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After hours of filibustering in the Missouri Senate, including a spirited game of charades, Democrats stopped an attempt by Republicans Wednesday to make it harder for voters to amend the state constitution through the initiative petition process.  The measure sponsored by Rep. Mike Henderson, R-Bonne Terre, originally would have asked voters to increase the number […]

The post Democrat filibuster derails GOP measure to change initiative petition process appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Efforts to secure the nationwide right to an abortion stalled for a second time Wednesday when U.S. Senate Democrats failed to get enough votes to overcome the legislative filibuster. Republicans, including Maine Sen. Susan Collins and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, voted uniformly against limiting debate on the bill while Democrats, save West Virginia’s […]

The post U.S. Senate Democrats fail to enshrine nationwide abortion protections, vow more action appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The halls of the Missouri Capitol on Tuesday didn’t look like time was running out on the 2022 legislative session. The third-floor rotunda area between the House and Senate, usually bustling with activity as lobbyists confer with lawmakers and shuttle between the chambers to check the viability of amendments with less than 100 hours to […]

The post Missouri Senate divisions on full display going into session’s final days appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A statewide open enrollment system that would allow students to attend a school district outside of one in which they reside is likely dead with just three days left in the legislative session.  But proponents are optimistic a much more narrowly-tailored version focused exclusively on people who own multiple properties in different school districts is […]

The post With open enrollment dead, Missouri lawmakers push carve-out for some property owners appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Companies looking to build large electrical transmission lines in Missouri may soon have to pay landowners more and provide more of the transmitted power to customers in the state. On Tuesday, the Missouri House passed eminent domain legislation that adds more protections for Missourians when companies condemn land to build transmission lines. The bill has […]

The post Missouri lawmakers pass eminent domain bill without Grain Belt poison pill appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri House voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to require state regulators to disclose ownership information for businesses granted medical marijuana licenses that the state has withheld from public view. Democratic Rep. Peter Merideth of St. Louis added the transparency requirements as an amendment to a local government bill approved by the Senate earlier this year. After […]

The post Missouri House votes to require disclosure of medical marijuana ownership records appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A bipartisan proposal to extend postpartum care for low-income women in Missouri to a full year after they’ve given birth is “hanging on a thread,” its sponsor said, due to resistance from a Republican state senator in the legislative session’s final days. The provision, which would expand health care coverage from 60 days to a […]

The post Hopes dwindle that Missouri lawmakers will extend postpartum care for new moms appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Every year, dozens of bills are filed in the Missouri General Assembly that target the LGBTQ+ community in one way or another, forcing queer legislative staff to sit quietly while our humanity is debated.  I am a gender non-conforming lesbian and a very visible member of this community. There are days I worry if it […]

The post Out of the closet and into the Capitol | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri House on Monday passed a new congressional redistricting map, agreeing to a plan that its sponsor says is intended to appease critics who have blocked previous efforts at agreement. With a Friday final adjournment looming, the bill debated Monday is a long-shot for passage. Under legislative rules, the first day the Senate could […]

The post Missouri House pushes ahead on last-chance congressional redistricting plan appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri Senate passed a wide-ranging elections bill Monday that would enact a photo ID requirement to vote as well as create a window to cast an absentee ballot without an excuse.  The bill will now go back to the House, which can send it to the governor or ask for a conference to work […]

The post Voter ID requirement, absentee ballot changes clear Missouri Senate appeared first on Missouri Independent.

After the Democratic mayors of Kansas City and St. Louis last year moved to shift police funds towards community outreach and crime prevention initiatives, Republican lawmakers in Jefferson City vowed a response.  GOP-backed legislation filed this year would increase the portion of Kansas City’s budget it must devote to its police department. Another bill would […]

The post GOP eyes bill forcing Kansas City to put more money toward police as session nears end appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missourians this fall may have a chance to legalize adult marijuana use and change the way elections are conducted. Two initiatives proposing amendments to the Missouri Constitution were submitted Sunday. If each has sufficient signatures, they will likely be on the Nov. 8 ballot. The marijuana initiative would build on the 2018 amendment that legalized […]

The post Legal marijuana, ranked-choice voting initiatives submitted for Missouri ballot appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri lawmakers enter the final week of the legislative session Monday with a laundry list of unfinished business and long-simmering tensions threatening to derail any hope of progress.  After finishing work on the largest state budget in Missouri history last week, GOP super majorities in the House and Senate hope to begin ticking through election-year […]

The post ‘Crescendo of craziness’: Missouri legislature enters final week with long to-do list appeared first on Missouri Independent.

When I was raped in 2016, one of my attackers reached inside me and pulled out my NuvaRring, an internal birth control device, and asked me what it was.  When I told him, he cast it aside where it was lost until police retrieved it a couple days later.  Following my attack, because of the […]

The post Pandora’s Box: Overturning Roe is only the beginning of the threats to women | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A St. Charles County Circuit Court judge dismissed Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s lawsuit Thursday against the local school district’s now-rescinded mask mandate, leaving few cases from Schmitt’s legal blitz remaining. The City of St. Charles School District was one of 47 districts Schmitt sued earlier this year over mask mandates, and it was one of […]

The post Judge dismisses Missouri AG’s mask lawsuit against St. Charles school district appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The largest budget in Missouri history passed with relative ease Friday, in part because the final version was larger than the spending plans passed earlier in either the House or Senate. The total, just over $49 billion, includes big increases for school transportation, help for colleges and universities in the form of bigger budgets and […]

The post Missouri lawmakers finish record $49 billion state budget hours before deadline appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri lawmakers are poised to require schools test and, potentially, filter drinking water to prevent lead poisoning, making the state one of just a handful that require administrators to meet standards stricter than federal regulations. The state offers grants for schools to pay for water testing, but there is no requirement to test, and only […]

The post Legislature on the verge of requiring Missouri schools test, filter water for lead appeared first on Missouri Independent.

An expansive set of proposed changes to Missouri’s open records law backed by Gov. Mike Parson has transparency advocates alarmed that legislators may be poised to undermine the law. The changes touch on everything from narrowing the definitions of “public business” and “public meetings;” closing records that include draft documents or relate to proposed legislation; […]

The post Lawmakers debate changes to Missouri Sunshine Law that would conceal more records appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The path to passage for a bill spending almost $3 billion in federal COVID-19 relief was paved with money Thursday. But about 20 minutes of discussion was all it took to win a 26-5 vote from the upper chamber after 18 new projects were added along with a $500 million set-aside from general revenue for […]

The post Missouri Senate signs off on $3 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens will get to look at his ex-wife’s telephone records from the days before she filed explosive allegations of child and spousal abuse against the Republican Senate candidate. In an order dated April 28, Associate Circuit Judge Leslie Schneider overruled Sheena Greitens’ motion to quash subpoenas for her phone logs and […]

The post Judge grants Eric Greitens access to ex-wife’s phone records in custody case appeared first on Missouri Independent.