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Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Were Missouri Republican lawmakers guided by a national agenda?
The crowd outside the Missouri Capitol for the inauguration of Gov. Mike Kehoe in January (Tim Bommel/Missouri House Communications). The Republican-dominated Missouri Legislature abruptly ended its 2025 session early last week to guarantee passage of two bills to undo what a majority of Missourians had voted for. Were they working for what was in Missouri's best interest, or falling in line with the national Republican agenda? The day before the legislature ended its session Missouri lost a giant, Christopher 'Kit' Bond, who as an elected official aways chose what was best for Missouri over being a Republican who blindly pushed a partisan agenda at the exclusion of input from his Democratic colleagues, or the concerns of his constituents. The legislature's preoccupation to pass those two bills provides damning evidence of how partisan politics have come to rule the day. Legislators used a procedure to prevent Democrats from raising any objections or providing input and successfully secured their passage. Also, the majority of Missourians be damned. One bill puts a new abortion ban amendment before voters in 2026, unless the governor doesn't decide to do it sooner. The second takes away paid sick leave from Missouri workers that voters passed overwhelmingly and had just taken effect May 1. Those benefits will now be snatched back from workers on Aug. 28. Both issues, through the petition initiative process, were decisively decided by voters last November. A majority of Missourians voted against an abortion ban. A majority of Missourians voted for paid sick leave. Pause for a moment and think about what is being pushed about those same two issues on the national level by Republicans, irrespective of what the majority of Americans has indicated they prefer. When it comes to abortion, the budget bill moving through Congress diverts and defunds agencies like Planned Parenthood, targeting 'Big Abortion' as it is being called. When it comes to paid leave, the United States is one of the few countries in the world that doesn't have a national paid family leave policy. A bipartisan bill to establish such a policy was recently introduced, which will require state participation. But its fate remains to be seen. Bills to increase the federal minimum wage have repeatedly failed to be passed by Congress. The current proposed bill is unlikely to pass. Missouri voters have raised the minimum wage three times, including in November to $15 an hour. What other measures were left on the table that could have benefited many Missourians because of tacit or implicit support of the national Republican agenda? A major bill, House bill 19 that addressed many needs in communities across Missouri, expected to be considered was suddenly refused to be presented for a vote in the House. Needed areas left unfunded included: rural hospitals, community health centers, Boys and Girls clubs, capital improvement projects, higher education, research programs, workforce development, construction of a 200-bed mental hospital and other infrastructure projects. Meanwhile, billions of dollars remain in a surplus fund. There was one other area that Missouri Republican lawmakers focused on that aligns, reinforces and support the national Republican agenda. Tax cuts. Tax breaks. Republican lawmakers managed to pass their biggest tax-cut priority bill and forwarded it to the governor for signing. The bill allows capital gains exemptions for individuals and corporations. The bill also provides some limited tax breaks for low income, seniors and the disabled. Passing a major tax cut is also a high priority for Congress. The current bill contains a permanent tax-cut for the richest 1% as well as targeted breaks for millions of Americans, although they are temporary for some, like the elimination of taxes on tips and overtime pay which will expire in 2028. While seniors may be eligible for a new deduction, there will be no tax break or tax cut on social security income. Moving forward, however, the challenge remains: How do we get our elected public officials to rise above entrenched partisan politics and selfish interests and focus instead on those areas that will improve the lives of most Missourians. Elected officials' only job is to work for those who elected them. Republicans at the state and national level seem hell bent on pushing a blindly partisan agenda at the expense of what is best for their state or the country, and the will of the people. They would do well to reflect on the life of Kit Bond, a stellar public servant and lifelong Republican. Hopefully, it will be a reminder for some and a lesson for others. As governor and U.S. senator, Bond was an elected official who worked to address the needs of all Missourians. The issues and legislation he championed were not marred by intractable and extreme partisan politics. He worked with Republicans and Democrats. During his long career — in life and the tributes pouring in since his death, from fellow Republicans and Democrats alike — his integrity and commitment to be collaborative to address the challenges that Missouri faced, to arrive at workable solutions, to get the resources needed can be seen in communities across the state. His impact will be seen and benefit generations of Missourians for years to come. In this time of hyper partisan politics, and when state needs and interests are co-opted and loss in a national agenda, it would serve current lawmakers well, to look to how Kit Bond functioned. He epitomized what it means to put the interests of Missouri and Missourians first. He was committed to get what was needed done. Always. Unabashedly. Collaboratively.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Winners and losers of Missouri's 2025 legislative session
Members of the Missouri House celebrate the end of the 2025 legislative session with the traditional paper toss on May 15 (Tim Bommel/Missouri House Communications). For the first time in years, the legislative session wasn't defined by Republican infighting. The GOP supermajority managed to mend fences and get along most of the year. And even though both the House and Senate left town early last week — an historically rare occurrence that is quickly becoming the norm — they still managed to send 49 bills to the governor's desk, put two proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot and pass a $53 billion state budget. It wasn't until the final week when the wheels came off, though this time the culprit was squabbles with Democrats. Republicans deployed a rarely-used procedural maneuver to cut off debate and pass bills seeking to repeal two voter-approved initiatives protecting abortion rights and increasing access to paid sick leave. The move effectively ended the session two days early and killed a litany of unrelated bills in the process. So who were the big winners and losers of the legislative session? Not everything went Mike Kehoe's way during his first legislative session as governor. One of his appointments to the State Board of Education got spiked in the Senate, and he pushed his stadium funding plan so late in the session it will now require lawmakers to return to Jefferson City next month in a long-shot bid to pass it and prevent the Royals and Chiefs from moving to Kansas. But he got most of the big-ticket items he called for when he laid out his agenda in his first State of the State address in January, highlighted by a capital gains tax cut, state control of St. Louis police and a $50 million private school voucher program. He also earned rave reviews from state lawmakers, who marveled at a governor actually leaving his office to work personally with the legislature. 'We made it a priority to walk the halls, not just to meet with lawmakers, but to build relationships, have real discourse and understand what mattered most to the people they represent, because progress starts with relationships and open conversations,' Kehoe told reporters Friday. The state's budget may never be as rosy again, with federal funding in limbo and state revenues not keeping up with projections. And with tough fights over stadium funding in the near term and a mid-term election on the horizon, Kehoe's honeymoon with the legislature could be short lived. Whether his first year as governor will be Kehoe's high-water mark is anybody's guess. But he undoubtedly just finished one of the best legislative sessions any governor has had in years. The pattern of crafting a state budget has become familiar over the years. The House works for months to get its budget plan in place, then the Senate basically rewrites everything before it gets sent to the governor. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. This year, House Budget Chairman Dirk Deaton certainly had to swallow a lot of spending he didn't like. But he held firm and won passage of the governor's $50 million private school voucher program that the Senate wanted to eliminate. Then, just hours before the constitutional deadline to finish work on the budget, and after the Senate had already gone home for the week, Deaton orchestrated the surprise death of a $500 million construction spending package — sinking projects for health care, education and law enforcement across the state and creating a bipartisan backlash that helped derail the governor's stadium funding plan. The long-term consequences of Deaton's move on the House's relationship with the Senate still aren't clear. But it solidified his reputation as a budget hawk willing to take extraordinary steps to keep state spending in check. The session certainly didn't end the way Senate Democrats would have liked. Efforts to protect two voter-approved initiatives — an abortion rights constitutional amendment and a paid sick leave law — went up in flames when Republicans went nuclear and shut down debate to force repeal bills to a vote. The 10 Democrats in the 34-member Senate had already spent months watching a suddenly unified GOP supermajority eliminate taxes on capital gains, take control of the St. Louis police, ease regulations on utilities and implement new hurdles in the initiative petition process. Yet despite the inglorious ending and parade of GOP wins, Democrats were successful at ensuring no high-profile bill cleared the Senate this year without at least a few Democratic priorities tacked on. The capital gains tax cut also expanded a property tax credit for the elderly and disabled that has been a longstanding Democratic priority. And it included sales tax exemptions for diapers and feminine hygiene products. Democrats won additions to the St. Louis police bill banning the shackling of pregnant prisoners, establishing a fund for exonerated prisoners to receive restitution and limiting what jails and prisons can charge inmates for phone calls. A bill allowing Missouri Farm Bureau to sell health plans also requires all health plans to cover extended supplies of birth control and expands access to testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. Next year's legislative session may not be as fruitful for either party (see below). And it's doubtful Democrats will look back at 2025 fondly. But the small-ball approach of making bills they hate a little less terrible scored the party some unexpected wins this year. For the first time in nearly 50 years, Missouri's major electric utilities will be able to include the cost of new power plants in the rates customers pay for service. Written specifically to encourage the construction of new natural gas-based generation, the new law could also be used to help finance a new nuclear power station. The law banning rates that include costs for construction work in progress was approved by voters in 1976 in response to the costs of the Callaway Energy Center, a 1,200 megawatt reactor near Fulton. The utility companies employed 'squadrons' of lobbyists to pass the bill, complained state Rep. Don Mayhew, a Republican from Crocker. But they stitched together bipartisan majorities in both the Missouri House and Senate, getting votes from 20 Democrats and 76 Republicans in the lower chamber as it was sent to Kehoe, who signed it. Just days later, Evergy, a major power supplier in western Missouri, announced plans to construct a natural gas-fired power plant near Maryville. The final day of the legislative session ended when Republicans deployed the 'PQ,' a rule allowing leadership to cut off debate and force a vote over the objections of any senators trying to slow things down. The maneuver hasn't been used by the Senate in five years. Before last week, the Senate had only used it 18 times since 1970. Democrats were furious, both because the GOP went nuclear after a session marked by negotiation and compromise and because they did so to roll back laws enacted by the voters just months earlier. Knowing Democrats' response to the PQ would be to spend the final days of session using procedural hijinks of their own to muck up the process, Republicans adjourned for the year. Senate leaders have historically been hesitant to utilize the PQ because it generates lasting bitterness — and sparks retaliation. And that's exactly what Democrats promised as they were leaving town last week. The bad blood could spill into a special session next month for the governor's stadium funding plan. But just as likely, it could lead to wall-to-wall gridlock when lawmakers return in January. 'From this point forward…everything is going to be so hard around here,' said Senate Democratic Leader Doug Beck. 'It's going to be very hard.' Missouri voters in 2010 overwhelmingly enacted tougher standards on dog breeders in the hopes of eliminating the state's reputation as the puppy-mill capital of America. A few months later, lawmakers repealed the law and replaced it with a far less stringent version. In the years since, the legislature repealed a nonpartisan redistricting plan enacted by initiative petition in 2020; refused to implement voter-approved Medicaid expansion until the state Supreme Court ordered it to in 2021; and this year repealed a paid sick leave law that 58% of voters enacted in November. Republicans also put a constitutional amendment banning abortion on the 2026 ballot, months after voters enshrined abortion rights in the Missouri Constitution. GOP lawmakers are quick to note that in the same elections that enacted all these policies, voters also put the GOP in control of every statewide office and sent a supermajority of the party to the legislature. And they contend voters were duped into supporting the proposals by well-financed campaigns. 'This is one of those things, of the problem with direct democracy,' state Sen. Rick Brattin, a Harrisonville Republican, said earlier this year. 'This is exactly what our founders were expressively against when they formed this nation.' For Democrats and the activists who backed the initiative petitions, the reality is Republicans aren't concerned about the will of the people. 'They disrespect the voters,' Beck said. 'They don't care.' When Bayer purchased St. Louis-based Monsanto in 2018, it inherited an avalanche of litigation alleging the key ingredient in its Roundup weed killer — glyphosate — causes cancer. The German pharmaceutical and biotechnology group has paid about $10 billion to settle Roundup claims, according to the Wall Street Journal, and still faces about 67,000 pending cases. Roughly 25,000 of those cases are in Missouri, since Bayer's U.S. headquarters is in St. Louis. In 2023, a Cole County jury ordered the company to pay $1.56 billion to three plaintiffs, though a judge later reduced that to $622 million. The legal and financial peril has inspired the company to push legislation shielding itself from lawsuits alleging Roundup caused cancer. Two states — North Dakota and Georgia — have approved shield legislation. But the stakes in Missouri are especially high. A group tied to Bayer ran TV and radio ads in Missouri this year presenting glyphosate as a benign, beneficial chemical essential to modern agriculture that is at risk thanks to frivolous lawsuits. Legislative leaders, along with the governor, lined up in support of the shield legislation. The bill eked out of the House with barely enough votes to pass before running into a buzzsaw of opposition in the Senate. Leading the charge was the Senate Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative Republicans lawmakers who in recent years have enjoyed the financial backing of Missouri trial attorneys. The four-member Freedom Caucus's effort to kill the Roundup bill was joined by five other Republican senators after they were targeted with a direct mail campaign claiming resistance to passing the bill was a betrayal of President Donald Trump's fight against China. The rising opposition sealed the bill's fate, and few expect it to fare any better next year. The first-term GOP lieutenant governor didn't mince words earlier this month when he decried how the Senate conducted itself while debating the state budget. It is time for a change, Wasinger declared while presiding over the chamber, and he vowed to take a more active role in proceedings while also working to change the rules of the chamber. 'Uh… no,' was the response from Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O'Laughlin. A lieutenant governor doesn't have any of that power. Wasinger was out of line giving a speech in the Senate chambers in the first place, O'Laughlin said, because that is 'a right reserved for senators.' Soon after the kerfuffle, Republican state Sen. Jason Bean of Holcomb demanded Senate staff — both partisan and nonpartisan — be directed by leadership not to participate in any efforts by Wasinger to influence the rules or process. The next week, with Wasinger presiding, senators began making complicated procedural motions that appeared to befuddle the lieutenant governor. In the confusion, he incorrectly called for a vote on a bill too early, and when he tried to walk everything back left the Senate briefly paralyzed as staff worked to sort things out. Wasinger presided for a few more minutes before leaving the dais and sending a letter to Senate leaders informing them he would be absent the rest of the week. The Independent's Rudi Keller contributed to this story.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Missouri lawmakers pass ban on cell phones in public school classrooms
State Rep. Kathy Steinhoff, a Democrat from Columbia, speaks March 5 in the Missouri House (Tim Bommel/Missouri House Communications). A bill passed by the state legislature Tuesday and on its way to the governor will require school districts to create a policy banning cell phone usage throughout the school day, including during breaks between classes and at lunch. A majority of U.S. adults support cell phone bans during class time, or 68% as recorded in a Pew Research Center poll. But restricting mobile phone use for the entire school day is less popular, with 36% in support. State Rep. Kathy Steinhoff, a Democrat from Columbia, filed the cell-phone-ban legislation with restrictions only during instructional time. She wanted to give school boards and charter schools the ability to decide whether or not to place further limitations on cell phones, she told The Independent. Lawmakers decided to pursue the more restrictive policy, and Steinhoff believes students will see benefits academically and socially. 'The statistics really do hold that if we do the (full day), bell to bell, that's going to have the biggest turnaround,' she said. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, roughly 53% of school leaders believe that cell-phone usage has hurt students' learning abilities. And 72% say it has negatively impacted mental health. Many school districts have chosen to enact bans, and states around the country have been increasingly writing bans into law with restrictions passed in at least nine states and 10 states testing the policy in a pilot program since 2023. Missouri's full-day ban would be one of the more restrictive laws, but there are exceptions. Students who need a mobile device to accommodate a disability are exempted, and cell phones would be allowed if there is a safety emergency at school. The legislation also gives school districts and charter schools the ability to decide if teachers may allow students to use cell phones during class. The bill does not require phones to be locked up. School boards will have to decide whether devices will be stowed in designated areas or allowed in students' backpacks. Districts will have to enact a policy during the 2025-2026 school year. The legislation is part of a sweeping education package negotiated in the final weeks of the legislative session. It began as a three-page bill prescribing reporting requirements for school safety incidents. Now, at 138 pages, it contains bipartisan legislation, with multiple provisions aimed at school safety.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bill legalizing video lottery games narrowly passes Missouri House
State Rep. Bill Hardwick, a Republican from Dixon, speaks March 25 on the Missouri House floor. (Tim Bommel/Missouri House Communications) After a heavy lobbying effort, backers of video lottery games squeezed a slim majority out of the Missouri House on Wednesday, sending a bill promising $350 million a year for schools to the state Senate. By an 83-73 vote — just one more than the minimum needed to pass — the House approved the bill that also promises to remove 'gray market machines' from retail locations. 'This is not a solution in search of a problem,' said the sponsor, Republican Rep. Bill Hardwick of Dixon. 'We have a genuine problem, a money problem, a regulatory problem, a commerce problem, and this is a solution for all of that.' House leadership held the tally board open for more than 15 minutes as they searched for the votes needed to pass. The bill was given first-round approval on Monday but with only 74 votes. After that backers and opponents scrambled to find votes, with both sides claiming Tuesday that they would prevail. The bill faces an uncertain future in the state Senate. Three video lottery bills have been proposed in the upper chamber but none have been given a hearing. In the final vote, 54 Republicans were joined by 29 Democrats to pass the bill, while 18 Democrats and 55 Republicans opposed it. Passing video lottery bill would be 'a heavy lift' in Missouri Senate The bill received support from nine of 10 Republicans who were absent on Monday and present on Wednesday. Five GOP members on each side of the question switched from yes to no or vice-versa. Among Democrats, four members absent on Monday voted yes on Wednesday, while two Monday absentees voted no. Only one Democrat switched sides, voting no on Wednesday after voting yes on Monday. Under the bill, the Missouri Lottery would be given the job of licensing video lottery terminal vendors and regulating their use in retail locations. While there would be a cap of eight machines in any location, the total number of machines that would be in use statewide is not capped. The House added an amendment so counties and cities will be able to authorize — or ban — video lottery games in their home communities. It also added an amendment that declares any unlicensed games that offer cash prizes to winners to be illegal slot machines. The games resembling casino slot machines that can be seen at retail locations throughout the state are unregulated. Called gray market or 'no chance' games, operators claim they are not illegal under current law because a player can learn the outcome of the next play before committing their money. The options for a player with a pending losing bet are to change games in search of a winner, ending their playing session or deliberately losing the bet to get to the next outcome. The Missouri State Highway Patrol has tried to initiate prosecutions under anti-gambling laws, but most prosecutors have been reluctant to file charges. And after years of operation, convenience store owners, fraternal lodges and other establishments have become dependent on the revenue. The video lottery machines will be more trustworthy, supporters say, because the machines will be required to pay out at least 80% of the money wagered in prizes. The remainder will be split three ways — the lottery will receive 34% of the net to support state education programs, with retailers and operators splitting the other 66%. The fiscal note for the bill estimates that within three years, there will be $1.1 billion annually for the three-way split generating approximately $350 million in state revenue. Some opponents of the measure argue it is not strong enough to force gray market machine operators to shut down. Others said they do not support any expansion of gambling. 'I fully support my American Legion and VFW,' said state Rep. Dean Van Schoiack, a Republican from Savannah, 'but they better be able to find a better way to raise funds than stealing from their members and their patrons.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Missouri lawmakers set to pass capital gains tax cut with questions about its total cost
Missouri House Speaker Pro Tem Chad Perkins of Bowing Green speaks during debate Feb. 11 on his bill exempting capital gains from the state income tax (Tim Bommel/Missouri House Communications). The price tag for a tax cut poised for passage in the Missouri General Assembly is likely many times bigger than estimated, and lawmakers should learn more before voting, the research director of the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said last week. On Monday afternoon, the state Senate Fiscal Review Committee will hold a hearing on a bill to exempt income from long-term capital gains from the state income tax. The bill would create the deduction immediately for individuals and put it in law for corporations with a trigger enacting it in the future. The committee's only job is to decide whether the anticipated impact on state revenues is acceptable. If passed out of committee, the bill would be up for an immediate Senate vote without further discussion. That would leave only a House vote ratifying Senate changes before the bill goes to Gov. Mike Kehoe. 'I intend to pass what the Senate sends back,' said House Speaker Pro Tem Chad Perkins, sponsor of the bill. In the fiscal note prepared for the capital gains exemption, the Department of Revenue estimates that the combined individual and corporate exemption would reduce state revenues by approximately $235 million annually. The individual income portion would be about $111 million a year. But federal tax data from returns filed for 2022 shows individual income tax filers from Missouri reported $13.3 billion in capital gains income. Allowing a deduction of that amount would reduce state revenue by more than $600 million if it is all taxed at the top rate of 4.7%, said Carl Davis, research director at the institute. 'I would not vote on this without more clarification from the Department of Revenue,' Davis said. 'We have publicly available information from the IRS that puts this fiscal note into serious doubt.' The IRS tracks income amounts for long-term capital gains — the profit on the increased value of property or securities held for more than a year — because the federal tax rate is lower on that income than on earnings from wages or short-term gains. The bill allows a taxpayer to deduct the amount claimed as capital gains from their taxable income on their Missouri return. The bill is one piece of the Republican plan to eliminate Missouri's income tax altogether. It passed the House in February on a party-line vote. Most of the benefits from a cut in the capital gains rate for individuals would go to a small slice of taxpayers. The 23,800 federal returns filed for 2022 with incomes greater than $500,000 a year represent 0.8% of all returns but included 65% of the capital gains income. When it reached the Senate floor, a Democratic filibuster forced substantial changes, including the delay in the capital gains exemption for corporate income tax returns. Democrats also won two other long-sought tax cuts where the benefits will mainly go to lower-income Missourians. They are: Increased credit amounts and income limits for the refundable property tax credit known as the 'circuit breaker' available to people over 65 and people with disabilities. The changes included in the bill would reduce state revenue by about $84 million. A sales tax exemption for diapers and feminine hygiene products that would eliminate the 4.225% state portion of the tax. Local sales taxes would remain in place. The exemption would reduce state revenue by about $37 million annually. The combined $121 million revenue reduction in the two provisions is more than the fiscal note estimate of the individual capital gains exemption. If they don't look deeper, Davis said, Democrats may think they got a good deal. 'They're running a bill that looks like a 50/50 split between things for working class folks and things for very high income people,' Davis said. 'But if the capital gains fiscal note is wrong in the way that I suspect it may be, it's more like 7-to-1 capital gains to these other things.' The delay in the capital gains exemption for corporate income taxes is tied to the implementation of additional cuts in the individual income tax already in state law. Those cuts are tied to revenue growth and based on current trends, the earliest date that the cut would occur is Jan. 1, 2030. The circuit breaker tax credit was established in 1973. People over age 65 and those who have a qualifying disability and rent their homes can claim a tax credit to offset property taxes of up to $750 if their income is less than $27,500. The credit for homeowners is up to $1,100 if they own their home if their income is less than $30,000. The bill would increase the maximum credit for renters to $1,055. For homeowners, the maximum credit would be increased to $1,550. It would also increase the income limits for claiming the credit, to $38,200 for renters and $41,000 for homeowners, with slightly higher amounts allowed for married couples claiming the credit. For the first time, the credit amount and the income limits would be indexed for inflation. The sales tax exemption for diapers and hygiene products is a provision Democrats have sought for several years. The circuit breaker increase and sales tax exemptions 'sweetens the deal' for Democrats, House Minority Leader Ashley Aune said. But that doesn't mean they are ready to back the bill. 'This is another situation where we absolutely have to weigh the good with the bad,' said Aune, a Kansas City Democrat. 'There's still plenty in that bill that we are deeply unhappy with.' Perkins said he likes the Senate's inclusion of the sales tax exemption. A provision allowing ambulance and fire districts to ask voters for a 1% sales tax — up from the current 0.5% limit — is also an attractive feature, he said. 'We're moving forward,' Perkins said. 'There are a lot of people that say if I don't get things 100% my way, I didn't win. I don't view it like that.' The bill will have no more debate in the Senate before a vote because the handler, state Sen. Curtis Trent, a Republican from Springfield, formally brought the discussion to a close on Wednesday. Once it is reported from the Fiscal Review Committee, the vote could be held at any time. Along with the potential for being far more costly than estimated, there are other reasons to delay a tax cut, Davis said. Federal budget cuts are threatening to greatly increase the state's cost for Medicaid. The operating budget approved last week in the House dips into the state's accumulated surplus for about $900 million and the Senate is likely to increase that amount, with construction spending bills to follow. And if the bill is passed, Missouri will be the only state with an income tax that does not apply to capital gains income. 'There's a long list of reasons to budget very cautiously at this moment and to prepare for uncertainty and volatility,' Davis said. 'The last thing you want to do in an environment like this is to vote on a tax bill where you're not even 100% confident in what the revenue liability is going to be.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
