Associate Press, April 16, 2013 JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Senate has rejected a bill that would have allowed additional water and sewer companies to seek permission for surcharges to build new infrastructure. Currently, only water companies in St. Louis County can impose such a surcharge between formal rate cases. Other water companies must get approval for a rate increase from the state Public Service Commission. The legislation defeated by a 17-16 vote Tuesday ...
Tag Archives: News Coverage
Groups Give Up Fight to Put Payday Loan Reform on Ballot
St. Louis Beacon, September 3, 2012 Legal challenges won’t go forward to get initiatives raising the minimum wage and restricting “payday” loans on the ballot, according to organizers of the two efforts. Secretary of State Robin Carnahan’s office announced in August that initiative petitions to raise the minimum wage to $8.25 an hour and restrict interest rates on payday loans didn’t receive enough signatures in two St. Louis-based congressional districts. Spokespeople for th ...
Editorial: Failure of Payday Loan Reform Measure Bad for Missouri
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 6, 2012 Robbery with a pen will continue to be legal in Missouri with the announcement Monday that Missourians for Responsible Lending had abandoned its campaign to cap payday loan interest rates in the face of well-financed opposition from the industry. What this means is that instead of capping the interest rates and fees for payday loans at a relatively reasonable 36 percent, they will continue to soar to their average rate of 445 percent ...
Ameren Rates Rise Sharply During Recession
Now it wants to get in your pocket again! Senate Bill 207 and House Bill 398, virtually identical bills, are working their way through the legislative process in the Missouri General Assembly. The bills would let investor-owned utilities raise rates automatically -- through a mechanism called an Infrastructure System Replacement Surcharge -- without any meaningful review by the Public Service Commission. These utilities are Ameren Missouri, KCP&L, KCP&L GMO and Emp ...
Ameren Biggest Spender on Legislators, Report of Data Says
St. Louis Public Radio has launched a new project that will keep track monthly of gifts and money lobbyists give to Missouri legislators. Its first report tracks expenditures in the first two months of 2013. In January and February Ameren Corp., provider of electricity and gas to a large portion of the state, topped the list with expenditures of more than $25,000. KWMU, University of Missouri - St. Louis, April 10, 2013 St. Louis Public Radio has launched a new data-oriente ...
Leading Missouri Newspapers Speak Out for Medicaid Expansion
Springfield New-Leader, March 2, 2013 Kansas City Star, March 1, 2013 Kansas City Star, March 8, 2013 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 1, 2013 ...
House Vote Set on Plan to Change Medicaid in Missouri
The St. Louis Beacon, April 2, 2013 The Missouri House has passed a new state budget without Gov. Jay Nixon's sought-after Medicaid expansion, but that doesn't mean Republicans are dropping the issue entirely. The House Government Oversight and Accountability Committee is slated to vote Wednesday on HB700, a bill proposed by state Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, to change the state's current Medicaid program dramatically. But word already is circulating that Barnes' bil ...
FERAF Opposes Electric Rate Legislation
Fair Energy Rate Action Fund, March 11, 2013 Businesses, just like politicians, need to be held accountable to the public when making public policy. Ameren, Empire and KCP&L’s recent explanation for why they need to abolish the PSC’s oversight of new expenditures and add a surcharge to the electric bill of every Missouri business and residential customer is a case in point. The ISRS legislation was pitched to legislators as allowing electric companies to be able to collec ...
PSC Grants Senator’s Request for More Information on Bill
Missouri Times, March 26, 2013 JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A contentious Public Service Commission meeting ended in consensus on Wednesday with the PSC voting unanimously to allow the expedited request of Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Glendale, to provide the Senate more information on the pending “ISRS” legislation in the form of a formal docket and have the information returned to Senator Schmitt as soon as possible. Schmitt was pleased by this affirmation by the commission’s decision to ...
Senators Accuse Ex-PSC Chair of Lobbying for Bill; Chair Responds
Missouri Times, March 28, 2013 JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – On the heels of a contentious Public Service Commission hearing Wednesday where the Commission unanimously decided to keep open a docket requested by Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Glendale, to collect more information, two sitting senators have accused former PSC Chairman Kevin Gunn of lobbying them to support the pending “ISRS” bill. At the meeting, Commissioner Terry Jarrett argued that opening the docket to collect information on ...
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