Every week, St. Louis Public Radio and the Beacon's Chris McDaniel, Jo Mannies and Jason Rosenbaum talk about the week’s politics.
It's another two-part edition of the podcast. Marshall Griffin joins the Politically Speaking crew to talk about Gov. Jay Nixon's State of the State speech and the latest developments involving Missouri's death penalty. Senate Minority Leader Jolie Justus, D-Kansas City, joins Chris, Jo and Jason for the second part of the show.
Justus provided her take on Nixon's sixth State of the State speech, which focused heavily on education funding. She also discussed last year's surprising passage of legislation aimed at shielding gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual Missourians from discrimination.
During the show, Justus said:
- Nixon's speech on Tuesday was her favorite during her eight-year legislative career. She added she was heartened by Nixon's strong support for expanding Medicaid.
- She expects the Missouri Non-Discrimination Act to pass the House this year. That bill would bar discrimination in housing, employment or public accommodation based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Nixon urged the legislature to pass Justus' bill during his State of the State speech.
- Senate Democrats would fight Republican efforts to institute "Right to Work." That's the proposal in which unions and employers would be barred from requiring all workers to pay union dues if a majority votes to organize.
- One of her biggest priorities during her last year in office is revising Missouri's criminal code. She noted it hasn't been updated since the 1970s -- when former U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Lexington, was in the Missouri Senate.
Follow Chris McDaniel on Twitter: @csmcdaniel
Follow Jo Mannies on Twitter: @jmannies
Follow Jason Rosenbaum on Twitter: @jrosenbaum
Follow Marshall Griffin on Twitter: @MarshallGReport
Follow Jolie Justus on Twitter: @JolieJustus
