(Missouri Independent) – A constitutional amendment asking Missourians to let lawmakers decide year-to-year whether the state will offer Medicaid to working-age adults moved closer to passage on Wednesday. By an 8-5 vote, the Senate Appropriations Committee sent the House-passed proposal to the full Senate for debate. Only Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, voted with Democrats to oppose the measure, which […]
(Missouri Independent) – State Rep. Ed Lewis had just hours to say goodbye. In March 2020, his 89-year-old mother had to go to the hospital after suffering from a fall. Lewis’ sister was their mother’s primary caregiver, but in the pandemic’s first days as hospitals restricted visitors, family members weren’t allowed to stay with her. Lewis […]
(Missouri Independent) -As debates over school curriculum rage nationwide, the Missouri House granted initial approval Tuesday to a “Parents’ Bill of Rights” that would allow for lawsuits and funding to be withheld from schools that repeatedly violate the proposed law. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Ben Baker, R-Neosho, aims to “to empower parents to enforce” rights […]
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley spoke to Missourinet after a judge dropped the criminal charges in the 2018 deadly duck boat tragedy in Branson. Senator Hawley was Missouri’s attorney general when the amphibious craft capsized during severe weather on Table Rock Lake killing seventeen people. In one of his first official duties in Congress, […]
(Missouri Independent) – The Biden administration Wednesday announced its plans to extend the pause on federal student loan repayments until the end of August. “I recognized in recently extending the COVID-19 national emergency, we are still recovering from the pandemic and the unprecedented economic disruption it caused,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “If loan […]
(Missouri Independent) – A Missouri task force assigned with overseeing the creation of a statewide prescription drug monitoring program has hired a former state health department veteran to serve as the program’s executive director. Dean Linneman, the former director of the Department of Health and Senior Services Division of Regulation and Licensure, was hired on […]
(Missouri Independent) – The Missouri Senate is poised to take up a long-running effort to stymie the Grain Belt Express, a massive transmission line meant to carry wind energy from southwest Kansas across three states. The $2 billion project would carry 4,000 megawatts of energy, dropping some off in Missouri before ending at the Illinois-Indiana […]
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) went to the Senate Floor on Tuesday to call for unanimous consent to pass his “Protect Act of 2022” which protects children from sexual exploitation by enhancing the penalties for possessing child pornography and preventing judges from sentencing offenders below federal guidelines. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) objected and blocked the […]
Congressman Sam Graves (MO-06) joined Representatives Tracey Mann, Jason Smith, Bob Latta, and a bipartisan coalition of more than 70 members of Congress in introducing a resolution recognizing the important role of the stepped-up basis in preserving family farms and small businesses. “If the President gets his way and guts the stepped-up basis, it would […]
(Missouri Independent) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that the government will terminate a Trump-era policy that prevented migrants from claiming asylum during a health crisis, including the coronavirus pandemic. The policy will end on May 23, the CDC wrote in its notice. “There is no longer a serious danger that the […]
(Missouri Independent) – The U.S. House passed legislation Friday to legalize marijuana nationally, but its future is much less clear in the Senate. The House voted 220-204 to approve the measure, which would fix the split between federal law and 19 states where recreational marijuana is legal. Three Republicans joined all but two Democrats in approving the measure. […]
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced the PROTECT Act of 2022, which protects children from sexual exploitation by enhancing the penalties for possessing child pornography and by preventing judges from sentencing offenders below federal guidelines. The bill is co-sponsored by Senators Mike Lee (R-Utah), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). Representative Ken Buck (CO-4) is […]
(Missouri Independent) – A bill that would make it a felony to donate fetal tissue from abortions for research or therapies won first-round approval in the Missouri House Tuesday, but lawmakers blocked an effort to make it illegal to help women obtain an abortion outside the state. The bill sponsored by Rep. Hannah Kelly, R-Mountain Grove, […]
(Missouri Independent) – Missouri children would be better protected from lead poisoning under a state legislative bill to require schools to nearly rid their drinking water of the dangerous toxin. The bill, heard Monday by the House Conservation and Natural Resources Committee, would require schools to test drinking water, remove old coolers and filter water where […]
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) announced that he will introduce new legislation to toughen the sentences for child pornography offenders. Senator Hawley said, “This week I will introduce new legislation to get tough on child porn offenders. Dems, the White House & Judge Jackson spent last week saying sentences for child porn offenders are too […]
The Missouri House of Representatives has given initial approval to eminent domain legislation for utility purposes. Lawmakers have been working for years to pass a plan like this due to a high-voltage power transmission line project planned across eight northern Missouri counties. Under the bill, in eminent domain proceedings, just compensation for agriculture or horticulture […]
The Missouri House Committee on Government Oversight has voted in favor of legislation that would criminalize the importing, distributing, or administering of abortion-inducing drugs. Committee chair, state Representative Jered Taylor of Nixa, explains two key provisions were removed from the bill. A fetus cannot survive an ectopic pregnancy and it can put the […]
(Missouri Independent) – When the Good Samaritan Care Clinic opened in 2006 in Mountain View, only about 5% of the free clinic’s clients were eligible for Medicaid. When it closed late last year, that number had risen to 70%, Dr. John Roberts, one of the clinic’s founders, told the Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday. Medicaid […]
A bill in the Missouri Legislature would tie state funding for public universities and colleges to student earnings after enrollment. The University Rewarding Workforce Readiness Act would give more money to schools that deliver higher earnings for their graduates. Missouri’s nine universities and 13 community colleges would receive a performance score based on […]
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced new legislation to continue to fund and restore the jurisdiction of the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery so that it can investigate fraud within the Treasury Department’s pandemic programs, including the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). This anti-fraud legislation comes as the Biden Administration is lobbying for more federal […]
