Prescription Drug Monitoring Program

Audio: Missouri Legislature to tackle state budget and prescription drug monitoring program This Week

The state operating budget and prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) legislation will take center stage in the Missouri Legislature this week.     Governor Parson has proposed a 34-billion dollar state operating budget. Missouri House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith of Carthage tells Missourinet that he hopes to see the House give initial and final […]

School Bus Picking up kids (children)

Audio: Missouri House passes K-12 open enrollment bill

Roughly 44 states allow K-12 open enrollment and Missouri could become the next. The Missouri House has passed Sedalia State Representative Brad Pollitt’s open enrollment bill. He served in the public school system for about 34 years, including as a teacher and a former school superintendent in Sedalia.     Representative Mark Sharp, a teacher […]

Hands holding U.S. Flag and sparkler

Lawmakers introduce legislation to close loophole in Child Citizenship Act preventing citizenship from those raised by American parents

U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.), Mazie K. Hirono (Hawaii), Susan Collins (Maine), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), and Tammy Duckworth (Ill.) announced that they have introduced the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021. The bipartisan bill would close a loophole in the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (CCA), which has prevented internationally-adopted children, who are […]

Eric Greitens

Audio: Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden says Greitens still unfit for office; Schatz has similar feelings about the ex-governor

Missouri Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden of Columbia has strong words about fellow Republican Eric Greitens running for the U.S. Senate.     Greitens resigned as governor in 2018 after allegations about federal campaign donation violations, taking a half-nude photo of his former mistress without her permission, improperly taking a donor list to bankroll his […]

Sex Offender

Audio: Missouri Senate gives final approval to legislation keeping sex offenders away from Missouri conservation areas

Legislation aimed at keeping registered sex offenders away from state Conservation areas has been given final approval today (Thursday) by the Missouri Senate. Riddle notes current Missouri law bans sex offenders from being 500 feet of public parks with playground equipment, public swimming pools, and children’s museums.     The only exception would be a […]

Medicaid

Audio: Missouri House Budget Committee votes against funding for Medicaid expansion in next budget cycle

The Missouri House Budget Committee has voted against funding for Medicaid expansion in the next fiscal year.     The committee, made up of mostly Republicans, has voted down 1.6-billion dollars in funding for Medicaid expansion in the next state budget cycle. Last year, 53-percent of Missouri voters approved a ballot measure to expand government-funded […]

Abortion Graphic

Abortion amendment puts bill to finance Missouri Medicaid program in limbo

(Missouri Independent) – Missouri Senate leadership pulled a bill vital for funding the state’s Medicaid program from floor debate Tuesday after adopting an amendment barring the use of public money for common contraceptive treatments. The amendment, sponsored by Republican Sen. Paul Wieland, could endanger the state’s entire Medicaid program by eliminating a health care service required by federal […]

Missouri State Capitol courtesy of WikiMedia

Audio: Proposed Missouri constitutional amendment would change state legislative term limits

A Missouri House committee will hear testimony Wednesday afternoon in Jefferson City on a proposed constitutional amendment that would change the state’s legislative term limits.     In 1992, Missouri voters approved a constitutional amendment known as Amendment 12, which established term limits. The term limits approved in 1992 remain in effect today. Missouri lawmakers […]

President Joe Biden Photo Courtesy of the White House

Biden calls on U.S. Senate to act on background checks after Colorado mass shooting

(Missouri Independent) – President Joe Biden on Tuesday urged the U.S. Senate to immediately pass legislation to close loopholes on background checks for guns and to ban assault weapons, following a mass shooting that killed 10 at a Colorado supermarket. “This should not be a partisan issue,” Biden said. “This is an American issue.” Biden’s […]