Missouri Governor calls for renewed political ethics legislation
2/17/2012 5:54:56 PM
Days after the Missouri Supreme Court overturned a 2010 political ethics bill related to campaign financing, Gov. Jay Nixon called on lawmakers to quickly reinstate and expand the state's ethics laws - including a call to end unlimited donations.
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Missouri senators split on birth control mandate
2/17/2012 4:51:40 PM
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri Senator Roy Blunt is defending himself amid the controversy over an amendment he sponsors that would allow for people or institutions to opt out of provisions of the new national health care act due to religious or morale objections. “People would have the same right going forward that they have [...]
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Bill seeks to limit tanning bed use for teenagers
2/17/2012 3:34:23 PM
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Several members of the Missouri House of Representatives are looking to place age limits on the use of tanning beds, with the limits aimed squarely at teenage girls. Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, has sponsored legislation that prohibits the use of a tanning bed at a commercial establishment by any one [...]
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Governor wants enhanced ethics law after Supreme Court overturn
2/17/2012 3:25:19 PM
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Imploring state lawmakers not to treat the recent overturn of a Missouri political ethics law as “open season” for rampant fundraising, Gov. Jay Nixon called on the General assembly to enact new, stronger legislation. In addition to reinstating bans on committee-to-committee fundraising transfers, Nixon, at a press conference, asked lawmakers to [...]
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Nixon denounces proposed social services cuts
2/17/2012 12:40:51 PM
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A Missouri House of Representatives plan to maintain stable higher education funding by cutting more than $65 million from the state’s Department of Social Services did not go over well with the governor. The plan, approved by a House appropriations committee on Thursday, would include a $28 million cut from a [...]
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Senate moves to delay candidate filing
2/16/2012 4:07:59 PM
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A Missouri Senator with notoriously pointed views on traffic signals, has passed a bill through the state Senate to standardize the length of time lights stay yellow at intersections throughout the state. Sen. Jim Lembke, R-St. Louis, who has introduced numerous pieces of legislation in the past to eliminate or undermine [...]
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Election filing delay heads to the Mo. House
2/16/2012 3:44:11 PM
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – As Missouri’s redistricting process drags on and on, state lawmakers are trying to accommodate this year’s election schedule. On Thursday, the Missouri Senate closed out its week by voting unanimously in favor of a bill to delay the candidate filing period for the Aug. 7, primary. Originally scheduled to start at [...]
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Supreme Court hearing renews arguments over congressional district lines
2/16/2012 2:56:09 PM
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Sounding a lot like arguments aired last month, attorneys challenging the state’s congressional district map squared off with attorneys defending the map in front of the State Supreme Court on Thursday. The high court took testimony on two lawsuits against the General Assembly’s proposal for redrawing the state’s congressional district boundaries. [...]
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Committee considers changes to sex offender registry
2/15/2012 8:34:27 PM
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Missouri House committee is considering legislation that would greatly reduce the number of persons on the state’s sex offender registry and restrict public information about those that remain. The legislation, filed by Rep. Rodney Schad, R-Versailles, comes after hearings during the fall in several locations around Missouri, during which the [...]
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Senate gives initial approval to workers’ comp reform
2/15/2012 4:08:46 PM
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Senate has given first round approval and is expected to pass later this week a bill changing the rules for the state’s worker’s compensation program. Senate Bill 572, perfected in a split voice vote on Wednesday, would protect coworkers from lawsuits related to on-the-job injuries and firmly place occupational [...]
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State lawmakers consider distracted driving ban
2/15/2012 3:10:57 PM
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The chair of the state Senate transportation committee is taking a new approach to tackling the growing problem of texting while driving. Rather than introducing a bill that just targets the act of texting, Sen. Bill Stouffer, R-Napton, has introduced a bill that would make it a class C misdemeanor to [...]
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Senate votes to delay filing date as redistricting drags on
2/15/2012 2:25:37 PM
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – As the courts and political appointees continue to try and sort out the state’s legislative maps, the state Senate has decided to delay the filing dates for this year’s primary election. The Senate gave first round approval Wednesday to a bill that would delay the filing period, which was set to [...]
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Missouri Senate jumps into contraception debate
2/14/2012 5:53:39 PM
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Like millions of young lovers on Valentine’s Day, the issue of contraception wasn’t far from the minds of Missouri state senators on Tuesday. In response to a controversial federal rule that would require all employers to provide free birth control to employees, a state Senate committee on insurance has approved a [...]
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Jeff City lawmakers consider adding cell phones to no-call list
2/14/2012 5:04:40 PM
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Efforts are underway in the Missouri House of Representatives to do away with annoying sales calls to mobile phones. Although state law currently gives Missourian’s the option to register their home phones on the state’s no-call registry to avoid unwanted solicitations, cell phones have no such protection. “I think the telemarketing [...]
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MU students flood the capitol to protest higher ed cuts
2/14/2012 4:26:12 PM
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Members of the University of Missouri student government spent Tuesday roaming State Capitol hallways distributing more than 6,000 protest letters from students on the Columbia campus. The letters implored Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and members of the General Assembly not to cut as much as 12.5 percent from the state higher [...]
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Koster files briefs in Supreme Court healthcare case
2/14/2012 1:37:15 PM
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri’s Attorney General has weighed in on the healthcare reform cases headed to the Supreme Court. Chris Koster announced Tuesday that he has filed amicus briefs with the high court supporting a multi-state effort to have the individual mandate provision of the Affordable Care Act declared unconstitutional. But unlike many other [...]
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Senator tackles child care’s low-wage trap
2/14/2012 11:56:04 AM
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri’s low-income families currently face a catch-22 when it comes to child care benefits, according to one state Senator who wants to change the rules. On Tuesday, lawmakers considered a bill that would change current child care subsidy income guidelines that cause a sudden drop-off in benefits when a family’s income [...]
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Missouri House Speaker refuses to raise taxes to fix veterans’ homes funding crisis
2/13/2012 7:33:07 PM
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Saying that taking care of Missouri veterans is his top priority, Speaker of the House Steve Tilley said he has entered into talks with Gov. Jay Nixon on ways to increase funding for veterans. “There’s nothing more important than taking care of our veterans and our veterans’ homes,” Tilley told reporters [...]
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