Shortly after I posted my previous article, I received a call from this man...

Jerry Dowell is the Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs.  Basically Mr. Dowell confirmed what Representative Ervin had said.

Dowell said that, "In a nutshell, the Governor doesn't sign HCR's {House Concurrent Resolutions}"

When I asked him "why all the secrecy over at the Governor's office?", Mr. Dowell indicated that he did not know why.

I then told Mr. Dowell that whoever I talked to at the Governor's office, became borderline hostile when I started talking about the specifics of HCR-20. I continued by stating that,"I'll stop short of saying that she lied to me outright, but she tried to tell me that HCR-20 was a piece of Federal legislation"

"She obviously doesn't know what she's talking about", Dowell replied.

Obviously.

Clint, Missouri Bushwhacker

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State Rep. Doug Ervin, answered questions that the Goveror's Office Would Not

A friend sent my blog link to Missouri Representative Doug Ervin as to why the Governor would no sign HCR-20. Ervin replied that:

"It is true that HCR20  passed both the House and the Senate, but it is untrue that it requires the Governor's signature.

There are different types of bills that can be filed in the General Assembly:  House Bills (HBxx) which change our statues, House  Concurrent Resolutions (HCRxx), House Resolutions (HRxx) which only the House  takes any action on, and House Joint  resolutions (HJRxx) which are proposed changes to our Missouri Constitution.  Of these, only House Bills require a governor's signature to become law.

A House Concurrent Resolution is a statement or request by the legislative branch.  It does not require executive approval, nor is the executive branch allowed to sign them even if he wanted to.

In the case of HCR20 (which is right on the money), it sends a message to Congress from the Missouri General Assembly urging them to repeal the REAL ID Act and it instructs the chief clerk on who send copies of the resolution to as stated in the "therefores":