Capitol Report 6/26/2026

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 this week has coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling involving lawsuits tied to roundup, the new world screwworm and a look at road construction needs around the state.

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

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Supreme Court overturns $1.25 million Roundup lawsuit

By Kennedy Voss, Missouri News Network

WASHINGTON — In a significant win for a St. Louis-based chemical manufacturer, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a judgment in favor of a Missouri man who contended that the manufacturer’s Roundup weedkiller caused his cancer.

In a 7-2 decision, the court ruled that Monsanto was not obligated to warn customers of a potential cancer risk because the Environmental Protection Agency has not required such labeling on the popular product. For years, the EPA has held that glyphosate, the most common herbicide used in U.S. agriculture and a key ingredient of Roundup, is noncarcinogenic, though a key international agency has contradicted that view.

The court ruled that Monsanto was not required to label because the provisions in the federal statute say plainly that states, Missouri in this case, “shall not impose or continue in effect any requirements for labeling or packaging in addition to or different from those required under” the statute.

In a lengthy dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson argued that the court majority “reads into FIFRA a labeling requirement that does not exist, and it reads out of FIFRA the statute’s ongoing prohibition on misbranding.”

Jackson, who was joined in her dissent by Justice Neil Gorsuch, concluded: “Ultimately, the effect of the majority’s interpretation is both remarkable and regrettable, for it unjustifiably closes the courthouse doors to state tort plaintiffs like (St. Louis resident John) Durnell.”

Though the court’s decision focused narrowly on labeling requirements and not the question of whether Roundup ingredients cause cancer, it could have significant implications for thousands of lawsuits brought against Monsanto by Americans who claim they were sickened by Roundup.

The German pharmaceutical and life sciences giant Bayer, which now owns Monsanto, set aside $16 billion to settle a tsunami of lawsuits over the weedkiller when it purchased the company.

In 2025, a Missouri jury decided that Monsanto failed to warn Durnell about the possible carcinogenic properties Roundup, as required by Missouri law. Durnell claims that he developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma as a result of using Roundup, which contains the controversial chemical glyphosate.

The Missouri jury awarded Durnell $1.25 million in damages.

The Missouri Court of Appeals upheld the jury award, which prompted Monsanto to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Monsanto argued that it was not required to label the product because such labeling was not required by the EPA.

The court’s majority, an unusual combination of liberal and conservative justices, ruled in favor of Monsanto’s contention that EPA’s past approval of glyphosate preempts Missouri’s failure-to-warn laws.

Since 1947, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act has acted as the federal statute that governs the labeling and sale of pesticides in the United States.

In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a part of the World Health Organization, broke from years of glyphosate-related decisions and classified the chemical as “probably carcinogenic to humans.” In response, the EPA said that it “considered a significantly more extensive and relevant dataset” than the IARC and does not agree with the agency’s conclusion.

This classification launched more than 100,000 cases against chemical manufacturers, with many centering around Monsanto.

In briefs submitted to the court before oral arguments, both sides claimed that FIFRA proves their case.

Monsanto points to a part of the act that states, “EPA prohibits the sale and distribution of unregistered, adulterated, or misbranded pesticides and the use of any registered pesticide in a manner inconsistent with its labeling.”

“(Durnell’s) label-based failure-to-warn claim is preempted twice over,” said Paul Clement, the lawyer representing Monsanto, during oral arguments before the Supreme Court.

“Here, a Missouri jury imposed a cancer warning requirement that the EPA does not require,” Clement said. “That additional requirement is preempted.”

The company states that because the EPA has always approved its labels and the use of glyphosate in its products, FIFRA preempts Missouri’s state failure-to-warn laws. It points to FIFRA’s strict uniformity clauses, and claims that if every state has their own say, it would create an unnecessary burden on the company to create 50 different labels for the same product.

It also uses FIFRA to affirm that it would not have been able to add an unsanctioned cancer warning to its product. In the Missouri trial, Durnell’s lawyers said there was no evidence that Monsanto had ever submitted a possible cancer warning to the EPA.

Durnell’s lawyers pointed to another part of the act that states, “Under FIFRA, States have broad authority to regulate pesticides …”

“Missouri thus requires adding cancer warnings, but federal law requires EPA to approve new warnings and tasks EPA with deciding what label changes would mitigate any health risks,” said Ashley Keller, the lawyer representing Durnell, during oral arguments.

“State law must give way,” Keller added.

This specific quote from the act does go on to say, “... however, it is unlawful for States to impose or continue in effect any requirements for labeling or packaging in addition to or different from those required under FIFRA.”

In a statement released immediately after the ruling, the company seemed to be pleased with how the opinion would affect the ongoing cancer litigation.

“(The decision) should help significantly contain the Roundup litigation after nearly a decade of legal battles,” said the company in their statement. “The ruling should result in the dismissal of current warning-based claims and bar future failure-to-warn claims.”

The company added that it “... will continue to pursue final approval of the class settlement and other elements of its multi-pronged strategy to contain the Roundup litigation.”

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Missouri lawmakers react to Trump's refusal to sign bipartisan housing bill

By Kaleb Anderson, Jacob Miklas and Kennedy Voss, Missouri News Network

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s decision Wednesday to cancel the signing of a bipartisan housing bill left Missouri lawmakers searching for a solution to one of the nation’s most pressing economic issues, the prohibitive cost of homeownership.

Trump is using the popular housing bill, aimed at increasing the affordability of homeownership for average Americans, as leverage to force the Senate to pass his SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and restricts mail-in voting. It has faced opposition on both sides of the political aisle.

After pushing the Senate to prioritize the SAVE America Act, Trump canceled the signing of the housing bill, known as the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. It would help first-time buyers purchase their first homes. According to a recent Harris poll, 4 in 10 Americans worry they may never be able to afford a home.

The president has been pushing legislation similar to the SAVE America Act for years as part of his claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him due to widespread voter fraud. He has offered no evidence to support that assertion, which has been thoroughly debunked.

The act has stalled due to a lack of support in the Senate.

U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., who has worked on housing reform for decades and co-sponsored the housing bill, said he was disappointed by Trump’s last minute decision not to sign the housing bill.

“You cannot find a major housing advocacy group that’s not behind this,” Cleaver said, “but I think the president has politicized what we had worked very, very strenuously to depoliticize.”

The top Democrat on the Housing subcommittee, Cleaver worked alongside U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., to create the bipartisan bill.

“I don’t know if it’s intentional or not, but he is trying to erase any of the togetherness between the parties that developed as a result of this piece of legislation. And it’s just — it is painful for some of us who have been in it all the way through,” Cleaver added.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said he supports the housing bill but accepts Trump’s decision not to sign it.

“I defer to him on whether or not he wants to do a signing ceremony. I think he’s trying to light a fire under the Senate, and that’s probably a good thing. ... I think he’s trying to motivate the Senate a little bit and say, ‘this isn’t the time to take a victory lap,’” Hawley said.

Hawley also said he supports the SAVE act, and he would be surprised if the president vetoed the housing bill.

“Let’s just see what he does. If he has issues with the bill, I certainly would want to know what those are, but we can fix it,” Hawley said.

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., has worked with the president on the SAVE act. In March, he proposed several amendments.

“I’ve been fully committed to passing the SAVE America Act,” Schmitt said on Wednesday. “I have the actual language the president supports.”

Schmitt also said he does not think the SAVE America Act and the housing bill were related.

“I think that just because a signing ceremony was postponed doesn’t mean that the bill’s not going to be signed into law,” Schmitt said.

Schmitt, along with 84 other senators, voted in favor of the housing bill when it came through the Senate. He said the bill contained important protections for Americans.

“Hedge funds have been buying up homes; that’s driven up the cost of homes for regular folks,” Schmitt said.

Brian Toohey, CEO for the Mid-Missouri Board of Realtors, said in a KOMU 8 article that Columbia has had a housing shortage for many years.

“We don’t have enough housing. We’ve had a housing shortage since 2017,” Toohey said.

The president has 10 days to either sign the housing bill into law or veto it.

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Missouri Sen. Hawley savors 'win' over MLB after Pride Night debacle

By Kaleb Anderson, Missouri News Network 

WASHINGTON - Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is savoring a win over Major League Baseball in a recent confrontation over the right of athletes to promote Bible verses on their uniforms during the league’s Pride Night celebrations.

“I thought that the commissioner’s response was very gratifying,” Hawley said Tuesday. ... “He admitted that he didn’t have his facts right and that no player would ever be disciplined for their religious views.”

On June 15, three San Francisco Giants players received verbal warnings for violating MLB protocol by altering their uniforms with Bible verses on their Pride Night caps. Another Giants pitcher who chose not to wear a Pride Night hat also got a verbal warning from MLB for violating the uniform policy.

In response, Hawley released a letter on June 16 to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred citing a “pattern of discrimination” against players because of their Christian faith.

“I write with grave concern over your reported decision to issue a formal warning to three Major League Baseball players for publicly expressing their Christian faith,” Hawley wrote. “You must answer for what appears to be a pattern of discrimination within MLB against baseball players who profess their Christian faith.”

Manfred responded to the senator Friday, saying that the warning issued is “enforced without regard to the substance of the message” and that the Giants failed to communicate to their players that they could have taken the field without wearing the team’s pride logos.

On June 12, Giants pitchers Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker broke MLB protocol by altering their uniforms with Bible verses on their Pride Night caps, which included a rainbow Giants logo. Another pitcher, Sam Hentges, chose not to wear a Pride Night hat.

In a post to X on Monday, Hawley wrote that MLB “admits they were wrong to threaten the Giants players over Bible verses and promises never to fine or discipline these players — or any players for their religious beliefs.”

In his letter to Manfred, Hawley had demanded all league and club uniform regulations and documentation of every instance in which a player had been penalized under those policies by Friday.

The United States Department of Justice opened an investigation into Major League Baseball for alleged discrimination against the four Giants players.

MLB said the warnings had nothing to do with the players’ faith.

“We respect players’ right to free expression,” the league said in a statement. “We have given the same warning numerous times in the past to players for messages such as ‘Dad,’ ‘Happy Mother’s Day, I Love Mom,’ and names of family members.”

Following their game Friday, Giants relievers Ryan Walker, JT Brubaker and Hentges tried to downplay the controversy.

“It’s just people getting a hold of something and turning it into something. I just wanted to put my message and my beliefs (out there), and that was the end of it,” Brubaker said.

“It was more so questioning myself and what does my faith mean to me,” Walker added.

“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion,” Hentges said. “They can feel how they want about me or what I have done, but it wasn’t out of hate. I don’t hate the community.”

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New World Screwworm raises concerns for beef prices, operation costs

By Emma Harper, Missouri News Network 

As cases of the New World Screwworm rise in the U.S., state officials are working to prevent the parasitic fly from reaching Missouri.

Since June 3, there have been 15 reported cases of New World Screwworm in Texas and New Mexico. These pests’ larvae enter warm-blooded animals’ wounds and feed on their live tissue, leading to enlarged wounds, bacterial infections and death if untreated.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture analysis published in 2025 found that an outbreak roughly the scale of the 1976 Texas outbreak could cost the Texas economy $1.8 billion.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention activated a Level 3 emergency response on June 11, its lowest emergency response level. There are no reported cases of New World Screwworm in Missouri, but officials worry about the threat posed to livestock.

“I think there’s definitely some level of risk, so that’s why detecting it early and getting it treated is very important,” Missouri state veterinarian Steve Strubberg said. “We have some very responsible livestock producers here in Missouri, and we expect them to notify us and help us eliminate it if it does arrive, but a big key on those producers too is if they practice really good biosecurity, it will most likely prevent it from ever arriving.”

The fly generally spreads to new areas through the movement of infested livestock. Craig Payne, director of veterinary extension at the University of Missouri, said that animals are now transported much farther distances than they were when the New World Screwworm was most active in the U.S., which could increase the area the screwworm spreads to.

Though there are no animals currently being transported to Missouri from very-high risk areas, Strubberg said Missouri does occasionally receive animals from those affected areas, and animals come from many states on a daily basis. There are movement restrictions placed on animals from infested areas, and animals coming to Missouri from these areas require additional inspection and permission. In addition, health officials established 12-mile quarantines around confirmed cases.

The New World Screwworm can infect livestock, pets, wildlife and even humans, though human infestation is rare. Seth Meyer, director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, said beef cattle may be at a greater risk for New World Screwworm because they are open range, which can result in more injuries and less monitoring than livestock kept in enclosed areas. Missouri has the sixth largest cattle inventory in the U.S., according to USDA data.

“These animals will get cuts, and because they’re out in an open range they’ll get small wounds, et cetera, that can be infected or attract these maggots, and so I think that this becomes a real challenge,” Meyer said. “The challenge is not that you will lose the animal, and it’s not that the animal won’t, couldn’t, can’t be eaten afterwards, because it can, it’s a wound, and you clean the wound, and you move on. It is a management issue, and the producers, the farm, the farmers, the ranchers have to increase their management of this.”

The screwworm’s reappearance in the U.S. comes after decades since the fly’s eradication in 1966, and the few outbreaks since have been quickly eliminated. The New World Screwworm population is controlled through the release of sterile flies, which helped eradicate the fly in the past. Since 2023, the New World Screwworm has made its way up through Central America and Mexico.

The USDA closed the Mexican border for livestock imports into the U.S. in November 2024 after New World Screwworm was detected in Mexico. The border reopened briefly but has remained closed since May 2025. Meyer said cattle imported from Mexico made up about 4% to 5% of total slaughter in the U.S.

“It isn’t having an effect yet on domestic supplies of cattle, and I suspect that its ultimate impact on domestic supplies of cattle might be modest, but we are short Mexican cattle, and we are short domestic cattle already, so none of this is helpful in reducing beef prices,” Meyer said.

Ranchers may incur additional expenses from increased herd monitoring, treatment and animal movement restrictions. Beef prices have increased 12.9% since May last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The cattle inventory is at its lowest since 1951.

“We have had a declining herd for several years, and even though we are feeding them to heavier weights, we are in a contraction phase of the cattle cycle,” Meyer said. “Even though profitability appears to be very large, we continue to be in a contraction phase of the cattle cycle, which is part of the reason why beef prices are so high.”

The Missouri Department of Agriculture, USDA, Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Missouri Department of Conservation, and MU Extension have been working together to prepare for the threat of the New World Screwworm for over a year. Their main focus is on prevention, and in light of the U.S. screwworm detection, Missouri activated its NWS Response Plan.

The plan requires any animals moving into Missouri from a state with an infested zone to enter with a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection that states, “All animals were inspected and found free of evidence of NWS infestation and have not originated from or transited through a NWS infested zone,” according to the Missouri Department of Agriculture website. Domestic animals coming from an infested zone must meet requirements from the state of origin, receive an entry permit from the state veterinarian’s office and a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection that says, “All animals were inspected and found free of evidence of NWS infestation.”

Despite worries over the challenge infestation may cause for production, the screwworm does not impact the safety of the food supply. Even infested animals, after proper treatment, are able to safely enter the food supply.

Ryan Dierking, co-owner and operator of Idle Wind Farms in Union, said he is continuing to monitor his herd, but that he wasn’t sure how much Missouri producers would be affected in the near term. Newborn mammals and post-calving cows are especially vulnerable to infestation, but the spring calving season has ended in Missouri.

“I would say most producers across the state are done calving at this time of the year, and so you know what’s primarily going to be affected is any animal that has an open wound, where if you know the screwworm were to get inside the borders of Missouri, would be the animals you’d want to pay attention to,” Dierking said.

In addition to cattle, the screwworm has been detected in Texas sheep and goats, along with a New Mexico dog. Sheep, goats, pigs, dogs, horses, cattle and more make up the list of more than 185,000 infested animals in Central America, along with more than 2,100 cases in people.

On June 16, the USDA announced $105 million of funding for 40 projects focused on detection, control, eradication and making response times faster.

The New World Screwworm’s life cycle cannot be completed in dry soil below 46 degrees, and adult flies can’t survive in weather under 20 degrees. This means Missouri does not face the threat of the screwworm establishing a year-round presence, but maps based on historical data show that the flies might migrate to Missouri in the warmer months if they establish in southern states.

The Missouri Department of Agriculture advises ranchers to register their farms for a federal premises ID so the state can issue notifications about New World Screwworm. Prevention can include cleaning, treating and covering open wounds and delaying practices that can cause open wounds such as castration, dehorning, birthing or branding. Additionally, producers are advised to regularly monitor animals for signs of infection or maggots, and to report signs of infestation to a local veterinarian or the Missouri Department of Agriculture Animal Health Department.

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Missouri road needs are bigger than MoDOT’s budget

By Jana Rose Schleis, Missouri News Network

Missouri has the seventh largest state highway system in the U.S., and a new Missouri Department of Transportation report says safety, reliability and maintenance of infrastructure are top priorities for the next 25 years. But current funding could present challenges to meeting those goals.

MoDOT’s Long Range Transportation Plan, released this month, sets the vision and direction for transportation in Missouri for the next 25 years, said MoDOT’s Central District Engineer Machelle Watkins.

Last year, MoDOT’s budget included more than $3 billion for roads and bridge improvements and $155 million for multimodal projects. The report notes there is $1.3 billion of “high priority unfunded needs.”

“Missouri faces growing shortfalls that challenge MoDOT’s ability to maintain infrastructure and meet future needs,” the report states.

MoDOT data shows there is a funding gap of $1.2 billion for roads and bridges last year and $100 million for multimodal transportation needs.

The state’s transportation system received a boost from the gradually increasing gas tax that began in 2021.

That, plus an influx of federal money from the Biden-era Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and state dollars, enabled the agency to take on huge projects such as the expansion of Interstate 70 and the redesign of the U.S. 63/I-70 interchange in Columbia. Watkins called it a “historic moment” for MoDOT.

“We’ve had some significant investments in recent years in transportation from a fairly unusual location, and that’s from (the state’s) general revenue (budget),” she said.

But even though transportation funding has been included in state budgets during both the Parson and Kehoe administrations, the recently published transportation plan states current revenue sources are not keeping pace with growing needs.

“Missouri has made historic investments in its transportation system, but current resources require MoDOT to focus on preserving existing roads and bridges,” the report states. “Even with nearly all funding directed to asset management, certain areas may not see improvements beyond basic upkeep.”

According to MoDOT, 80.8 million miles are driven and 1.7 million tons of freight are hauled on Missouri roads each day, and highway conditions are slowly declining.

MoDOT’s Central District Assistant Engineer Randy Aulbur said the quality of the roads are directly related to the amount of investment.

“Currently the investment being made into road conditions has lifted us up,” Aulbur said. “But the reality is, if you don’t maintain that investment, it just doesn’t take long to start heading back in a negative direction.”

The state updates its long-term transportation plan approximately every five years. The goals are used to allocate available funds to specific infrastructure projects across the state through the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program.

“The unfortunate reality is that transportation revenues aren’t growing at the same pace as inflation,” Watkins said.

She added that budget challenges are likely to compound due to the changing nature of cars.

“Hybrid vehicles or electric vehicles, while they’re great for their impact to the environment … that’s a great thing. They don’t generate the same kind of revenues for transportation in the form of the traditional gas tax that other types of vehicles do,” Watkins said. “So over time as traffic continues to grow and the impact to our system continues to grow, the revenues do not.”