The city previously supported "Medicaid transformation" to give lawmakers more "latitude" on the issue.

Councilman Mike Schilling said that sounded like council was "ashamed" of supporting expansion.

For the first time in years, the Springfield City Council is set to ask the Missouri legislature to pass Medicaid expansion.

In previous years, the council's official legislative platform has encouraged lawmakers to support Medicaid "transformation" — avoiding an explicit endorsement of a program tied to the Obama-era Affordable Care Act despised by Republicans in Jefferson City.

But as council members reviewed a draft 2020 platform at their lunch meeting Tuesday, Councilman Craig Hosmer urged a bolder stance.

"I don't even know what Medicaid transformation means," he said.

Mayor Ken McClure reminded him of the strategic nature of the transformation language.

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"It gives the latitude to do a lot of things because if you say Medicaid expansion, that's DOA," he said.

Councilman Mike Schilling, who served as a Democratic legislator in the 1990s, said that made it sound like the council is ashamed to support expansion.

And after Hosmer pointed out that "Medicaid expansion, for better or worse, means something to people," McClure relented.

"I don’t disagree, and frankly I don’t care," McClure said. "Let’s put expansion in there and do it, but I think it's tilting at windmills."

Will Marrs, the city's lobbyist, seconded McClure's point when he weighed in, predicting that the expansion, which advocates say could extend coverage to 200,000 Missourians, would only pass via initiative petition.

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Such a petition is already being circulated in southwest Missouri this year and has drawn substantial financial support from health care organizations around the state.

The proposal would make eligible anyone making less than 138% of the federal poverty level — less than $18,000 a year for an individual or $30,000 for a family of three — eligible for the program.

Supporters say it would be a lifeline for Missourians making too much to qualify under current standards and too little to afford private health insurance. They also say it would help rural hospitals providing uncompensated care to uninsured patients.

House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, said in a press conference last month that expansion would "blow a sizable hole in our general revenue budget" and require cuts to education spending.

The council also reviewed several priorities it pushed last year that didn't pass but are likely to figure into debate in 2020.

One in particular was Springfield City Council's call for legislation requiring the collection of sales tax on internet purchases, which would bring in new revenue and help address the inequality between brick-and-mortar businesses that already have to charge sales tax and their online competitors.

Legislation addressing the issue fell apart last session as Republicans clashed over whether the new revenue should be used for a tax cut.

Marrs, the city's lobbyist, said he wasn't sure whether those issues had been resolved yet and predicted it might come down to the final few weeks of the 2020 session.

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"There were about three versions of the bill that came close (last year)," he said, "but I don't really think we're there yet for next year, so this could be another down-to-the-wire situation."

The council is also set to continue pushing for legislation that would allow it to ask voters to increase the local lodging tax.

Last year's attempt met with opposition from conservative senators who generally oppose new taxes of any kind. City Manager Jason Gage said it was important to emphasize that the legislation would leave the ultimate decision on raising taxes to Springfield voters and frame the issue as simply giving them the option to vote on a higher tax like their counterparts in larger cities have.

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"What we're saying is our voters in Springfield should have the same rights as voters in Kansas City and St. Louis," Gage said.

McClure added that raising the local lodging tax would be essential to local leaders' long-held ambitions of building a larger convention center.

Council members also discussed legislation that would rein in the payday loan industry, which they have decried for years for issuing short-term, high-interest loans that advocates say trap low-income people in debt.

In Missouri, only the legislature can cap the interest rates payday lenders are allowed to charge.

Marrs, for his part, said that would be a heavy lift after the 2014 veto of a compromise measure backed by the payday loan industry.

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"People thought it was taken care of years ago," he said. "That was a five-year process to get something not all that substantial passed, and to try and attack that again, I think it’s more of whether they have the stomach to do it."

The city's draft platform also asks lawmakers to restore city court judges' ability to suspend people's driver's licenses if they skip court or fail to pay fines on minor traffic offenses.

Rep. Steve Helms, R-Springfield, told the News-Leader last week he plans to file legislation to that effect despite seeing Gov. Mike Parson, a fellow Republican, veto the idea in July.

Legislation making it easier for the city to handle some nuisance complaints is also on the list of priorities.

The council is expected to formally approve its platform early next month.