State Representative Ben Harris District 118 During Governor Jay Nixon’s annual State of the State address on January 21, he proposed a $26.13 billion state operating budget for the 2016 fiscal year, which begins July 1. Nixon’s proposed budget calls for roughly $250 million less in spending than the General Assembly authorized when it passed the FY 2015 budget last spring. However, because the legislature passed an unbalanced budget last year, Nixon was forced to reduce actual expenditures to put it in balance. As a result, the proposed FY 2016 budget calls for a modest increase in what the state is expected to spend during FY 2015. Among the spending increases Nixon calls for is an additional $50 million in basic state aid for local public school districts, plus another $12 million for public colleges and universities. The proposed budget includes no pay raises for state employees, who rank last in the nation in average pay for state workers. Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary Rhodes Russell on January 22 talked about the need to review the state’s municipal courts in order to guard against abuses and protect the constitutional rights of defendants. Russell made her comments during the annual State of the Judiciary address before a joint session of the Missouri General Assembly. “From a local municipal division to the state Supreme Court, Missouri’s courts should be open and accessible to all,” Russell said. “Courts should primarily exist to help people resolve their legal disputes. If they serve, instead, as revenue generators for the municipality that selects and pays the court staff and judges, this creates at least the perception, if not a reality, of diminished judicial impartiality.” In response to complaints about abuses, including the jailing of defendants who cannot afford to pay court fines, the Supreme Court last month instituted a rule that requires municipal judges to work out payment plans with defendants. The House of Representatives voted 133-15 on January 20 in favor of a resolution that would reject pay increases for lawmakers, statewide elected officials and judges recommended by the State Salary Commission. Under the Missouri Constitution, the Senate must also pass the rejection resolution; HCR 4, before February 1 or the pay hikes will automatically take effect. Three credit card companies will pay $2.2 million to Missouri to settle an investigation alleging they marketed deceptive add on products to consumers. Attorney General Chris Koster says Discover, Capital One and HSBC have agreed not to engage in misleading marketing of identity theft and payment protection products under a settlement announced last week. The companies admitted no wrongdoing. Koster says some were not aware they had signed up for the products charged on their credit cards or were misled about the products. He says consumers paid for products they later found they could not receive. Similar settlements with credit card companies over deceptive marketing of products have been made in other states. The money from the settlement will go toward a fund for consumer protection education and enforcement activity. Please feel free to contact me with any questions, comments or concerns: Write: Representative Ben Harris, State Capitol, 201 West Capitol Avenue, Jefferson City, Mo 65101 or capitol phone: 573-751-2398 or my district home phone: 636-944-3522, cell phone: 636-221-1798 or email at: [email protected]
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 21:48:19 +0000
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