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Missouri governor’s final State of the State touts abortion ban, infrastructure spending

11 months 3 weeks ago
In his final address to a joint session of the Missouri General Assembly, Gov. Mike Parson on Wednesday pointed to outlawing abortion, increasing infrastructure spending and appointing five statewide office holders as the legacy of his six years in office. “I’ll be leaving here with my head held high,” Parson told lawmakers during his annual State of the State address. Parson can’t seek re-election because of term limits. After years in the legislature, and 18 months as lieutenant governor,…
Jason Hancock

Bathroom restrictions for transgender kids added to Missouri ‘parents bill of rights’

11 months 3 weeks ago
Legislation seeking to create a “parents bill of rights” in Missouri was amended in committee Tuesday morning to add prohibitions on transgender students accessing restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity. A House hearing on standalone bills that sought to regulate school bathrooms took up the majority of a nearly nine-hour meeting last week. Missourians haven’t had a chance to testify on bathroom restrictions in the Senate this year, a fact that irked Democrats…
Annelise Hanshaw

Staffing agencies not exempt from antitrust law, Illinois Supreme Court rules

11 months 3 weeks ago
Staffing agencies – a fast-growing industry that employs nearly a million Illinoisans – are not exempt from the state’s antitrust law, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled late last week. The decision comes three and a half years after state Attorney General Kwame Raoul sued a trio of staffing agencies, alleging they used their mutual client to coordinate no-poach agreements, which created a secondary agreement to pay temp staffers less than the market rate. In a unanimous 20-page opinion published…
Hannah Meisel

Missouri ‘Freedom Caucus’ leaders ousted from Senate chairmanships over stall tactics

11 months 3 weeks ago
The Republican civil war in the Missouri Senate reached a new crescendo of strife Tuesday, when Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden stripped four members of their committee chairs and declared he was acting against “a small group of swamp creatures.” The action toward members of the newly formed Freedom Caucus took away traditional prerogatives of senior legislators and even relegated the targeted four to parking spots as far from the Missouri Capitol building as possible. Rowden said he…
Rudi Keller

GOP renews push to make it harder to amend Missouri constitution by initiative petition

11 months 3 weeks ago
Republican lawmakers’ latest attempt to change Missouri’s century-old initiative petition process was met with widespread opposition Tuesday. Hanging over the proceedings, though hardly discussed on Tuesday, were a pair of initiative petition campaigns seeking to put an amendment on the statewide ballot rolling back Missouri near-total ban on abortion. One of the campaigns has already reported raising $2 million to bankroll its efforts, amplifying the sense of GOP urgency to get changes to…
Anna Spoerre