Missouri Senate

Missouri state Sen. Rick Brattin stepped down as chair of the Missouri Freedom Caucus just days after voting in favor of a Kansas City stadium funding deal. The conservative group criticized the plan as a "handout to billionaire sports team owners."

The stadium funding plan now goes to the Missouri House. While Kansas has offered to pay 70% of the cost of new stadiums if the Kansas City teams move, Missouri's offer would cover about half the cost.

A bill that would have insulated Bayer and other chemical companies from lawsuits over cancer risks failed in the Missouri Senate, after bipartisan opposition arose. But there's little doubt that the legislation will return next session.

The legislation aimed at the Chiefs and Royals is estimated to cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Missouri would pay up to half the cost of total project costs for building a new stadium or renovating an old one, and would have a clawback provision if the teams leave the state.

A big incentive package from Kansas is expiring soon, the Royals are investing in properties across the metro and lawmakers are already fighting among themselves. Will Missouri's General Assembly be able to reach an agreement and end the drama over stadium funding?

It's the first time in more than 70 years that the House has adjourned early. The session had been scheduled to end on Friday.

Abortion is heading back to the ballot, after Missouri Republican lawmakers fell back on a little-used rule to shut down a Democratic filibuster and push through a ballot amendment to ban abortion again. They used the same maneuver to repeal a paid sick leave law — just months after Missouri voters approved both.

The legislation repeals the entire earned sick leave portion of Proposition A as well as a portion of the minimum wage increase. Only one Republican joined all Democrats in voting no.

Some legislators in both chambers objected to the move since the House unexpectedly failed to pass the part of the budget funding capital improvement projects across the state last week.

Just months after Missouri voters approved an amendment to legalize abortion, Republican lawmakers are one vote away from putting abortion back on the ballot. The resolution would reinstate a statewide ban with some exceptions.

A Republican-backed bill would gut Proposition A, a voter-approved law requiring most employers to provide paid sick time off starting May 1. After it passed the Missouri House, Senate Democrats spent more than nine hours blocking action on the bill.

The bill’s fiscal impact note estimates that removing the capital gains tax on personal income alone would represent a loss of over $100 million to the state’s general revenue fund each year.