Missouri lawmakers have just hours before their end-of-session deadline to pass legislation that would make it more difficult to amend the state’s constitution — a top Republican goal.
The GOP-led Legislature faces a 6 p.m. Friday cutoff to send bills to Republican Gov. Mike Parson.
Republicans have already passed several attention-grabbing priorities, including budgeting a whopping $2.8 billion to expand Interstate 70 to three lanes across the state.
Lawmakers also voted to ban minors from receiving puberty blockers, hormones and gender-affirming surgeries. If signed by Parson, which is expected, the bill also would affect some adults. Medicaid won’t cover any gender-affirming care in the state, and surgery will no longer be available to prisoners and inmates.
Another bill passed by lawmakers would ban transgender student-athletes from joining girls and women’s teams from kindergarten through college, both at public and private schools. Schools that allow transgender girls and women to play on such teams would lose state funding.
Former Republican House Speaker Pro Tem Carl Bearden said the initiative petition process is meant to be a “check on” and independent of the legislature. He said the pending proposal “directly infringes upon the Constitutional freedoms of Missouri citizens.”
“It is not a conservative policy,” Bearden said.
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