Legislative Update - FINAL 2025 Update
I’m not gonna lie to y’all, it was real hard coming back to the battlefield of the State Capitol after Memorial Day. And then coming back this Monday to close up shop was very odd. Senators met for about 30 minutes Monday morning to pass a few bills and then had to recess until 2:00 in the afternoon to wait for the Governor to get back to town to give them their farewell address. This was a long long long long session, filled with more fights against legislation causing harm to clients of this firm than I’ve ever experienced. I think the addition of so many newly elected Senators created for a lot of ‘new ideas’ that really aren’t new at all, but with the lack of institutional knowledge due to term-limits coupled with a fairly high turnover in staff the past few years, we just got SLAMMED with potentially harmful bills and resolutions in 2025. And they came late and without warning, which always makes for a busier than usual public hearing season.
Senators sent 202 bills to the Governor’s desk this session (the Lincoln Journal Star says 322 but that rightly assumes that 120 of them were bills amended into other bills), and passed a budget that was quite a mess to deal with due to declining revenues and expanding tax shifts. There are 81 bills that got out of committee that are still available to be addressed next year (YIKES-those can be scary). Also, don’t freak out if you see bills on your tracker that are newly tagged as ‘Indefinitely postponed’. They made a motion on Monday to kill 45 bills whose provisions had been included in other enacted legislation. That way they are out of the way for next year. If you were thinking a bill of yours passed and now it says it wasn’t, your bill went into another bill that passes. Clear as mud?
What’s next? Well…I say it’s hopefully time to keep a normal legislative schedule. Many of you have asked and/or are thinking, ‘Are we having a Special Session?’ Due to the ramped-up chaos in Washington DC and the threats to federal dollars flowing through to states, the potential sure does seem to be there for a budget-related Special Session in Fall of this year. Thankfully, I’ve heard Governor Pillen on 2 separate occasions in the past 7 days say that he is not intending to call the Legislature back this year. THANK YOU! We’ve had 3 extra sessions since Covid shut down the 2020 session in March. We came back that July (here’s 1) to finish that session; 2021 was a complete disaster with a regular session in Covid mode, followed by a Redistricting-only Special Session (that’s 2); then last year, they were called back (for. a. month.) to attempt to deliver property tax reform (that’s 3). It’s time to go back to a 90-Day followed by a 60-Day and be done!
For me, I plan to disappear for most of the next 3 months…Lake of the Ozarks is calling my name! Also, the offices of Jensen Rogert Associates will be closed on Fridays until after Labor Day at least. Julie has a big garden to tend to!
As the interim progresses, I’ll be sending emails to some of you detailing what we accomplished together this past session and what to look forward to for the next 10 months or so. Most Senators would rather not hear from me and you for the next several weeks; so jot those ideas down, and we’ll get to them in due time.
And lastly, thank you thank you thank you! For your confidence in engaging with me and my team. I appreciate all of you more than I can convey in these emails, and I look very forward to our continued work together. Please spend some time this summer enjoying your hobbies and friends and family. We all need to grab a little more life sometimes, and now is the time to do it!
My best to all!
~Kent