Northeast News
January 11, 2017

We’re off and running in Jefferson City again as the 99th General Assembly kicks off its first session and by all accounts this looks to be a real snoozer, at least for the Democrats. Given the super-majority the GOP has in both the Missouri Senate and House, Democrats will have a rough go of getting any kind of pressing, agenda-driven legislation through either chamber. Couple that with a Republican in the Governor’s office and this dog predicts Democrats won’t see much of their legislation being signed into law in August.
This News-Dog took a look at some of the pre-filed legislation by area legislators in both the House and the Senate, and we’re not looking for the world to be set ablaze this session. Freshman Representative Ingrid Burnett, representing Missouri’s 19th District, has not, as of press time, filed any legislation for the upcoming session. Veteran legislator Randy Dunn, representing Missouri’s 23rd District that consists mostly of the Lykins area, hasn’t filed any legislation for this session either.
Three-term House of Representatives veteran John Rizzo, the newly elected Senator for Missouri’s 11th Senatorial District, doesn’t have anything filed as of this writing either, which surprises this pooch given his tenure and reputation in Jeff City as a hard-charging community-minded legislator. The only sitting legislator that currently represents areas of Northeast that has filed any legislation so far is Senator Shalonn ‘Kiki’ Curls, who currently has nine pieces of legislation filed ranging from allowing KCPD to establish a Lt. Colonel position to overseeing Homeland Security interests handled by the PD. Note to the Senator, the Department already has a Major in charge of that area so this curious new-pooch wonders why the good Senator is wasting valuable floor time on this given the higher priorities in her district.
Another curious bill filed by Curls is SB26, which allows the city of Kansas City to hire airport police officers. Note, we have those already too. Curls also thinks that tenants living in a foreclosed property deserve at least 90 days free rent (SB94) and that you, the taxpayer need to pay the freight for homeless people (SB136) if you file a change order at the County Recorder of Deeds office. Note: this is a tax, let’s call it like it is.
While this might be a banner session for those Red Staters tickled with the political make-up of the Missouri Senate and House, on a neighborhood level this means that the above named legislators who have yet to file any legislation will have to reach across the aisle and create alliances in order to see any of their filings draw so much as a committee hearing. Like we said, this session could be a real snoozer for Kansas City’s Historic Northeast community, and that isn’t necessarily a good thing given the number of state level issues facing this community these days. Those issues include the Kansas City Museum and local control of the city’s Police Department. The ball now squarely rests on these newly elected officials to perform. Your electorate will be watching.