Capitol Report 4/24/2026

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 coverage this week included Senate passage of its version of state spending bills, Gov. Mike Kehoe signing into law new restrictions on hemp products and changes being made to a law already signed by Kehoe earlier this session. 

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

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FRIDAY

Kehoe signs hemp product ban into law

By Sam Jackson, Missouri News Network

Gov. Mike Kehoe signed four bills into law Thursday afternoon, including a ban on intoxicating hemp products and changes to antisemitism policy in schools and colleges.

House Bill 2641, sponsored by Rep. Dave Hinman, R-O’Fallon, and Sen. David Gregory, R-St. Louis, bans intoxicating hemp-based products and establishes the “Intoxicating Cannabinoid Control Act.”

The new law, which goes into effect Nov. 12, will ban intoxicating hemp products, including THC seltzers and hemp products currently sold in grocery stores and bars. The bill puts the state in line with federal laws passed in November.

“(The bill would) align the state of Missouri with the federal government to discontinue intoxicating hemp products from the shelves, making Missouri a safer place,” Hinman said.

Marijuana dispensaries and other authorized stores will also not be allowed to sell edible THC products any longer.

“These are the kind of things we are putting an end to; these are dangerous for our kids and dangerous to our communities,” Gregory said.

House Bill 2061, sponsored by Rep. George Hruza, R-St. Louis, and Sen. Curtis Trent, R-Republic, aims to protect students in public schools from discrimination and antisemitism.

The bill, which goes into effect Aug. 28, adopts the working definition of antisemitism from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and requires schools to treat antisemitic threats as a Title VI violation. The bill also requires that these concerns be investigated and addressed.

“Missouri stands with Israel and its people, and we want to make sure the world understands that,” Kehoe said.

Members of the Jewish Federation throughout Missouri showed up to show their support and take pictures with the representatives and the governor.

House Bill 2934, sponsored by Rep. Brad Christ, R-St. Louis, and Sen. Brian Williams, D-University City, will merge the St. Louis Regional Sports Authority and the St. Louis Regional Convention and Visitors Commission under one commission.

Lastly, House Bill 2423, sponsored by Rep. Philip Oehlerking, R-Ballwin, and Sen. Sandy Crawford, R-Buffalo, revises provisions under the Division of Finance to create new funds for money deposits for consumers for credit licensing fees.

House Bills 2934 and 2423 go into effect Aug. 28.

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THURSDAY

Senate passes nearly $50 billion of budget bills

By Jackson Cooper and Hailey Sanford, Missouri News Network

JEFFERSON CITY — The Senate approved $48.7 billion worth of budget bills during debate Wednesday evening.

The budget faced staunch opposition from Democrats and questioning from some Republicans over the nine-hour span of debate on the floor.

The bill most heavily debated on Wednesday was House Bill 2002, which provides funding for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

The key sticking point in the bill was funding for the foundation formula, which determines how much state funding school districts receive on a yearly basis.

DESE estimates released early in the budget process requested $190 million more in funding above last year’s level to fund public schools. In his budget, Gov. Mike Kehoe did not increase DESE’s funding to cover the request.

DESE’s funding request was absent from the final version of the bill that passed the House last month, and at the end of the debate on Wednesday, the Senate did not add the $190 million in public school funding.

Sen. Rusty Black, R-Chillicothe, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, argued in favor of his decision to side with the governor and the House.

The state is gearing up to face budget shortfalls in the coming years. Of the nearly $50 billion passed Wednesday, $15.5 billion was sourced from general revenue generated primarily through state taxes. According to estimates for the 2027 fiscal year, the state is expected to bring in $13.65 billion in general revenue.

This is $1.9 billion less than the general revenue spending passed by the Senate on Wednesday.

Black said this budget pressure makes it irresponsible to deplete existing funds and potentially leave future budget drafters without alternative sources to pull funding from.

He said that he hopes future legislatures will immediately move to fund DESE to its full, requested level once it is more fiscally feasible to do so.

“When we have that money,” Black said, “we will be able to immediately fill that hole. It would be my hope that we could immediately spend that money.”

Senate Democrats spoke out in opposition to the omission of increased funding to the foundation formula, arguing the decision would underfund public schools.

Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, D-Kansas City, said during dialogue with Black that decades of Republican leadership were to blame for the state of the budget.

“We’re talking 20, 25 years here of your party being in power,” Nurrenbern said. “And we’re starting to have (a situation) where we’re not able to fund what I would call basic fundamental services like public education.”

While Democrats widely disapproved of the underfunding of the foundation formula, the most vocal critic of the move was a Republican.

Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, said that education funding should be a central priority for the legislature. He introduced an amendment to the bill that would grant DESE’s exact funding request using money from the state’s $3 billion general revenue balance at the end of March, saying that he was yet to be convinced that accounting for the future was reason alone to withhold funding.

“I’m looking for something other than the doom and gloom of future years,” Hough said.

He sparred with Black for about 30 minutes, arguing that the state should sooner empty its coffers than underfund education.

“I can’t understand why being so afraid of the future holds us back from investing in the present,” Hough said.

Hough and Senate Democrats brought up the state’s Proposition C Funding, a one-cent sales tax that goes into the School District Trust Fund.

The fund is allocated to schools on a per-pupil basis by DESE and, according to Department of Treasury documents, stood at $192 million at the end of March. Some Democrats proposed finding a way to utilize these funds.

Black doubled down, maintaining that the state may need to lean on those funds as future budget concerns loom.

Black and Hough are no strangers, having previously served together on the Appropriations Committee. But that working relationship is now far less straightforward than in years past.

This is Black’s first year as chair of the powerful committee, a position Hough held for three years before him. Hough is no longer on the committee, as he was removed from his chairmanship last September after voting with Democrats against motions to cut off debate on midterm congressional redistricting and initiative petition reform.

Hough has over a decade of experience working on appropriations committees in both the House and Senate. He is term-limited from seeking reelection to the Senate in November, meaning that this is his final legislative session.

Hough’s amendment was short on supporters from within his party. The body voted down Hough’s amendment 20-10, largely on party lines, meaning that the final version of the bill includes no additional funding to DESE.

Democratic opposition

Sen. Karla May, D-St. Louis, offered amendments consistently throughout debate, largely focused on funding for specific social programs in her district. She maintained that her constituents deserved greater representation in the state budget given that the region generates a large percentage of state revenue.

“We are almost half of the state budget,” May said. “So these individuals should be getting a bigger return on their investment.”

All of May’s amendments were voted down by the body and not attached to the larger budget bills.

Throughout the budget process, Democrats raised concerns about how money was being allocated. Sen. Brian Williams, D-University City, noted that there were a number of community programs that received no funding when the Senate Appropriations Committee went over the budget last week.

Black added funding to 10 programs in the Senate substitute voted on by the floor on Wednesday. Two more programs received additional funding that the committee had not previously approved. In total, Black added $2,145,000 to these community programs.

“We’re not doing enough,” Nurrenbern said. “We’re not fully funding our classrooms. We’re not fully funding health care services. We’re not doing nearly enough for our thousands of state employees that are giving so much.”

Nurrenbern also took time to rail against budget changes brought down by House Resolution 1, which was signed by President Donald Trump on July 4, 2025. The resolution would require that Missouri’s Medicaid extension implement work requirements and increase vetting.

To implement changes required by the federal resolution, the state is expected to directly expend $294 million in combined state and federal money. An additional $62 million is expected to be expended to move the computer systems for Missouri’s Medicaid program. These two changes would constitute a total of $54 million in general revenue spending.

Nurrenbern said some of this money could be saved if the state no longer used Managed Care Organizations, which are private organizations contracted to manage MO HealthNet dispersal.

“We have the opportunity, a real opportunity, to save Missouri taxpayers $250 million annually by directly administering our Medicaid programs,” Nurrenbern said. “Instead, the (Managed Care Organizations) are taking a big ol’ chunk off the top.”

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Senate fixes errors in criminal and juvenile justice system bill

By Anika Austvold, Missouri News Network

JEFFERSON CITY — Senators adopted an amendment Wednesday to correct multiple errors in Senate Bill 888, which Gov. Mike Kehoe signed earlier this month.

SB 888, originally sponsored by Sen. Nich Schroer, R-Defiance, was an omnibus crime bill that included changes to juvenile detention centers in the state and mandatory prison time for adults before parole eligibility. Wednesday's amendment included a fix that moves up the law’s effective date to prevent gaps in criminal sentencing.

The amendment, added to House Bill 2637 and sponsored by Schroer, combined provisions from several lawmakers to address cyberstalking, protections for sheriffs and first responders in St. Louis, voluntary commitments, treatment procedures and lifetime orders of protection.

The most critical correction changed a delayed effective date that could have left some serious offenses, including first-degree rape and sodomy involving victims under age 12, without enforceable penalties for more than a year.

Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, D-Kansas City, initially voted against the legislation. She said the timing error created a dangerous gap in criminal sentencing.

“These are the most egregious criminal offenses out there … and there wouldn’t have been a criminal penalty for essentially a year and a half,” Nurrenbern said.

The amendment passed, but several lawmakers criticized how quickly the original legislation moved earlier in the session.

“This bill was rushed through earlier in the session … before it left the chamber, they knew there were at least four errors in Senate Bill 888,” said Minority Floor Leader Sen. Doug Beck, D-Affton. 

He emphasized that the number of issues grew as lawmakers reviewed the legislation.

“There’s well over 12 mistakes in this bill … at the end of the day, this bill was in shambles … and they knew it had mistakes on this side of the building before it went over to the House,” Beck said.

Nurrenbern urged her fellow senators to balance speed with accuracy when passing legislation.

“I hope that we can recognize not just how important it is to do our jobs efficiently, we need to do our jobs effectively,” Nurrenbern said.

Sen. Karla May, D-St. Louis, echoed similar concerns.

“Sometimes we do need to pause and make sure we’re dotting all the 'I's and crossing all the 'T’s because we don’t want our Missourian constituents to be negatively impacted,” May said.

The Senate also heard a separate amendment sponsored by Sen. Barbara Washington, D-Kansas City, that would have required a probable cause statement before law enforcement could fingerprint a minor. This proposal was not adopted. 

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Senate debates bills about pharmacy benefit managers

By Chase Pray, Missouri News Network

JEFFERSON CITY — The Senate this week debated, but did not take action, on bills that would expand auditing protections for pharmacies and impose new transparency requirements on prescription drug pricing and insurance contracts.

Senate Bills 984 and 968 could put state restrictions on the activities of pharmacy benefit managers, which are widely viewed as a driving force behind rising prescription drug prices.

The benefit managers act as middlemen between insurers, pharmacies and drug manufacturers. They are responsible for negotiating drug prices, deciding which drugs are covered under insurance plans and handling payments between insurance companies and pharmacies.

Those activities would have more oversight under the bills.

The legislation would require a minimum 14-day notice for any on-site audit performed, an increase from the currently required seven-day notice. These audits would also have to identify what prescriptions are under review, with a maximum of 40 unique prescriptions and no more than 200 separately adjudicated claims, which would be selected at random.

No more than two of these audits can be conducted in a year unless there is reasonable suspicion that a pharmacy is conducting fraud.

Benefit managers would also be required to provide pharmacy claims data to plan sponsors, like employers or insurers.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Jill Carter, R-Granby, noted during floor debate Monday that the legislation has been in the works for several years, and the logistics of the bill were finalized after nine months of negotiations.

“I think we’re finally in a good place to ensure that the pharmacies are able to represent the best interests of their communities, but also at the same time, our insurance companies and all of the stakeholders are happy and content with the piece of legislation we have before the body,” she said.

One part of the bill caused debate over what several senators considered unfair restrictions. It that would require the Department of Commerce and Insurance to create a critical access care pharmacy program that would aim to support the sustainability of qualifying pharmacies in Missouri.

Both Sen. David Gregory, R-St. Louis, and Sen. Kurtis Gregory, R-Marshall, proposed amendments that would allow the program to extend to all pharmacies in Missouri.

“It’s difficult for me to justify saying, ‘Hey, we got a problem. And you know what we’re gonna do? We’re gonna fix it for some people,’” David Gregory said. “We should be fighting for all of those pharmacies if there’s a problem, all of them.”

Carter defended the clause and said it had been workshopped and discussed in detail throughout the past year.

“We’ve worked for the last nine months on (this) language with all the stakeholders, so the senators are a little late to the conversation,” she said. “The interest that he (David Gregory) spoke about, I mean, if he’s wanting to help pharmacies, this is the way to start to do that.”

The conversation ended momentarily after Kurtis Gregory’s amendment was not passed, but returned when David Gregory proposed his nearly identical amendment nearly a half hour later.

David Gregory again raised his concern that pharmacies in larger cities, like Kansas City or St. Louis, could be left out if his amendment is not passed.

“This body wants to say, we just want to fix that problem for some people,” he said. “We’re gonna pick winners and losers. We’ve heard that once or twice. It’s like, ‘Oh, it’s no big deal, these big guys, they can sustain it, they can handle it.’ Well, that’s not true.”

“We’re just gonna fix this big problem for some people,” he added. “Let’s do that, that’s good policy. It’s good thinking, and that’s why we came here. We came here to fix problems for some people.”

In response, Carter questioned whether some progress is better than no progress.

“Will you tell me what you think doing something for the greater good means?” Carter asked David Gregory. “I think having progress is the ‘greater good.’ I think having a conversation in this building for the last six to eight years and not being able to make progress hasn’t served anyone at all. And so to say, actually, we are getting more transparency.”

“What you’re doing is you’re harming the vast majority of consumers to help some few consumers,” she added. “That’s not the greater good. I think everybody who is in this sphere, insurance companies, the independent pharmacies, everybody who has a seat at the table doesn’t share your sentiment.”

The amendments by both senators were defeated. The bill was set aside for action at a later date.

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WEDNESDAY

House passes resolution to put elimination of income tax on the ballot

By Kennedy Voss, Missouri News Network 

JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri residents will be asked to vote on eliminating the state’s individual income tax this fall.

After months of discussions and rewritings, the House of Representatives voted 95-59 Tuesday to put the gradual elimination of the state personal income tax on the November ballot.

The vote, mostly along party lines and disliked by Democrats, also asks voters to allow the legislature to raise sales and other taxes to compensate for the lost revenue. Roughly two-thirds of state revenue comes from income tax receipts.

Unlike the Senate, which passed the resolutions in an early morning session with little debate, the House held more than two hours of robust floor debate before giving final approval to House Joint Resolutions 173, sponsored by Rep. Bishop Davidson, R-Republic. During the session, the resolution had been combined with similar bill HJR 174, sponsored by House Speaker Jonathan Patterson, R-Lee’s Summit.

Gradual elimination

If passed by voters, the state’s constitution would be amended to gradually decrease the state’s income tax .01% for every $20 million in the state’s general revenue, with a cap of a 1.6% reduction per year. When the tax rate reaches 1.4%, individual income tax would be totally eliminated.

Supporters of the bill said that this elimination will help put more money in the pocket of middle class Missourians and would help them realize the American dream.

“The source of wealth for the middle class comes from their income,” Davidson said.

Other states have eliminated their income taxes, like Texas and Tennessee. Supporters of the resolution, like Rep. George Hruza, R-St. Louis, point to these states as examples to show that without income tax, Missourians will benefit from an increase in income.

“Do we want to continue to be in the middle of the pack, as has been mentioned, or do we want to lead,” Hruza asked.

Revenue shortfall

Currently, individual income tax makes up about two-thirds of Missouri’s general revenue budget.

To make up for the revenue shortfall, the bill has language that would allow a future general assembly to raise sales tax and to expand taxes on any goods and services in the state. Critics worry that the language of the bill gives future general assemblies too much power.

“None of us are guaranteed to be back next year,” Rep. Betsy Fogle, D-Springfield, said in a news conference following the vote.

“The people who are making promises won’t be here in subsequent years to make good on these promises,” Fogle said. Supporters said that the wealthiest Missourians would be the ones paying for services, but some critics, like Rep. Eric Woods, D-Kansas City, pushed back against this idea.

“Food is not voluntary,” Woods said. “Paying for rent is not voluntary. Paying for health care and childcare are not voluntary.”

“(Middle class Missourians) will feel the impact in sales tax more than a wealthy person who has disposable income,” he said.

Criticisms

Currently, Missouri has an income tax of 4.7% for top earners. The individual income tax has been slowly reduced for many years from 6% in 2015 and has been aided by triggers requiring cuts under a 2022 tax cut passed by a special session of the Missouri General Assembly.

These previous reductions to income taxes were accomplished through legislation, which Democrats noticed. The resolutions ask Missouri voters to enshrine income tax elimination in the constitution, requiring another amendment in the future if there was a desire or need to reinstitute income tax.

“They absolutely can remove the income tax statutorily,” House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, D-Kansas City said. “They could do that here in this building, this session, right now if they wanted to.”

Democrats say that the reason to bring this to the ballot is to include the sales tax increase, which would need voter approval unlike a decrease in sales tax.

In response to the criticisms, Davidson said changes to the Missouri Constitution should be left to the voters.

“In order to change the Missouri Constitution, we ought to go to the Missouri people,” Davidson said.

Many supporters of the bill agreed that such an issue should be left to Missourians, including Rep. Rodger Reedy, R-Windsor.

“Let them vote,” Reedy said.

Fulfilling campaign promises

Income tax elimination was one of Gov. Mike Kehoe’s goals for the legislative year, which he made a part of his campaign and urged during his State of the State address in January. Supporters praised Kehoe for his ability to realize his campaign promises.

“In a time where politicians make all kinds of promises and rarely deliver, here we are debating something our governor said he was going to do,” said Rep. Brad Banderman, R-St. Clair. “We are literally on the cusp of an opportunity to transform our state.”

Opponents noted that unlike in Kehoe’s campaign promises or State of the State, there were no sales tax exemptions for agriculture or real estate.

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Ameren expands electricity ‘smart grid’ in mid-Missouri

Jana Rose Schleis, Missouri News Network

Local utilities are deploying smart technology to help mid-Missouri’s energy grid respond faster to potential problems.

Ameren Missouri has been adding smart devices onto the grid in cities such as Boonville, Moberly and Jefferson City.

The technology, called “smart switches,” can detect faults, which helps prevent power outages and also assist in restoring power when one occurs.

Jason Haynam, director of Ameren’s Central Missouri operations, said the smart devices helped ease workers’ burden after storms rolled through in early March.

“We had approximately 1,300 outages at peak, and approximately 250 of those were restored by the smart switches in Boonville,” Haynam said. “In the meantime, we rolled crews to get the rest of our restorations done throughout that day.”

Smart grid technologies can be attached to power lines and electric infrastructure above or below ground. They detect threats to the system, such as a tree limb hitting a power line.

“Our smart grids devices, they’ve been really game changers for customers. They automatically reduce outage impacts, and they keep the power on for more people after a storm,” Haynam said.

Smart switches can reroute power around an area of the grid facing an issue, keeping the lights on for as many people as possible, Ameren spokesperson Cassidy Moody said.

Taesic Kim researches the energy grid as a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Missouri. He said there is an urgent need to modernize the power grid due to increasing electricity demand, but building new transmission lines can take time and face setbacks.

“By using some advanced technology, we can also improve the capacity of the transmission line,” Kim said.

Blackouts are a threat for residential customers but also for local economies and critical infrastructure, Kim said. He hopes policymakers can accelerate utility adoption of smart grid technology.

“We need more technology to be included to make a more resilient power grid.” Kim said.

Ameren has worked to update Jefferson City’s power grid into what’s called a “smart grid” since 2019. The company has installed 12 “smart switches” to the downtown electric grid that serves multiple state buildings, including the Capitol, and more on overhead power lines throughout the city.

Jefferson City Regional Economic Partnership President Luke Holtschneider said these infrastructure upgrades are essential to the community’s economic development.

“In order to compete and to be a viable option for that new industry or an expansion of an existing industry, you have to be a community that can support that,” Holtschneider said.

Holtschneider said a reliable power supply is among the mix of qualities companies looking to grow or invest in a community are looking for, and he wants Jefferson City to be an attractive option.

“What we’re trying to achieve is to become the least-risky location for somebody that’s looking to invest or grow or locate,” he said.

The company added nine smart switches to the grid in Moberly and 350 through central Missouri. The utility has installed more than 2,000 smart devices to the grid across the state, which Ameren attributed to preventing more than 330,000 outages during major storms.

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Bill to shield businesses from ADA website lawsuits heads to the governor's desk

By Sophia Gromowsky, Missouri News Network 

JEFFERSON CITY — A bill that will protect Missouri’s small businesses from frivolous lawsuits now awaits the governor’s signature after gaining final approval from the legislature on Tuesday.

The Act Against Abusive Website and Web Content Litigation addresses an issue that legislators say has harmed small businesses in Missouri and across the country.

A growing number of businesses are being sued for minor violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act on their websites. These violations may include incompatibility with screen-reader software, insufficient color contrast or missing captions or transcripts for video and audio content. This makes it difficult for people with disabilities to navigate the websites.

More than 100 businesses in Missouri have been the target of such lawsuits, according to a 2025 ADA Website Accessibility Lawsuits Report. Legislators have criticized the suits as cash grabs rather than good faith efforts to improve accessibility.

U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Tarkio, is sponsoring a similar bill, the Protecting Small Businesses from Predatory Website Lawsuits Act, in Washington. He highlighted the national scope of the problem in a letter to his constituents, which said that the number of website-related suits nationwide has surged from 200 in 2016 to more than 4,000 in 2025. Graves said that more than half of the 4,000 cases were filed by just 33 people.

This newly passed Missouri legislation will give businesses 90 days to fix their websites after receiving a noncompliance warning, after which a lawsuit can be filed.

Introduced in the Senate by Sen. Brad Hudson, R-Cape Fair, Senate Bill 907 received unanimous initial approval before passing over to the House, where it underwent two amendments.

The House General Laws Committee extended the new protections to all entities registered with the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office, which includes churches and nonprofit organizations, in addition to businesses.

During floor debate, the House also adopted an amendment to protect web content in addition to websites. This covers small business owners who use large platforms such as Etsy. These platforms allow sellers to set up their own individual storefronts but do not give them control over website settings to comply with ADA standards.

The amended legislation was unanimously approved by the House on April 16 and sent back to the Senate for final approval, where it was also unanimously approved.

Hudson called the bill an “all hands on deck effort,” shouting out various senators and representatives who worked on the bill and helped to move it through both chambers.

“Because of the way this issue has affected business owners throughout the state, there’s a lot of legislators weighing in on this,” Hudson said. “It’s been an all-session effort to get this bill in the right place to provide protections for citizens and businesses across our state. I’m glad that we are now one step away from getting this across the finish line.”

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Missouri Senate debates statute of limitations for victims of child sex abuse

By Kaleb Anderson, Missouri News Network

The Missouri Senate discussed changes to the state’s statute of limitations for child sex abuse on Tuesday.

A string of House bills would extend the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse to 44 years after the age of 21, or discovery of the abuse, for suits against perpetrators.

The bill was also amended in the House to include provisions reducing the statute of limitations for personal injury claims from five to three years and the statute of limitations for uninsured and underinsured motorists from 10 years to three years.

The bill string, sponsored by Rep. Seitz, R-Branson, passed through the House last month and was carried into the Senate by Sen. Brad Hudson, R-Stone, who hopes it will be a step in the right direction for the state.

“By assigning an arbitrary statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse, we have been siding with abusers and perpetrators over survivors in Missouri, making this state a sanctuary state for pedophiles. This must end,” Hudson said.

Currently, any action to recover damages caused by childhood sexual abuse must start within 10 years of the plaintiff turning 21 or within three years of the date the plaintiff discovers the injury or illness was caused by childhood sexual abuse, whichever is later.

Some took objection to the bill because of the added amendments on motorists and personal injury claims. While she said she supports the underlying message of the bill, Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, R-Arnold, said it will be even harder to account for older cases if the statute of limitations is extended.

“If your bill were to become law, Senator, I would stop allowing my children to have friends over to the house,” Coleman said. “Because I could not defend 65 years into the future, something that may or may not have happened that I had no knowledge of when I was at the house.”

Sen. Stephen Webber, D-Columbia, said that he agreed with the increased limitations regarding child sex abuse but questioned the inclusion of provisions for injured motorists and personal injury changes, which he felt muddied up a bipartisan bill.

“We want a clean bill and to extend the statute of limitations for childhood sex survivors,” Webber said. “And I believe that it would receive, probably, a unanimous vote if it got to a vote.” Webber reiterated that he wants the bill to pass for the sake of the victims and remarked that he was “surprised a lot more people were okay with pedophiles” during his comments.

Coleman took offense to the remark, calling a point of order on Webber for name-calling.

Webber replied, stating he was not referring to anyone in the chamber but rather the President of the United States.

Webber and Senator Karla May, D-St. Louis said they’re willing to debate separate bills on the added provision, but that they won’t pass the bill as it currently stands.

The filibuster lasted over an hour and a half before Senators moved on without voting on the bill.

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TUESDAY

Veteran tax relief, gender spaces bills move through House

By Erin Hynes, Hannah McDonough and Caroline Sweet, Missouri News Network

JEFFERSON CITY — House members spent most of the session Monday discussing tax relief for veterans with disabilities and requirements for single-gendered spaces.

House Joint Resolution 115, introduced by Rep. Dave Griffith, R-Jefferson City, proposes a constitutional amendment offering a homestead tax exemption to 100% disabled veterans.

The bill prompted debate from those who feel that a tax relief for one group would increase taxes for another group.

“That’s what we need to be working on: tax relief for every Missourian,” said Rep. Mark Matthiesen, R-O’Fallon. “This is not a statement against veterans … but we have to stop raising taxes on everybody else.”

Matthiesen and Rep. Michael Davis, R-Belton, referenced the Hancock Amendment in Missouri, which puts a cap on how much the government can collect in taxes.

Rep. Mark Boyko, D-Kirkwood, noted that on April 9, 91 House Republicans voted for House Bill 2711, which reduces property taxes on cable companies “for the purpose of promoting expansion of fiber and broadband communications services in the state,” the bill says.

Boyko went on to criticize members who voted for that bill but might be considering voting against HJR 115.

“(This raised) property taxes on all of our residents, all of our voters,” Boyko said. “We’re talking about 100% disabled veterans.”

Representatives from both sides of the aisle voiced support for the bill, stating that it is vital to provide aid to veterans who fight for their country when they return from active duty.

“If you raise your right hand to put your life on the line, you go overseas and serve your country, protect this homeland,” said Rep. Will Jobe, D-Independence. “The least we can do as a state, as a collective body, is say we have your back when you come home.”

The Missouri Property Tax Credit Claim can be given to certain senior citizens and 100% disabled Missourians who meet certain criteria. Renters can receive up to $750 in credit and homeowners up to $1,100.

“What I’m not comfortable with is estimating whether or not someone is disabled enough,” Rep. Darin Chappell, R-Rogersville, said. “I’m not comfortable with deciding whether or not someone sacrificed enough.”

According to the Kansas Office of Veteran Services, veterans in Kansas who are considered 50% disabled or higher are eligible for a tax refund. The refund subtracts the amount of the current year’s homestead property from that same amount for the base year. It cannot exceed $700.

In Illinois, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Kentucky, laws are in place allowing disabled veterans to qualify for property tax or homestead exemptions.

The House voted 152-2 to pass the bill. Matthiesen and Davis were the only representatives to vote against it.

Single-gendered spaces

Debate also renewed over a bill requiring that public entities label multi-occupancy restrooms, changing areas and sleeping quarters exclusively for male or female use. 

House Bill 2536, sponsored by Rep. Becky Laubinger, R-Park Hills, splits these areas based on a person’s biological gender, which she felt was necessary to prevent creating “predator-friendly environments” in government entities.

“Current understanding of gender are often based on a spectrum, and it does not take into account the foundational inequality, the rift, strength and vulnerability between the biological sexes,” Laubinger said.

Some legislators felt that instead of keeping women safe, it targets the LGBTQ+ community and anyone who doesn’t conform to gender stereotypes.

“What this bill does is take a whole other group of people and make them just as scared as women when they use a bathroom,” said Rep. Gregg Bush, D-Columbia.

The bill had 500 pages of in-person and written witness testimony last month in the Emerging Issues Committee. Rep. Wick Thomas, D-Kansas City, said only 13 of those witnesses were in favor of the bill.

The House voted 101-48 to pass the bill.

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House committee advances MSHSAA oversight bill

By Eric Hughes, Missouri News Network

JEFEFERSON CITY — The House Corrections and Public Institutions Committee voted unanimously Monday to pass a Senate bill that would establish a commission to oversee appeals of decisions made regarding high school sports.

Senate Bill 863 would allow the governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint five members to serve as the “Interscholastic Athletic Oversight Commission.” The commission would rule only on cases of transfer eligibility and contest procedures.

The current form of the bill sponsored by Sen. Jason Bean, R-Holcomb, has been simplified and is narrower in scope than the original legislation.

“The commission we’re creating gives parents, students, coaches, school districts, et cetera, an avenue to appeal decisions made by MSHSAA to an independent oversight commission, allowing for increased integrity and athletics,” Bean said.

The original bill would have given the commission oversight over all of the Missouri State High School Activities Association, which governs Missouri high school interscholastic sports and activities. The current version will just give the commission a say in appeals that are made directly to the commission or that have exhausted MSHSAA’s appeals process.

“We worked with MSHSAA and other stakeholders to arrive at this version of the bill, and appreciate their feedback and support,” Bean said.

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Congressman Emanuel Cleaver is running for reelection — where, though, is uncertain

By Tyler Kirwan, Missouri News Network

WASHINGTON — Emanuel Cleaver isn’t a stranger to a standard reelection run. Someone with his level of time spent in office might even call it a speed-walk. He’s been elected 11 times to the U.S. House of Representatives and two times as mayor of Kansas City — the first African American to hold that post. Before that, he served 12 years on the City Council in Kansas City.

But this year, the veteran politician, who will turn 82 the week before Election Day, isn’t facing a standard reelection: All of those past races have been in Cleaver’s Kansas City backyard. This time, he’s facing the prospect of having to stump for votes from Kansas City to Columbia.

That’s because Cleaver was target No. 1 in last fall’s redistricting effort by the Missouri General Assembly, part of a national battle between the Democratic and Republican parties to gain political advantage in November’s midterm elections. In Missouri, where Republicans hold the levers of power, they are hoping to replace one of the two Democrats who currently represent the state in Washington with another Republican.

So far, Missouri’s courts have denied Democrats’ efforts to block the redistricting that was done in a special session last fall. But Cleaver is pinning his hopes on a last-ditch effort that will allow him to keep his Kansas City-centered district. For now, Cleaver is focusing on the area he currently represents and not plotting how to win votes in unfamiliar territory.

“We haven’t thought one minute, one second about it, because it’s illegal,” the congressman said in an interview with the Missourian.

It’s easy to see why Cleaver would rather not face the prospect of a redrawn district. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the district that Cleaver currently represents “solid Democrat,” notes one of the organization’s analysts, Matthew Klein. “It’s historically been based in Kansas City, a very Democratic part of the state,” he said. “Emanuel Cleaver has really faced no serious electoral challenges going back several cycles at this point.”

But if the Democrats’ last chance of stopping redistricting doesn’t materialize, Klein predicts it could spell an end to Cleaver’s long political career.

“The advantage that Republicans would have under the new map is so strong that even for a longtime incumbent and even in what looks like it is probably going to be a fairly favorable climate for Democrats, it’s just almost impossible to overcome that degree of partisan advantage,” he said.

The new map divides Cleaver’s old district three ways, with the new 5th District encompassing the areas of Kansas City, east of Troost Avenue.

Cleaver called the choice to split along Troost “the most psychological, painful thing that happened, not just to me, but the African American community in Kansas City.”

“Historically, it’s been the dividing line between where African Americans could live and then where other majority communities would live,” Cleaver said. “In the early 1900s, it was called the wall because it separated these communities. And it had a long history of ugliness and division.”

Under the map the legislature crafted, the area’s majority-Black neighborhoods east of Troost will be drawn into the predominantly white rural areas between Kansas City and Columbia.

Cleaver argued that it threatens to leave the people he has spent a career representing without a voice in Congress. “There are some people who will be running who have no experience in either living in communities of color or having the relationships that allow them to work with people of color,” Cleaver said.

The Missouri legislature’s decision to redraw the state’s congressional districts came in response to a call from President Donald Trump last summer for GOP-controlled states to redraw their congressional maps to help the GOP maintain control of the House. Democrats have followed suit in the states they control and legal battles have ensued.

That’s the case in Missouri, where Democrats have waged a series of legal battles to stop the redistricting. The last remaining chance to restore the congressional districts created after the 2020 census revolves around a petition drive mounted by a national coalition, People Not Politicians. The group’s representatives say they’ve gathered more than 300,000 signatures from people in support of establishing a referendum, on the maps on the next election ballot.

If Missouri Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins deems there are sufficient signatures calling for a referendum — under state law, he has until July to make that determination — the old maps would remain for the November election.

“So the answer right now is to what map is Emanuel Cleaver running in? What district? The honest answer is, we don’t know,” said Richard Von Glahn, executive director of People Not Politicians.

Cleaver acknowledges that it complicates his reelection strategy.

“The uncertainty is not good. It’s not good for the voters. It’s not good for the politics,” he said.

Uncertainty over maps isn’t unprecedented. Von Glahn said that maps after the 2020 census weren’t finalized until late May 2022. “That doesn’t leave candidates a lot of time to communicate with voters. So I understand that, that can be frustrating.”

Regardless of whether they used or not, the new maps are the result of what is known as gerrymandering, University of Missouri political scientist Scott LaComb said.

“Gerrymandering is the process of manipulating district lines for some sort of political gain that could include partisan gerrymandering, which means drawing district lines to benefit one political party,” he said.

Cleaver noted that his seniority has given him strong ties with his colleagues, including Missouri’s mostly Republican members.

“I still have relationships with most of the members of the delegation,” Cleaver said. “I can tell you this, none of them are actively out campaigning for redistricting.”

Cleaver was the first to file paperwork for this year’s reelection filing, but where he will actually be running and whose vote he is hoping to catch is still up in the air. He’s the only Democrat running in the 5th Congressional District; six Republicans are vying for their party’s nomination in the Aug. 4 primary.

“Democrats are going to respond. They’re going to fight fire with fire,” Cleaver said. “But I also said that when you fight fire with fire, nothing will be left except ash. And I think that’s where we’re headed.”

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Here is what Missouri candidates have raised ahead of November's election

By Kalli Fowler, Missouri News Network

WASHINGTON — Two congressional veterans and a flock of challengers have begun to raise money in an election season that could see some Boone County voters casting ballots for unfamiliar faces later this year.

Due to unusual mid-decade redistricting by the Missouri General Assembly, many voters may find themselves in new congressional districts. It’s part of a nationwide effort by both parties to give themselves an advantage as control of the U.S. House hangs in the balance. Currently, Republicans control the chamber with 217 seats to the Democrats’ 213.

The boundaries of Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District, which covers the southern part of Boone County, are changing. But the biggest switch is likely to be in the northern part of the county. Currently part of the 4th Congressional District, those voters will be switched to the 5th Congressional District, barring a last-minute legal victory for Democrats, who are trying to block the changes.

Missouri’s primary election day is Aug. 4; the general election is Nov. 3.

Here’s a look at how the races are shaping up after Wednesday’s release of first-quarter fundraising reports filed with the Federal Election Commission:

3rd Congressional District

U.S. Rep. Bob Onder, who lives in St. Charles County outside St. Louis, is seeking a second two-year term. He faces a Republican primary challenger, John Fraser, who lists a Columbia address. But Fraser reported that he had not raised enough money in the first quarter to require him to file a report with the FEC. The threshold is $5,000.

On the Democratic side, three candidates are vying for the nomination: Bethany Mann, Paul Wilson and Tommy Holstein. Only Mann and Wilson filed first-quarter campaign finance reports. While Mann — who ran unsuccessfully against Onder in 2024 — significantly outpaced Wilson in fundraising, both Democrats’ war chests are dwarfed by the incumbent.

Onder raised 14 times what the Democrats did combined. More than half his contributions came from political action committees, including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, the National Beer Wholesalers Association and a number of PACs representing medical associations. Onder is a physician.

In his first campaign for office, Onder loaned himself $900,000. This year, his campaign records show that Republican mega-donors Rex and Jeanne Sinquefield paid down $6,000 of that loan.

5th Congressional District

If the GOP remap stands, as appears likely, it will put the northern part of Boone County into the 5th Congressional District, represented for more than two decades by U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat and a fixture of Kansas City politics.

More than half of Cleaver’s contributions for the quarter came from political action committees, including a number representing investment banking powerhouses such as JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs. Cleaver is a member of the House Financial Services Committee.

Despite his formidable war chest, Cleaver is drawing a crowd of Republican challengers, a reflection of the fact that the newly redrawn 5th Congressional District is designed to favor the GOP.

While Taylor Burks appears to be the leader in the Republican fundraising sweepstakes, a closer look reveals that the lion’s share of his first quarter take came from one donor: himself. Burks reported loaning his campaign $900,000. Of the funds he did raise, $26,000 came from donors in Columbia, including local political activist Randy Minchew.

Burks, who is from Hartsburg, boasts endorsements from a number of mid-Missouri officials, including former U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer. Then-Gov. Eric Greitens appointed Burks to fill a vacancy for Boone County clerk in 2017. When Burks ran in 2018, he lost the race. In 2019, Gov. Mike Parson appointed Burks to be the state’s director of Labor Standards. Since then, he has served as a top executive for several mid-Missouri businesses. He serves on the Board of Governors for Truman State University, his alma mater.

State Sen. Rick Brattin raised more than $100,000 from individual donors in and around the suburban Kansas City area that he represents. Several of his would-be congressional colleagues also made contributions: U.S. Rep. Eric Burlison gave Brattin $2,000 from his congressional campaign committee and another $3,500 from a separate fundraising committee, Ever Relentless In Conservatism. Tiger PAC, a committee affiliated with Onder, gave $3.500. Onder also gave $3,500 as an individual.

Brett Hueffmeier of Kansas City is running an almost entirely self-financed campaign so far. He has donated more than $19,000 to his own campaign so far and loaned it another $175,000.

Brad Patty, a 25-year Army veteran from Fayette, raised $2,735 but owes $5,023 to his web developer and accountant.

Micah Beebe and Berton Knox also are running in the 5th Congressional District’s Republican primary but did not file first quarter campaign finance reports with the FEC.