

"There was no involvement of the legislature. There was no involvement outside that elitist perspective, and to me that is unprecedented," Emery said.

The measure was approved with an emergency clause, meaning it will take effect immediately following passage.

The Senate amended version of the measure will now return to the House for approval.

• Get the bill, HB 1490
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With just hours before the deadline, Gov. Jay Nixon signed Thursday, May 1, a veto to the legislature's bill to phase in a $620 million cut in the state's tax rates.

But Republicans vowed a swift override effort. And if that fails, passage of another measure that would go around the governor by submitting the issue to the voters.

In his eight-page veto letter, Nixon charged the tax cut would hurt school funding, benefit the rich and cost government services far more than supporters had predicted.

"This unaffordable, unfair and potentially dangerous legislation will irreparably harm public education and the vital public services upon which Missourians rely, undermine our state's long-term fiscal health, and provide extraordinary benefits to the few with little for the many," Nixon wrote in his veto letter that was delivered to the Senate late Thursday afternoon.

But Republicans argue that the tax cuts would be offset by economic growth. "I am for tax cuts for Missourians," said the bill's sponsor -- Sen. Will Kraus, R-Jackson County. "I believe in putting money back into their hands, they're going to spend in the economy and our economy will grow," Kraus said in an interview less than an hour after Nixon's veto had been delivered to the Senate.

Kraus and the Senate's GOP leader -- Sen. Ron Richard, R-Joplin -- said they were prepared for the Senate to take up the override motion when the legislature returns Monday afternoon, but only if all the GOP members are present. Because it is a Senate bill, the vetoed bill is returned to the Senate were the first override motion is made.

House Majority Leader John Diehl, R-St. Louis County, said he thinks they have the votes to override, but would not commit to an immediate vote if the measure comes to the House. A vote could be taken as late as the last day of the legislative session that adjourns May 16.

An override requires a two-thirds majority. To achieve that, an override motion would require the support of every Senate Republican followed by every House Republican and one Democrat.

If an override motion fails, legislative leaders said they were prepared to move on another tax cut bill in the remaining days of the session, but one that submitted the issue to the voters rather than being subject to another veto by the governor.

Missouri's Constitution gives the legislature the option of avoiding the need for the governor's approval by submitting a bill to a statewide vote.

Kraus said the fall-back bill pending in the Senate  would be nearly twice the size of the bill vetoed by Nixon -- more than $1 billion as compared to the $620 vetoed by the governor.

• Get the bill, SB 509
• Get the earlier Senate passage vote
• Get the earlier House passage vote
  

Missouri's governor now has the power to make the jumping jack the state's official exercise, after the Missouri Senate passed the measure Thursday, May 1.

Proponents of the bill believe that the exercise, invented by Missouri native and Army Gen. John Pershing, will encourage good health for Missourians.

About 55 students of Pershing Elementary School in St. Joseph were in attendance during the Senate hearing. According to Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, students at Pershing Elementary have been trying for five or six years to pass a similar measure.

"The jumping jacks exercise would promote health of Missourians, and if we don't do this, these kids will be back year after year," Schaaf, a licensed physician, told his colleagues.

Five senators voted in opposition, citing that there were already too many official state symbols.

"I just wanted to rise to say that I will be voting against this again on the floor, certainly not casting aspersions on the students and the hard work they have done to bring attention to this issue," said Sen. Ryan Silvey, R-Kansas City. "However, I have decided several years ago in my legislative career that I feel we have too many symbols in general."

"Do you know how many state symbols we have?" asked Sen. Will Kraus, R-Jackson County. "We have 27. When is enough enough? I will be voting no with the senator from the 17th because I believe we have enough state symbols."

Regardless of the opposition, the senators voted with constitutional majority to pass the bill. It now goes to Gov. Nixon to be signed into effect or to be vetoed.

• Get the bill, HB 1603
  

Passionate plea from Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-St. Louis County, lead to the passage of a hemp oil measure, Thursday May 1.

Schmitt first discovered his son, Stephen, 9, had epilepsy when he was 5-months old. Stephen struggles with seizures daily, one of which lasted four hours. During those four hours, doctors tried every possible treatment with no avail.

Schmitt said families are moving from Missouri to states where they can access the hemp oil extract, cannabidiol or CBD, for their children.

The bill passed in the Senate Thursday morning, with an amendment that Rep. Mike Colona, D-St. Louis City, said makes it the most restricted hemp bill in the entire country.

Rep. Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, spoke in opposition to the bill. He said he believed more clinical trials needed to be conducted before this bill passed.

Colona said while his concern is valid, CBD oil has shown to be far more successful in saving lives of epileptics "time after time".

The bill would allow the Department of Agriculture to grow industrial hemp for research and treatment purposes only.

Under the measure, it would be illegal to purchase the product without a valid registration card, and only licensed growers may grow the plant.

The bill passed with a 138-9 House vote, and will now be sent to the governor.

The measure passed with an emergency clause, meaning it would go into affect immediately following the governor’s signature.

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The House gave final approval Wednesday, April 30, to a measure that would restrict the right of students in unaccredited districts to transfer to other districts, but gives them other alternatives.

Currently, state law provides an absolute legal right for a student in an unaccredited district to transfer to an accredited district.

The House passed measure, like the Senate version,  would change accreditation from an entire district to schools within a district and establish agencies to coordinate transfers. Accredited districts would have rights to set limits on transfers based on school capacity.

A student's right to transfer from an unaccredited school could be restricted to an accredited school within the district -- if it existed and had sufficient capacity.

The measure also contains a provision by which a district of a student in an unaccredited school could be required to pay part of the costs of attending a non-religious private school. Unlike the Senate version, however, that provision would require approval by voters in the school district.

Rep. Rick Stream, R-St. Louis County, handled the bill on the House floor. He appealed to members not as lawmakers, but parents.

"What would you want for your children and grandchildren?" Stream asked. "You would want those children to have access to a high-quality education somewhere else than the buildings they are in, in those unaccredited school districts. That's what this bill tries to do."

Rep. Genise Montecillo, D-St. Louis County, said the legislature blew its opportunity to address the problem.

"We had the ability to take out agendas and address the problem, the crisis facing this state and there are some in this body who chose instead to take advantage of a crisis once again to push their agendas," Montecillo said.

Under the bill, the unaccredited school district that sends students to an accredited district must reimburse the accredited school district 70 percent of the tuition cost of the unaccredited school.

Rep. Mark Parkinson, R-St. Charles, said that is the reason he voted against the bill.

"I just voted no because I want to protect the taxpayers of the Francis Howell School District," Parkinson said.

Parkinson added that Francis Howell has received many of Normandy's students. Normandy is currently unaccredited and needed money from the legislature to finish out the school year.

Rep. Jill Schupp, D-St. Louis County, said the bill is no good for kids.

"We cannot use our kids as hostages to undermine public education by undermining the funding to public education," Schupp said.

The bill was approved with bipartisan support and opposition by a vote of 91-64.

The bill now goes to House-Senate conference committee to work out a compromise between the two versions.

• Get the bill, SB 493
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The measure approved Wednesday, April 30,  would nullify some federal gun laws and also punish any federal agent who enforces them.

Sen. Jolie Justus, D-Jackson County, said the issue at hand is not a one solution fit all type of problem.

“We are faced with a lot of things in the city that are obviously dramatically different then those in rural areas,” Justus said.

Earlier in the week, the mayors from Kansas City and St. Louis held a press conference at the state Capitol stating their strong opposition to the measure.

Sen. Brian Nieves, R-Washington, is the Senate handler for the measure and he said neither of the two mayors talked to him or Rep. Doug Funderburk, R-St. Peters, the bill sponsor.

“I think it’s worth mentioning everywhere that these mayors are so concerned about this law, but they weren’t concerned enough to go speak to the House sponsor nor the Senate handler,” Nieves said.

Sen. Kiki Curls, D-Jackson County, agreed with Justus.

“It’s something that we’re extremely concerned about,” Curls said. “Something that I wish we would let the local authorities to be able to decide what’s best for their communities in this regard.”

The House and Senate differ on how to punish federal agents who enforce gun laws.

The Senate version would punish law enforcement by allowing Missourians to sue federal agents and the measure would ban the agents from working in law enforcement in the future.

The House version would exclude the later part.

The measure passed by a vote of 23-8. It now goes back to the House for a vote on the Senate changes. Both chambers must agree on the same version of a measure by mid-May.

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Two more representatives presented their resolutions Wednesday, April 30, after Rep. Nick Marshall, R-Parkville, presented his resolution for impeachment of Gov. Jay Nixon to the House Judiciary Committee last week.

Chairman Rep. Stanley Cox, R-Sedalia, claims the committee does not want to vote on these resolutions.

“This committee does not want to vote a bill of impeachment, it is not something their desire is to doing,” Cox said. “The question I am going to ask them is do they believe it merits further action?”

If the committee does have a vote and passes one or all of these, they will go to the House floor to be discussed there.

Rep. Mike Moon, R-Lawrence County, drew his resolution because there are vacant seats in the House and Senate and Nixon has not held a special election to fill them.

This leaves, he claims, 285,000 citizens without representation.

“In our form of government, a republic, people should have representation,” Moon said.

Moon urged the committee members who may vote to send these to the House floor to not think by party lines.

“I don’t want to send a message to the House, or the Senate or the public for that matter that says we only do things that will positively affect one party or the other,” Moon said. “If we do that, we are not better than anyone else.”

Pamela Grow is a resident of the 120th district, which currently does not have a representative in the House. She said laws are going to be passed soon in which they will have no say.

“The regular legislative session during which laws are passed that we will have to live under and obey is rapidly coming to an end, and we have no representative,” Grow said.

Rep. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, presented his resolution for impeachment which says the governor failed to punish people for the scanning of information on conceal and carry permits.

Maj. Eric Vought, Commander of Lawrence County Sheriffs Auxiliary, testified saying he knows of people who refused to let their record be scanned and were refused a renewal of their permit.

“I am personally aware of volunteers and non-volunteers in the community who either had their records scanned or were refused renewal or application for a CCW on the basis for refusing to have their record scanned,” Vought said.

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The House Committee on Elementary and Secondary Education passed four out of five school-related bills Monday,  April 28, including school transfer bills.

The four passed bills address different aspects of school law. One would dissolve a district's school board once that district was declared unaccredited. Another bill would limit tuition charged under the school transfer law to $10,000 per student. A third bill would provide computerized and non-computerized testing options, prohibit Common Core tests if alternatives are available, and prevent discrimination against students with mental or learning disabilities. The fourth bill would establish the Family Education Leave Act, allowing parents and legal guardians eight hours of unpaid leave per year to attend academic activities for or with their child.

Committee members failed to pass a bill that would prevent receiving districts from charging more than 50 percent of the sending district's tuition rate the year before they lost accreditation. The final vote was eight to seven.

The approved bills now move to the House floor for a vote.

• Passed Bills: HB1418, HB1619, HB1919, HB2026
• Failed Bill: HB1907

The Senate scaled down a proposed sales tax increase.

The House previously endorsed a l cent sales tax which would go towards improving transportation infrastructure.

However, the sponsor, Sen. Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, reduced the sales tax to a three-fourths-cent increase per dollar in hopes of persuading the opposition to pass the measure.

"Our transporatation system is the seventh largest in the United States and we are 43rd in funding," Kehoe said. "And as I told the Senator from the 11th yesterday, I'm not a cook, but that's a bad recipe."

Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis expressed concerns over how it could disproportionately affect low-income residents.

However, she ultimately voted in favor of the increase because of its possibility to create jobs.

"We're still trying to recover from a deep, deep recession. I mean we were hit extremely hard and we're still trying to recover. And I think it is our job and our duty to create jobs," Nasheed said.

Kehoe also pointed to job creation as a benefit.

"They would be producing an asset that Missourians could touch, feel and see," Kehoe said. "So this would not be an investment in jobs that we're just doing to do. This would be projects that actually serve our economy and serve our families."

The Senate voted in favor of putting the Constitutional amendment before voters.

It now goes back to the House.

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Acting up on the job could land Missourians without unemployment benefits, under a measure sent to Gov. Jay Nixon’s desk, Tuesday April 29.

This bill would broaden the definition on what qualifies as “misconduct” to include any breach on the employer’s rules or standards.

The governor vetoed a similar bill last session saying that the bill's definition of "misconduct" was too broad and would include employees behavior outside of the workplace.

This year's bill is adjusted to say that employees can become unqualified for unemployment based on outside of work behavior that is "connected to work."

Rep. Mike Cierpiot, R-Jackson County, the House spokesperson for the bill, gave the example of a manager who is fired for making a sexual reference, outside of the workplace, to a female co-worker on how she could receive a promotion, could not receive unemployment.

Rep. Stephen Webber, D-Columbia, said he opposed the bill last year, but he supports this year's version.

During debate on the House floor, several lawmakers commented on how this bill allows for businesses to take advantage of their employees.

The governor might have to act on the bill in time for legislators to be able to vote on any veto before the General Assembly's May 16 adjournment.

As soon as the bill is formally transmitted to Nixon, he will have 15 days to act on the bill.

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The Missouri Senate voted Monday to slash the salary of Department of Education Commissioner.

A Missouri Senator said Department of Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro has not been upfront and reliable in providing information to lawmakers.

Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, said she's trying to send Nicastro a message by the amendment, which eliminates her salary from the state budget.

"If I'm constantly having to question and ask for legal opinion from our staff and from our Attorney General that means that we have a definite trust problem with our commissioner."

Other lawmakers said they agreed with the frustrations, but expressed concern about possible repercussions.

"So what would happen if there was a vacancy this upcoming year and then we had a new commissioner that was brought in," said Sen. David Pearce, R-Warrensburg. "This money would not be there for a new commissioner."

Chappelle-Nadal said the state wouldn't have a problem finding an interim to fill in if Nicastro vacated her position.

"There are many people who serve as deputies now and actually they make a lot of the determinations," Chappelle-Nadal said. "So I don't see us needing any additional salary. The people who serve in a very capable position now will be able to serve as an interim."

Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, said he agrees with reasoning behind the Democrat's gesture.

"Sometimes Senators wasn't to make sure they're heard and I think that's valuable," Shaefer said. "I certainly share some of her frustrations on her amendment."

Kansas City Mayor Sly James and St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay spoke in opposition on a gun measure that would nullify federal gun laws that infringe on a person's Second Amendment rights.

"State law already severely impedes our ability to keep handguns out of the hands of idiots and felons," James said. "This legislation simply takes that to an unreasonable extreme."

The measure, sponsored by Rep. Doug Funderburk, R-St. Peters, removed a provision that would have made it a crime for federal agents to enforce laws that violate firearms rights.

James said he was thankful that provision was removed.

Slay said the measure would make it more difficult for federal agencies to work together.

"Missouri's lax gun laws has flooded our neighborhoods with cheap weapons," Slay said. "If that isn't bad enough this legislation goes a step further by making it even harder for our police and prosecutors to partner with federal authorities to fight violent crime."

But Funderburk disagreed.

"It is not and has never been my goal to prevent interagency cooperation," Funderburk said. "I just want to make sure that Missouri citizens right's are protected, and then when they are knowingly and willfully violated that their recourse is not that they have to as an individual sue a federal agency that in fact their state government will protect them."

The measure is currently in the Senate. The House still needs to pass the new version before it can go to the governor's desk.

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Petition boxes delivered to the governor

Chris Mizanskey

The governor's communications director, Scott Holste receving the petitions

A Sedalia man is serving life without parole for marijuana possession.

Now his family and friends are taking their case to Gov. Jay Nixon, the only man in Missouri with the power to reduce his sentence.

Supporters of Jeff Mizanskey came to the Capitol Monday, April 28 armed with a petition for clemency with more than 360,000 signatures.

They delivered the petition to Scott Holste, Gov. Nixon's press secretary.

"I did confirm last week that it had been received and it was in the review process," Holste said.

Family member Mike Mizanskey pleaded for his brother's release.

"I plead with the governor to grant him clemency," Mizanskey said. "He's not a violent man. It was three pot convictions."

Mizanskey also said the ordeal was very hard on his now deceased mother and father.

"My mother and father died knowing their son was in jail for the rest of his life and that to me was unbelievable," Mizanskey said.

According to Benton County Deputy Clerk Leeanna Harms, who provided the records for Mizanskey's legal history, Mizanskey was first arrested in November 1984 for possessing marijuana with intent to distribute.

In October 1991, Mizanskey was arrested again, this time for possessing more than 35 grams of marijuana.

Mizanskey's "third strike" came in December 1993 when he was charged with possessing more than five grams.

Mizanskey's third arrest for pot possession subjected him to Missouri's "prior and persistent" drug offender law. This gives a judge the option to sentence a known drug criminal to life in prison.

Rep. Jeremy LaFaver, D-Jackson County, was arrested for marijuana possession in August 2013.

He says the punishment needs to fit the crime and Mizanskey's case doesn't do that.

"Jeff Mizanskey is paying with his life and, quite frankly, that's just wrong," LaFaver said.

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