JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Gov. Jay Nixon held a press conference on Tuesday to announce Missouri employers will save some $186 million annually as the state retires its obligation to the federal Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund six months ahead of schedule.

But at the news conference, a handful of other issues arose.

1. Medicaid expansion

Nixon lauded former Republican U.S. Senator Kit Bond for his support of Medicaid expansion, noting that he has consulted with Bond – a former two-term governor – in the past on other economic issues. Nixon said he and House Speaker Tim Jones had met within the last 10 days where the issue of expansion came up.

“We’re continuing to lay out what I think is an important case. The coalition continues to broaden. As one of the Senators said, this appears to be eventually inevitable. When you see in the public sector the coalition continue to get larger as you move forward, then it just becomes a timing matter. The Speaker is certainly important. Reps. Jay Barnes, Noel Torpey and others who spent their summer out listening to folks are also voices that are very important in that body. My sense is we’ll continue to press forward,” Nixon said. “Since last year, two things are different: Last year, we are talking about hypotheticals. This year it’s real.”

2. Appointees

Nixon defended the amount of vacant posts on boards and commissions when asked about Sen. Bob Dixon’s bill aimed at speeding up the appointment process. Nixon said, “the legislature has added 330 appointees to boards and commissions” since he was elected.

“We’re trying to make government smaller, more efficient and move the state forward and they continue to push forward more commissions,” he said. “If we’re going to make government smaller and more efficient, we should work toward that.”

Nixon was dismissive when asked about the legislative vacancies, including former Speaker Pro Tem Jason Smith’s seat, which has been vacant for almost seven months.

“As governors have done in the past, we’ll look at all of these and make these decisions,” he said. “We are in an election year, there are folks beginning to file.”

3. Clemency

Nixon said his office was continuing to review the execution of accused killer Herbert Smulls, who was set to be executed Tuesday evening.

“The death penalty is a difficult and challenging part of the judicial system. We’ll be working as the afternoon and evening goes on to finish review of all those issues around that,” he said.

On the broader question surrounding the questionable state of Missouri’s execution methods (one report claims the state has used a secret compounding pharmacy in Oklahoma that is not licensed in Missouri), Nixon said “Missouri’s administration of death penalty complies with all state and federal laws.”

Nixon said he was not in favor of legislation in the General Assembly that would expand the list of ways Missouri can execute prisoners to include firing squads. “I’ve been involved as attorney general and governor in a number of these. I don’t think dealing with things like firing squads is the right way to go,” he said.

4. Minimum Wage

During his state of the union address Tuesday night, President Barack Obama is expected to announce an executive order raising the minimum wage for workers under new federal contracts to $10.10 an hour, up from $7.25. Nixon said he hadn’t seen specifics on Obama’s proposal, but added he was for an increased minimum wage.

“Missourians have spoken before on issues involving minimum wage,” he said. “Upping that amount is something that helps out economy because it puts dollars in the pockets of people who are doing hard work. That’s one of the ways that an economy moves forward.”

5. Mizzou issue

On Tuesday, Nixon joined Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill and Republican state Sen. Kurt Schaefer in weighing in on the alleged sexual assault case at the University of Missouri involving Sasha Menu Courey, who ultimately committed suicide.

“Our college campuses need to be safe havens. Allegations of this type need to be taken seriously,” Nixon said. “The university has submitted information to the Columbia Police Department. Ultimately, this is a heartbreaking situation.”