The Missouri Senate on Thursday voted to strip oversight of the state’s private school voucher program from State Treasurer Vivek Malek, moving it to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The change was included in a wide-ranging education bill that also expands eligibility for MOScholars, the state’s tax-credit-funded voucher program. The plan still needs […]
Sam Lee has spent years helping draft and promote a Missouri version of the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.” But on Monday, the longtime anti-abortion advocate and lobbyist with Campaign Life Missouri sat before the House Children and Families Committee and declined to support the bill in its current form. The problem, Lee said, was […]
The “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act” remains Missouri Republicans’ signature piece of abortion legislation this year as they work to fast-track it to passage before the legislative session ends next week. A state Senate bill passed late Wednesday was modified to remove provisions allowing lawsuits over medication abortions. It has received pushback from some members […]
Missouri Senate Democrats secured a victory Tuesday evening in a deal with Republicans to ax provisions in an anti-abortion a bill that sought to open the door for lawsuits against anyone involved in an illegal abortion. The “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act” is a top priority of anti-abortion lawmakers as the legislative session nears a […]
The accidental exposure of student information from Missouri’s MOScholars program has reopened a broader fight over how much scrutiny the state’s private school voucher program should face. After The Independent reported last week that student names, schools and parent email addresses were accessible through the underlying data of a spreadsheet posted by the Missouri State […]
A bill to more than quadruple the time childhood sexual abuse victims have to sue their abusers stalled this week in the Missouri Senate after Democrats accused insurance lobbyists of using it to impose shorter limits on personal injury lawsuits. It’s the fourth year Republican state Rep. Brian Seitz of Branson has sponsored legislation aiming […]
A bill that will protect Missouri’s small businesses from frivolous lawsuits now awaits the governor’s signature after gaining final approval from the legislature on Tuesday. The Act Against Abusive Website and Web Content Litigation addresses an issue that legislators say has harmed small businesses in Missouri and across the country. A growing number of businesses […]
The promise and peril of artificial intelligence have been a recurring theme for Missouri lawmakers this year, as they debate safeguards on campaign advertisements, companion chatbots and mental health therapy that use the technology. But efforts to enact regulations in Missouri stalled last week in the state Senate amid fears the legislation could jeopardize nearly […]
The Missouri House on Wednesday voted to advance a bill that would extend the statute of limitations for survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file civil action. The bill, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Brian Seitz of Branson, would also decrease the statute of limitations for personal injury lawsuits and civil claims against insurance companies […]
A bill that would ban three-cueing and establish new reading assessments was discussed in the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday. After legislation prohibiting three-cueing as a primary instructional method passed last year, legislators are now aiming for an outright ban. Three-cueing, also known as the Meaning Structure Visual system, teaches kids to read by using […]
Victims of childhood sexual abuse fought for legislation to eliminate the statute of limitations in a Missouri Senate hearing Wednesday. One bill would remove any time limit on when civil claims could be brought for crimes involving child sexual abuse, and another would ask voters to change the constitution those changes to be enacted retrospectively. […]