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TWMP discusses transportation, Right to Work

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Just before the snow buried much of the state and cancelled official legislative actions for Monday, a few Missouri lawmakers came on This Week In Missouri Politics to discuss the state’s roads and the cars driving on them.

Sen. Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, spoke at length about his position on Tesla, the electric car manufacturer that was recently granted a dealer’s license in the state despite what Kehoe calls a lack of compliance with basic state alaw.

Kehoe, a car dealer himself, says the state’s franchise law exists as a “consumer protection,” and says Tesla — which allows individuals to purchase their cars online direct from the factory and has no brick-and-mortar presence in Missouri — should have to play by the same rules as Ford or Toyota.

“They didn’t fit any of the parameters of the franchise law but for some reason Gov. [Jay] Nixon and the Department of Revenue issued them a dealer license,” Kehoe said. “And what Missouri auto dealers are saying is, ‘wait a minute, for the last 40 years we’ve been complying with Missouri franchise law, now it seems like a new tier has been created for just one company, and that’s not a level playing field.’”

Kehoe, along with several guests, also spoke about the need for creative solutions to provide new funding for transportation. Kehoe has championed several efforts to increase funding for Missouri’s road network, which is the 7th in the nation in total miles, but in the bottom 10 for road funding.

Opinion Maker panel guests included Sen. Ryan Silvey, Rep. Shamed Dogan, former State Auditor Susan Montee, and Sen. Gina Walsh.

Silvey called the Tesla issue “interesting” and said it might help begin a discussion about the best rules and regulations, in general, for selling cars in the state. The panel were largely in agreement on the Tesla issue before touching on Right-to-Work, transportation, Medicaid and more.

Some highlights from this week’s episode:

-“Department of Revenue has a history of making some kind of interpretations in ways that the legislature didn’t intend, whether it was scanning ID documents for concealed-carry or the fee office kick-back of fees for bidding contracts…we’ve seen this with the Department of Revenue,” Montee on DNR, Tesla, and franchise law.

-“It’s proven that state’s that have passed Right-to-Work laws, their household income is over $500 less a month, they spend more than $3,000 less per child for education,” Walsh said, speaking on Right-to-Work.

-“I supported it, because I believe it’s the right thing for Missouri, in terms of bringing jobs and businesses back to Missouri that we’ve lost to six of our eight surrounding states that already have Right-to-Work,” Dogan, on his vote.

-“Washington’s answer was just to expand Mediciad, to put everybody on Medicaid. Clearly there’s not support for that in the legislature. I don’t even support that…. However, I think that if states are given the flexibility to design their own programs on how it makes sense to take care of their citizens, I think there’s probably a way forward,” Silvey, on his bill to expand and reform Medicaid via a block grant.

 

This Week In Missouri Politics airs every Sunday on ABC 30 in the St. Louis market and an be viewed any time online.