#ballot items

David Lieb of the Associated Press wrote his Monday analysis on how a proposed ballot item raising tobacco taxes is really aimed at smaller firms.

From the article:

A proposed Missouri ballot measure poses the question: Should a $1 per pack tax be imposed on cigarettes made "by certain tobacco product manufacturers?"

Left unsaid is that the tax would not apply to the biggest tobacco companies, which sell the majority of cigarettes. What's meant by "certain" tobacco makers is primarily the smaller companies, which sell cigarettes at the cheapest prices.

Although it's dubbed the "Healthy Missouri Initiative Petition," the measure appears to come not from health care groups but from large tobacco companies, which have been losing market share to upstart companies that were not part of the 1998 settlement among big tobacco firms and attorneys general in 46 states.

Here's video of Department of Agriculture Director Jon Hagler speaking at a St. Louis City press conference Tuesday morning about changes to the state's dog breeding laws.

The above video features Gov. Jay Nixon talking about legislation altering dog breeding regulations at a Missouri Humane Society in St. Louis City. The legislature altered aspects of Proposition B, a ballot item approved last year that tightened regulations on dog breeders.

It's been an extremely busy day, to say the least.

First of all, Gov. Jay Nixon signed legislation this morning making significant changes to Proposition B. By the end of the day, the legislature had passed even more changes to the measure in pretty rapid succession.

Here's an audio clip of Rep. Margo McNeil, D-Florissant, voting against legislation altering many aspects of a ballot item regulating dog breeding.

The Missouri House took up legislation that would alter parts of Proposition B, the ballot item that enacted new dog breeding regulations.