January 4, 2005

The Missouri General Assembly will begin this week on Wednesday.

 Department Directors Announce Departure
Economic Development Director Kelvin Simmons will be leaving office on January 7 th. Simmons is a former chairman of the Public Service Commission and ex-Kansas City councilmember. Also, State Health Department Director Dick Dunn will be leaving office at the end of this month to go back to Springfield and work for the Council of Churches of the Ozarks. Governor-Elect Blunt has not yet appointed their replacements. Major announcements from Governor-Elect Blunt are expected next week.

Governor-Elect Blunt Makes Several Key Appointments
Governor-Elect Matt Blunt has made five key appointments thus far as he begins to build his administration. The appointments are as follows:

• Trish Vincent – Director, Missouri Department of Revenue
• Michael Keathley – Commissioner of the Office of Administration
• Jeff Davis – Chairman of the Missouri Public Service Commission
• Dan Ross – Chief Information Officer for the State of Missouri
• Chuck Pryor – Director of Legislative Affairs, Governor’s Office

In addition, Missouri’s new Commissioner of Higher Education, Gregory Fitch, is slated to assume that post on January 3. Fitch was previously President of Utah College of Applied Technology and was selected by the Coordinating Board of Higher Education for the post.

Legislative Committees
Only a few key chairmanships have been announced by the House leadership and none by the Senate leadership. House and Senate leaders are gathering on a regular basis to discuss the structure of the committees and which of the members will be tapped to serve as chairpersons. Speaker-Elect Rod Jetton (R-Marble Hill) announced this week that Rep. Brad Lager (R-Maryville) would serve as Chairman of the House Budget Committee and that Rep. Mark Wright (R-Springfield) would be Chairman of the House Administration and Accounts Committee. While no official announcements have been made by President Pro-Tem-Elect Michael Gibbons, it is believed that Senator Chuck Gross (R-St. Charles) will be the Appropriations Chairman in that chamber. We are not likely to know much more detail about committee structure or chairs until after the first of the year.

Pre-filing of Legislation
Pre-filing of bills commenced on Wednesday, December 1. Below you will see a brief report of one-line descriptions of bills that may be of interest. As summaries of these bills become available, we will include them in future reports.

Bills Filed of Interest:

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