####Rep. Emerson Resigns####
Eighth District U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, resigned Wednesday through letters sent to Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and House Speaker John Boehner. Emerson, a member of the House Appropriations Committee and the dean of the Missouri congressional delegation, announced the move in December.
The Eighth Congressional District Committee has until March 30 to select candidates for the special election to replace Emerson, which is slated for June 4, a date set by Nixon.
Emerson, who is stepping down in order to become president and CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, has served in the House since 1996. Her late husband, Bill Emerson, was the Eighth District’s representative from 1981 to 1996.
“Serving the Eighth Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives has been the greatest honor of my professional career,” Emerson said in the letter to Boehner. “I am humbled and grateful for the opportunity to represent Southern Missouri, to bring the ideas of the people to our Capitol, and to be part of our democracy.”
####House passes election bill####
House Bill 110, a measure that modifies current procedures for how elected officials are replaced when they resign, was approved by the house Wednesday.
The bill stipulates that a special election to replace a vacated seat in the state legislature must take place within six months of the seat’s opening.
It also states if an opening arises for a Missouri U.S. Senator, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, State Auditor or State Treasurer, the governor must appoint a temporary acting officer until a successor can be elected in the next election. A special election to fill the vacancy can be held under certain circumstances.
HB 110 will also move Missouri’s presidential primary from February to March.
####Appointment delayed by plane controversy####
The nomination of Doug Nelson, Office of Administration Acting Commissioner, is on hold while the Missouri Senate digs deeper into the purchase of a $5.6 million dollar aircraft by the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
The purchase was approved in December by Nelson, and was paid for using highway patrol funds.
Nelson has served as acting commissioner since February. If confirmed, he would become Office of Administration Commissioner, a cabinet-level position in the governor’s administration.
“(The patrol) has a funding source, they have funds in that source, and they have an appropriations line that allows them to make purchases of vehicles and aircraft,” Nelson told the Associated Press. “That’s what they did.”
Nixon’s administration previously [came under fire](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2012/9/7/gov-nixons-office-receives-fair-rating-recent-audi/) when a state audit revealed last year that other state agencies picked up a bill of $444,672 for flights in state-owned planes.
“This is an issue of essentially either failing to recognize or simply not caring about the general assembly’s role in how the public’s money is spent,” Senate Appropriations Chairman Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, said Thursday.