MOScout Daily Update: Baker Resignation Impact - FRA Fears - Rural Road $$$ - Martin Nom in Trouble - Don’t Dog GOP Wins and more…

Baker Resignation Impact

Rep. Ben Baker’s resignation to become the State Director of Rural Development for the USDA was effective at midnight Sunday.  He follows Michael O’Donnell as the second state representative to resign this year.  O’Donnell went to work for Secretary of State Denny Hoskins.

Baker’s absence probably has no impact in these final nine days of the legislative session.  But it might. 

If there is legislation to which the Republican supermajority wishes to attach an emergency clause, they’ll now need every vote. 

New laws usually go into effect on August 28.  But with an emergency clause, they take effect upon the governor’s signature. Adding an emergency clause requires a 2/3 majority.  With the two resignations, Republicans’ House caucus is now at 109 – exactly that 2/3 majority.

FRA Fear

NYTimes looks at the potential impact of closing the loophole which allows states to maximize their federal Medicaid dollars.  In Missouri that’s the FRA tax.

For years, the use of provider taxes in New Hampshire was openly described as “Mediscam” by state officials. In other states, there are less colorful euphemisms, like “tax and match” in Maine… The federal government allows states to have provider taxes as long as they don’t go above a certain percentage… The proposals circulating on Capitol Hill to ban the taxes do not include provisions to replace any lost dollars with new funding sources, which would leave some states with big holes in their Medicaid budgets.

Rural Roads Watch

One reader says to watch the Rural Highway Fund as the budget negotiations evolve this week... The Governor asked for $100M; the House took it to $20M, and then the Senate took it to $0. “What I am hearing is that it may be [Senate Approps Chair] Lincoln Hough’s grand standing because he didn’t get the MODOT Appointment. And now they can only get max $20M out of this project which is severely underfunding what the Government wanted… Republicans are upset as it affects their communities the most and these are really good-paying rural jobs on these projects. The contractors are not happy with it and neither are labor groups – both supported Hough in his bid for LG and supported Governor Mike Kehoe.”

Contraceptive Polling

Back in 2023, a MOScouter sent in some interesting polling of likely Republican voters’ views on contraceptives.  With Amendment 3 bringing the issue back up, an updated poll was recently fielded.  It shows that Republican voters still support increased access to contraception…

The survey conducted April 10 through April 15, 2025. 500 likely Republican Primary Election voters participated in the survey. Survey weighted to match statewide Republican Primary Election turnout demographics. Margin of Error is +/-4.4% with a 95% level of confidence.

Do you support or oppose increasing access to birth control pills?

Strongly support: 58%

Somewhat support: 25%

Somewhat oppose: 4%

Strongly oppose: 8%

Not sure: 4%

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? All people in the United States should be able to both afford and have access to birth control. They should also be able to obtain information on what method of birth control would be best for them.

Strongly agree: 48%

Somewhat agree: 25%

Somewhat disagree: 8%

Strongly disagree: 15%

Not sure: 4%

Meanwhile

NYTimes reports that the “Trump administration asked a federal judge on Monday to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to sharply restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone — taking the same position as the Biden administration in a closely watched case that has major implications for abortion access.”

·       The court filing by the Justice Department is striking, given that President Trump and a number of officials in his administration have forcefully opposed abortion rights. Mr. Trump often boasts that he appointed three of the Supreme Court justices who voted in 2022 to overturn Roe v. Wade, which had guaranteed the national right to abortion.

·       The case was filed by the conservative attorneys general of three states — Missouri, Idaho, and Kansas…

Beef Bull Market

Latest Missouri Department of Agriculture weekly market summary shows a continuing strong steer market. “Markets once again spiked higher with many never-before-seen prices flashing across the sold boards at the auction barns.”

Martin Nomination in Trouble

Punchbowl reports that “Ed Martin’s troubled bid to become U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia is in real doubt after the Senate Judiciary Committee announced it wouldn’t consider his nomination this week.”

·       Late Monday night, Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans noticed an executive business meeting for Thursday that didn’t include Martin’s nomination. Time is running out for Martin, who can only serve 120 days as the interim U.S. attorney before President Donald Trump will have to choose another nominee.

·       Martin is a highly controversial nominee with a history of representing Jan. 6 rioters and associating with neo-Nazis. The extreme nature of the nomination was on full display on Monday when Martin sent a letter to Judiciary Committee leaders recapping media appearances he failed to initially disclose. Martin said he “inadvertently” omitted links to dozens of interviews, including on Russia-linked Sputnik Radio and Russia Today, as well as Alex Jones’ outlet, Infowars. This is the fourth time Martin has had to supplement his original disclosures with new information.

And

President Trump posted a strange supportive statement of Martin which – along with his trademark random capitalizations – made it sound like Martin’s appointment as US Attorney was important to advancing his healthcare agenda.  Who knows?

Parson To Address S&T Grads

Former Governor Mike Parson will be the May 17 commencement speaker at Missouri University of Science and Technology.

eMailbag: Response “Senate Doesn’t Get Stuff Done”

‘Republicans haven’t achieved anything’ is a stupid talking point pushed by grifters preying upon people who are too busy living their lives to pay attention to what goes on in the state legislature. What have Republicans achieved? To name a few…

·       Cut income taxes from 6% to 4.7%, with additional cuts on the way.

·       Cut corporate tax rate from 6.25% to 4%

·       Myriad abortion restrictions, ultimately banning all abortions without exception (overturned by voters)

·       Constitutional Carry

·       SAPA

·       Castle Doctrine

·       Stand Your Ground

·       Missouri Empowerment Scholarships, with more school choice coming

·       Cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits

·       Right to Work (overturned by voters)

·       Voter ID

·       Municipal court reform/Ended “taxation by citation” 

·       Drug testing for welfare recipients

·       Multiple anti-illegal immigration laws, including ban on in-state tuition for illegal immigrants

·       Law Enforcement Bill of Rights

·       Banned boys in girls’ sports

·       Banned state funding for gender transitions 

·       Prohibited public contracts with companies boycotting Israel.

$5K+ Contributions

A Better Missouri Political Action Committee - $32,000 from Anheuser-Busch Cos.

Teamsters Local Union No 688 Political Action Committee - $8,416 from International Brotherhood of Teamters Missouri PAC- Federal Committee.

Lobbyist Registrations

Jay Reichard and Olivia Wilson added Tiber Health, Public Benefit Corporation dba Ponce Health Sciences University.

Henrio Thelemaque added Gibson Center for Behavioral Change.

Justin Arnold deleted Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc.

Brian Bernskoetter deleted PhRMA.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Rep. Danny Busick, and Spencer Tuma.