Mike Talboy

"Given the comments and the ideology coming out of Cynthia Davis and Tim Jones, this might be a decent idea."

~ Rep. Mike Talboy (D-Kansas City) on why testing state legislators for illegal drug use might be wise public policy

With a few weeks to reflect on the craziness that was the House Budget process, I'm still impressed by the dramatic shifts in direction and willingness to spend millions on pet projects, while simultaneously refusing to budge on a bipartisan plan to help 35,000 working poor parents gain access to health care (without costing the state a dime).

As the session wrapped up, I spoke with a number of House members to get their takes on the legislature's recent work. In most all of the discussions, the revised stimulus spending bill (HB22) came up as key example of the dangerous and foolish ideological stands by House leaders, the shameless violations of House rules to push through bad legislation, and inconsistent and confusing leadership from Speaker Ron Richard and Floor Leader Steve Tilley. 

I'll confess: I was completely wrong in my predictions of how the House would handle the health care proposal put forward by Gov. Jay Nixon and the Missouri Hospitals Association. It was my assumption that the health care debate would work a lot like the budget debate -- after a lot of hemming and hawing about how awful the plan would be, House GOP leaders would do the right thing and let the plan pass. After all, it would have provided health care to 35,000 working parents and wouldn't have cost the state a dime.  There was all sorts of political cover from business interests like the Associated Industries of Missouri, and strong support from Republicans and Democrats in the Senate.

But I was wrong. House Republicans voted the plan (in HB11) down in a party-line vote.  And when given the chance to do the right thing on the last day of session, Speaker Ron Richard and Floor Leader Steve Tilley wouldn't even let the proposal come up for a vote. They callously left the proposal on the table, putting their extreme ideology before working families that desperately need a hand.

As the session was wrapping up, I spoke with a number of House members about their experiences in the session, and especially about the health care and budget debates. Here are a few of the comments that stand out:

Moments ago, Democrats walked out of the House Rules Committee to protest Chairman Michael Parson's ruling to move the House GOP's new(est) stimulus spending to the floor without deliberation by the Budget Committee. Immediately after Parson's gaveled the meeting to order, Rep. Mike Talboy raised a point of order, citing House Rule 25 (10) (a), which reads:

The Committee on Budget.
The Committee on Budget shall have the responsibility of filing all appropriations bills, assigning of those bills to the appropriate appropriations committees and shall report upon all bills recommended to it by the respective appropriation committee and any other bills, measures, or questions referred to it pertaining to the appropriation and disbursement of public money.

The rules of the appropriations process didn't bother Parson, and he promptly ruled against the point of order. Democrats, in turn, chose to leave the committee hearing rather that participate in the "sham process"

Last week, the House endorsed Rep. Jim Guest's "crusade" against Real ID-compliant drivers licenses. The debate on the bill was frustrating, infuriating, hilarious and irrational -- all at the same time. And while Republicans fought amongst themselves about the sensibility of legislating against conspiracy theories, they simultaneously undermined one of their key arguments for this week's expected battle on Photo ID legislation.

Lost in the hyperbole and conspiracy theories on Real ID was one point of agreement from all sides: that it is very difficult for some Missourians -- and a hassle for many more  -- to obtain the key documents needed for a driver's license or photo id. Guest described the process for obtaining a driver's license as "very difficult" in a debate with Rep. Mike Talboy (D-Kansas City), and Rep. Ryan Silvey (R-Kansas City) challenged Guest (a fellow Republican) at length about the bureaucratic hassles of obtaining identification.

Earlier this year in the House, committee chairs promised hearings on both the Missouri Nondiscrimination Act (HB 701), sponsored by Rep. Mike Talboy (D-Kansas City), and Safe Schools legislation (HB 518), sponsored by Rep. Sara Lampe (D-Springfield).

Speaker Ron Richard is still refusing to release the bills to committee so they can receive a hearing.

The Missouri Nondiscrimination Act would extend the existing Missouri Human Rights Statute to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Lampe's Safe Schools legislation would clarify existing law to list specific categories of students (e.g. by race, sexual orientation, disability, etc.) against whom bullying is prohibited, and would require school districts to train teachers and administrators on how to handle bullying.

As reprinted by The Star:

From: Lisa Etter On Behalf Of Mike Talboy
Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 8:37 AM
To: Jeff Brooks
Cc: _Democrat Representatives; _Democrat LAs & Staff
Subject: Still no bill referrals

Jeff,

As you can see from the link below not a single one of my bills has been referred to any committee.  I took you at your word when after you had me write a letter requesting they be referred and a second letter saying the same, you asked for a third hand written letter from me asking specifically for HB 701 and HB 588 to be referred to the Judiciary Committee.  Two weeks ago you assured me that I would have an answer from you after your meeting that Thursday, where your “committee” could have a fresh look at my bills.  When I saw you last week and stated my bill referral number was still zero, you stated the same thing to me last week about having answer after the Thursday meeting.  To date, the total remains zero. 

I think Rep. Mike Talboy summed things up pretty well last night: