From Missouri News Network
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 focused on recapping the end of the legislative session.
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TUESDAY
Lawmakers weigh abortion restrictions and expansions after abortion rights amendments
By Anna Sago, Missouri News Network
Last Wednesday, Missouri became the first state to successfully put abortion back on the ballot after voters approved enshrining the right to an abortion in the state's constitution in November.
Amendment 3, which passed with around 52% of the vote, drew the ire of Missouri lawmakers for the majority of the 2025 legislative session. As early as March, the body's top Republicans, who hold a supermajority in both chambers, pledged to undo the amendment.
At the end of the session, the legislature sent a resolution to Gov. Mike Kehoe's desk that would remove Amendment 3 from the state constitution, clearing the way for a statutory ban to go back into effect. If signed and approved by voters, Missouri would become the first to undo a voter-approved abortion amendment.
Voters in
10 states decided on abortion in November. But lawmakers in those states have introduced at least 168 bills that would make additional changes to abortion access.
‘This attack on life’
In November, Arizona voters approved Proposition 139, which enshrined the right to abortion in the state’s constitution, with 61% support.
But state Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, D-Tucson, knew her party would try to do more to expand abortion access.
She has introduced a few bills, including one that would expand telehealth to abortion prescriptions and another that would repeal a section of Arizona law banning advertising abortion services.
“We still have miles to go, but I think we’ve been able to, for now, accomplish as much as our colleagues across the aisle have the political will to stomach,” Stahl Hamilton said.
However, Republican lawmakers in both states aim to curtail abortion access.
“Amendment 3 is opening the door to dangerous, unregulated abortion facilities with zero accountability,” Senate Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, told reporters in March. “Missouri must fight back against this attack on life and on women’s health.”
Since then, Missouri Republicans passed
House Joint Resolution 73, which would remove Amendment 3 from the state constitution, clearing the way for a statutory ban to go back into effect, making the Show Me State the first to undo a voter-approved abortion amendment.
In Arizona, lawmakers are focusing on statutory changes, rather than targeting the amendment itself. Rep. Lupe Diaz, R-Benson, said a ballot initiative like Proposition 139 is difficult to change and “ties legislative hands.”
Instead, he’s sponsoring a bill that would prohibit state and local governments from funding clinics that provide abortions. Though it doesn’t directly target abortion access, it may impact how services are provided, depending on clinics’ budgets.
“We’re not prohibiting anybody from getting anything, any services, nothing,” Diaz said. “All we’re saying is that we’re not going to fund it with state dollars. You have to go to the free market to be able to do that.”
Will of the people?
In both states, Republicans said the ballot initiatives were unpopular.
Missouri’s Rep. Justin Sparks, R-Wildwood, has filed one bill and another resolution, which would need voter approval, to undo or restrict abortion rights.
He expressed doubts that Amendment 3’s passage indicated a desire for abortion access in Missouri. He said he’s heard from constituents who voted “yes” on the amendment, only to realize it went further than promised.
“One was from a lady that said, ‘I had to vote for Amendment 3, because if I didn’t, then my ectopic pregnancy could have caused me to have sepsis, and I could have died. … Without Amendment 3, there was a chance that my health could have been in jeopardy,’” he said. “That is patently false.”
He also pointed to the margin by which Amendment 3 passed – just 1.7% – is a sign the electorate was unsure. “A clear mandate has not been sent by the voters of the state,” he said.
In Arizona, where the proposition passed with 61% support, Republican lawmakers still expressed doubt about the results.
Diaz, the Arizona representative, said he will continue to push back on the proposition in any way he can. He said he thinks Arizonans were content with the previous 15-week ban.
“We (the Republican caucus) went ahead and we polled the people with four different polls that said, ‘What do you think about this?’” Diaz said. “And they did not want the 139.”
However, polling in both states tells a different story.
Advocates fight back
In both Arizona and Missouri, some lawmakers who supported abortion rights targeted other statutory restrictions on the procedure. In Arizona, Democratic leaders have introduced bills to remove barriers to abortion care.
In addition to the bills to expand telehealth abortions and repeal a law barring the advertisement of abortion care, Senate Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan, D-Tucson, introduced a bill that would undo a law requiring facilities to report details of all abortions to the Department of Health Services.
Sen. Patty Lewis, D-Kansas City, introduced SB 696, which would have repealed some of the restrictions on abortion that she believes became unconstitutional after Amendment 3 passed.
“As a nurse, I think these personal, private healthcare decisions are up to the individual and their healthcare provider,” she said. “Politicians need to stay out of our doctor's office, full stop.”
Felix, the KFF policy analyst, said she wasn’t sure that the back-and-forth on abortion bans would have any tangible impact, but noted that legislative restrictions like being excluded from Medicaid and onerous licensing restrictions have an impact on providers.
“I would say the larger challenge for a lot of my independent clinics is the attempts that there have been for years to exclude them from Medicaid programs,” she said. “Something that we do know to be the case across the board is that once an abortion clinic closes, it's actually really hard for another one to open, because they do require so much investment.”
A look ahead
In other states that voted on abortion, like Kansas, which in 2022
resoundingly rejected a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would have banned abortion, those votes haven’t put the debate to bed.
Since then, anti-abortion legislators in the state have continued to present bills that would create obstacles to getting abortions.
Lawmakers recently passed
HB 2062, a bill requiring child support payments from the day of conception. Critics say the bill establishes “fetal personhood,” a legal doctrine that says a fetus is a person.
“The real thing is about leading to fetal personhood, if you can't go directly to the people and have them vote on an amendment, then you've got to go through the back door,” Rep. Susan Ruiz, D-Shawnee, said.
Ruiz said she believes that bills like this ultimately aim to ban abortion.
"It's just adding more and more layers of confusion and restrictions,” she said. “They hope that women get frustrated and don't try to seek abortions and then go ahead and have the baby, but after the baby is born, the legislature, they're like, ‘Okay, they're born. That's it. You're on your own.’”
However, Felix noted the possibility that some efforts to undo abortion rights amendments, even after passage, could be intended to bolster a politician’s record on an issue.
For example, Rep. Brett Fairchild, R-St. John, helped propose
HB 2009, which would completely ban abortion.
"My intent in introducing those bills is sort of just to let people know where I stand on the issue of abortion, that I'm strongly pro-life, and that ideally I'd like to basically end abortion,” Fairchild said. “But realistically, I know those bills aren't going to pass.”
Contributing to this story were Katrina Michalak from Arizona State University; Emily Harter from the University of Kansas and Natanya Friedham and Aidan Pittman from the University of Missouri. Bill analysis was conducted using BillTrack50.
Martin, Bush see positives from their first legislative session
By Fletcher Mantooth, Missouri News Network
JEFFERSON CITY — The end of the 2025 Missouri legislative session brought reflection and a feeling of accomplishment for Boone County’s two freshmen House members.
Both Republican John Martin and Democrat Greg Bush have seen a season of orientation, meeting with constituents, filing, hearing and voting on legislation, and working on committees.
Bush said he spent a lot of his term trying to find ways to build rapport with his colleagues across the aisle, so he might be able to find opportunities to overcome the disadvantages of Democratic legislators serving with the Republican majority.
Much of Martin’s time was spent working on the state’s budget as a member of the House Budget Committee, which he said involved a lot of learning the ropes. He also sponsored three pieces of legislation, each making it out of committee.
Martin saw a vastly productive session.
“I think overall, it went well. Being on the Budget Committee, that was obviously a big finale last week,” Martin said. “I wish that things could get worked out better with timing for (House Bill) 19, right? Because I know that there’s a MURR (Missouri University Research Reactor) that was part of that, but overall, the budget I think is an overall win.”
HB 19 was an appropriations bill that would have funded several programs, including $50 million for improvements to the University of Missouri’s research reactor. Martin has voiced support for the reactor in the past.
Overall, Bush faced some challenges as a Democrat that Martin, as a Republican, did not. The majority party sets the agenda of when legislation is heard and influences the consideration of bills on the House floor and the ability of amendments to be proposed and approved.
In the House, Democratic members are used to seeing debate cut off so Republicans can move bills. What was different this session was that the same parliamentary tactic was used in the Senate for the first time in years.
“The Senate using a parliamentary maneuver to close down debate is more than disappointing,” Bush said. “It’s outrageous, particularly on things that are so popular with Missourians and have already been through the popular vote process.”
Bush was able to get a hearing for his bill,
HB 1208, which would ban fire suppression systems that use certain harmful chemicals. The bill never received a vote in committee, which kept it from being considered on the House floor. Three other bills he sponsored never saw a committee hearing.
“We got a lot of good things out of committee, raised a lot of really important issues, not only for the 50th (House district) but for all of Missourians,” Bush said.
Both representatives said they believed some progress was made this session.
Bush, a member of the House Health and Mental Health Committee, said some health care-related issues received more awareness from the discussions during the session.
One was Alpha-Gal Syndrome, a medical condition that can give victims a potentially lethal reaction to red meat and other products from mammals. While no action about the issue made it through the legislature, he believes the discussion helped raise awareness and inform providers.
Bush said he saw an increased awareness for rural health care access.
“Now, the 50th is not a rural district, but when you have hospitals closing around Boone County, it puts pressure on our health care oasis. So now, it’s great that people are talking; the most unfortunate thing is there is not action,” he said.
Martin, a member of the Elementary and Secondary Education Committee, said he saw improvements in education areas, with a policy requiring school boards to have plans to restrict cellphone usage in the classroom passing. Another bill Martin cited was one to help bring newly retired teachers back into the workforce.
Martin, who describes himself as pro-life, also celebrated the passage of
House Joint Resolution 73, which was the Republican answer to state voters passing Amendment 3 protecting reproductive rights in November.
The legislation will put abortion rights, as well as rights for gender-affirming care for transgender minors, on the ballot in November 2026.
“I think it’s good to bring it back to the voters,” Martin said. “It’s not overturning what the voters did last year. It’d be two years after that they could vote at it again. So I think it can help with some clarity on the issue.”
In response to Proposition A, raising the minimum wage and adding paid sick leave, and Amendment 3, as well as other factors, Martin hoped to see some reforms to the initiative petition process, such as residency requirements and a banning on pay-per-signature petitioning. However, his bill on the matter,
HB 551, never made it past the Senate.
Both representatives plan to stay busy during the summer and fall, spending time in the community as well as preparing for the 2026 legislative session.
Bush, when not seeing plays or going on bike rides with his kids, said he hopes to use the time to travel the state. He wants to look for ways to address health care disparities and issues with the health care industry’s workforce. He wants to address those issues by finding ways to get bills over the finish line and finding strategies based on legislation that has passed in other places.
Martin, when not going to county fairs and weddings or running his business, said he will use the time to research and make plans to address issues from his constituents, such as grandparents’ rights for child custody
SUNDAY
Legislative session was more than abortion, paid sick leave
By Natanya Friedheim and Molly Gibbs, Missouri News Network
JEFFERSON CITY — Restricting abortion access and repealing a new paid sick leave requirement generated headlines this legislative session, but Missouri’s Republican supermajority passed 62 other measures ranging from tax cuts to private school vouchers.
“This session proved what’s possible when Republicans lead together,” Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, said in a news release.
Republicans championed their bill exempting capital gains from state income tax and changes to the state’s initiative petition process.
A successful Republican-led bill,
SB 22, granted the secretary of state more power in writing initiative petition ballot summaries. Last year, a judge rewrote the ballot summary of a proposed abortion-rights constitutional amendment after finding the secretary of state’s version unfairly described the proposed constitutional amendment.
The same bill allows the state attorney general to appeal temporary court injunctions. It enabled Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to appeal a Jackson County judge’s decision that blocked enforcement of existing state laws banning abortion and providing other restrictions following the passage of a voter-backed reproductive rights constitutional amendment in November.
“These weren’t just conservative wins, they were wins for the people of Missouri,” Senate Majority Floor Leader Tony Luetkemeyer, R-Parkville, said in a news release. “We said what we were going to do, and we did it.”
Lawmakers hope a wide-ranging child-welfare bill,
HB 737, will expand housing options for foster children. The measure also invalidates non-disclosure agreements in childhood sex abuse cases and raises the marriage age from 16 to 18.
Some Democrats voted in favor of a GOP-led effort to give state control over the St. Louis Police Department.
On the session’s final day, still more Republican-backed bills saw success: bills passed that block foreign spending on initiative petition campaigns and allow the Missouri Farm Bureau to offer a wider variety of health care plans that do not have to abide by federal regulations.
Legislation with bipartisan support doesn’t always grab headlines in the same way controversial, party-line issues do, said Sen. Kurtis Gregory, R-Marshall, who introduced the Farm Bureau health coverage bill.
“The media buzz from session this year is going to be: Republicans PQ’d Democrats on abortion and paid sick leave,” Gregory said, referring to a maneuver Senate Republicans used to pass abortion and sick leave legislation. “There’s probably not going to be major news headlines on Danny’s Law.”
Named after University of Missouri student Danny Santulli, who suffered severe brain damage during a fraternity hazing incident, Danny’s Law criminalized hazing while providing protections for those providing medical assistance. It was part of an omnibus higher education bill passed this year.
The two parties worked together to
fully fund the public school foundation formula, giving the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education all the funding it requested despite Gov. Mike Kehoe’s proposed reductions of $300 million, initially approved by the House.
Lawmakers granted Kehoe’s request for $50 million in state funds for private and religious school vouchers through the MoScholars program.
A last-minute decision by House leadership to ax $513 million for various construction projects stunned Democrats and Republicans in both chambers. The decision led to lengthy complaints on the Senate floor by members of both parties about projects that would not be funded around the state.
The funding might be revived during a special session Kehoe plans to call for lawmakers to reconsider tax breaks designed to keep the Kansas City Chiefs and the Royals in Missouri. Kehoe announced Friday he will call a special session to debate tax breaks for the sports teams and expressed openness about bringing the construction bill back before the legislature.
Proposed tax credits for child care centers also failed again this year, as did conservative efforts regarding gun rights. Bills died that would have
blocked local police from enforcing federal gun laws, would preemptively forbid enforcement of proposed “red flag” laws that would allow courts to restrict gun ownership in certain cases and would have restricted local governments from banning open carry of weapons.
Abortion, paid sick leave
In their victory-lap news release, Republican House leadership listed “clarifying sick leave requirements” among their accomplishments. In fact, their measure repealed the paid sick leave requirement part of Proposition A, which 58% of voters approved in November. Their bill also scales back the impact of a minimum wage increase approved in the same ballot question by ending annual cost-of-living increases.
Republicans said they fear the paid sick leave requirement will force small businesses to lay employees off or close entirely.
“You have small business owners working 80-plus hours a week, and if the business isn’t profitable, they don’t get any minimum wage at all,” said Sen. Ben Brown, R-Washington, a restaurant owner. “For them to be put in position to where they’re, you know, having to pay someone that’s not there, who’s getting sick leave, that can be the difference between them taking home a paycheck at all.”
The repeal of paid sick leave was hailed by some businesses despite a lobbying effort by unions and some smaller businesses to maintain the benefit.
People began accruing paid sick leave — one hour for every 30 hours worked at qualifying employers — on May 1. The repeal takes effect Aug. 28. It’s not clear how the repeal will affect those who accrued sick leave while the law is in place.
“I’m just a country surgeon, but I believe that the law is that you get sick leave, you ought to be able to get sick leave, and the people should be able to gain those hours,” House Speaker Jon Patterson, R-Lee’s Summit, said at a news conference Thursday.
Patterson was the sole Republican in the House to oppose a measure —
HJR 73 — aimed at repealing Amendment 3, another ballot measure passed by 51.6% of voters in November. Amendment 3 restored the right to an abortion in the state after more than two years of a near-total statewide ban.
Like the bill to repeal paid sick leave requirements, the effort to repeal Amendment 3 ruptured an otherwise cohesive session between Senate Democrats and Republicans.
Under HJR 73, voters will be asked to effectively reinstate Missouri’s near-total abortion ban that was in place for two years before November’s vote.
However, the new proposed constitutional language would carve out exceptions for fetal anomalies and medical emergencies. Rape and incest survivors could also legally access the procedure prior to 12 weeks of gestation. The measure would also prohibit surgeries, drugs or hormones from being used for gender transitions for minors.
Another measure,
House Bill 195, that would have created penalties for health care providers who do not provide life-saving procedures on “a child who is born alive during or after an abortion or an attempted abortion” died.
Two identical bills, which would allow prosecutors to charge women who get an abortion with homicide, died in a House committee. The proposals would have also enabled prosecution against abortion providers.
Sometimes called “fetal personhood” laws,
House Bill 1072 and
House Bill 1417 would have defined a “person” as “including an unborn child at every stage of development from the moment of fertilization until birth.”
Higher education
Senate Bill 160, sponsored by Sen. Brad Hudson, R-Cape Fair, is an omnibus education bill that mostly relates to the state’s colleges and universities.
It allows Missouri State University to award doctor of philosophy degrees in areas other than engineering, and undergraduate degrees in veterinary technology. It will override current state law that gave the University of Missouri the sole right to grant those degrees and others. It also contains “Danny’s Law.”
Another section in the bill aims to protect student organizations at public higher education institutions. Under the act, those institutions are prohibited from taking action against a student group because of the group’s beliefs or actions of its leaders. They are also unable to deny belief-based groups any benefits available to other student groups.
K-12 education
Senate Bill 63, sponsored by Sen. Ben Brown, R-Washington, prohibits public and charter schools from banning homeschooled or full-time virtual students from taking part in school athletics and activities. The bill was passed by the Senate on May 8 after the House made changes. It now awaits Kehoe’s signature.
The “Missouri Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act,” also known as the CROWN Act, was established by SB 160. It applies to elementary and secondary education institutions that receive state financial aid or have students that receive state financial aid. It stops these institutions from discriminating against people based on hair texture or style if it is commonly associated with a particular race or origin.
Once again, open enrollment failed to pass into law.
HB 711, sponsored by Rep. Brad Pollitt, R-Sedalia, would have established the Public School Open Enrollment Act, allowing students to attend public schools outside the district they live in. Districts would have had to opt in to the program to accept students from other districts. The bill was a priority early on in the session but stalled after reaching the Senate.
Utility rates
Senate Bill 4, which passed early in the session, makes major change to the way utility rate increase requests will be considered by the Missouri Public Service Commission.
The first would change the current policy for utility rates, allowing gas and water companies to request rate increases for consumers based on estimates of future costs. This rate policy is referred to as “future test year.”
The other provision would allow energy companies to seek to charge consumers for “construction work in progress” or CWIP. This means that energy companies could earn revenue on natural gas power plants as they are being built and before they are operational.
The Consumers Council of Missouri warned that the bill, signed into law by Kehoe in early April, would lead to the largest utility rate increase in state history. In a news release, the nonprofit estimates that combined gas, electric and water rates could increase by $1,115 annually per household if the legislation is passed.
Bills that died
A bill preventing courts from using pregnancy status as a reason not to dissolve a marriage, which drew emotional testimony from sponsor Rep. Cecelie Williams, R-Dittmer, died in the Senate despite bipartisan support.
A bill
mandating the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms did not make it past the Senate this year.
SB 594 died after being passed out of the Senate’s Education Committee, chaired by the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville.
A similar fate befell Brattin’s
SB 115, which would have banned “divisive concepts” in schools, required schools to post detailed curriculum online and barred transgender athletes born male from participating on teams that are exclusively for female students in public schools.
A package of
three child care tax credits introduced by Rep. Brenda Shields, R-St. Joseph, stalled in the Senate after being passed out of the House and passed by a Senate committee. Similar bills failed the last two years.
A
bill that would protect Bayer, an agrochemical company, from failure-to-warn lawsuits again failed in the Senate this year after garnering narrow support in the House. The company produces the weed-killing herbicide Roundup.
Bayer has spent billions defending itself against lawsuits from people who claim glyphosate, a chemical used in Roundup, caused their non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. A similar
measure passed in North Dakota this year. It was the first state in the U.S. to do so, according to Bayer.
Governor praises legislators for a 'smooth' session despite final days
By Molly Gibbs, Missouri News Network
JEFFERSON CITY — Gov. Mike Kehoe praised legislators Friday in an end-of-session news conference and said compromise was the key to pushing forward legislative priorities.
“We made historic progress,” Kehoe said. “Strengthening support for law enforcement and public safety, advancing bold initiatives in economic development, protecting the future of agriculture and delivering on our promise to invest in bridges, highways, children and schools.”
Kehoe said he is looking for a way to get his recently introduced stadium package back before the General Assembly in a special session. A date for a potential special session has not been set.
The package, which was added as an amendment to Senate Bill 80, would incentivize the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals to stay in the state. The teams are entertaining offers to move to Kansas, and the deadline for them to make the decision is June 30.
“This is a huge economic development package,” Kehoe said of the legislation that died when the Senate adjourned Wednesday evening.
The special session, he said, could also include negotiations over a spending package, House Bill 19, that was killed by House leadership.
The bill included $50 million in funding for the University of Missouri Research Reactor Center. Funding for improvements to the Missouri State Fair and construction projects relating to the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City were also eliminated when House leadership failed to bring the bill up for a vote May 9, the deadline for action on spending bills.
As Kehoe shared his overall positive view of the session, he said the entire 19-week session must be considered, not just the last few days, referencing recent tensions between Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate.
“I saw the process work better this year than I have in a long time,” Kehoe said.
On Wednesday evening, Republican Senate leadership shut down Democratic filibusters of measures to repeal voter-approved paid sick leave and to require another statewide vote on abortion rights.
A procedure called the “previous question,” which is rarely used in the Senate, was used by Republicans to force a vote on the issues. The votes resulted in the passing of HB 567 and House Joint Resolution 73.
The Senate adjourned, ending its 2025 session, immediately following the votes amid Democratic members vowing to make the Republicans pay for using the seldom-used tactic to shut down debate.
With the Senate gone, the House adjourned on Thursday, the first time since 1952 that it had not worked on the last legislative day.
Kehoe said calling the previous question is no more of a “nuclear option” than filibustering.
“There’s two tools on the table,” he said. “And I’m not sure one should have anymore weight than another.”
The bill,
HB 567, that overturned Proposition A’s paid sick leave provision and ended annual cost of living minimum wage increases, was the subject of multiple hours-long filibusters by Senate Democrats. Kehoe voiced support for that bill, which awaits his signature.
HJR 73 seeks to repeal the constitutional right to an abortion approved by voters in November. If Kehoe signs the resolution, which he called critical pro-life legislation, the issue will go back on the ballot for voters to decide.
Kehoe said he will look at options to have a special election, but nothing is set yet. If a special election is not called, HJR 73 will appear on the November 2026 ballot.
In his opening remarks Kehoe also acknowledged the life and legacy of former Gov. Kit Bond, who died Tuesday. A state memorial service will be held at noon Tuesday in the rotunda at the Capitol.
