Rudi Keller, Missouri Independent

A former top elections official is accusing Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins of changing local election results, trying to deceive a federal judge in a voting administration case and illegally using state funds to influence a St. Louis County election.

Nick La Strada, whom Hoskins fired as director of election integrity in May, made the allegations in a lawsuit filed Monday in Cole County. His attorneys said he sued because he could not keep quiet about the way Hoskins is running Missouri elections.

“In essence, defendant office, by the actions of defendant Hoskins, fired the director of election integrity for having too much integrity,” the lawsuit states.

Hoskins was elected in 2024 and hired La Strada in January 2025. La Strada was Pettis County clerk at the time, a post he had won in four consecutive elections. In the news release announcing the appointment, Hoskins praised La Strada for his experience in local, state and international elections.

His “extensive experience in election administration makes him the ideal choice for this important position,” Hoskins said at the time.

The way Hoskins ran the office tested La Strada’s loyalty to his party and the law, said Erin Vernon, who is serving as La Strada’s attorney.

“This was not an easy decision for Mr. La Strada,” Vernon said. “He is a loyal Republican to the very end, except the one thing he will not put the party above is fair and equal safe elections for all. He couldn’t be quiet and had to stand up for what was right, and it didn’t take long for Mr. Hoskins to show him the door.”

Lawsuit seeks $80 million from Denny Hoskins over Missouri congressional map referendum

La Strada did not attend the news conference with his attorneys outside the Cole County Courthouse in Jefferson City. He is overseas working as a U.S. Long-Term Election Observer in Bosnia and Herzegovina, deployed through Amentum’s Seconded Personnel and Election Observers program on behalf of the State Department.

It is the second lawsuit filed against Hoskins in recent days over his actions in office. Five Missouri voters also sued Hoskins last week, alleging he violated a state law that provides monetary damages when an officeholder “neglect[s] or refuse[s] to perform any of the duties enjoined on him by law.”

Through spokeswoman Anne Marie Moy, Hoskins declined to comment on either lawsuit.

The lawsuit makes three major allegations against Hoskins and the team he assembled to run the office that manages Missouri’s elections and voter database, business registration services and other duties.

One, identified by La Strada’s attorneys as the immediate cause of his dismissal, involves an alleged attempt to fabricate a complaint for use in a federal inquiry under the Help America Vote Act into allegations that data sources on the number of votes cast in 2024 did not agree.

On April 14, U.S. District Judge Doug Harpool of the Western District of Missouri ordered Hoskins’ office to hold an administrative hearing in the case. He ordered La Strada to appear in person.

The next day, the lawsuit alleges, Hoskins’ then-Chief of Staff Matt Alsager called Brandon Alexander, chief of staff for State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick, on speakerphone from a meeting with La Strada, Deputy General Counsel Jackie Bryant and Director of Elections Chrissy Peters.

“During this meeting, the participants, excluding plaintiff La Strada, discussed fabricating a false whistleblower submission to offer as evidence about the Missouri Centralized Voter Registration system, to be routed through an ‘IP scrambler’ and a ‘burner’ phone so the source could not be traced, to be offered as evidence,” the lawsuit states.

After La Strada reported the conversation to Hoskins, his access badge for the Capitol Building was disabled. He was able to enter, but according to the lawsuit, Alsager told him at the door to the hearing that his presence wasn’t needed.

LaStrada went anyway and testified. The next day, he was told not to come into work the following Monday and that he had to meet with Hoskins on Tuesday. At that meeting, Hoskins fired La Strada, effective May 1.

The lawsuit says La Strada was fired for his “questioning, reporting and/or complaining of violations of voting laws and regulations, campaign laws and regulations, violations of the Secretary of State’s rules and policies, speaking up in opposition to defendants’ abuse of power and authority and mismanagement, and testifying in the federal HAVA hearing.”

The other two specific incidents described in the lawsuit involve local elections.

In one, La Strada alleges, Hoskins ordered a retabulation of write-in votes in a city election in Marshall after a complaint about this year’s April election. The election had been certified and a winner named by a single vote.

After a complaint, Hoskins ordered the votes retabulated, resulting in a different winner, and threatened city officials if they did not comply. La Strada said that exceeded Hoskins’ authority because only a judge can order a recount of votes after certification.

In the other, La Strada said he warned Hoskins in April 2025 that using public funds for an anti-Proposition B mailer appeared to be an election offense. Proposition B was a St. Louis County issue that would have altered the power over department head appointments in county governments. It was defeated.

Vernon, at the news conference, noted that Hoskins has not hired a new director of election integrity since La Strada was fired.

“That’s a very big problem heading into elections,” Vernon said, “and they’ve shown they don’t want someone telling them what they can’t do and what the law in fact is.”

Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.

A new survey released Thursday shows more Missourians disapprove of President Donald Trump and Gov. Mike Kehoe’s job performance than approve.

For Trump, it is the first negative approval rating in the six-year history of the St. Louis University/YouGov poll. For Kehoe, it is the first since he took office last year.

Trump has lost 19 percentage points in net approval since he took office at the start of 2025 — including 14 points since February.

A survey taken last month showed 52% of Missourians polled said they disapprove or strongly disapprove of the president’s performance, while 47% said they approve or strongly approve.

For Kehoe, the decline is steeper. In February, Kehoe’s approval rating was 50%, with 14% who said they strongly approve of his job performance. In the poll taken last month, it had fallen to 39%, with 7% who said they strongly approve.

The poll showed 49% disapprove of Kehoe’s performance..

The SLU YouGov poll surveyed 900 likely voters between Aug. 13 and Aug. 24 and results have a margin of error of about 4%. The SLU YouGov poll was initiated in June 2020 and the August poll is the 11th time for the survey of Missouri voters.

Kehoe and other Missouri Republicans are suffering from Trump’s sagging popularity amid voter dissatisfaction with the Iran war and inflation, said Steve Rogers, poll director and associate professor of political science at St. Louis University.

“This is a little bit of MAGA fatigue,” Rogers said, “and we will likely see what we saw in the first Trump presidency midterm election, the Trump voters won’t show up.”

Election polling

That election, in 2018, was the last time a Democrat won statewide office in Missouri.

Republicans have held the governor’s office for the six-year history of the SLU YouGov poll. Kehoe is the first Republican governor to have a net negative rating. It is also the first time Trump has been underwater in the poll.

Other results show Republicans facing headwinds as the November election approaches.

For the only statewide race on this year’s ballot, the poll showed incumbent Republican State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick leading Democratic candidate Quentin Wilson 45-43, within the margin of error. Neither candidate has raised large sums and the campaign has not generated much public enthusiasm.

The auditor’s race is akin to state offices below governor, where candidates have much less money and name recognition, Rogers said. Voters are going more on party labels than what they know about the candidates.

“If you just go two years ago, we polled on every statewide race, and below governor, every Republican had at least a 13-point lead,” Rogers said. “And now we’re doing the exact same thing two years later, and then with that, it’s only a two-point lead.”

The shift downward for Kehoe is greater, Rogers said, because he has embraced policies that proved unpopular with voters, from tax breaks for sports stadiums to ballot measures that were rejected by historic margins.

The poll was taken just after the primary, Rogers said, and Kehoe may have been punished by voter hangover.

The next poll, in February, will show whether Kehoe can recover.

“It’s a big change, and that’s why February will probably be very telling,” Rogers said. “This is a big change that was polled on, arguably, at Kehoe’s lowest point.”

On issues, the poll showed voters disapprove of the war in Iran by an 18-point margin, and two-thirds or more of respondents said they worry about affording healthcare, food and groceries, and gasoline, with three in five also saying they have trouble paying utility bills.

That discontent on national issues is visible in the generic partisan ballots for the fall elections, Rogers said.

Voters favor Republicans generally for a seat in the U.S. House and the Missouri House, but by a narrow margin of 4%. The U.S. House rating has moved 11 points towards Democrats since February. The generic ballot question for the Missouri House was asked for the first time.

The further Trump’s approval falls, Rogers said, the worse it will be for Republican candidates. Voters could punish legislative candidates even if they feel more favorably toward the Legislature than the president, he said.

“Presidential approval in Missouri this time round had twice the impact on state legislative voter choice than state legislative approval,” Rogers said.

Voters are split on the two biggest ballot measures for the Nov. 3 election. Amendment 3, which would reimpose a ban on abortion in most instances, has 43% in support and 44% opposed. Proposition A, a referendum on redistricting, has support from 35% and opposition from 32%, with 33% undecided.

The referendum question is complicated by voters not being sure what the answer is to the ballot question, Rogers said. The campaigns, where opponents of the 2025 map will argue for a “no” vote and proponents for a “yes” vote, have not launched the final push to Election Day.

The February poll also showed a split, but the 35%-32% division, with 33% undecided, shows uncertainty about what a vote means, he said.

“Very rarely do we get a pollster saying ‘I don’t think our result really reflects the true outcome,’” Rogers said. “It instead reflects a lot of confusion.”

Education perceptions

The poll routinely asks about participants’ impressions of public schools and the top education issues before state lawmakers.

This year’s leading education debate centers on a January executive order from Kehoe asking for public schools to be graded on an “A” through “F” scale based largely on standardized test scores.

Lawmakers failed to pass a law setting up Kehoe’s vision during legislative session, but the State Board of Education is set to approve a plan for the grade cards this month.

The proposal has drawn criticism from educators in feedback sessions led by the state’s education department, with school officials raising questions about how their districts will be scored.

According to the poll, a majority of Missourians support A-F grade cards “based

on state test results and graduation rates,” with 60% of respondents in favor and just 19% opposed. The results are largely unchanged from February.

The poll also asked participants how they would rate their local schools, with 51% responding that they would give an “A” or “B” grade. Just 3% would issue a failing grade.

In a similar question asking how respondents would rate the “condition of public schools in their community,” 39% gave their local district an “excellent” or “good” evaluation while 33% thought schools were fair and 24% had a poor impression.

Public perception of public schools in the state as a whole is less favorable, with 22% giving schools the “excellent” or “good” rating, 44% in the fair category, and 26% grading schools as poor.

People who view schools as doing poorly statewide were more likely to favor raising teacher salaries, by a 10% margin over people who view public schools as excellent. Overall, 81% of respondents thought teacher pay should increase.

Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.

The Missouri Supreme Court ordered Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins to appear in person Thursday and explain why he should not be held in contempt for directing election officials to use a congressional map the court has barred him from implementing.

In the unusual late order Tuesday, the court gave Hoskins until noon Wednesday to answer a motion for contempt from People Not Politicians, a political action committee that forced a referendum on a map gerrymandered in 2025 to favor Republicans. The court scheduled an in-person hearing for 10 a.m. Thursday.

The contempt fight erupted hours after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh rejected Missouri officials’ emergency request to stay the state court ruling. Minutes later, Chief U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark of the Eastern District of Missouri issued a temporary restraining order barring Hoskins from using any congressional map other than the 2025 version.

Hoskins then sent local election officials a copy of Clark’s order along with his official certification of the November ballot. In the email, Hoskins said Clark’s order “takes precedence over the Missouri Supreme Court’s order.”

The Missouri Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the referendum on the 2025 map was legal, sufficient and timely and ordered it onto the Nov. 3 ballot. Because the referendum petition was filed before the new map took effect, the court held, the 2025 districts never became law and the map used in 2022 and 2024 remains in effect for the November election.

The decision also permanently enjoined Hoskins and those acting in concert with him from implementing or using the 2025 map unless voters approve it in November. In Tuesday night’s order, Chief Justice W. Brent Powell directed Hoskins to answer three questions:

Why “(1) his e-mail on September 8, 2026, instructing use of the (2025) map is not an affirmative violation of this court’s injunction; (2) how this court’s injunction is not still in full force and effect in light of the Supreme Court of the United States’ overruling of Respondent’s emergency application for stay and administrative stay pending appeal; and (3) if he is not willing to comply with this court’s injunction, he should take no action in all things related to the congressional district map until guidance is received from a higher court…”

Powell also directed that the court “will not allow filings from any other parties on this matter.”

Clark’s order says not to use any map but the 2025 map, attorney Chuck Hatfield wrote in the motion. The Missouri Supreme Court’s order says not to use the 2025 map. Both orders are in effect and leave election authorities no map at all, Hatfield wrote.

Clark’s order “does not purport to overrule this court’s injunction and does NOT mandate the Secretary to use (the 2025 map), although on its face it enjoins the use of any map other than (the 2025 map),” Hatfield wrote.

By directing local election authorities to implement the 2025 map, Hoskins is violating the court’s orders, Hatfield wrote.

“This court should make clear that regardless of other orders (except from the United States Supreme Court) the Missouri Secretary of State must comply with this court’s injunction,” Hatfield wrote. “The court should instruct all local election authorities that (the 2025 map) is not the law and has never been the law.”

Clark’s action came in a lawsuit filed Friday by U.S. Rep. Bob Onder, state Sen. Rick Brattin and two voters. They want to keep in place the map drawn in 2025, which shifts territory around Onder’s home into the 3rd District and redraws the 5th District to make it more favorable to Republicans.

Had Clark not acted, Kavanaugh’s denial would have left the state court order in place and Missouri on course to use the 2022 map for the November election.

The dueling orders created immediate confusion, with Attorney General Catherine Hanaway issuing a news release saying the state would comply with Clark’s order. Attorneys for People Not Politicians said during a news conference that the conflicting orders could leave election officials unsure which one they must follow.

Hatfield said local election officials are being directed by Hoskins to use the 2025 map even though the Missouri Supreme Court injunction bars Hoskins and those acting with him from implementing it.

“I think they’re probably not sure what map they should use, and they need to talk to their lawyers about that,” Hatfield said.

Abha Khanna, the Seattle attorney who was People Not Politicians’ lead lawyer at the U.S. Supreme Court, said Clark’s order “is something that we will deal with to figure out on appeal.”

A referendum on the 2025 redistricting plan will be on the Nov. 3 ballot as Proposition A.

The 2025 map was drawn with the goal of making seven of Missouri’s eight congressional districts favorable to Republicans, principally by reshaping the Kansas City-based 5th District held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. The map used in 2022 and 2024 produced a delegation of six Republicans and two Democrats.

Onder is the Republican nominee in the 3rd District, seeking a second term in a district drawn more to his favor in the 2025 redistricting plan. Brattin is the Republican nominee in the 5th District, where the district was designed to generate a GOP victory that ousts veteran Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City.

Clark wrote that without a temporary restraining order, “many Missouri voters would have to cast their general-election votes for candidates whom they had no role in nominating.”

“Candidates who had no choice but to campaign and raise money in the (2025) districts that Missouri’s highest election authority presented to them, have spent their funds and campaign efforts in districts that would no longer exist,” wrote Clark, who was appointed to the bench in 2019 by President Donald Trump.

Clark also found that the public interest favors using the same map for the primary and general elections.

“Disenfranchising voters across the state and denying them their constitutional right to have their primary votes counted significantly harm the public interest,” he wrote.

The center of both Clark’s ruling and the appeal to Kavanaugh is the Missouri Supreme Court decision that enjoined Hoskins from using the gerrymandered congressional map drawn.

Kavanaugh did not elaborate on his decision.

In turning down the emergency application for a stay, Kavanaugh created no precedent on the issues raised by the state. But the decision does show that he did not find enough convincing argument that the state would likely prevail in a hearing by the full court or that the state would suffer “several irreparable harms” as claimed in the application.

People Not Politicians on Sunday had urged Kavanaugh to reject the state’s application and uphold both parts of the ruling from the state Supreme Court.

In the opening paragraphs of the filing, attorneys for People Not Politicians write that the only reason the case was at the nation’s highest court is the decisions to delay made by Hoskins during the signature verification process.

Hoskins “waited as long as possible to manufacture the present dispute” and held the congressional primary using the 2025 map, they wrote, “in the hopes of running out the clock on the judiciary’s tolerance for a last-minute reversion to the 2022 districts.”

Now, they wrote, Hoskins wants “this court to deliver him the political victory to which he was never entitled under the Missouri Constitution. This court cannot and should not reward the secretary’s scheme to outsmart Missouri voters, Missouri law, and the Missouri Supreme Court by granting applicants the extraordinary relief they seek.”

A key point made by Missouri Solicitor General Lou Capozzi in the state’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was that the mechanism for changing between districts is too time-consuming and difficult to complete before ballots must be delivered starting Sept. 19.

County clerks, however, told the Missouri Supreme Court that switching voters to the map used in 2022 and 2024 is a relatively simple process. And the Jackson County Board of Elections told the Kansas City Star it would be ready to hold the election in the 2022 boundaries.

The redistricting story began in the summer of 2025, when Onder, of Lake St. Louis, got the ear of President Donald Trump to tell him that Missouri, like Texas, could provide additional GOP seats to bolster the party’s thin majority in Congress.

Since Missouri lost a seat after the 2010 census, it has sent six Republicans and two Democrats to the U.S. House each election.

Onder, then a state senator, was among members of the chamber’s conservative caucus who were outmaneuvered in 2022 as they tried to force a congressional map that would tilt the 5th District, based in Kansas City, to the GOP. He was elected to Congress in 2024.

And, despite initial misgivings, Republicans got in line behind Trump. Gov. Mike Kehoe called a special session inflamed with partisanship, including a state Senate rule change that effectively silenced Democrats, which forced through what the GOP majority wouldn’t do in 2022.

The legal and political backlash that followed has not yet spent its full force. It began when People Not Politicians began circulating the referendum petition and intensified as it became clear there would be more than enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Legally, the battle has upended the consensus on the effect that filing a referendum petition has on legislation as well as delivered strong new precedent upholding the governor’s power to select subjects for a special session and the General Assembly’s power to redistrict at any time.

Politically, the climax will be written in November, when voters decide on both the referendum and the congressional candidates selected in the primary.

The flurry of filings over the weekend shows the intense national interest in the outcome of the Missouri case.

Republican attorneys general from Florida, Texas and 18 other states filed in support of Missouri, arguing it is not legal to change voting districts between the primary and the general election.

Meanwhile, in Texas, that state’s Supreme Court is deciding whether local voting districts can be changed after the primary to dilute voting strength of minorities.

The American Center for Law and Justice also sent a brief to the court urging it to rule for Hoskins.

On the other side, the Campaign Legal Center, the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation joined forces to file a brief supporting People Not Politicians, as did the two Missouri voters who tried to get the 2025 map suspended while signatures were being checked.

Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.

The fight over legalizing slot machines in Missouri gas stations and convenience stores is moving from the Capitol into Republican state Senate primaries.

After years of Senate resistance, video lottery backers believe next year could bring a friendlier chamber. But three August primaries could determine how clear that path really is.

The contests involve three of the highest-profile backers of video lottery and candidates who say Missouri should not expand gambling again without voter approval.

In the 8th District in southeast Jackson County. Missouri House Speaker Jon Patterson of Lee’s Summit is competing with former state Rep. Dan Stacy of Blue Springs. Patterson, through his campaign committee and associated political action committee Missouri Alliance, is the No. 1 recipient of gambling interests donations since the start of 2025.

The 16th District runs along Interstate 44 from Rolla to Lebanon in south central Missouri. State Rep. Bill Hardwick of Dixon, sponsor of a video lottery bill that passed the House in each of the past two years, is running against state Rep. Don Mayhew of Crocker, former state Rep. Hannah Kelly of Norwood and Phillip Lohmann of Rolla.

The 20th District, which covers rural parts of Greene County plus Barton, Dade and Webster counties is where. State Sen. Curtis Trent of Springfield, who is running to be Senate majority leader, is being challenged by Lori Rook, who has contributed $100,000 to her own campaign and ran third statewide in the primary for state treasurer in 2024.

State Sen. Lincoln Hough, a Springfield Republican who blocked video lottery legislation when he served chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and threatened to filibuster if supporters tried to pass it this year, said this year’s elections will determine whether the video lottery bill passes next year.

“If you want gas station casinos, and you want slot machines in every freaking gas station in this state, then the people that are going to support that are the ones that are elected,” said Hough, who is leaving the Senate this year because of term limits. “If you feel strongly enough that you don’t like these things, you better find out who the candidates are in your area who don’t like them.”

The 16th District

Hardwick is running against three Republicans who either oppose video lottery or are against legalizing it without a public vote.

Kelly took the hardest line against video lottery, saying she would “absolutely filibuster it” and rejecting the argument that gambling revenue should help fund state services.

“Telling me that legalizing those machines is a way to pay our bills is like telling your child to go out and prostitute to pay your light bill,” she said. “It’s wrong. It’s absolutely wrong.”

State Rep. Hannah Kelly, R-Mountain View, speaks during Missouri House debate on May 13, 2022 (Tim Bommel/Missouri House Communications).

Mayhew has staked out a middle position. He supported Hardwick’s 2025 bill but voted against this year’s version because it allowed current games to remain in place until regulated video lottery was active. He said lawmakers should first address the unregulated machines already operating, then send any proposal to legalize video lottery to voters.

“My sentiment would be, you break those two things apart and then you put it out there to a vote of the people,” Mayhew said.

Rejecting video lottery while unregulated and untaxed games remain in place is unrealistic, Hardwick said. Missouri already anticipates a budget shortfall in coming years as accumulated savings are exhausted, Hardwick said. And if a measure to replace the income tax with other revenue passes, he said, video lottery could be a way to generate money besides increasing the sales tax.

“There is a little bit of disappointment in people who are begging their fellow legislators for appropriations, who are saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got to fund education more,’” he said. “But I feel like I’m one of the only people who’s offering solutions.”

Hardwick is leading the fundraising battle. His campaign and aligned PAC, Missouri Enterprise Fund, have reported raising $306,000 since the start of 2025, including $190,700 from gambling interests — the fourth-highest total among Missouri political figures.

Kelly’s campaign and aligned PAC have raised about $91,000, while Mayhew has raised $17,520 and has no aligned PAC. Lohmann and Democratic candidate Virginia Staabs have reported minimal fundraising.

Hardwick said he can defend the policy of allowing slot machines under state control and his acceptance of large donations from video lottery backers.

The donations recognize his work to get the bill passed since he became a legislator in 2023, Hardwick said. Voters know that lobbying interests donate to politicians who support their positions, he said.

His position has been consistent, he said.

“I got into it before there were any campaign donations,” Hardwick said. “I was trying to solve the problem then, but as long as you are, you’re making your position known, and then people decide if they want to support you, I think that’s all right. “

Mayhew received donations from video lottery backers back when he supported the bill in 2025.

“I tell everyone who gives me a check, ‘you know, If you think that this is going to buy a vote, well, then you can just keep your money,’” Mayhew said. “And they always say, ‘well, no, that’s just so we can talk to you.’ And I say, well, you can do that for free.”

The money being donated by gambling interests is corrupting the process, Mayhew said.

“There are too many times I can draw a line from a vote to a campaign contribution, and for me that’s disgusting,” he said.

Hardwick will have to answer in debates why he received such large donations and why they came so soon after the session, Kelly said.

“Those questions should be directed to him about how that works for him,” Kelly said. “I genuinely believe that there is a time and a place for things, and VLTs in gas stations aren’t the time or the place.”

The 8th District

Patterson has a massive fundraising advantage in the GOP primary, with $667,000 in his campaign account on March 31 and the PAC aligned with his campaign, Missouri Alliance, held $2.1 million.

Stacy, who does not have a PAC raising money to help him, has raised $31,000 since the start of 2025 and had $10,134 on hand at the end of March. But Stacy won four elections to the Missouri House, the last in 2022, and he’s been busy with personal campaigning in the district for most of the past two years.

Patterson is a prolific fundraiser, bringing in $1.5 million for the two committees since the start of 2025, Missouri Ethics Commission records show. Of that amount $249,900 — one out of every six dollars received by Patterson’s committees — is from gambling interests. The majority of that is linked to video lottery legislation.

His campaign committee has received $14,400 from PACs associated with former House Speaker Steve Tilley, the chief lobbyist for Torch Electronics. The company gave Missouri Alliance $25,000.

Missouri House Speaker Jon Patterson, a Republican from Lee’s Summit, speaks at a March 27 news conference (Tim Bommel/Missouri House Communications).

For several years, Torch has profited from legal uncertainty and low interest from prosecutors to set up thousands of slot machine-like games in convenience stores and other locations.

Patterson’s campaign has accepted $9,600 from PACs funded by J&J Ventures, which has also contributed $85,000 directly and through PACs to Missouri Alliance.

Stacy hasn’t received any gambling interest donations.

Patterson did not return calls or text messages seeking comment for this article.

Stacy said the only way he would consider voting for a video lottery bill is if it was put on a statewide ballot.

Patterson “has received a lot of money from special interests that want to promote things that may or may not be good for the state of Missouri,” Stacy said. “Gambling in general does not typically yield positive things in the state of Missouri.”

The proliferation of games owned by Torch and other operators would make it hard to remove them from retailers, Stacy said.

“I would like to make sure that gambling does not cause any more harm to citizens than absolutely necessary,” Stacy said.

The 8th District is one of two in the state Senate that Democrats hope to flip in the November election.

The winner of the primary will face state Rep. Keri Ingle of Lee’s Summit. Ingle voted against the video lottery bill passed narrowly in the House.

If Patterson wins the primary, Ingle said, she will make an issue of his financial backing from the video lottery promoters.

“Not only was he the No. 1 recipient, but that was also his No. 1 issue,” Ingle said.

Ingle has raised $267,000 since the start of 2025. Her campaign and aligned committee, KERI PAC, have raised $24,500 from gambling interests since the start of 2025. Of that amount, $19,000 is from J&J Ventures and the PACs it supports.

The presence of gambling machines in convenience stores and other locations is a law enforcement issue, Ingle said. The bill passed in the House would have allowed a transition period — essentially a shield against prosecution — until new licensed machines could be installed.

That made her vote against it, she said, while Patterson was working to get votes for it.

Like Stacy, Ingle said she would only consider a bill requiring voter approval if the Senate debates video lottery.

The 20th District

The 20th District is the only Republican primary in Missouri where a key incumbent in the video lottery debate faces a well-funded challenger who opposes any expansion of gambling.

Rook’s campaign seeks to tap into voter resentment of lobbying influence in Jefferson City. In an interview, she said Trent’s contributions from the gambling industry are a prime example of the problem.

“It’s pay to play,” Rook said. “This is the system that’s set up. It’s completely corrupt, and none of it surprises me. They’re investing in these candidates that have done their bidding, and they’re not willing to wager against people like me who are going to come in and say no.”

Trent did not return numerous calls seeking comment for this article.

Sen. Curtis Trent, a Republican from Springfield, introduces a bill in the Senate on Feb. 12, 2024 (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent).

Trent raised $223,000 for his campaign and $347,000 for 417 PAC from the start of 2025 through March 31 . The only large donation requiring immediate reporting since that date was the $50,000 from J&J Ventures on May 19.

That donation brought the total gambling interest donations to 417 PAC to $113,294, with $90,000 from J&J Ventures and the PACs it funds.

Trent’s most recent lengthy public statements about his support for video lottery came when he was speaking during Senate debate on May 7.

He questioned whether a state crackdown on gas station slot machines led by Hanaway could succeed and said he doubts whether the games offered by Torch and other vendors are illegal.

“You have some cities that are passing ordinances against these kinds of devices, which would imply legality,” Trent said. “If it’s already illegal, you don’t pass an ordinance outlawing it or prohibiting it.”

Using law enforcement to shut down the games would be spotty at best, he said.

“It makes a lot of sense for the General Assembly to come in and have some clarification, and to actually create a deliberate framework,” Trent said.

The state does not benefit by paying for public needs with money lost while gambling, Rook said.

“If we’re going to start taxing vices to create revenue streams, why not look at legalizing cocaine or meth?” she said. “That’s where the mentality is here.”

The Democrat in the 20th District, Sean Falconer, has raised about $8,000 so far, with none from gambling interests.

The slot machines currently in place lure people easily addicted to gambling, Falconer said, and the lack of regulation has allowed them to proliferate.

He said he would not support a bill for video lottery.

The money being donated by all sides of the gambling debate shows a deeper problem with politics, he said.

“What I hear over and over again is all so-called politicians are corrupt, and my standard line is why are we not expecting better conduct from our politicians?” he said. “Why, in every other realm of life, do we say that the appearance of this conduct is unacceptable, except in this one?”

Signatures on only two-thirds of the petition pages submitted to force a statewide vote on Missouri’s gerrymandered congressional map will go through the verification process, new filings in a Cole County court case show.

Secretary of State Denny Hoskins delivered 33,068 pages to local election authorities out of 49,773 pages with signatures collected by a political action committee called People Not Politicians. The PAC began circulating petitions after lawmakers passed the new map on Sept. 12. Those pages will be checked to determine which signatures are from registered voters.

Hoskins held back the rest because he does not believe signatures collected before Oct. 14 — the day he approved the form of the petition — are valid. Any pages with at least one signature dated Oct. 14 or later were sent to local election authorities, an exhibit included in the court filings state.

The filing is part of the case pending before Cole County Circuit Judge Christopher Limbaugh over which signatures must be counted. On Dec. 12, Limbaugh declared he would not issue a ruling until the verification process shows whether the referendum petition can succeed without signatures collected before Oct. 14.

People Not Politicians needs approximately 110,000 signatures spread among six of the state’s eight congressional districts to put the redistricting plan to a statewide vote. The 49,773 pages have 305,968 signatures overall, but the filings do not show how many signatures are on the pages being checked.

In other court filings, People Not Politicians has stated that about 103,000 of the signatures were collected before the cutoff date.

The raw signature counts — including the names on pages not sent for verification — show enough signatures were collected in the city of St. Louis to qualify the 1st District and enough in Greene County to qualify the 7th District.

The data did not show the breakdown in split counties. There were 71,008 signatures submitted from St. Louis County, which is split between the 1st and 2nd districts. There were 59,823 signatures collected in Jackson County, which includes the 4th, 5th and 6th districts, and 30,110 signatures collected in Boone County, which is split between the 3rd and 4th districts.

The two districts where the petition is unlikely to have enough signatures are the 6th Congressional District in north Missouri and the 8th Congressional District in southeast Missouri.

The gerrymandered map was forced through by Republicans who succumbed to pressure from President Donald Trump and revised the eight districts during a September special session.

The intended result from the new map is to flip the 5th District to the GOP. The district, based in Kansas City, has been represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver since 2005.

The district is carved up under the new map with portions attached to the 4th and 6th Districts. Heavily Republican areas stretching along the Missouri River to Boone County would be added to the remaining Kansas City portions.

If the referendum has sufficient signatures, the map would be on the November ballot unless lawmakers set an earlier date.

Gov. Mike Kehoe’s decision to deploy Missouri National Guard soldiers to support immigration enforcement “makes no sense” because they will not get paid until the federal government shutdown is resolved, the state Senate’s Democratic leader said Thursday.

On Tuesday, Kehoe announced that soldiers from the Guard would, on a volunteer basis, be assigned to provide administrative, clerical and logistical support for Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facilities in the state.

The shutdown started a few hours after Kehoe announced the deployment.

“Everybody knew that was coming, and to me that makes no sense,” Beck said.

Spokeswoman Gabby Picard said that there will be up to 15 soldiers on duty at any particular time until authorization ends on Sept. 30, 2026.

ICE continues to work while most of the government is shut down because the budget bill approved in July funded the agency with $29.9 billion for enforcement and $5 billion for detention through September 2029.

When on federal deployment, members of the Guard are paid on the same schedule as active-duty personnel, with the next pay date being Oct. 15. No active duty military will receive pay until the shutdown is resolved.

The Tuesday news release said Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth approved assigning Guard personnel to ICE facilities on July 25, allowing them to be paid from the federal treasury.

“The Missouri National Guard is uniquely equipped to provide this essential administrative support, and we are confident their contributions will be invaluable to immigration enforcement efforts,” Kehoe said in a news release.

While all the soldiers taking on the duty are doing so as volunteers, they expected to get paid, Beck said.

“I’m sure, when they did this, they didn’t know that they’d be doing it possibly for free for a while,” Beck said. “I’m assuming they’ll be made whole at some point, but I’m sure they got bills just like everybody else.”

In response to Beck’s criticism, Picard said the decision to assist ICE wasn’t made hastily.

“Planning for this activation has been ongoing for weeks, and has nothing to do with the unfortunate political games of the Democrats in Washington that have caused a government shutdown,” Picard said.

The deployment has also drawn criticism from labor unions and the ACLU..

Lenny Jones, vice president and state director at the Service Employees International Union-Healthcare, said in a news release that the deployment is part of an increasingly authoritarian government.

“This is just another power grab used to silence and intimidate people who disagree with the administration’s anti-American policies,” Jones said.
The ACLU said the deployment diverts resources from disaster recovery and other needs.

“National Guard troops should be reserved for genuine emergencies, not deployed to suit the president’s political whims,” Naureen Shah, director of policy and government affairs for the ACLU’s Equality Division, said in a news release.

The deployment should be unneeded because ICE has been hiring large numbers of new employees, Beck said.

“You tell me they can’t keep up with the paperwork?” Beck asked.

The standoff in Washington is over the health care subsidies for marketplace health plans that are ending under the budget reconciliation bill passed in July. Democrats are demanding they be restored, while Republicans insist the government must be reopened before they will negotiate.

Beck said he wants Democrats in Congress to hold their position.

“At the end of the day, the Republicans control everything, all three branches of the government,” Beck said. “So the question you have to ask yourself is, why did they let it get to this point?”

‘Let the courts decide’: Kehoe says he will sign gerrymandered Missouri congressional map

by Rudi Keller and Steph Quinn, Missouri Independent
September 25, 2025

The courts will determine if the bill revising Missouri’s congressional districts is constitutional, Gov. Mike Kehoe said Thursday after announcing his plans to sign the measure this weekend.

Speaking to reporters after an event in Columbia, Kehoe said he felt confident he was on firm legal ground when he called lawmakers into a special session.

“We’ll let the courts decide that,” Kehoe said. “We wouldn’t have went into this without feeling like we had good advice on that.”

Over 10 days this month, lawmakers met and passed a revised map for Missouri’s eight congressional districts so Republicans could have an advantage in the 5th District, currently held by U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Kansas City Democrat.

“Missouri’s conservative, common-sense values should be truly represented at all levels of government, and the Missouri First Map delivers just that,” Kehoe said in a news release announcing he would sign the bill on Sunday.

Even before the special session began, legal challenges were being filed. The NAACP has a case argued Sept. 15 challenging Kehoe’s authority to have called a special session on redistricting. Additional court challenges are underway in Cole and Jackson counties seeking to have the new map declared void because the Missouri Constitution directs lawmakers to draw districts after the census every 10 years, but is silent on whether it can be done at other times.

Kehoe said he relied on his advisers on the legality of his decision to call a special session.

“I really believe they’re very good on these issues, and we think we’ll withstand all those challenges,” he said.

The case in Jackson County alleges the map is incorrect because a voting district designation is used twice in the bill. The court must decide if that is a mistake that scuttles the bill but Kehoe on Thursday said he believes it is a mistake in census mapping, not in the bill.

“Once you look at the map, if you just read the language, it doesn’t seem to make sense,” Kehoe said. “But if you read the language and you look at the map, you can see somewhere along the line there was some sort of error when they put those numbers on out of the 60,000 voting districts across the United States.”

As the case that is the most advanced in challenging the new map, the NAACP lawsuit is likely the first that will be decided. At an “emergency meeting” Wednesday, Missouri NAACP president Nimrod Chapel said the group will not waver in their effort to throw out Missouri’s new congressional map.

If successful, the lawsuit will not only get the new map tossed but also remove a proposed constitutional amendment from the ballot that would change the way majorities are counted for constitutional changes proposed by initiative petitions.

“We recognized instantly that gerrymandering in the state of Missouri targeted two Black congressional districts, Kansas City and St. Louis,” Chapel said. “Not only is this an attack on the most populated urban centers within the state of Missouri, but it’s also an attack on Black and brown voices whose needs are distinct, in some ways, from rural Missouri.”

Since the special session ended on Sept. 12, the NAACP has filed an amended petition asking for the map to be scrapped. The state’s attorney, Solicitor General Louis Capozzi, has said the lawsuit should be dismissed because lawmakers have already adjourned.

Chapel also said he believes that the use of the same voting district designation twice in the bill is a mistake that will undermine the new map.

“There is a map that’s been proposed and is sitting on the governor’s desk that cannot be signed,” Chapel said, “and the reason that it cannot be signed is because it has precincts that will get to vote on multiple occasions.”

Chapel said the NAACP is prepared to appeal the case to the Missouri Supreme Court if the judge sides with the governor.

“We’re suing them,” he said, “and we will keep suing them until they get it right.”

Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.

When a tornado struck Joplin on May 22, 2011, killing 161 people and causing about $2 billion in damage, President Barack Obama issued a major disaster declaration the next day.

That action immediately made help available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, for people to pay for temporary housing and begin repairs. The declaration also made state and local governments, as well as some not-for-profit aid agencies, eligible for reimbursement of 75% of the cost of recovery and rebuilding.

By the time the books were closed, FEMA had distributed $37.1 million to individuals for recovery needs and provided $161.6 million for public recovery and rebuilding costs.

In St. Louis, a May 16 tornado cut a 22-mile path across the region, damaging or destroying 16,000 structures and killing five people. Damage is estimated at $1.6 billion, making it the biggest weather disaster for Missouri since the Joplin tornado.

Gov. Mike Kehoe made a formal request on May 26 for President Donald Trump to extend similar help. Nine days later, that request is still pending as Trump waits for the results of a formal assessment of damages.

It is part of a pattern in Trump’s second term of longer waits and, oftentimes, denials of state requests for disaster declarations.

Kehoe on April 2 requested a declaration for help following severe storms and flooding in southeast Missouri. Trump issued the declaration May 21, 49 days later. That is the longest period from request to approval in the past 15 years.

A May 1 request, for storms and flooding from March 30 to April 8, was also approved May 21.

Another disaster declaration request from Missouri, submitted May 19, is also awaiting action by the president.

The 20-day wait for the May 1 request was longer than all but six of the 20 federal disaster requests submitted by Missouri governors from the start of 2010 through the end of 2024. The average wait during that period, from a governor’s request to a presidential declaration, was 16 days.

St. Louis area state lawmakers, called to Jefferson City for a special session, said the delay is adding to the hardship thousands face, with some people camping outside destroyed homes because they have no money for shelter.

“Some people are staying in homes that are completely unsafe to stay in after the storm has wiped out their entire neighborhood,” state Sen. Brian Williams, a Democrat from University City, said in an interview with The Independent. “It’s saddening, it’s disheartening, and I’m not interested in any conversation outside of ensuring that storm victims are taken care of.”

A federal disaster declaration can make help available for individuals and public needs, or it can be limited to assisting with public recovery costs.

Nationally, over the last four years, FEMA has provided more than $12 billion to individuals and $133 billion to state and local governments, tribal nations, territories and some nonprofits to help in recovery efforts, Stateline reported in February.

When individual assistance is provided, victims can receive up to $770 for immediate emergency needs, plus up to $43,600 to assist with home repair costs and $43,600 for other recovery costs.

A federal disaster declaration also provides emergency SNAP and unemployment benefits.

The main purpose of the special session is to consider legislation offering tax incentives for the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals to remain in Missouri.

The bill providing stadium aid also includes a tax credit of up to $5,000 for payments against an insurance deductible in a disaster area. A spending bill requested by Kehoe includes $25 million, to be spent by the Missouri Housing Development Commission to assist in repairs.

But with 37 Missouri counties covered by disaster requests submitted this year, lawmakers from both St. Louis and rural areas say the money is inadequate.

State Sen. Jason Bean, a Republican from Holcomb, said the $25 million is “a drop in the bucket” for disaster needs. Bean represents 10 southeast Missouri counties that include the three with the highest poverty rates in the state.

Eight of the 10 counties in Bean’s district were included in Trump’s disaster declaration for storms and flooding on March 14 and 15. All 10 were included in the disaster declaration for the March 31 to April 8 storms and flooding.

The delay in receiving help is frustrating, Bean said during a hearing on the spending bill.

“We need to realize that people have been living in shelters,” Bean said. “They’ve been living in other homes for some time. So once again, the speed of our response, I think, is something we’ve just got to address.”

Massive, obvious disasters like Joplin no longer get quick responses from FEMA. Since taking office, Trump has tried to push more costs to state and local agencies, even suggesting that FEMA be abolished.

Now, every disaster must go through the formal assessment process to determine if it meets the standards for federal assistance.

FEMA uses cost per capita to gauge whether local and state governments can handle recovery themselves, or if they’ll need federal help. Those thresholds currently stand at $4.72 per capita for counties and $1.89 per capita for states.

But just meeting those thresholds isn’t enough. Trump can accept or deny applications at his discretion.

“After a thorough assessment, FEMA will approve a disaster declaration request if the assessment shows the event’s damage exceeds the state, local governments, and voluntary organizations’ capacity to respond,” a FEMA spokesperson wrote in an email to The Independent. “Just like all declaration requests, this decision is based on policy, not politics.”

During testimony on the special session legislation, Casey Millburg, policy director for St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer, said Kehoe and the state’s congressional delegation have all been pushing for action on the disaster request.

“There’s certainly a tremendous amount of uncertainty in our minds,” she said. “We are certainly hopeful.”

The congressional delegation push began the day after Kehoe requested aid for tornado response.

“Missourians are still recovering from the recent tornado, and our communities are in desperate need of federal assistance,” U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, a Republican from St. Louis County, said in a news release May 27, the day after Kehoe made his request.

Wagner, five of Missouri’s eight U.S. House members and both U.S. Senators signed a letter to Trump on May 27 urging swift action.

“These resources are essential to stabilizing affected communities and safeguarding public health and safety,” the letter stated. “Given the scale of devastation and the urgent need for federal assistance, we respectfully request swift approval of Missouri’s disaster declaration. We appreciate your attention to this matter and stand ready to support efforts to ensure resources reach those who need them most.”

During a hearing on the special session legislation, state Sen. Barbara Washington, a Democrat from Kansas City, asked budget director Dan Haug whether FEMA would approve the request to help St. Louis.

“Have we received notice that FEMA is going to help?” she said. “Because there are other states that have been denied assistance from FEMA, and so have we received any guarantee that we’re actually going to receive funding from FEMA to help?”

Haug said no assurances have been received.

“I think the governor’s office, in communication with our federal officials, feel confident in the result,” Haug said.

Williams, however, said the state shouldn’t count on it.

“I am not optimistic,” he said, “that FEMA is going to step in and do anything.”

Missouri Senate Republicans invoked a rarely used rule Wednesday to shut down a Democratic filibuster blocking a vote on a measure overturning the abortion rights amendment passed by voters in November.

That action was immediately followed by another use of the rule, this time to get a bill passed repealing the paid sick leave law that was also approved by voters.

The use of the rule — a procedural maneuver known as “calling the previous question,” or PQ — requires a signed motion from 10 members and forces an immediate vote on the bill under debate.

Sen. Adam Schnelting, a Republican from St. Charles, made the motion for a PQ on the abortion amendment shortly after 5 p.m. By 5:30 p.m., that bill, which must be approved by voters on a statewide ballot, had passed.

The sick leave repeal followed, and by 6 p.m. both bills were finished.

In the hour leading up to the vote, Democrats warned that Republicans were destroying months of good will and could expect no more cooperation this year and well into the future.

“Nothing will happen, nothing,” said Senate Minority Leader Doug Beck. “The banner year that everybody had in this place? That is over with.”

Wednesday’s use of the previous question rule is the first time since 2020 when it was invoked and the first time since 2017 when it was used during a regular session. Used regularly in the Missouri House, it is used rarely in the Senate because the chamber has a tradition of unlimited debate and negotiations over difficult issues.

“What we’re doing today is a failure of the Senate,” said state Sen. Stephen Webber, a Democrat from Columbia. “And when there’s a failure in the Senate, there needs to be a response, and that response can’t last forever, but that response has to happen, and it has to be painful, and has to make us all understand that when the Senate doesn’t function as a body, we all lose.”

Just as Republicans were moving to put an abortion ban on the ballot, protests erupted in the Senate gallery, with abortion-rights activists shouting down lawmakers. The gallery was briefly cleared, including the press, and the Senate continued with its work until it adjourned for the year a few hours later.

State Sen. Nick Schroer, a Defiance Republican, said using the PQ is always a last resort. But it was his understanding that “goal posts were being moved” in negotiations by Democrats.

“I don’t know what transpired, but I do know that we hit a log jam,” he said, leaving the PQ as the only way forward to pass the sick leave repeal and abortion ban.

Abortion ban

The proposed ban seeks to repeal the constitutional right to an abortion but allow exceptions for medical emergencies, fatal fetal anomalies and for survivors of rape and incest in the first 12 weeks of gestation.

Missourians could see the question on the November 2026 ballot, or as soon as this year if the governor chose to call a special election on the issue.

The proposed ban, if approved by a simple majority of voters, would reinstate several targeted regulations on abortion providers, or TRAP laws, that were recently struck down as unconstitutional by a Missouri judge.

It would also ban gender transition surgeries and prescribing medications for gender transition, including puberty blockers, for children younger than 18.

The amendment also includes a severability clause. This could allow the rape and incest exceptions in the amendment to be challenged in federal court as being discriminatory and in violation of the 14th Amendment.

If approved, the amendment would also require any legal challenges to the state law around reproductive health care be heard in Cole County. The Missouri Attorney General’s Office was recently unsuccessful in convincing the courts to move an ongoing legal battle between the state and Planned Parenthood from Jackson County to Cole County.

The language that could appear on each ballot does not mention the amendment would ban abortions, a detail that’s been highly-criticized by Democrats as deceiving.

Democrats have also accused Republicans of including the ban on gender-affirming care for minors, which is already illegal in Missouri, as a form of “ballot candy” — a ruse aimed at tricking voters to support a measure they might otherwise vote against.

Schroer said removal of the transgender health care provisions was a deal breaker for conservative senators.

“We talked to a lot of our members,” he said, “and they said that issue needs to be included.”

Amendment 3 narrowly passed in November following a multi-million dollar campaign by abortion-rights advocates. A day later, Planned Parenthood and the ACLU of Missouri sued the state, challenging several of Missouri’s laws focused on abortion facilities and providers.

An amendment to alter the language so it directly states that it is repealing Amendment 3 was defeated just before the motion to cut off debate.

While many sitting Republicans have previously opposed abortion exceptions outside of those to save the mother’s life, many said the November election showed Missourians’ desire for a less stringent law.

Missourians overwhelmingly support abortion exceptions for survivors, an August 2022 SLU/YouGov poll found. The polling was done several weeks after Missouri became the first state to enact a full abortion ban following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Since Amendment 3 took effect, surgical abortions are being performed but medication abortions have not.

Three of the state’s several Planned Parenthood clinics have restarted surgical abortions for those up to 12 weeks gestation at clinics in Kansas City, Columbia and St. Louis.

The clinics were authorized to begin the procedure again for the first time in nearly three years after a judge struck down many of the state’s abortion regulations, citing them as discriminatory.

Medication abortion — the most common means of ending a pregnancy — remains inaccessible in Missouri after the state health department rejected complication plans submitted by the clinics outlining continued care for patients in the case they had any adverse effects from the medication.

Sick leave law

If the bill is signed by the governor, the paid-sick leave benefits approved by voters that went into effect on May 1 will be stripped away on Aug. 28.

The bill also removes the requirement that the minimum wage be indexed to inflation, which has been in place since 2007

The paid sick leave and minimum wage provisions passed with 58% of the vote in November as Proposition A, garnering support from unions, workers’ advocacy groups, social justice and civil rights groups, as well as over 500 business owners.

“Workers are earning paid sick leave right now,” said state Sen. Patty Lewis, a Democrat from Kansas City, “and then it’s going to get taken away and they’re going to be fired up about it.”

GOP critics have portrayed paid sick leave as a “job killer” that would hurt small businesses. The bill was sponsored by state Sen. Mike Bernskoetter, a Republican from Jefferson City, and Republican state Rep. Sherri Gallick of Belton.

Senate Democrats have been in negotiations with Republicans over the last month to modify the bill, in what they’ve said is an effort to maintain the will of the voters in expanding paid sick leave rather than gut it entirely, as well as make it easier for businesses to comply.

State Sen. Tracy McCreery, an Olivette Democrat, said senators have “worked tirelessly to figure out some kind of compromise.”

The Democrats spent two nights blocking a vote on the paid sick leave repeal earlier in the session.

Under Proposition A, employers with business receipts greater than $500,000 a year must provide at least one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked. Employers with fewer than 15 workers must allow workers to earn at least 40 hours per year, with larger employers mandated to allow at least 56 hours.

The measure made sick leave guaranteed for 728,000 workers who lacked it statewide, or over 1 in 3 Missouri workers, according to an analysis from the progressive nonprofit the Missouri Budget Project.

Richard Von Glahn, policy director for Missouri Jobs with Justice, the organization that helped lead the campaign for Proposition A, said it’s a slap in the face to voters that will create “disgruntled employees” and cause “chaos” for businesses.

“Proposition A was passed so overwhelmingly, with so much support from Republican voters, it seemed that it would be so controversial in the legislature that Republican politicians would be more hesitant than they apparently are,” he said, “to overturn the will of their own voters, and cause them economic pain.”

The message lawmakers are sending is: “They don’t believe that you deserve economic security,” he added.

It could also cause backlash for the lawmakers from districts who supported the measure, he said.

“We’re going to make sure that workers don’t experience this as something that just happens to us without understanding these are decisions made by people, and workers have the ability to hold people accountable for those decisions,” he said.

Von Glahn said it’s not the end of the fight for paid sick leave, and advocates will consider putting it on the ballot again as a constitutional amendment, a move that would make it much harder for lawmakers to repeal.

“I’m confident,” he said, “this is a policy that Missourians want and we’re going to continue to fight for that through every means necessary.”

Republican fractures

Sen. Mike Cierpiot, R-Lee’s Summit, speaks on the Senate floor on Feb. 10, 2021 (screenshot courtesy of Senate Communications).

The debate Wednesday afternoon began about 12:30 p.m. and Democrats held the floor for much of the time. But near the start of the debate, state Sen. Mike Cierpiot, a Lee’s Summit Republican, aired his grievances with the leadership of Missouri Right to LIfe.

Cierpiot accused the organization, one of the most visible anti-abortion groups in the state, of focusing more on enforcing purity of thought and maintaining its influence within the GOP than writing laws acceptable to most Missourians.

Amendment 3 reinstated abortion rights lost in 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. If Missouri Right to Life’s leaders had not demanded a ban with no exceptions for rape or incest, he said, Amendment 3 might have been defeated.

“Their leadership, Ms. (Susan) Klein, and Mr. (Dave) Plemmons and Mr. (Steve) Rupp have been much more interested in causing Republican brush fires over issues with much smaller or no impact on the huge effort for life,” Cierpiot said.

The problems with Missouri Right to Life was evident in the 2024 elections when it made single-candidate endorsements, freezing out candidates who had been ardent anti-abortion legislators. The organization endorsed then-Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft in the Republican primary for governor, then refused to endorse Republican nominee Mike Kehoe for the general election.

Other Republicans who won without the endorsement of Missouri Right to Life joined in the criticism. State Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, a Republican from Arnold, said the law triggered by the 2022 abortion decision was negotiated in spite of Missouri Right to Life, not with its help.

“I don’t know that I really care, frankly, that they didn’t endorse me,” Coleman said. “What I do care about is that they didn’t endorse Gov. Kehoe in the primary, and they didn’t endorse him in the general.”

Christian Chenet, 28, was being held in the Cole County Jail. Bond will be set later today, Cole County Prosecuting Attorney Locke Thompson said in an email and Chenet will have his first court appearance Friday if he does not post bond.

The first degree harassment charge is a felony and the assault charge is a misdemeanor.

“Harassment and assault cases are kept on an automatic 24 hour hold, so he won’t have the ability to bond out until the judge sets a bond,” Thompson said.

The incident that led to charges began about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday when Chenet, who is a legislative assistant to state Rep. Kem Smith, a St. Louis Democrat, went to Izzy’s Burgers and Shakes to retrieve a purse left behind by state Rep. Kathy Steinhoff, a Columbia Democrat.

Smith declined to comment on Chenet’s arrest. Steinhoff also declined to comment. There is no attorney yet listed for Chenet on Casenet.

The incident became heated when the owner of Izzy’s, Taisir Yanis, refused to turn over the purse, looked inside to determine the owner and stated he could only release it to Steinhoff.

“This enraged the defendant and he became angry that the victim was in the purse,” according to the probable cause statement from Jefferson City Police officer Mitchell Rossian.

Chenet called Yanis a “f---ing racist,” Rossian wrote, who told Chenet to leave and followed him outside.

Yanis told officers that he told Chenet not to come back to the business, Rossian wrote. Yanis told officers that is when Chenet told him, “stay here. I’m going to go get my gun.”

Chenet went to a vehicle and told responding officers that he had a gun in the car. A search found a Glock 9mm pistol.

Chenet told officers that Yanis pushed him and he ran to his vehicle. He said had called 911 and “mentioned shooting (Yanis).”

Under questioning, Rossian wrote, Chenet “still thought his actions were justified during the interview.”

by Rudi Keller, Missouri Independent

February 12, 2025

Members of the Missouri House Budget Committee on Wednesday made Attorney General Andrew Bailey defend his request for millions in additional funding and his decision to sue Starbucks for allegations it discriminated against white applicants in hiring and promotions.

Republican members of the committee led the questioning of Bailey’s request for new funds, asking why he needed more money when his office hasn’t spent all it was given in past years.

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“You’re asking for more personal service (funding), but you’re leaving $2 million on the bottom line,” said state Rep. John Voss, a Republican from Cape Girardeau. “So why do you say that they’re not funded when I think there’s sufficient room for you to use that? I honestly think the issue isn’t money. It’s something else preventing you from being able to hire attorneys.”

Democrats took the lead on the Starbucks case, filed Tuesday in federal court.

“I’m just curious if white-served coffee tastes a little bit better because if it does I’m happy to have some,” said state Rep. Raychel Proudie, a Democrat from Ferguson.

Bailey defended the budget request by saying his office was seeking to hire experienced attorneys to handle more complex cases and to mentor lawyers hired for their first job after law school.

The Starbucks case, Bailey said, was filed because he believes the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs and executive incentives are illegal.

“The statute in the (Missouri Human Rights Act) says that if it appears to the attorney general that any of these rights are being either violated or even that anyone is suppressing those rights, that the attorney general then, under the statute, has the authority to take legal action,” Bailey said.

Lawmakers appropriated $44.7 million for Bailey’s office in the current fiscal year and he is asking for $47.4 million for the year beginning July 1. State budget office documents show Bailey spent only $28.2 million of $43 million set aside for his office in fiscal 2024, leaving the remainder, including $1.7 million in general revenue, unspent.

Over the past eight years, the attorney general’s office has had a growing vacancy problem, with more than 32% of authorized personnel slots unused in fiscal 2024. In fiscal 2017, about 22% of the authorized personnel slots, designated as full time equivalents or FTEs in state budget documents, were unused.

Part of the personnel issue for his office, Bailey said, is expanded legal teams at individual state agencies and the lure of private practice once attorneys have gained experience.

The increased funding, he said, will help cut turnover by allowing him to recruit more experienced attorneys to work with the newly graduated lawyers. He is not, he said, asking for additional personnel slots.

“I noticed when I took over, to put it in military terms, I had a lot of privates and a lot of lieutenants, but not a lot of sergeants,” Bailey said.

Voss, however, wasn’t convinced that the extra money is needed.

“I think you have the money,” Voss said. “I just don’t think that’s the real problem.”

In the Starbucks lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Bailey alleges that hiring and promotion decisions, as well as executive bonuses, were tied to a quota system for women and minority recruitment.

In 2020, the lawsuit states, 69% of Starbucks’ employees in the United States were women and 47% were Black or other minorities. In September, the filing states, 70.9% of Starbucks employees were women and 52.2% were Black or other minorities.

“In other words, since 2020, Starbuck’s workface (sic) has become more female and less white,” the filing states.

“As Attorney General, I have a responsbility (sic) to protect Missourians from a company that actively engages in systemic race and sex discrimination,” Bailey said.

As a result, Bailey wrote in the lawsuit, “Missouri consumers pay higher prices and wait longer for goods and services that could be provided for less had Starbucks employed the most qualified workers, regardless of their race, color, sex, or national origin.”

Starbucks said it does not discriminate in a statement in response to the lawsuit.

“We disagree with the attorney general and these allegations are inaccurate,” the company stated. “We are deeply committed to creating opportunity for every single one of our partners (employees). Our programs and benefits are open to everyone and lawful. Our hiring practices are inclusive, fair and competitive and designed to ensure the strongest candidate for every job every time.”

In the hearing Tuesday, state Rep. Betsy Fogle, a Democrat from Springfield, said she sees nothing wrong in Starbucks increasing its employment of women and minorities.

“There are a lot of us in this room that celebrate that fact,” Fogle said. “We want women in the workforce. We want individuals and groups who have historically been out of the workforce to be full participants.”

In reply, Bailey said he is trying to promote fair hiring for all applicants.

“It is my opinion that everyone should have equal access to job opportunities, and the decisions should be made in accordance with the statutes and promotion of merit,” he said.

State Rep. Aaron Crossley, a Democrat from Independence, asked Bailey about other lawsuits against private companies, requesting a list of those actions.

“And then also, could we please get a breakdown of your office’s staff and by gender and by race,” he said, “just make sure that we’re practicing what we preach.”

Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.

Missouri universities and research organizations will need to cut about $100 million from administrative costs for research funded last year by the National Institutes of Health or replace the money from other sources if President Donald Trump’s attempt to reduce indirect costs is successful.

There were 1,553 grants worth $901 million issued by the NIH to Missouri institutions during the most recent federal fiscal year. The recipients reported spending as much as 30% of their grant on indirect costs to support their research.

The grants allow research into medical problems, such as pandemic preparedness or the control of infections acquired in hospitals. They also cover agriculture and veterinary research, like the Swine Resource Center at the University of Missouri, and public health problems such as how policies on E-cigarettes impact youth tobacco use.

A federal judge on Monday evening issued a temporary restraining order blocking the cuts in response to a lawsuit joined by 22 states, not including Missouri. The order covered all federal funding cuts made since Trump took office Jan. 20.

Donald Trump’s ‘catastrophic’ NIH funding cut temporarily blocked by federal judge

By far the biggest recipient of NIH grants was Washington University in St. Louis, which received 1,192 grants totaling $732 million, followed by the 162 grants worth almost $70 million to the University of Missouri’s Columbia campus.

Both universities spend well above the 15% cap on indirect costs set as the goal for NIH research under the new policy.
Other significant recipients of NIH grants in Missouri include St. Louis University, which received 63 worth $25.8 million; Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, which landed 26 grants worth $9.7 million; and the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, which received 19 grants worth $5.1 million in the most recent fiscal year.

Washington University reported it will have about $189 million in indirect costs for its grants, or about 26% of the total. The University of Missouri reported its indirect costs will be about $21 million, or 30% of the amount awarded.

In a message to the Washington University campus, Chancellor Andrew Martin said the campus administration is reviewing the new rule, which will “have a significant impact on institutions like WashU” and is working to get the new rule reversed.

“We’re mobilized on multiple fronts,” Martin wrote. “Our leadership team is closely reviewing the policy, and our government relations team is engaging with congressional representatives and others to ensure that they understand the consequences of these cuts and are encouraged to act to address this threat to research and its many benefits to society.”

To get indirect costs below 15% for the grants awarded in fiscal 2024, Washington University would have to cut about $80 million in administrative expenses or find it from other sources.

At the University of Missouri, indirect costs exceed the new threshold by about $10 million for the Columbia campus. There are a handful of grants for the other three campuses — University of Missouri-Kansas City, University of Missouri-St. Louis and Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla — that would add about $1.7 million to that amount.

The university system administration was unable to say Monday whether it would cut costs — likely resulting in job losses — or cover the shortfall from other resources.

NIH funding supports research in agriculture, biomedical sciences and advanced technologies at the university, according to a statement issued by University of Missouri spokesman Christopher Ave.

The change in indirect funding “would mean significant annual reductions in funding for our vital NIH-sponsored research that saves lives, creates jobs, enhances national security and improves quality of life for people in every part of our state and across the nation,” Ave said. Like Washington University, the UM System is working to get the decision reversed, the statement said.

“Our leadership is communicating with key stakeholders in government, the private sector, other universities and other communities,” Ave said.. “Leaders of our campuses have directed faculty and staff working on NIH and other federal grants to continue their important research and to keep submitting NIH proposals as well as other federal agency grants as we further assess the situation.”

Pointer, 76, was housed at the Moberly Correctional Center, where the state prison agency keeps offenders with kidney disease because it has a dialysis center, department spokeswoman Karen Pojmann wrote in an email to The Independent.

Pointer was pronounced dead at 5:13 p.m. last Friday and “had been on dialysis for many years, had been incarcerated since 2009 and had been at Moberly Correctional Center for 10 years,” Pojmann wrote.

Pointer was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2009 after pleading guilty in the murder of his estranged wife in St. Louis.

An autopsy has been ordered, local law enforcement was notified and an investigation of the death is underway, Pojmann wrote.

Pojmann did not share any information regarding the manner of Pointer’s death. The Independent learned how he died from Déna Notz, a former corrections officer who founded an organization called Collectively Changing Corrections. Notz shared an email from a man incarcerated at the Moberly prison who saw Pointer bleeding.

“Friday night I witnessed a man I loved, James Pointer, a Vietnam veteran, bleed out from his femoral artery on a cold, dirty prison floor,” the inmate wrote. “It took medical so long to get to him that he died.”

The email was chilling, Notz said.

“It doesn’t surprise me because of all the stuff I hear,” she said,“but I still cannot believe that something like this happened.”

The description of events was confirmed by Tammy Mogab, a woman whose brother Shawn Scrivens is an insulin-dependent diabetic housed at the Moberly prison. Scrivens told a Phelps County judge he had not received an insulin shot in 124 days when he pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Mogab said she spoke to her brother on the telephone on Saturday as well as other men incarcerated at the prison.

“There are witnesses to the death of Mr. Pointer,” Mogab said, “and now all the dialysis patients are afraid to take their treatments.”

The Randolph County Ambulance District received an emergency call for the prison at 4:37 p.m. Friday and arrived on the scene at 4:49 p.m., district Superintendent Clay Joiner said.

“We did everything we could in this situation,” Joiner said.

Dialysis treats kidney failure and over time, preferred access points in a person’s arms can become scarred or otherwise unusable. A permanent catheter inserted into a blood vessel in the upper leg is a last-resort method.

Rapid bleeding can occur if the access port at the end of the tube becomes dislodged and there is no clamp to close off the tube.

The femoral artery is one of the largest in the human body. A person can bleed to death in 2 to 5 minutes if no action is taken to staunch the flow of blood.

Joiner said he has responded to similar emergencies among dialysis patients in their homes.

“When your femoral artery is bleeding out, you have very little time,” Joiner said.

Randolph County Coroner Charlie Peel will rule on the cause of death for Pointer. He said that he is not ready to release any information about what he observed or was told by the department.

“We are in the middle of an investigation,” Peel said.

Many of the autopsies on people who die in the custody of the department are conducted at the Boone County Medical Examiner’s office in Columbia. Autopsy records obtained by The Independent for deaths at the Algoa and Jefferson City correctional centers show that in the past two years, the time elapsed from the date of the death to a completed report has ranged from 30 to more than 250 days.

There were 11 deaths at Moberly Correctional Center in 2024, fifth most among the 19 adult prisons operated by the department. The prison system recorded 139 deaths in 2024, the highest number of deaths in custody in its history.

The inmate who wrote to Notz stated that it was the fourth time in the past month that Pointer’s access point opened. He blamed medical staff working for contractor Centurion Health, not department officers.

“How inept does a nurse have to be, does a company have to be, to allow this man to bleed out of an open artery four times in one month?” the inmate wrote. “DOC staff is not to blame for this atrocity. Medical staff is responsible and they alone must pay.”

Health care in Missouri’s prisons is performed by Centurion Health under a contract, recently renegotiated, that pays the company $21.65 per day for each person in custody.

The state will pay Centurion approximately $203 million in the coming fiscal year, an increase of about 11% from the previous rate.

Centurion did not respond to telephone and email messages seeking comment.

A bill changing the terms of the Missouri minimum wage law approved by voters four months ago will leave all the promised benefits in place but may delay their implementation, the chairman of a House committee looking at the law said Wednesday.

State Rep. David Casteel, a High Ridge Republican, told members of the House Commerce Committee during a hearing that they will rewrite the several bills seeking to change Proposition A. That process will take time, he said, telling them not to expect a vote at the panel’s regular meeting next week.

“No one in this body is trying to overturn the choice of the people,” Casteel said.

In an interview, Casteel said he’s considering ideas that would delay a minimum wage increase set for Jan. 1, 2026, or the provision requiring most employers to offer paid sick and family leave.

“We’re going to get into the nitty gritty of everything within the bill,” Casteel said. “There’s a lot we don’t like, and there’s a lot we do like, about all the bills that have been and will be presented.”

Republicans who control the legislature must find a sweet spot between the 58% majority who approved Proposition A and the major business groups who opposed the measure and are among the GOP’s most reliable supporters.

Proposition A increased the minimum wage in Missouri to $13.75 an hour on Jan. 1 and $15 an hour next year. In future years, the wage would be adjusted for changes in prices, a provision that has been in state law since 2006. It also requires employers with business receipts greater than $500,000 a year to provide one hour of paid sick and family time for every 30 hours worked.

The paid leave provisions take effect May 1.

On Wednesday, the Commerce Committee held public hearings on two of the five bills on its agenda that would alter aspects of Proposition A.

One of the bills, filed by state Rep. Carolyn Caton, a Republican from Blue Springs, would repeal the inflation adjustment. It would also allow employers to pay workers younger than 20 the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour and exempt all employers with business receipts less than $10 million annually.

“It isn’t that we don’t want to pay people,” Caton said. “We want to pay people well, but we need to do so in a manner that is going to protect our small businesses.”

The other bill, filed by state Rep. Scott Miller, a Republican from St. Charles, would exempt workers under 21 from the state minimum wage and businesses with fewer than 50 employees. It would also allow employers to reduce the final paycheck of anyone who doesn’t give at least two weeks notice before quitting, or any employee who violates the provisions of the employer’s worker handbook.

“If a business is going to be obligated by law to pay a minimum wage, which is, frankly, the government is price-fixing labor, then the government ought to performance-fix the employees,” Miller said.

The campaign to pass Proposition A drew no large-scale opposition prior to the vote. But a court challenge filed in early December by major business advocacy groups asks the Missouri Supreme Court to invalidate the vote. The court has set the case for arguments on March 12.

At the same time, those business groups — Associated Industries of Missouri, the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry and industry groups representing retailers, restaurants and grocers — are urging lawmakers to repeal portions or delay their implementation.

“In an ideal world, we would love to roll it all back,” Kara Corches, president and CEO of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said in a recent webinar. “But part of the legislative process, or the sausage making process as we say sometimes, you don’t always get, in the end, what you started with.”

Ron Berry, lobbyist for one of Proposition A’s biggest backers, Missouri Jobs with Justice Voter Action, said during Wednesday’s hearing that the proposals to exempt businesses with fewer than 50 employees would cover 96% of all private businesses.

Responding to a question about the difficulty employers will have covering the additional cost, Berry said labor isn’t the only thing driving up prices.

“Whether it’s wages or it’s the cost of energy, all of you know inflation is higher, and we’re all having to tighten our belts,” Berry said.

Buddy Lahl, CEO of the Missouri Restaurant Association, told the committee that his members want the exemption threshold raised to 100 employees as well as implementing the $10 million revenue floor.

He also said the sick leave provisions should not allow hours to be carried over from one year to the other.

“It should be a use it or lose it thing,” Lahl said.

Business lobbyists also warned of job losses, or even businesses that won’t survive, if the increased minimum wage stands.

State Rep. Steve Butz, a Democrat from St. Louis, said he didn’t believe that argument, noting that Missouri voters increased the minimum wage twice before without sinking the state’s economy.

“We’ve had other increases in minimum wage,” Butz said. “We always have been told that it’s going to kill jobs and jobs continue to grow in the state.”

Keeping Missouri state government operating through June 30 will cost $2.1 billion more than lawmakers budgeted last year thanks to lowballed spending estimates, sluggish lottery sales and new programs in education and other areas.

The election-year budget plan approved last year totaled $51.6 billion after Gov. Mike Parson was finished with vetoes that fell heavily on earmarked items inserted by legislators. While Parson was paring back on pork, lawmakers slashed spending in the Medicaid program to keep the topline total down.

New Gov. Mike Kehoe on Tuesday delivered his $53.7 billion budget for the coming fiscal year. It came with the supplemental spending request that took up most of a six-hour hearing Wednesday in the House Budget Committee.

Gov. Mike Kehoe dips deeply into surplus as Missouri budget grows to nearly $54 billion

The Medicaid program spent $12.6 billion on medical services in fiscal 2024 and billions more on mental health and other services. Lawmakers appropriated $13.6 billion for medical services the current year and Kehoe is asking for $15.8 billion in the year starting July 1.

The biggest item in the supplemental spending request is $942 million to cover a Medicaid shortfall. More realistic budgeting last year would have reduced that amount, MO HealthNet Director Todd Richardson told The Independent.

“They took about a 25% core cut last year,” he said.

The supplemental request is larger than last year, which was $580 million, but smaller than each of the three previous years, when federal pandemic aid and state employee pay raises inflated the totals.

Along with the new governor, the budget committee has a new chairman, state Rep. Dirk Deaton, a Republican from Noel. It also has a new vice-chairman, GOP state Rep. Bishop Davidson of Republic, who is also new to the committee.

Under state budget rules, lawmakers cannot add items to the supplemental budget but they can reduce or eliminate them. Deaton said it is too early to say whether the proposal will see major changes.

“We’re still doing the due diligence, and we certainly need to take a look at it and make sure there’s the justification for it, and run everything through the traps,” Deaton said.

Davidson said he’s working to learn the jargon and the process for setting spending levels.

“We have a really awesome staff that are not only good analysts and good researchers, but they’re good teachers as well,” he said.

Major items in the supplemental request include:

$142.4 million for the state foundation formula for public schools. Of that amount, $47.4 million is due to increases mandated by a major education bill passed last year. The remaining $95 million is general revenue being used to replace a shortfall in lottery proceeds.$129.8 million for the Department of Mental Health to eliminate waiting lists for developmental disability and behavioral health services.$110 million for the mental health agency to pay community providers of services for people with developmental disabilities.$95 million to cover the expected cost of home and community-based services in the Medicaid program.$20.7 million to cover a higher rate for health care provided to people in the custody of the Department of Corrections. The department extended the current health care contract with Centurion Health for four years, paying $21.65 per day for each person in custody.

In the early part of the hearing, State Budget Director Dan Haug and department leaders in attendance were often peppered with detailed questions about the budget lines. Later, as the hearing continued through lunch time, the time spent on each shortened.

And when Haug got to the Medicaid request, he even drew laughter.

“This is a page I probably should skip,” Haug joked when he reached the request. “It is only about a billion dollars.”

He received few questions about the request.

Lawmakers wanted to know why the lottery isn’t producing as much as promised last year. The budget included $430 million from the lottery for education programs, a 5% increase over the previous year.

Instead, net proceeds available for education are down more than 15% during the first six months of the year.

Haug attributed part of the decline to a dearth of major jackpots, which draw ticket purchases from people who rarely play. State Rep. Louis Riggs, a Hannibal Republican, asked if video games that pay out cash prizes, which have infiltrated every corner of the state at convenience stores and other locations, were to blame.

“How much is that attributable to folks sitting there gorked out all day on those machines, which I don’t think we’re getting any tax revenue from, instead of playing the lottery?” Riggs asked.

Haug said there were no studies, so the answer is unknown.

“That could be a possibility but it is hard for us to quantify it,” he said.

Sometimes the questions focused on issues that weren’t addressed in the supplemental budget but are causing pain at home. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has struggled to implement a new payment system for child care vendors and in August promised to clear a staggering backlog by the start of November.

On Wednesday, Kari Monsees, deputy commissioner of education, said 70% of the backlog has been cleared and the target for clearing it is the end of February.

That wasn’t an answer that pleased the committee.

“When you have providers saying they are taking money out of their child’s savings accounts to keep their business open so we have child care, I have a problem with that,” said state Rep. Stephanie Hein, a Springfield Democrat.

The education agency took over the child care program when Parson reorganized state government and created the Office of the Child in the department. The department changed its software vendor in December of 2023, and both providers and families enrolling in the program began noticing issues tracking and receiving payment. Some child care centers closed and others turned away families using the subsidy program during months of missed payments.

There are backlogs of payments from before the changeover that must be met, said state Rep. Don Mayhew, a Crocker Republican.

The plan for catching up payments only covers those made through the new software, he noted.

“It didn’t include the providers from the previous year who are stuck in this purgatory of old system versus new system,” Mayhew said.

When the committee finished with the supplemental plan, Haug gave a quick overview of the budget proposal for the coming year.

Kehoe is proposing a $200 million increase in the foundation formula, which covers the extra costs imposed by last year’s legislation, but balked at adding another $300 million that the formula shows would meet the full obligation to schools.

A key factor, the state adequacy target — a measure of how much schools that meet state standard spend — increased, driving the $300 million request.

“Just to be clear, we are not cutting funding to K through 12 education,” Haug said. “We are increasing funding by $200 million in K through 12 education, the largest increase they have gotten under this current formula, the largest increase we could find back to the 90s.”

Haug also discussed how Kehoe would keep his promise to eliminate the state income tax, which provides about 70% of state general revenue.

“I don’t think anyone here wants to cut 70% of state government,” Haug said. “There would have to be some revenue replacement there.”