Winners and losers of the legislative session

By Jason Hancock | Editor-in-Chief

Good morning, and welcome to The Weekender.

The legislative session is officially over. And as the final gavel fell at 6 p.m. Friday, I completed my annual tradition of surveying dozens of lawmakers, statehouse staff, lobbyists, activists and political observers to determine the big winners and losers.

I weighed their suggestions against my own observations from 15 years covering Missouri politics, then landed on this list of who came out ahead in Jefferson City — and who didn’t.

Winners

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway: She stabilized an office that has been in constant turnover, taking over after three consecutive attorneys general used the job as a springboard to Washington. She’s also earning plaudits for her efforts to run illegal slot machines out of Missouri gas stations, and has prevailed in the major court fights so far defending the state’s gerrymandered congressional map.

The legislative process: The Missouri Senate hasn’t really functioned properly in years, first because of GOP infighting and then partisan rancor. This year proved the process can still work, with more bills sent to the governor or the ballot this session than the last two combined. 

Political consultants: How were these folks going to pay their bills with only the auditor’s race atop the statewide ticket? Well, how about loading up the ballot with proposals to let lawmakers broaden sales and use taxes as part of a push to eliminate the income tax, repeal Missouri’s new abortion-rights amendment, make citizen-led constitutional amendments much harder to pass and maybe even put the state’s gerrymandered congressional map before voters? 

House Majority Leader Alex Riley: The Republican from Springfield has earned bipartisan praise for how smoothly the House has run this year, balancing priorities and egos in a way that sets him up well for taking over as speaker next year. 

State Rep. Peggy McGaugh: The Carrollton Republican and former county clerk shepherded a wide-ranging elections bill across the finish line that included a host priorities she’s worked on for years. But what’s earned her the most praise has been her work as chair of the House Administration and Accounts Committee, helping steady a corner of House operations that had been tied to the turmoil and ethics inquiries surrounding former Speaker Dean Plocher.

Losers

Torch Electronics: The company and its allies used campaign donations and aggressive litigation to fend off oversight of its gas station slot machines for years. A new attorney general is trying to run those machines out of Missouri, and legislative efforts to legalize them ran into a brick wall of opposition.

State Treasurer Vivek Malek: Bipartisan complaints about his oversight of the state's private school voucher program boiled over after The Independent revealed his office inadvertently posted data on students enrolled in the program on its website for almost a year. The Senate responded by voting to move the program out of his purview and over to the state education department. It took last-minute intervention by St. Louis Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski to block the change in the House.  

Lincoln Hough: Few individuals had a bigger impact on the state budget over the last decade than the Springfield Republican, considered by many to be among the savviest operators in the upper chamber. But after bucking his party on a pair of high-profile issues in last year’s special session, he was removed as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. GOP leadership braced for him to make mischief in his final year in office, but other than some brief dust-ups, he was a side character in a mostly drama-free session.

Transparency: The Missouri Senate not only refuses to follow the House’s lead and provide the public a video livestream of its proceedings, it also has a habit of testing the spirit, if not the letter, of open meeting laws by convening unscheduled committee hearings in the middle of the night. To top it off, conference committees designed to work out differences over legislation between the House and Senate rarely bother to hold public hearings at all anymore, doing their work largely behind closed doors.

Direct democracy: More than 305,000 Missourians signed petitions to put the GOP's mid-decade gerrymander on the November ballot. Yet the chances the issue actually ends up before voters get slimmer by the day as delay tactics from the attorney general and secretary of state have found success in the courts and caused chaos for local election officials around the state. The message to anyone hoping to check the legislature at the ballot box: Even when you do everything right, you might still lose.

Public schools: Lawmakers left Missouri’s K-12 foundation formula roughly $190 million short of full funding in the state budget, after schools already took a current-year hit when lottery revenue fell short of assumptions. That earlier shortfall translated to roughly $245 less per student. Then in the session’s final week, Commissioner of Education Karla Eslinger announced her retirement, setting up new leadership in the state education department at a moment when school choice advocates are gaining ground.

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A Senate-backed plan to move MOScholars out of the State Treasurer’s Office died in the House after a call from St. Louis Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski.

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Missouri Education Commissioner Karla Eslinger will step down at the end of the month — two years after taking her position at the top of the state’s education department.

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