Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder says the Republican leadership hopes to override at least three -- and perhaps as many as six or seven -- of Governor Bob Holden's vetos.
"The governor's become somewhat more reasonable in his requests," said Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau. "Let me say the door is not slammed shut."
Hundreds of people packed the House galleries to listen to each side present their case. Democratic Governor Bob Holden defended his plan to decrease budget cuts by taxing businesses, cigarettes, and gambling. Senate President Pro Temp Peter Kinder and House Speaker Catherine Hanaway reiterated their belief that higher taxes will hurt the state during this time of economic hardship.
Although Holden says he thinks House and Senate leaders are becoming more receptive to the idea of tax increases, Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder says that's not the case.
"We trimmed where we could the bureaucratic waste that needed to be cut and we protected the programs that needed to be protected," said Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau. "I think we have a lot to be proud of."
Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, said many of this session's major issues have already passed the legislature, including nursing home regulation, concealed weapons, and 24-hour waiting periods on abortions.
The Senior Care and Protection Act, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, passed the Senate with a unanimous vote Wednesday.
While Democrats and Republicans alike chuckled, a red-faced Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, called the sales tax's approval "an errant voice vote" and hastily passed a measure demanding a revote. When that measure passed, Jacob, acknowledging that his larger tax increase faced certain defeat in a revote, withdrew his proposal.
"None of us likes what we have to do on the budget this year," said President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau. "We're doing the best we can in the most difficult situation in 70 years. We will get through this, and the higher education in our state will as well."
"I think Missourians will understand that we've done the best we could for them," said Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, the Senate President Pro Tem. Kinder slapped a large sticker on his lapel - OTB - for On-Time Budget, but this is also an acronym used by critics of Gov. Bob Holden to mean One Term Bob.
Despite the governor's veto warning, Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, said lawmakers plan to move ahead with the budget passed by the Appropriations Committee.
Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, and House Speaker Catherine Hanaway, R-St. Louis County, met with Gov. Bob Holdon on Tuesday and told him that any tax increases that require voter approval are off the table, Kinder said.
Senate president pro-tem Peter Kinder says if stonewalling at the Department of Natural Resources continues, subpoenas will be inevitable. Elizabeth Gill reports:
Clothing, school supplies and personal computers would be sales tax free for three days in August under the proposal. Cities and counties could opt out of the holiday and continue to collect local sales tax. Both Governor Bob Holden and Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder say they support the measure.
Hanaway and Senate Pro Tem Peter Kinder sited state law that makes it illegal for any director of a state agency to stop an employee from discussion angecy-related issues with members of the legislature.
JEFFERSON CITY - House Speaker Catherine Hanaway and Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder announced their compromise plan to fix the shortfall in the current year's budget. The proposal calls on borrowing $100 million from tobacco settlement funds along with $250 million in postponed spending and other accounting changes. Hanaway calls the plan "the least worst of several bad alternatives."
Senate President Pro Tem, Peter Kinder, D-Cape Girardeau, who sponsored the bill and called these lawsuits "frivolous," said that the manufacturers should in no way be held accountable for deaths or shootings.
Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder says the bill is designed to prevent lawsuits from plugging up Missouri courts. But, opponents say state and local government should be able to get compensation from gun dealers who are negligent in sales and distribution. Kinder says some business is more pressing than unecessary lawsuits.
Sen. President Pro Tem Peter Kinder wrote the governor Tuesday asking the administration to cancel plans for a $1 million upgrade of restrooms on the Senate side of the Capitol.
The Senior Care and Protection Act, sponsored by Senate Pres Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, would target nursing homes with a history of violations while loosening regulations on homes that have repeatedly demonstrated good conditions.
Speaker Catherine Hanaway, R-St. Louis County, and Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, announced a plan that includes $100 million in tobacco money plus $112 million in cuts to balance this year's budget.
Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, said the governor should have talked to legislators before issuing his ultimatum Tuesday. Republicans have said they need time to study the governor's proposal to issue 'hybrid' bonds backed in part by the state's future revenue from the tobacco settlement.
Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, said he would not vote for the tobacco loans if the vote was held today. He also predicted that there is not enough support in the Seante for the appropration needed to cash the bonds.
The leadership is also full of members who practice law when they are not serving in the legislature. Hanaway, Crowell, President Pro Tem of the Senate Peter Kinder, Senate Majority Leader Mike Gibbons and Senate Minority Leader Ken Jacob all have law degrees.