News

On the latest episode of Politically Speaking, state Sen. Brian Williams discusses the Missouri budget process and 2024 election cycle.

Williams represents the 14th District, which takes in several dozen municipalities in St. Louis County. Williams was first elected in 2018 and was reelected with no opposition in 2022.

Here’s what Williams talked about on the show:

• Williams expects major changes to the state budget when the Senate Appropriations Committee starts going over the individual bills in the coming days. Williams is seeking to steer more money to the University of Missouri-St. Louis, which is in his district.
• He wants his colleagues to be “adults” over reauthorizing the Federal Reimbursement Allowance, a critical tax on hospitals to help pay for the state’s Medicaid program.
• His criminal justice legislation, including the Clean Slate bill that would provide automatic expungement for certain offenses. He noted the bill has support from several key GOP legislators.
• Not running for anything this election cycle, including in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District primary. He talked about how that race could shake out, including whether the Israel-Hamas war may determine the outcome.

Williams is a Ferguson native who worked many years for former U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay, D-University City. Among other tasks, Williams was responsible for communicating with local and state legislative officials on issues that Clay was working on — such as moving the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to north St. Louis.

He won a crowded Democratic primary for the 14th District seat in 2018, which was tantamount to election. Since he joined the Senate, Williams has spent much of his time focusing on budgetary and criminal justice matters. He is barred by term limits from running again for the Senate after 2026.

On the latest episode of Politically Speaking, state Sen. Denny Hoskins talks about his bid for Missouri Secretary of State.

Hoskins is a Republican from Warrensburg who has served in the Missouri Senate since 2017. He’s barred from running against due to term limits, and announced months ago he would try to succeed Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft.

When filing closed, Hoskins was one of eight GOP candidates to run for secretary of state.

Here’s what Hoskins talked about during the show:

• His support of hand counting ballots, an idea that he says would engender more confidence in elections. 
• Being opposed to absentee balloting, with the exceptions of people serving overseas in the military and Missourians with disabilities. Instead, he’d like to make Election Day a holiday, so people could get off work to go vote.
• Efforts to make the Missouri Constitution more difficult to amend.
• Whether sports betting will be legalized. Hoskins has sought to link legalization of sports gaming with creating a regulatory framework for the video terminals.

Before running for the Senate, Hoskins served eight years in the Missouri House. The certified public accountant was elected House Speaker Pro Tem, which is the second-highest position in the chamber.
Generally, Hoskins has won his elections by wide margins, except his first one in 2008. That’s when he defeated Warrensburg Mayor Jim Jackson by 122 votes.

The other Republican candidates for secretary of state are: state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, R-Arnold, House Speaker Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, state Rep. Adam Schwadron, R-St. Charles County, Greene County Clerk Shane Schoeller, Wentzville Municipal Judge Mike Carter, St. Louis County political organizer Jamie Corley and St. Louis real estate investor Valentina Gomez.

On the latest episode of Politically Speaking, Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden talked to St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum and Sarah Kellogg about his decision to depart the secretary of state’s contest.

The Columbia Republican had announced his statewide bid last year. He had the most campaign money of any of the GOP competitors for the post and had experience winning tough elections.

But during his appearance on Politically Speaking, Rowden cited, among other factors, how Missouri politicians no longer value consensus building.

“I think the focus on the red line-type things that tend to get people ginned up and the use of rhetoric and language that I think folks sometimes know to be not true, but just do it to get a little rise out of out of the constituency — that just was not ever something that was appealing to me,” Rowden said. “I don’t care enough about being in politics to not be willing to explain the nuance to people.”

Here’s what Rowden talked about on the show:

• The impact of his departure from the secretary of state’s race and whether it could give a leg up to Sen. Denny Hoskins — a Warrensburg Republican who has clashed with GOP leadership for years.
• His skirmishes with the Missouri Freedom Caucus, including over the timing of passing a ballot item making it harder to amend the state’s constitution. 
• Why he voted to take out so-called “ballot candy” on the constitutional amendment threshold increase, including a provision barring noncitizens from voting. It’s not out of the question that the language could be put back in when the proposal goes through the House.
• How passing a budget and reauthorizing a critical tax on hospitals that funds the state Medicaid program could be very difficult.

Rowden was first elected to the Senate in 2016 after serving two terms in the House. He was reelected in 2020 but will leave after the 2024 session due to term limits.
His district now only consists of Boone County, which is Democratic-leaning. Former Democratic state Rep. Stephen Webber, whom Rowden defeated in 2016, is running for the Senate seat.

Over the last couple of legislative sessions, efforts to legalize sports betting have gotten held up in the Senate over disagreements on whether the state should also authorize video lottery terminals.

This year, similar legislation that would authorize sports gambling has not even received a hearing in the Senate, while a proposed constitutional amendment ballot item that would legalize sports betting is currently collecting signatures.

Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, R-Parkville, has sponsored sports betting legislation the last couple of years. He said he filed a bill this year to keep the conversation going.

“This legislation is about two things: one, making sure that we’re keeping those educational tax dollars here in Missouri and not subsidizing the schools of our border states. And secondly, making sure we’re setting up a regulated environment where consumers are protected,” Luetkemeyer said.

The bill has stalled in prior sessions and is unlikely to pass this year. Sen. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg, the main proponent of video lottery terminals, which has stalled sports betting legislation, is serving his final year.

Luetkemeyer believes that while there are other senators in support of the gaming machines, he doesn’t think they will obstruct the sports betting legislation after Hoskins is gone.

“My belief is the people who are supportive of that will want to try to attach it to the bill, but they’re not going to go the next further step, which is if they cannot attach a VLT amendment to a clean sports wagering bill, they won’t stand up and kill the underlying legislation,” Luetkemeyer said.

Luetkemeyer is the latest guest on Politically Speaking. Here are some other topics he spoke about on the show:

• Legislation that would provide restitution to wrongfully incarcerated people. This was a reason why Gov. Mike Parson vetoed last year’s public safety bill. Luetkemeyer said he would like to try to pass the bill again in a future session.
• Provisions within his public safety bill, including a measure that creates a penalty for celebratory gunfire.
• A bill he’s sponsoring this session that offers a fix to his legislation passed last year that provides a property tax freeze for seniors. Currently, some seniors who have pensions but don’t collect Social Security do not qualify for the property freeze.
• How he feels the 2024 legislative session has gone so far.

Luetkemeyer was first elected to the Missouri Senate in 2018. He represents the 34th District, which includes parts of Platte and Buchanan counties.
Outside of the legislature, Luetkemeyer practices law in Kansas City.

In late February, Missouri Treasurer Vivek Malek ordered the removal of stickers placed by his office on unregulated gaming machines that advertised the state’s unclaimed property program.

That decision came swiftly after a House committee hearing where Republicans and Democrats criticized Malek for authorizing the ads.

Rep. Scott Cupps, R-Shell Knob, who chairs the committee that questioned Malek, is the latest guest on St. Louis Public Radio’s Politically Speaking. He said it wasn’t his intent for the hearing to be adversarial.

“I just wanted actual raw answers to the questions that we had like, ‘Who authorized this?’ ‘When was it authorized?’ ‘Whose idea was it?” Cupps said.

Here’s what else Cupps talked about on the program:

• His background prior to becoming a member of the House.
• Serving on the House Budget Committee, which he says is a lot more work than he initially believed it would be.
• Criticism from some Republicans that the budget has gotten too big.

Cupps represents the 158th House District, which includes parts of Barry and McDonald counties.

He was first elected in 2019. Outside of the legislature, Cupps farms and ranches full time. He also taught high school agriculture education.