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Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Missouri House Democrats label bill protecting religious student groups as ‘discriminatory'
State Sen. Brad Hudson, a Cape Fair Republican, listens during the first day of the 2025 legislative session — his first year as a state senator (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent). Legislation that would bar Missouri universities from penalizing student groups for their beliefs faced pointed criticism during a Monday evening House committee hearing from Democrats who say it would open the door for discrimination and hate speech. 'Some people call it 'religious beliefs,' and some people call it 'discrimination,'' said state Rep. Elizabeth Fuchs, a St. Louis Democrat. State Sen. Brad Hudson, a Republican from Cape Fair, has sponsored the bill for four years. This is the first year he has presented it as a state senator, after it cleared the Missouri Senate for the first time last month. Hudson worked with Democratic senators and added a provision to the bill that carves out viewpoints that 'would materially and substantially disrupt the educational environment or interfere with the rights of others' from protection, avoiding a filibuster that could have doomed the legislation's chances. Similar proposals have been heard in the state legislature for a decade, passing both the House and a Senate committee in 2022 and 2023. A nearly identical bill already passed the House in February on a 108-47 party-line vote. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Hudson said the bill codifies legal precedent allowing student groups to enforce religious beliefs under the protection of the First Amendment. Passing the bill, he said, would help the state avoid 'needless litigation.' Curtis Cole, campus access specialist with Chi Alpha Campus Ministries from Springfield, said his group has been threatened with removal from campuses for 'holding biblically based views and standards of leadership.' He alluded to a situation at the University of Virginia, where a student was kicked out of leadership for being in a same-sex relationship. More recently, a Chi Alpha chapter in Texas became the target of a lawsuit after a student accused a staff member of sexual assault. The staff member was a registered sex offender during his employment with Chi Alpha. Cole said the bill was important to protect a 'marketplace of ideas' on college campuses although 'we're going to disagree with each other from time to time.' Fuchs said it went beyond disagreement and instead infringes on the rights of LGBTQ+ students. 'You want one group to be able to organize, to not be discriminated against, even if they're organizing and discriminating against others,' she said. Lance Kinzer, director of policy and government relations for the Washington, D.C.-based 1st Amendment Partnership, said the bill holds up to court precedents. 'It mirrors constitutional protections, and it really is just common sense,' he said. State Rep. Wick Thomas, a Democrat from Kansas City, asked whether the bill would allow for beliefs that discriminate against other people groups. 'Wouldn't this bill theoretically open it up for discrimination based on any sincerely held religious belief?' Thomas said. 'If people believe in eugenics, they might say disabled people are not allowed to be in leadership in this organization.' Kinzer felt judicial rulings set reasonable bounds. 'I don't see a scenario where this would allow discrimination based upon someone being handicapped,' he said. 'That is status-based and not really belief-based.' The committee did not immediately take action on the bill Monday evening.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Political attacks stiffen opposition to Missouri bill protecting pesticide makers
State Sen. Brad Hudson of Cape Fair speaks at a news conference Tuesday about flyers sent to his constituents attacking his opposition to a bill limiting lawsuits against Bayer over its herbicide Roundup. Joining Hudson, from left, are Sens. Nick Schroer of Defiance, Ben Brown of Washington, Joe Nicola of Independence, Mike Moon of Ash Grove, Rick Brattin of Harrisonville, Adam Schnelting of St. Charles, Jill Carter of Joplin and David Gregory of Chesterfield. (Rudi Keller/Missouri Independent) A direct-mail campaign targeting opponents of a bill intended to shelter Bayer from lawsuits alleging its herbicide Roundup causes cancer appears to be backfiring. Nine state senators targeted by flyers sent to their constituents held a news conference Tuesday to denounce the effort and say their opposition is growing stronger because of the attacks. 'What is at play right here, right now, is whether or not our farmers should have rights to due process and their Seventh Amendment right to go up against a giant when their health is being compromised without truth in labeling,' said state Sen. Jill Carter, a Republican from Granby. Missouri House debate shows GOP split over bill to protect pesticide makers Last week, the Missouri House voted 85-72 to pass a bill filed by state Rep. Dane Diehl, a Republican from Butler, that would make the label required by federal pesticide regulators 'sufficient to satisfy any requirement for a warning label regarding cancer under any other provision of current law.' The narrow vote — only three more than the minimum needed for passage — and the 24 Republicans who voted against it shows the depth of the split over the legislation within the GOP supermajority. The direct mail pieces aren't helping heal those divisions, Diehl said in an interview with The Independent. 'The timing of these pieces, or these mailers, have surely made this process even more convoluted,' Diehl said. The sponsor of identical legislation in the upper chamber, state Sen. Justin Brown, a Republican from Rolla, agreed. 'They're not helping us,' he said. 'They're hurting us. I knew they would, and I'm sure that's why they were sent. I think the motivation behind those flyers was to try to kill this bill.' The direct mail pieces have been arriving in mailboxes for about a week, senators said at the news conference. The nine participating senators suspect Bayer is paying for the flyers but have no solid evidence. 'We are going to talk to the Missouri Ethics Commission and see what we can do legally right now about this failure to disclose,' said state Sen. Nick Schroer, a Republican from Defiance. 'It's dark money, through and through.' Along with Schroer and Carter, the members targeted for the direct mail who took part in the news conference are state Sens. Rick Brattin of Harrisonville, Ben Brown of Washington, David Gregory of Chesterfield, Brad Hudson of Cape Fair, Mike Moon of Granby, Joe Nicola of Independence and Adam Schnelting of St. Charles. The flyers, essentially identical except for substituting each lawmaker's name, office telephone number and photo, declare that 'President Trump is cracking down on China and needs your help.' They accuse the targeted lawmakers of sitting 'on the fence in the fight to protect American agricultural manufacturers and prevent outsourcing of our food supply.' The back side of the flyer calls for urgent action because 'We need to keep Chinese Communist Party chemicals out of our food supply.' The mailers state they are paid for by the Protecting America Initiative and give a return address in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The Federal Election Commission lists it as an 'electioneering communication' organization. It does not disclose its donors. The treasurer listed is the same person who was treasurer of The Stand for US PAC, which last year spent more than $2 million in an unsuccessful effort to boost then-Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft in the Republican primary for governor. The Protecting America Initiative has also spent about $121,000 on television ads in the central Missouri market since the start of the legislative session, FCC records show. The legislation filed by Brown and Diehl is intended to protect Bayer from more than 25,000 lawsuits pending in Cole County that allege the manufacturer did not put a label on Roundup warning that it had the potential to cause cancer. Bayer, a German company, purchased Monsanto, a St. Louis-based company, in 2018. Bayer kept its U.S. headquarters in St. Louis. The stakes are enormous for Bayer. In 2023 Cole County, three plaintiffs were awarded $1.56 billion, though a judge later reduced that to $622 million. There are tens of thousands of additional lawsuits pending across the country and Bayer has paid out at least $10 billion for jury awards and settlements. Bayer did not respond to an email seeking comment on the flyers and whether it helped finance them. Brown said he doesn't believe Bayer is funding the flyers. 'Members that are quick to want to kill this bill because they're getting attacked should follow that money and see who's actually funding this,' Brown said. In a news release sent Monday, members of the Missouri Freedom Caucus said they have little doubt that Bayer is behind the messages. 'In a bombastic attempt to silence these principled conservatives, the company has flooded hundreds of thousands of households across their nine Senate districts, with misleading attack mailers, distorting their records and undermining their commitment to protecting Missourians,' the release stated. In response to the allegation that the nine lawmakers want China to dominate agricultural markets, Hudson filed a bill to ban the sale in Missouri of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers made in China. 'If we've got a situation where we are depending on products from those who would be our enemies in order to be caretakers of our food supply, we've got a problem that we need to address,' Hudson said. While the flyers are sparking opposition now, Brown said he's committed to passing the bill. He will give tempers time to cool before bringing it up for Senate debate, he said. Bayer 'employs 5,000 people just in one town in Missouri,' Brown said, 'and I could see them going somewhere else or just closing that altogether, if we don't try to do something.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
