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Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, faced criticism last year for unsuccessfully pushing the House to purchase a software system from a private company over the objections of nonpartisan legislative staff. Meetings his office helped arrange with an Oklahoma company last month are drawing comparisons.
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Starting last year when rumors of the proposed project in south Kansas City began circulating, Missouri state Rep. Mike Haffner has pushed legislation meant to give surrounding communities more sway over landfills.
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The Missouri Building Codes Act, introduced by Rep. David Casteel, would establish baseline standards for building, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, property maintenance and other activities associated with construction or renovation.
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Under the proposed legislation, no public funds would be given to any clinic that provides abortions or its affiliate. The Missouri Supreme Court ruled two weeks ago that the legislature’s attempt to defund Planned Parenthood through the budget was unconstitutional.
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Plocher’s hold on his speakership remains tenuous, and his campaign for lieutenant governor is now considered a longshot. His top legislative staff are gone, either fired or resigned in the wake of the scandals. But the impact of the ethics probe is playing out in more subtle ways in the Missouri House.
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In Missouri, a child must be born before a divorce can be finalized, and advocates fear this can keep people in domestic violence situations from being able to leave their abusers. Representative Ashley Aune of Kansas City introduced a bill earlier this February that would undo the statute.
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While Republicans shelved two bills that would further loosen Missouri's gun laws, Democratic leader Crystal Quade of Springfield said she will introduce a proposed constitutional amendment allowing cities to write local gun laws that are stricter than state laws.
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One of the bills would have allowed concealed carry permit holders to bring firearms onto public transportation like buses, and inside places of worship. The other would have exempted firearms and ammunition from both state and local sales taxes.
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Plocher is accused of threatening legislative staff and stealing from taxpayers. And the two Missouri legislators who called for him to resign from his position as speaker were, until last week, the only Republicans without any of their bills referred to committee.
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The protests temporarily stopped a speech being given by Maor Elbaz-Starinsky, consul general of Israel in Miami, to members of the Missouri House and Senate. Activists had come to the Missouri Capitol to testify against a series of pro-Israel resolutions being heard by lawmakers.
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The legislation, which in previous years passed the Missouri House but died in the Senate, would allow public school students to enroll in a participating school district that they do not reside in. School districts would be able to choose whether to accept non-resident students.
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The bill adds other designated school personnel — other than teachers and administrators — to the list of employees a district may designate as a school protection officer.