MOScout Daily Update: Redistricting Announcement Coming - MTC Resignation - Counties Sue STC - MOChamber on Prop A Whipsaw and more…
Breaking…. Get Ready for Redistricting
Word is circulating to expect a special session call from Governor Mike Kehoe to implement the 7-1 redistricting map.
The expectation is for an official gubernatorial proclamation on Friday – a classic move to drop the news on the Friday before the long weekend.
The current plan: special session will start next week with the House pushing it through quickly so the Senate can take it up when they return the following week for Veto Session.
· And … there’s still talk that the special session might include changes to the initiative petition process though that seems – right now at least – as just talk.
MTC ED Resigns
Press release: The Missouri Technology Corporation (MTC) announced today that Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer Jack Scatizzi will step down at the end of January 2026. Scatizzi, who has led the organization since 2020, will remain in his role during the transition while the Board of Directors begins its search for new leadership.
What It Means
The legislature zeroed out the MTC’s budget last year. Some legislators had been put off by Scatizzi. For example, in the House Budget Committee Rep. Louis Riggs was exasperated with Scatizzi’s seeming indifference to rural Missouri. And Senate Appropriations Chair Lincoln Hough said he’d heard from organizations complaining about “the cumbersome nature of what used to be a fairly streamlined process with MTC.”
Ultimately, he just rubbed important legislators the wrong way. And his exit should clear the way for some restoration of funding in the future.
County Officials Sue STC
County Clerks and Assessors from five rural counties (Audrain, DeKalb, Pike, Polk, and Reynolds) sued the State Tax Commission over their efforts to get counties to assess land values closer to market values. See the suit here.
From the suit: In the past few years, the market value of real property has been unpredictable and volatile. Near the end of 2024 and Spring of 2025, the Commission sent the Counties Memorandums of Understanding if the assessed property value was not within 90-110% of the
market value of the property… The increases proposed by the Commission contemplated increases of 12-15% on residential assessments and are arbitrary and not based on accurate data and if imposed will have an unequal and discriminatory impact on taxpayers within the respective Counties and will negatively impact taxpayers’ abilities to stay in their homes.
What It Means
Property taxes have bubbled up as a huge issue with several legislators promising action in next year’s legislative session.
Nurse Practitioner Sues Board of Healing Arts
Also filed this week, a challenge to the regulatory framework governing nurse practitioners.
Plaintiff Marcy Markes is a licensed Family Nurse Practitioner with over thirty years of nursing experience… By law, Ms. Markes must contract with a physician to see patients at her clinic and provide the care that she is specifically licensed to deliver. Because of this mandate, Ms. Markes must pay a physician $52,800 per year—an artificial cost imposed by Missouri law—just to engage in the very work she is uniquely qualified to perform.
Missouri stands as an outlier, isolated from the prevailing national understanding. Across most of the country, nurse practitioners (NPs) like Ms. Markes are highly trained professionals who can safely and effectively deliver primary and specialty care, including diagnosing illnesses, prescribing medications, and managing chronic conditions—without a physician’s oversight in non-hospital settings. Not so in Missouri.
Here, NPs must secure a “collaborative practice agreement” (CPA) with a physician in order to practice. Mo. Stat. § 334.104. These CPAs erect needless barriers to care, worsen provider shortages, and strip NPs like Ms. Markes of their state and federal constitutional rights—all while protecting physicians' economic interests.
Ms. Markes brings this challenge to vindicate her constitutional rights under the Missouri Constitution’s Gains of Industry and Due Process Clauses (Art. I, §§ 2 and 10) and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
· The Association of Missouri Nurse Practitioners is represented by Derek Leffert in Jefferson City.
MOChamber on Sick Leave Whipsaw
Missouri Chamber is offering businesses some advice on navigating the reversal of the sick leave mandate. See it here. The legislature’s repeal of Prop A goes into effect tomorrow. There’s no clear answer on how to handle the whipsawed laws. MOChamber offers a continuum of paths to consider…
New PACs
Alpha PAC was formed. It’s in support of Amy DeClue. She’s running for state representative in House 118 (Potosi) where Rep. Mike McGril is termed. See the filing here.
Lobbyist Registrations
James Harris added California Opulence.
Ginger Steinmetz added Midway Sports, LLC.
$5K+ Contributions
MO Beverage PAC - $5,223 from Pepsi Beverages Company of St. Louis.
MoCannTrade PAC - $6,025 from Robert Winn.
A Better Missouri Political Action Committee - $30,000 from Anheuser-Busch Cos.
Missouri Voter Project - State PAC - $10,000 from UFCW Union Active Ballot Club (Washington DC).
Missouri Voices - $25,000 from The Simon Law Firm.
Missouri House Democrats Action Fund - $10,000 from MHA HealthPAC.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Scott Swan, Austin Walker, Kit Crancer, Tom Flanigan, and Jefferson Thomas.
New Offering
Next month, I’m starting something new: “What It Means STL.” I’m planning on doing “four-ish” posts a week. They will be brief, single-topic posts – focused on St. Louis. It will be some politics, but also wider observations.
This is your invitation to subscribe. It’ll be much cheaper than MOScout… $10/month, and until this weekend (Sunday or Monday), you can lock in the special $5/month rate (50% off). This pre-launch sale is especially for MOScouters because there will be, from time to time, some overlap in material. Subscribe here.