The first full week of the Missouri Legislature is in the books. Usually the session begins with some flourish of words but not much action. The 2010 Session began with the usual flourish but continued with some immediate actions.

Senate President Pro Tem Charlie Shields (R – Buchanan) has setup several Senate Seminars on topics that will be considered during the legislative session. Similar seminars have been conducted in the past but the 2010 session seminars have begun with meaty and important issues. Several were conducted this week with two significant seminars being conducted on Tuesday

The first was on the status and impact of the proposed government run health care bill. A person from the National Council of State Legislators (NCSL), an organization which is generally in favor of big government programs on the state and federal level. NCSL reported on some of the elements of the House and Senate bills, the negative impacts to state budgets and possible outcomes of the behind closed doors negotiations. NCSL appeared to be more concerned about how to “fix” the bill to get more federal money to states that stopping the federal government takeover of health care.

The second seminar was on tax policy. Dr. Joe Haslag, Kenneth Lay Chair Professor and executive Vice-President of the Show-Me Institute provided Missouri specific data on how replacing the income tax with a sales tax would generate economic development for Missouri increasing the state GDP significantly, making Missouri more economically competitive.

Dr. Art Laffer, developer of the Laffer Curve; Presidential Economic Advisor; and Economic Advisor to many Governors, provided the Senate with data showing why reforming the tax code by eliminating the income tax and replacing it with a sales tax would greatly boost Missouri’s economy. He not only provided specific data to support his contention but gave his own personal story of why he moved from San Diego, California to Nashville, Tennessee. His move was directly attributed to tax policy in the two states.

Opponents of the change also made presentations. Jim Moody and the Missouri Budget Project represented the opposition to the idea. Mr. Moody is a former Budget Director and lobbyist for many businesses interested in tax credits and the Missouri Budget Project is a big supporter of big government spending and programs. Their opposition was based on many assumptions, many demonstrable false and others based on half-truths. The testimonies gave a good insight into what proponents of real economic change will be facing in getting it through the legislature and on the ballot for the voters of Missouri to decide if they want to continue the economic malaise or make changes that will improve Missouri’s economic future for generations to come.

On Tuesday, House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 18 was heard and passed out of the General Laws Committee and out of the Rules Committee on Thursday. If passed by the Missouri House and Senate, HCR 18 would be the official notification to the Missouri Congressional Delegation of the Missouri General Assembly’s opposition to the proposed Health Care bill. Americans for Prosperity – Missouri testified in favor of HCR 18.

In addition to urging all state wide officials to let their positions on the proposed government run health care proposal be known to the public, HCR 18 urges our elected statewide officials, principally the Attorney General, to review the constitutionality of the current health care proposal, which includes several special deals for other states, including the "Nebraska kickback".

A number of polls clearly show that the majority of Missourians are against the health control bill being considered in Congress. Despite that fact, there is opposition to HCR 18 in the legislature. It is important that you contact your legislator to let them know you support HCR 18!

The Missouri General Assembly has many actions planned to address the federal usurpation of power. HCR 18 is just the beginning.

Those efforts include resolutions regarding state sovereignty and opting out of the federal health care debacle. To that end, approximately 600 patriots rallied in the Capitol on Wednesday to represent thousands of their fellow Missourians in support of those legislative efforts. A number of legislators addressed the crowd and after the rally, many of those in attendance stopped by their legislator’s offices to let them know of their support.Crowd Gathering: Gathering crowd - all seats were filled SRO about 600 in attendance.

This will be an interesting year in the Missouri General Assembly. The budget will take a lot of time this year but expect state sovereignty issues and tax reform to be significant discussion items as well!

The Governor delivers his State of the State (SoS) address Tuesday evening, January 20th. The SoS is the official unveiling of the Governor’s budget and other legislative priorities. Next week’s legislative update will focus on the SoS and related activities.