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State Rep. Jim Murphy is the latest guest on Politically Speaking, where he discussed possible ways to replace St. Louis’ earnings tax, the recent veto session and what’s in store for the legislature in 2024.

Murphy represents Missouri’s 94th District, which takes in portions of unincorporated south St. Louis County.

Here’s what he discussed on the program:

• His work as chairman of a House committee examining the earnings tax in St. Louis and Kansas City. Anyone who lives or works in those places has to pay a 1% tax. Murphy said he’s looking for alternatives. 
• The 2023 veto session, in which the legislature declined to overturn any of Gov. Mike Parson’s vetoes. While Murphy disagreed with some of Parson’s decisions, he never thought that the legislature would be successful in reversing his objections.
• What to expect during the 2024 legislative session, including whether Republicans will try again to place a measure on the ballot that makes the constitution more difficult to amend.
• His analysis of next year’s governor’s race, which features three Republicans angling to succeed Parson.

Murphy was first elected to the House in 2018, defeating Democrat Jean Pretto by less than 300 votes. The seat became open when Cloria Brown decided against running for another term after she was diagnosed with cancer. She died in March 2018.

While 2018 was the first time Murphy was on the ballot, he’s been active behind the scenes in GOP politics for many years. In addition to assisting Brown with her campaigns, Murphy helped with U.S. Sen. Jim Talent’s election efforts.

Murphy won reelection in 2020 and 2022. His seat has become more Republican since redistricting, and he won last year with more than 57% of the vote. Murphy is eligible to run for one more House term in 2024.

As a Democrat in the Missouri General Assembly, Rasheen Aldridge usually found himself playing defense against the Republican supermajority.

But that changed in 2023, when he decided to leave the Capitol for City Hall. He was elected to represent the 14th Ward in St. Louis.

“It’s not that I didn’t enjoy going to the state Capitol,” Aldridge said during an appearance on the Politically Speaking podcast. “But I feel like I can actually effectively get stuff done.”

Though he’s now legislating from about 130 miles east, Jefferson City is not far from Aldridge’s mind as he crafts policies, especially around guns. He is one of several aldermen who will push bills addressing firearms, including a ban on military-style rifles and limits on untraceable firearms known as ghost guns.

“It’s about honestly sending a message to Jefferson City that we deserve to have local control around these issues,” he said.

Here’s what else Aldridge hopes to tackle as the board returns from its summer break Friday:

• He says there is wide support among members of the board for giving the Detention Facilities Oversight Board, which provides civilian oversight for the City Justice Center, its own attorney. The jail is again under increasing scrutiny, as two inmates died and a guard was taken hostage all within an 11-day period in August.
• Aldridge is also joining calls for Corrections Commissioner Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah to step down. “I think she is trying her best, but I do think that maybe she’s a little over her head,” he said.
• Infrastructure is top of mind for Aldridge as the city weighs how to spend its share of the settlement over the departure of the Rams for Los Angeles. “I think really putting a lot of that money into speeding up that 911 system will be important,” he said. “Our 911 system is a hot mess.”
• St. Charles County approved a property tax freeze for senior citizens this week, and Aldridge says he and his colleagues are looking at similar legislation in the city. But they want to make sure it’s given to those who need it the most.

When Missouri lawmakers convene on Wednesday for their annual veto session, they have the option of overturning a plethora of budgetary vetoes issued by Gov. Mike Parson.

Parson cut roughly $555 million from the latest state budget, surprising and irritating some lawmakers in both parties.

Rep. Paula Brown, D-Hazelwood, said she doesn’t agree with Parson’s reasoning on why he vetoed that much in funding, especially since the state still has billions remaining in general revenue.

“I would agree with the governor if he said you can’t build raises or ongoing spending on some of this one-time money, right, because you can’t,” Brown said. “But there are things that can be done right now with that money that would help every citizen in the state of Missouri.”

Brown was a guest on Politically Speaking. Here are some of the other topics she discussed:

• Her background in education and what led her to run for the Missouri House.
• Whether there should be state legal action on the fallout over nuclear waste contamination in St. Louis and St. Charles counties.
• The education policies she believes will reemerge in the 2024 legislative session.
• What the upcoming session is going to look like, especially during an election year.
• Her thoughts on the 2024 election, including the races for governor and U.S. Senate.

Brown represents the 87th District, which includes Maryland Heights and a section of Chesterfield.

Before becoming a lawmaker, Brown spent 31 years as an educator in the Hazelwood school district. She served both as a classroom teacher and a middle school librarian. Brown also was the Hazelwood NEA president for eight years.

Missouri state Sen. Karla Eslinger is the latest guest on Politically Speaking. The Wasola Republican talked about the upcoming veto session, the state’s budget and expectations for the 2024 session.

Eslinger represents Missouri’s 33rd District, which takes in Douglas, Howell, Ozark, Shannon, Stone, Taney and Texas counties. She previously served one term in the Missouri House and will be eligible to run for a second Senate term in 2024.

Here’s what Eslinger talked about on the program:

• Whether lawmakers will override Gov. Mike Parson’s budgetary vetoes. She said the outcome could come down to Senate Appropriations Chairman Lincoln Hough’s decision-making, since typically the handler of vetoed bills gets to decide whether to pursue an override.
• The former teacher and school administrator talked extensively about what type of educational initiatives could be pursued in 2024 to help improve Missouri’s schools.
• A preview of the 2024 legislative session, including whether lawmakers will try to pass a ballot item making the constitution more difficult to amend.
• Whether banning foreign ownership of farmland is more complicated than it may appear. 

Eslinger is a former elementary school teacher who eventually became a school superintendent. Her degrees include a doctorate in educational leadership and policy analysis from the University of Missouri in Columbia.

Before entering legislative politics, Eslinger was an assistant commissioner of education for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. She more recently worked as a senior analyst for education services with the AEM Corp. and in that role worked with the U.S. Department of Education in Washington.

Eslinger was first elected to the Missouri House in 2018, representing a district that included Ozark and Douglas counties, as well as part of Taney County. After one term, she jumped into the primary to succeed Sen. Mike Cunningham. She narrowly won the GOP primary, which was tantamount to election.

In addition to being on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Eslinger serves as the chairwoman of the Senate Government Accountability Committee — which, among other things, handles licensing and registration regulations.

The latest episode of Politically Speaking features state Rep. Doug Clemens talking with St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum and Sarah Kellogg about the public policy response to radioactive waste contamination.

Clemens represents Missouri’s 72nd House District, which takes in portions of northwest St. Louis County. He was first elected in 2018.

Here’s what Clemens discussed on the show:

• After a consortium of news agencies and St. Louis-area activists found that the federal government downplayed the risk of radioactive waste contamination, Clemens talked extensively about what needed to be done on a federal and state level to compensate residents.
• He discussed a plan from U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley that would add a number of St. Louis and St. Charles County ZIP codes to a program that reimburses people who contracted ailments consistent with radioactive waste exposure.
• Clemens previewed the upcoming veto session, which could feature lawmakers overriding some of Gov. Mike Parson’s vetoes on budgetary items.
• Clemens talked about what to expect in next year’s session, including efforts to curtail state government from spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion training. GOP moves on that front sputtered after senators took out provisions restricting DEI funding from budgetary bills.

Clemens is a longtime resident of northwest St. Louis County and worked for a company that installs captioning phones for people who are hearing impaired. He first ran for the Missouri House in 2010, when he lost to Eileen McGeoghegan in the Democratic primary by 11 votes. He also lost in a run in 2012.

Six years later, Clemens defeated four other Democrats to win his House seat. Since 2018, he’s generally had marginal competition in the heavily Democratic House seat.

Clemens serves on House committees dealing with mental health, agriculture and pensions. He will be eligible to run for one more term, in 2024.