Capitol Report 2/21/2025

Missouri News Network: Statehouse News for MPA Members
This report is written by Missouri School of Journalism students for publication by MPA member newspapers in print and online.

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Missouri News Network stories coverage this week includes Gov. Mike Kehoe’s executive order barring state agencies from having DEI initiatives, a look at complaints from county coroners about low pay, hearings on bills seeking to limit drag shows and limit school bathroom use to the sex assigned at birth and House approval of a bill protecting pesticide maker Bayer from cancer lawsuits.

If you have thoughts or questions, contact Fred Anklam at anklamf@missouri.edu.

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THURSDAY

Rural Missouri coroners face steep budget shortfalls, low pay

By Mary McCue Bell, Missouri News Network

Shannon County Coroner Sam Murphy worked out of his house, drove his own car and used body bags from the state surplus. Murphy, who was paid less than $800 a month, didn’t have a cooler to store bodies.

When Danny Leo Green was the Cedar County deputy coroner, he did his work on a volunteer basis with no pay.

Wayne County Coroner Mark Smith went $10,000 over budget to ensure that toxicology and other key tests were done.

Coroners are among the lowest-paid elected officials in Missouri. They’re some of the first people to lay eyes on the deceased and one of the last to do so after certifying the death certificate. Coroners are one of the only officeholders required to be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. The coroner is one of the few who gets woken up in the middle of the night to check out a dead body.

Coroners’ offices are often constrained by low budgets, which can affect many facets of the job, including the ability to order autopsies.

Dent County Coroner Ben Pursifull has a salary of $18,600 a year. On the job, he’s had to transport decomposing bodies for over two hours wearing a mask to protect himself from the odor and fumes.

“One year, I made less than $1 an hour,” Pursifull said. “And that’s a common occurrence across the state.”

Phelps County Coroner Ernie Coverdell works two jobs to “make ends meet.”

The position is sometimes considered part time. But the Dent County deputy coroner clocks a minimum of 48 hours weekly, and Pursifull is on call for 120 hours weekly. When both were reclassified as full-time employees, he said, neither salary was raised.

“They all think it’s a part-time job.”

Part-time versus full-time status is up to the discretion of the county commission. County commissions also approve coroner budgets and salary increases.

“I had no idea about all the politicking that went with the budgeting,” Pursifull said. “I’m 100% sure you’ve had people that have stepped into this office, got elected, realized it’s 10 times worse than what they ever imagined and didn’t do it.”

Pursifull had been fighting for a new vehicle for two years — he had an old, run-down Suburban — when he finally had enough. After being called to a particularly nasty decomposition, he went to a county commissioner’s house at 9 p.m. to ask for help.

After one look inside a house with a body that had been decomposing for two weeks, the commissioner turned around and left. The next day, county commissioners received a selfie: Pursifull wearing a respirator in the Suburban with a full body bag in the back seat. In another instance, he had to use the bed of his personal pickup truck because the body had decomposed to the point that it was too leaky to put in the Suburban.

In Perry County, a previous coroner ran a funeral home in tandem with the coroner’s office. Lots of Missouri coroner’s offices operate this way because a funeral home provides coolers, transportation and body bags.

Pursifull bought his office iPads with cash so that he wouldn’t have to go through his commission. Lincoln County was denied radios.

“Every one of us has used our own personal money on stuff for the office,” said Dan Heavin, the Lincoln County coroner and president of the Missouri Coroner’s and Medical Examiner’s Association.

Coverdell recently wrote a letter to the Phelps County Commission explaining that he believes the coroner’s office cannot properly fulfill its statutory responsibilities. He alleges that this is due to the county commission not providing his office with adequate resources, such as a morgue or facility to store bodies and manage death investigations.

Coverdell’s letter argues that the commission’s “refusal” to provide the necessary equipment for the coroner’s office violates Missouri statute. The statute stipulates that the county must provide space for county officers, such as the coroner, to properly perform their duties.

Currently, Coverdell is using a local cremation site to store bodies at $75 per day per body. He said he spent $8,300 on storage fees last year.

Coverdell said he is pushing for what he needs to do the job right. From the other perspective, Joey Auxier, the Phelps County presiding commissioner, said he told Coverdell twice that he had to include what his office needs, including a morgue, in his budget.

“Coverdell is making the commission out to be the bad guy,” Auxier said.

When Coverdell took office, the Phelps County Commission knew that he was “way underpaid and under-budgeted,” so, they doubled both his salary and budget. When the state tried to pull back his salary increase because it was a raise given midterm, the commission stood its ground, Auxier said.

When current Perry County Coroner Bill Bohnert was elected in 2016, his salary was roughly $16,000. That didn’t meet his needs, so he worked with the county commission to increase his salary by almost 2.5 times, obtain an office and fund a car, coolers and equipment.

The original salary was based on the assessed value of his county, as called for by Missouri statute. To increase a coroner’s salary, the county commission gets the final stamp of approval.

County commissioners all think it’s a part-time job, Bohnert said.

“I think every corner is rudely awakened to the fact that the commissioners — I’m not saying this to give commissioners a black eye — but the commissioners just don’t care about the coroner’s office,” Pursifull said.

Allocating taxpayer dollars

One of a coroner’s key responsibilities is determining the cause of death. When a coroner needs to know beyond the shadow of a doubt why someone died, that’s when an autopsy is ordered. Such circumstances can include if foul play is suspected in a criminal case or if there’s no hypothesis for the cause of death.

Pursifull said he is very conscious of the fact that he’s using taxpayer money for autopsies. In a handful of circumstances where he’s on the fence about ordering an autopsy, he’s chosen not to do one because he’s spending almost $3,000 of taxpayer money to confirm an answer he’s 75% sure about.

When Bollinger County Coroner Calvin Troxell took office four years ago, $10,000 would cover almost five autopsies. Now it doesn’t go nearly as far.

A typical autopsy costs anywhere between $2,500 to $3,750 at discounts for Missouri coroners.

“You can send a county into bankruptcy,” Cedar County Coroner Danny Leo Green said when referring to a surplus of autopsies.

Budgeting can always be unpredictable; it’s impossible to know how many crime scenes or deaths under the purview of the coroner’s office will happen in any year. Reallocating money is a part of doing business, said Joe Gildehaus, president of the Missouri County Commissioners Association and the Warren County presiding commissioner.

“No budget’s ever perfect, there’s always something that comes up,” Gildehaus said. “You really want to try to make your budgets balanced so you don’t have no big, big surprises.”

Checks and balances are needed when there’s a process to approve using taxpayer dollars, said Nora Powell, the former Cedar County coroner. Her office was budgeted two autopsies a year. When she needed additional funding, she went to the county commission. In her county, it was less about the commission not wanting to hand over money, but instead being unable to.

“It was a pain in the butt process,” former Cedar County Deputy Coroner Frank Brumfield said.

Powell understood where the commissioners were coming from as they had their own budget constraints. She saw funding from the perspective of the whole county’s budget.

“The struggle is, where does the money come from? In small counties and poor counties, there’s only so many dollars to pull from,” Powell said.

When she was the county coroner, she was never refused an autopsy that had to be done, but “there was no unlimited checkbook, that’s for sure,” she said.

She made do with as much as possible, such as using her own computer or a borrowed computer for work.

“You can’t survive at $13,650 a year.”

Pursifull holds a full-time job aside from being his county’s coroner; many Missouri coroners have a second job, he said. As a paramedic, he makes more working one overtime shift per month over 12 months than one full year as a coroner.

If Bollinger County Coroner Calvin Troxell wasn’t retired and living off of his 401k, there’s no way he could have run for coroner, he said.

“I mean, you can’t survive at $13,650 a year,” Troxell said.

When he was Cedar County’s deputy coroner, Brumfield had a salary of $49 a month while still working full time for the police department. He drove his personal vehicle, was reimbursed for gas and used his own testing equipment as a crime scene specialist.

When the previous head coroner retired, Brumfield was coaxed into running, but the $15,000 a year salary couldn’t convince him. He and his wife also wanted to take vacations, a luxury that most coroners don’t have.

Coroners have an obligation to stay put in their county, Pursifull said. There are half a dozen restaurants in Salem, where Pursifull lives. If he wants to drive 25 miles north to Rolla to take his wife out to dinner, he feels as though he can’t. He has to be in Dent County to respond to a death.

Coroners leave birthday parties, errands and holidays for death calls — no exception. As a coroner, your phone is always on, Brumfield said.

When the Coroner Standards and Training Commission convened in September, recommendations by multiple members included a coroner compensation that reflected a “reasonable, full-time salary.” Additional recommendations included classifying coroners as full time, as opposed to those who are considered part time.

Why would anyone become a coroner?

Bollinger County Coroner Troxell said coroners are like the airbag in your car or the concealed weapon in your purse, because no one ever wants to see them. The only thing the public wants is for them to work perfectly if they need them.

“We’re always pushed to the back. We’re the last one thought about,” Taylor said. “But when we’re needed, we’re the first ones they call.”

The coroner is about half a step above a dog catcher, Powell said.

Why do people become coroners in Missouri? The vast majority do it just to help out, Pursifull said.

When he was a volunteer deputy coroner, Green was doing it for the people, not the money. On Jan. 1, he took over as the head coroner with a salary of around $15,000.

“You’re helping people during one of the hardest times of their lives,” he said.

Troxell is in his position because of his love for his county and being able to serve folks in a time of need. When he started in the coroner industry, he already had 25 years working with the fire department under his belt. He felt pulled not only to serve but to continue his service.

“I serve my country locally,” Troxell said.

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Lawmakers renew efforts to address low coroner pay, training

By Mary McCue Bell, Missouri News Network 

Coroners are crucial to their counties, but low pay keeps many potential candidates away.

“A lot of people realize that we need a higher level of education, a higher level of standards for the office of the coroner,” Dent County Coroner Ben Pursifull said. “The problem is you’re not going to get a great influx of good candidates without adequately compensating them for their time.”

Currently, a coroner only needs to fill four requirements to be elected: U.S. citizenship, above the age of 21, reside in Missouri for one year and within the county for which they are elected for six months.

Only medical examiners must be licensed physicians, not coroners. The difference between counties that have a medical examiner and a coroner depends on their classification based on population; larger counties have a medical examiner.

Legislation pushed by Rep. John Voss, R-Cape Girardeau, last year was intended to “ensure a baseline level of competency for Missouri coroners” but was shot down and opposed by coroners.

The bill required Missouri coroners to meet equivalent certification levels of an EMT and have specialized training in death investigations, among other qualifications. Most coroners don’t meet these requirements and neither do some nurses, Pursifull said. Instead, the Missouri Coroner’s and Medical Examiner’s Association worked with Voss to draft legislation addressing training standards, qualification requirements and salary increases.

Voss’ new bill, House Bill 1122, introduces mandatory annual training requirements for coroners and deputy coroners, increases pay to be in line with other county officials and supports training expenses for smaller counties. A public hearing is scheduled for Thursday at 8 a.m.

“I personally believe if you’re going to ask someone to be qualified to a higher level, that they ought to be compensated to a higher level,” Voss said.

A current statute stipulates that $1 of any death certificate fee will be put into the Missouri State Coroners’ Training Fund, which has a cap of $500,000. Voss’ bill would remove that cap to provide a grant program for everything from equipment and office supplies to constructing forensic laboratory space.

Another bill, Senate Bill 1, proposes that a coroner’s salary may receive an increase of up to $14,000. The bill received initial approval on Feb 4.

Lawmakers tried to address the issue once before.

In 2022, Missouri passed legislation that said the coroner, subject to the approval of the salary commission, could receive a $14,000 raise. However, the Missouri Supreme Court shot it down because there were multiple unrelated subjects in the bill, which is unconstitutional.

As some law enforcement officers are employed by or volunteer for the coroner’s office, a recently revised statute increased the minimum compensation for sheriffs.

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WEDNESDAY

Order forbidding DEI does not apply to state universities

By Charlie Dahlgren, Missouri News Network

Tuesday’s executive order eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in Missouri state agencies does not apply to state universities, according to an email sent Wednesday from the governor’s office.

“The University of Missouri is actually not included in this EO – this is only for state agencies,” said Gabby Picard, communications director for Gov. Mike Kehoe.

But MU’s DEI initiatives are not out of the woods. Several pieces of legislation in the legislature still threaten DEI in higher education.

The chair of the House Budget Committee, Rep. Dirk Deaton, R-Seneca, doubled down Wednesday on Republican efforts to prevent state funds from being used for DEI programs.

In an emailed news release, Deaton said language in the appropriations bill for the 2025 legislative session will ensure that state funds are not used within institutions of higher education for programs and positions that are solely focused on DEI.

“Tax dollars should be used to advance education and workforce readiness in our colleges, not to promote divisive ideologies,” Deaton said in the release.

“We want to ensure that our universities remain focused on preparing students for success in their careers and contributing to Missouri’s economy, rather than funding programs that sort people based on identity categories rather than merit,” the statement added.

Additionally, House Bill 742, which bans state agencies from spending money on DEI initiatives, was given initial House approval Monday evening. The bill needs to pass just one more vote before being sent to the Senate for consideration.

These bills are part of a broader, renewed effort by the 2025 legislature to pull back on DEI initiatives across the state. Although the bills and executive order could face legal challenges, support from powerful members of the state GOP, including Kehoe, and legislative leaders, reveal a pressing motivation to get this done.

“Missourians deserve a government that treats all individuals equally, without preferential treatment or discrimination based on immutable characteristics,” Kehoe said in the news release announcing his signing of Executive Order 25-18. “Our state agencies must operate under a framework that ensures fairness, equal opportunity, and merit-based decision-making.”

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Drag performance ban draws opposition at hearing

By Fletcher Mantooth, Missouri News Network

A Senate bill that could restrict public drag performances received mostly negative testimony at a hearing Wednesday.

The Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee heard SB 295, authored by Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, would make it a misdemeanor to do “adult cabaret performances” in front of children. Later offenses would be prosecuted as felonies.

“We need to make sure that we’re protecting the innocence of youth, and that’s what this bill seeks to do and to remedy,” Brattin told the committee.

Opponents of the bill took issue with a section of the bill that says, “male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest, or similar entertainers,” in the definition of “adult cabaret.” They argued that the vague language could be used to criminalize drag performances, transgender people’s appearance in public and public Shakespeare performances.

“This bill assumes that all drag performances are hypersexualized. That is far from the truth, and blatantly hateful and discriminatory,” said Chris Lehman, a co-owner and operator of NclusionPlus, a Boone County organization that promotes LGBTQ+ events.

Lehman said many drag performances are family friendly, and invited Brattin and his family to attend a drag performance in Ashland to see “all ages drag doesn’t appeal to prurient interest.”

Several transgender individuals also voiced concerns with the language.

“I wear clothes across the gender spectrum in all capacities,” said Stevie Miller, a nonbinary transgender man and drag performer from West Plains. “I sing wherever I go. Is that considered adult cabaret?”

Opponents included Cara Carter, a theater teacher from Columbia and a board member of the Maplewood Barn Theater. She argued that the law could add complications to public theater performances.

“Limiting what plays can be performed is a direct infringement of our First Amendment rights,” said Carter. “’A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ ‘Peter Pan,’ ‘As You Like It’ and several more require cross-dressing and drag performance written directly into the script.”

There was no testimony in support of the bill besides Brattin.

“As we’ve heard in the testimony, we see that there’s a trend of wanting to target children and put them on the crosshairs in this sort of content,” Brattin said in response to the testimonies. “It’s incumbent upon us to ensure that we’re protecting children.”

Similar legislation has been considered since 2023 following concerns by some legislators after drag performers were present at an all-ages diversity brunch in Columbia. Past legislation has sought to define drag venues as sexually oriented businesses, as well as categorize drag under the label of “adult cabaret performance.”

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Vehicle registration bill nears passage in House

By Jake Marszewski, Missouri News Network 

Missouri House legislators gave initial approval Wednesday to a bill that could help some Missourians spend less time at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

House Bill 247 establishes a five-year registration tab for vehicles with a model year that is less than six years old. It also repeals the current provision that vehicles manufactured in an even or odd-numbered year must be renewed in a corresponding even or odd-numbered year, allowing for an unrestricted two-year renewal period.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Bob Bromley, R-Carl Junction, said part of the reason he introduced it was to make government work for the people and be simpler.

“If you love going to the DMV and standing in line, you should probably consider voting no on this bill,” Bromley said on the House floor.

During the session, Rep. Del Taylor, D-St. Louis, pointed out his concerns about vehicle safety issues going unnoticed with longer periods between inspections.

“If you’re extending how long I can have the tags on this vehicle, it means it would not be inspected as frequently,” Taylor said. “I could actually forego some of those safety measures.”

According to previous Missourian reporting about similar bills, these inspections have little correlation to accidents and other safety concerns.

Legislators also approved amending the bill to add provisions about specialty license plates, including creating a new personalized plate for the U.S. Space Force.

Final passage of the bill requires another vote by the House.

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Missouri has lost regulatory authority over its gas pipelines

Jana Rose Schleis, Missouri News Network

In January, the federal government took over regulating Missouri’s more than 1.5 million miles of natural gas pipelines.

The pipelines had been regulated by the state, but the federal government said the fines for violations were too low and not in line with federal requirements.

If a gas company is violating safety standards, federal regulators can issue a fine of anywhere between $272,000 and $2.7 million. For the same violation, the state of Missouri could issue just a fraction of that financial penalty — between $20,000 and $200,000.

At the beginning of 2025, the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said that was too low.

But the only way to raise the fines at the state level is through legislation, which has not happened over the last decade when the bill has been proposed.

“The federal government finally said Missouri can no longer do this because they’re not in compliance,” said state Sen. Mike Cierpiot, R-Lee’s Summit.

Cierpiot is sponsoring a bill to raise Missouri’s violation fee rate, bringing the state back into compliance with federal standards and therefore regaining its jurisdiction.

Changing the number of fines requires the legislature to pass a bill. Cierpoit sponsored similar legislation last year and in the years preceding.

The federal government warned Missouri lawmakers and utility regulators that the state was at risk of losing regulation authority. Cierpiot’s attempts to pass a law to change the fee structure to ward off this outcome have been unsuccessful.

“The last three or four years has been kind of a tough thing to get through bills through the Senate — and so utility bills, as most things, have got clogged up at the end,” he said.

Although a casualty of the machinations of the Missouri lawmaking process before, Cierpoit is feeling positive about this year’s bill.

“It’s just been caught up — as many things have been caught up lately — just because of the dysfunction of the Senate,” he said.

The legislation includes an emergency clause, which would allow it to take effect as soon as the governor signs it. However, the gas pipeline safety bill is tied to other, more controversial, proposed utility laws such as “future test year” — a policy that allows utilities to set prices based on projected expenses instead of incurred costs.

Fines are the last resort

Kathleen McNelis is the pipeline safety manager with the Missouri Public Service Commission, the state agency that regulates utilities, including gas pipelines. She said the commission conducts between 100 and 150 routine pipeline inspections each year.

“At the end of each inspection, our staff will have a verbal discussion with the operator and say, ‘This is what we’re seeing.’ They come back to the office if there was a probable violation, we would send them a letter and say, ‘This is what we found,’” McNelis said.

Inspectors are looking for leaks, corrosion and any mechanical issues that could cause issues, in addition to ensuring that safety protocols are being met and staff are correctly trained.

Improperly attended to gas pipelines can cause explosions and fires. McNelis said an accident like that would be investigated; if the company was found negligent, a fine would be issued, but those instances are relatively rare.

McNelis said the agency has a good relationship with utilities and that’s because they both want the same thing — safety. When a violation is identified, they work with the company to ensure it gets fixed.

“What steps are you going to take to ensure that this doesn’t happen in the future?” she said.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, gas is used to heat approximately 50% of homes in Missouri, but that comes with some level of risk.

“Gas is a combustible material, and we want to make sure that everything’s operating as well as it can,” said Rich Germinder, Public Service Commission senior policy adviser.

“If we do have an incident, that incident is controlled and safe, that we don’t have a major situation and that we’re able to react to it for the safety of the public,” he said.

He said what a gas company may be fined for a violation matters because the higher the fine, the more likely a company will take steps to avoid it.

“As a general concept to the idea of a penalty or a fine is that the cost of the violation is sufficient to deter or to ensure compliance,” Germinder said.

But, the state of Missouri doesn’t issue many, if any, fines. According to a public records request obtained by KBIA, in 2023 state regulators found 74 violations, but no fines were issued. Germinder said that’s because fixing the problem is the priority.

“Your ability to return to compliance quickly, in a timely manner, is our number one priority,” he said. “We are not driven to issue fines or penalties as a matter of first resort. It’s a matter of last resort.”

Germinder said any money collected from gas utility fines goes to the local school fund where the violation occurs.

“When those penalties are levied by the federal government, they go to the federal treasury,” he said.

He said other “legislative battles” have taken precedence over getting Missouri back into compliance with federal guidelines.

“The feds basically had given us an opportunity to make the corrections and make the changes over time, and (we) were offered some leniency towards our noncompliance,” he said. “Eventually, the feds just believe that it had been too long.”

The gas safety standards bill has passed out of committee and is awaiting a vote by the full Senate.

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TUESDAY

Kehoe orders ban on DEI initiatives in state agencies

By Shane LaGesse, Missouri News Network

Gov. Mike Kehoe signed an executive order Tuesday directing all Missouri state agencies to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

The order bans agencies from using state funding for diversity training initiatives and from incorporating DEI into hiring and contracting practices.

“Our state agencies must operate under a framework that ensures fairness, equal opportunity, and merit-based decision-making,” Kehoe said in a news release. “This order reaffirms Missouri’s commitment to a constitutional, color-blind approach that serves all citizens fairly.”

The order comes after the House gave initial approval on Monday to House Bill 742, which would create similar restrictions to state funding to DEI initiatives.

During debate on that bill, the sponsor, Rep. Ben Baker, R-Neosho, insisted that the limitations in the bill would not undercut the functions of state agencies, such as the Office of Equal Opportunity.

That agency’s vision, stated on its website, is that it “aims to cultivate a diverse and inclusive environment for all Missourians by centralizing the state’s workforce diversity programs in order to promote a talented workforce that reflects the rich diversity of the citizens of Missouri and enhance the state’s economy through supplier diversity.”

Agency officials and those at other state departments could not be reached Tuesday for comment on Kehoe’s order.

Kehoe’s order defines diversity, equity and inclusion as including “efforts to manipulate or influence the composition of an organization based solely on race, color, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation.”

The order also includes policies and programs intended to benefit individuals based on those characteristics.

Kehoe’s statement added that the order “does not apply to any requirements in federal or state statute that uphold the rights and freedoms of Missouri citizens. State agencies will continue to enforce all laws that prohibit discrimination and ensure fairness for all citizens.”

State agencies have 90 days to review and dismantle existing initiatives that violate the order.

The governor's spokesperson emailed the Missourian Wednesday to note that state universities are not state agencies and not covered by the executive order. However, legislation being considered in the Missouri General Assembly, if approved, would have the same effect. 

“At the University of Missouri, we follow all applicable state and federal laws and regulations. We will carefully review this order and ensure we are in compliance with it as applicable,” MU spokesperson Christopher Ave said in response to the order.

Last year, the Missourian found that designated diversity programs, which have been a target of Missouri Republicans for the past few years, were rare in state agencies.

However, the story noted that DEI concepts could still be part of an agency’s internal practices, hiring and workplace culture.

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Republicans target public school bathrooms in latest anti-transgender bill

By Molly Gibbs, Missouri News Network

Senate Republicans pushed legislation Tuesday that would require public school students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that align with the sex they were assigned at birth.

Senate Bill 212 would bar transgender students from using the bathroom of their choice.

“It allows school districts to say there is a male bathroom and a female bathroom and biological males and females have to go into those corresponding bathrooms,” said bill sponsor, Sen. Travis Fitzwater, R-Holts Summit.

Schools would have to provide alternate options for students who assert their gender is different than the biological sex they were assigned at birth.

According to the bill, “acceptable accommodations may include, but are not limited to, controlled use of faculty shower rooms, locker rooms or restrooms, or access to single-stall restrooms and unisex bathrooms.”

To receive these accommodations, a parent or guardian of the student must provide written consent for their student to use alternative accommodations.

The bill could force transgender students to use bathrooms that do not match their gender identity. Michael Walk, of St. Louis County, said this would be detrimental to the health and safety of transgender youth, including his daughter.

“Research has shown that allowing transgender people to live according to their gender identities helps them flourish as individuals and as members of society. This includes using restrooms designated for the gender they live with,” Walk testified Tuesday during a Senate Education Committee hearing on the bill.

The committee also discussed SB 155 and SB 166, which both require every public school to have a cardiac arrest emergency response plan.

One of the bill sponsors, Sen. Tracy McCreery, D-Olivette, said sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death for student athletes.

“CAERPs (Cardiac Arrest Emergency Response Plans) can increase a sudden cardiac arrest survival rate by about 50%,” McCreery said.

Deepa Mokshagundam spoke on behalf of the American Heart Association, the Missouri chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and St. Louis Children’s Hospital in support of the bill.

“Senate bills 155 and 166 contain all the elements of effective cardiac emergency response in our schools,” Mokshagundam said. “With these elements in place we can move the needle to improve sudden cardiac arrest outcomes in our community and ensure a safe learning and teaching environment.”

Parents’ Bill of Rights

During executive session seven bills were passed through the committee, including one that would prohibit school districts from teaching any “divisive” concepts. SB 115 is sponsored by committee chair Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, and also establishes the “Sunlight in Learning Act” and the “Parents’ Bill of Rights Act of 2025.”

The Sunlight act would require public and charter schools to post certain training, instructional and curricular materials on their websites. The title, author, organization, any website associated with the material and the instructor that created it must be published.

The Parents’ Bill of Rights act would prohibit school districts from denying parents certain rights. One protected right allows parents to object to certain materials being taught to their child.

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House approves bill aimed at protecting Bayer from pesticide lawsuits

By Natanya Friedheim, Missouri News Network

The Missouri House gave initial approval Tuesday to a bill that protects chemical company Bayer from lawsuits over medical concerns about its widely-used herbicide Roundup.

When the German pharmaceutical and chemical firm Bayer bought Monsanto, an agrochemical company, in 2018, it took on lawsuits alleging Roundup causes cancer.

The company has paid out more than $10 billion in settlements of $16 billion set aside to deal with litigation, according to a Bayer spokesman.

Roundup has a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-approved pesticide warning on its label. When used according to the instructions on its label, the EPA has found no risks to human health.

The bill strengthens Bayer’s position in court because it declares the existing label “sufficient to satisfy any requirement for a warning label regarding cancer under any other provision of current law.”

Glyphosate, the herbicide in Roundup, reduces the need for tilling and pulling weeds.

A number of Republican lawmakers discussed their experience farming and their reliance on Roundup during a floor debate Tuesday. They argued that continued lawsuits will threaten farmers’ access to Roundup or that Americans will have to source glyphosate from Chinese companies. Others said the EPA should have authority to label products, not states.

The bill “promotes a process that we rely on. It promotes companies that we know are making investments right here in the United States, to make sure we have those products, make sure we can feed the world,” Rep. Dane Diehl, R-Butler, said after the vote. Diehl sponsored the bill and spoke at length about the process to gain EPA approval, which can take 10 to 15 years and is what he described as rigorous.

Democrats argued the bill strips constituents of their right to sue.

“There’s two types of people in the world, there’s kings and there’s pawns,” Rep. David Tyson Smith, D-Columbia, said. “This bill is a simple bill. It’s about a billion-dollar company that doesn’t want to get sued.”

Juries should decide whether or not the company satisfied its requirement to warn consumers, he added.

Rep. Dean Van Schoiack, R-Savannah, took issue with Smith’s characterization and said another group stands to gain from the lawsuits.

“We heard the gentleman from Boone talk about kings and pawns,” he said. “There are jesters here as well: Trial lawyers.”

House Bill 544 received final approval on Thursday and was sent to the Senate for consideration. Similar legislation passed the House last year but died in the Senate.

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MONDAY

House moves forward on banning state DEI programs

By Mary McCue Bell, Missouri News Network

A bill prohibiting Missouri agencies from spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives was given initial House approval Monday evening.

The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Ben Baker, R-Neosho, argued that DEI goals do not lead to decreased bias and questioned their success.

The state House can pass HB 742 with one more vote, sending it to the Senate.

If enacted, funds spent by state departments could not be used for DEI initiatives. These initiatives include collective guilt ideologies, intersectional or divisive identity activism and promotion of preferential treatment; this is the idea that group disparities are solely due to oppression.

Democrats argued that the wording on the bill could be interpreted so that any single one of those descriptions could be used to defund any program.

The bill creates an exception that the agencies would not be prohibited from following federal laws or complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The bill also makes it illegal for state agencies to require or incentivize DEI programs as a requirement for earning a state contract.

The bill was given approval on a voice vote after a party line 100-49 vote ended more than two hours of impassioned speeches by Democrats. Speakers raised concerns about who is at an advantage or disadvantage from such legislation.

Additional talking points included systemic racism, the gender pay gap, pink taxes, disabilities and merit-based hiring. The price of eggs was brought up multiple times to argue that this legislation doesn’t improve the welfare of Missourians.

Unintended consequences were discussed, such as retaliation against accreditation of university medical programs and law enforcement agencies. These are often required to have such programs be accredited.

A 2024 Missourian review of state agency budget requests, which includes every line item of spending a department seeks, found the phrase “diversity, equity, and inclusion” practically nonexistent among state agencies.

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