Missouri lawmakers will try to make the most of a short week, which could include the next batch of ethics bills.
The shorter work week is due to the Martin Luther King holiday, as well as Gov. Jay Nixon's State of the State Address Wednesday night.
The next four House ethics bills are headlined by a proposed ban on gifts from lobbyists to lawmakers, their families and staff. Another would require former lawmakers to dissolve any candidate committees they still have before becoming lobbyists.
"I'm hopeful that those bills will move out of committee, and hopefully we'll have them to the floor very soon," said House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff.
Hearings on the next wave of ethics bills are scheduled Tuesday.
Richardson doubts they would be able to send the new ethics bills to the Senate this week, but he did tell reporters that they could receive first-round approval, also known as "perfection."
Senators, meanwhile, will hold hearings on several bills. They include that chamber's version of the proposal to require photo IDs for voting, along with a bill that would abolish the death penalty in Missouri.
Also, Majority Floor Leader Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, says they may conduct some procedural moves for the four ethics bills passed by the House last week.
"It's more than likely never going to be good enough, far enough, long enough, early enough, low enough amount, high enough amount, to satisfy everybody," Kehoe said. "It's just one of those issues that has too many moving pieces, but as I've said all along, if we can start moving the ball down the field on ethics reform, I think it's a much better position than what we're in right now."
Follow Marshall Griffin on Twitter: @MarshallGReport
