MO Statehouse

Mo. Gov. Jay Nixon has announced that the former police chief of St. Louis County, Jerry Lee, has been named as the new state public safety director.

Lee will replace former director John Britt, who left the position last Thursday.

The appointment of Lee now leaves a vacancy on the St. Louis City Board of Police Commissioners to be filled by gubernatorial appointment "in due time," Nixon spokesman Scott Holste said.

Missouri’s special legislative session may, in effect, be over, following Monday's actions in the Missouri Senate.

First, the Senate rejected the House version of a wide-ranging tax credit bill, voting to send it back to the House and urging passage of the Senate version.  Then Senate leaders chose not to vote on a presidential primary bill, following a failed attempt to swap it out with an alternate version that would have replaced the primary with county-level caucuses.

An attempt to replace Missouri’s presidential primary with statewide caucuses has failed in the State Senate, meaning the February 7th Democratic and Republican primaries will go on as scheduled.

Before the vote, some amendments were offered, including one that would have moved the primary forward to January.  None of them passed, but they reflected efforts by several Republicans to preserve the state's primary.  State Senator Eric Schmitt (R, Glendale) said that caucuses result in fewer people having a say in who they want for president.

Numerous proposals to redraw Missouri’s State House and Senate district maps were delivered today to a six-judge panel in Jefferson City.

The interested parties include several current and former lawmakers from both political parties.  A coalition of St. Louis-area senators pitched a map that's designed to prevent the region from losing a State Senate seat.  Republican Eric Schmitt of Glendale says the metro area has not lost enough population to justify losing a Senate district.