Last week three top lawmakers submitted a friend of the court brief in opposition to the tax increase. House Speaker Pro Tem Carl Bearden, Rep. Allen Icet and Sen. Chuck Gross joined together to oppose the ballot measure because it requires the state to provide Medicaid coverage to everyone at 200 percent or less of the federal poverty level.
Last week three top Republican lawmakers announced their opposition to the tax increase. House Speaker Pro Tem Carl Bearden, Rep. Allen Icet and Sen. Chuck Gross filed a brief with the Supreme Court on Friday. The lawmakers oppose the ballot measure because it requires the state to provide Medicaid coverage to everyone at 200 percent or less of the federal poverty level.
During the past legislative session, state lawmakers blocked the governor's proposal to use profits from a sale by the state's loan agency to fund higher education projects. At the time, House Speaker Pro Tem Carl Bearden demanded assurance that students would have greater access to scholarships before he would allow the governor's plan to move forward. The House Republican leader says he still has the same concerns.
"I think what [it] means is in January when we come in one of the things we have to do is provide MOHELA some liability protection from frivolous charges such as what the attorney general is leveling right now, said Speaker Pro Tem, Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles.
The Speaker Pro Tem of the House, Carl Bearden said legislators must pass this proposal before the House will consider voting on a spending plan for the profits expected from the college loan sale.
Rep. Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, sponsored a bill to keep future state funding for higher education institutions at 2002 spending levels until state scholarship programs are fully funded. Bearden argues that his proposal and the MOHELA spending plan are linked and one cannot pass without the other.
However, Carl Bearden, Speaker Pro Tem of the House and the original bill's sponsor, said the bill the Senate passed is unacceptable and the two sides will need to work together on a compromise.
House Speaker Pro Tem Carl Bearden said he interprets the statute to only prohibit the state from forcing the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority to hand over money. If MOHELA wants to give the state proceeds after voluntarily selling student loans, then the plan is legal.
Rep. Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, says that the bill would give taxpayers more options to choose where they and their families go to recieve higher education.
House Speaker Pro Tem Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, said some people believe if a bill doesn't allow a legislator to take more than a cup of coffee from a lobbyist, then substantive ethics reform has failed.
But the bill's sponsor -- House Speaker Pro Tem Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, said the urban schools have failed. "St. Louis City School District still fails to graduate 42 percent of the kids," Bearden said. "It's shame on us if we're unwilling to take steps to try to fix that."
"The students are really what we ought to be funding," said House Speaker Pro Tem Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles. "We need to fund the recipients of the benefit, rather than the institution that's providing it."
Dozens of House Republicans gathered to announce their proposal. House Speaker Pro Tem Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, said the switch in priorities was to put the focus on students.
House Speaker Pro Tem Carl Bearden agreed that health care is an important issue for the legislature, but said that changes to the minimum wage statute will be delayed for future sessions.
House Speaker Pro Tem Carl Bearden agreed that health care is an important issue for the legislature, but said that changes to the minimum wage statute will be delayed for future sessions.
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