Legislature
25 fundraisers in three days: Veto session offers Missouri lawmakers a chance to raise money
Missouri lawmakers will return to Jefferson City this week to consider whether to override any of Gov. Mike Parson’s vetoes. And while they are in town, many will also engage in another veto session tradition — raising campaign cash at a parade of parties and fundraisers all over the Capitol City. Less than two months […]
Missouri schools lack public enforcement policies for transgender athlete restrictions
It has been a year since a state law required Missouri schools to have athletes compete according to their sex as assigned at birth, and few student manuals and school-board policies reflect the change. Enforcement, which was murky last year, remains unprescribed with many districts stating that they will follow the law without describing how. […]
Missouri legislative leaders call for hearings over child care subsidy ‘crisis’
Missouri lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are calling for emergency interim committees to investigate the state’s monthslong child care subsidy backlog.
Drugmakers sue to block Missouri law on federal prescription discounts
Three major pharmaceutical companies and their national lobbying organization are suing Missouri to block enforcement of a new state law requiring them to give medical providers unlimited access to discounted drugs for their pharmacies. In four federal lawsuits filed over the past month, Novartis, AstraZeneca, Abbvie and PhRMA, the lobbying arm of the pharmaceutical industry, […]
Missouri Democrats, tired of seeing uncontested Republicans, recruit more legislative candidates
When Melissa Viloria was growing up in northeast Missouri, few people in power that looked like her. Viloria was born in Hawaii to a mother from Missouri and a father who immigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines. Her parents moved to Missouri in 1978. They found themselves among the few vocal Democrats of the […]
Dean Plocher accused of trying to ‘mislead this court’ in whistleblower lawsuit
Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher’s arguments to dismiss a whistleblower lawsuit filed against him earlier this year don’t withstand scrutiny and are an effort to “mislead this court,” attorneys for Chief Clerk Dana Miller wrote in a motion filed this week. Miller’s lawsuit, filed in May, accuses Plocher and his chief of staff, Rod Jetton, […]
Missouri Freedom Caucus celebrates its showing in statewide primary elections
The right-wing Freedom Caucus fared well in Missouri’s GOP primaries Tuesday, grabbing its first statewide nomination and displaying the reach of its message in other races. State Sen. Denny Hoskins of Warrensburg emerged from an eight-person field to get the Republican nomination for Secretary of State. Freedom Caucus member state Sen. Bill Eigel finished second […]
‘It’s time to move on’: Missouri transportation director announces resignation
Patrick McKenna, director of the Missouri Department of Transportation, on Wednesday said he will leave his post after almost nine years on the job. McKenna announced his decision near the end of a meeting of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission in Poplar Bluff. He did not give a date for his departure and did […]
Incumbent Missouri senators survive primary challenges across the state
Every incumbent Missouri senator challenged in Tuesday’s primaries won renomination, but Republican voters rejected sitting House members in five districts. In the Senate primaries, a big money advantage generally, but not in every case, carried the day. One notable exception was in the 31st District of western Missouri, where incumbent state Sen. Rick Brattin of […]
University of Missouri bows to Republican pressure and eliminates campus DEI division
The University of Missouri will eliminate its division focused on diversity, social equity and inclusion on the Columbia campus, completing the dismantling of administrative structures put in place after protests in 2015 brought national attention to issues of racial equality. The move coincides with the departure of division Vice Chancellor Maurice Gipson. It is designed […]
Federal court strikes down Missouri’s revolving-door lobbying ban
A federal appeals court on Monday ruled that Missouri’s ban on lawmakers and legislative staff working as lobbyists for two years after leaving office is unconstitutional. First enacted in 2018 as part of a voter-approved initiative called “Clean Missouri,” the revolving-door law was designed to prevent corruption and the appearance of corruption. But the U.S. Eighth Circuit […]
Dean Plocher asks judge to dismiss whistleblower lawsuit alleging harassment, intimidation
Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher is asking a Cole County judge to dismiss him from a whistleblower lawsuit filed earlier this year, arguing any allegations of wrongdoing amount to “little more than internal political disputes.” House Chief Clerk Dana Miller filed a lawsuit in May accusing Plocher and his chief of staff, Rod Jetton, of […]