Latest news with #TracyMcCreery
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Public meeting on proposed CAFOs slated for Thursday in Pierce City
PIERCE CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Department of Natural Resources will hold a public meeting from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Pierce City High School gymnasium, 300 N. Myrtle St., Pierce City, to hear public comments on eight proposed concentrated animal feeding operations that could be built in Newton and Lawrence counties around this area. For those who are unable to attend the meeting in person, DNR is also accepting written comments through Friday, May 30, sent to cafo@ This in-person public comment meeting is to discuss and provide a permitting regulatory framework for the draft permits on five facilities to be built in Newton County near Wentworth and Pierce City and four in Lawrence County near Verona or Monett. The Missouri Coalition for the Environment, a grassroots group raising awareness of concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, said it's trying to spread awareness of this meeting to make sure the public knows about the kind of farming operations coming close to their homes. 'This opportunity for public comment comes in the wake of the 2025 Missouri legislative session, in which the Senate Agriculture committee chair Sen. Jason Bean, Republican from Southeast Missouri, refused to schedule a hearing for a key bill that would have given local county commissions more leeway in regulating CAFOs,' the Coalition for the Environment said in a news release. 'This bill, SB 400, was introduced by Senator Tracy McCreery, Democrat from St. Louis County, and would have reinstated the authority of local health boards and county commissions to pass ordinances that impact agriculture. Missouri Legislators revoked this local control in 2019 with the passage of SB 391, which stated that county commissions cannot 'impose standards or requirements on an agriculture operation' more stringent than statewide regulations. Since then, there has been an expansion of CAFOs in the state.' The coalition said hosting an in-person hearing for multiple CAFOs at once is an unusual move by the DNR. The MCE said not all agricultural operations are equal and CAFOs create undue burdens for the surrounding community. Environmental health costs include excess nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus running off into surrounding waterways, contributing to toxic algal blooms and aquatic dead zones. 'It is unjust for communities to bear the health and property costs of CAFOs without an avenue for recourse,' said Melissa Vatterott, the MCE's director of policy and strategy. 'Communities should have the chance to work with their local government to put practical parameters in place as to where and how these facilities can operate.' More information is available at Documents concerning the CAFOs that will be subject of this meeting can be read at
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Missouri Democrats ponder options after Senate breaks down over abortion, paid sick leave
State Sen. Tracy McCreery, a Democrat from Olivette, prepares for Senate Republicans to force a vote on a constitutional amendment to ban abortion on May 14 (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent). On the evening of May 14, when the House side of the Missouri legislature was almost a ghost town, state Rep. Mark Sharp's phone started buzzing with messages telling him that 'things are getting ready to blow up in the Senate.' Sharp, a Kansas City Democrat, started making his way to the Senate when he heard chanting. Protesters were in the Senate expressing their opposition to HJR 73, which would put an abortion ban on the 2026 ballot. After visitors were cleared out to stop the protest, security began to let people back in, and Sharp and dozens of other representatives crammed into the spaces along the edge of the Senate floor to watch what would happen next. 'You had about 50 reps on the Senate floor … maybe 20 Democrats and another 30 Republicans all mixed together. All kinds of camera crews. I've never seen the Senate that packed before,' Sharp said. 'Then, they moved for the previous question, and then did it again on Prop A,' he added. 'Then they adjourned. I was literally stunned.' After a session considered uncharacteristically productive and bipartisan by recent standards, the Missouri Senate, on the second-to-last day of the 2025 session, broke with its own longstanding tradition and overrode a filibuster. To do it, Senate Republicans pulled out a rarely used procedural tool called a 'previous question,' or PQ, to close debate and force votes on the abortion bill and a bill to repeal paid sick leave protections. Senate Republicans' use of the PQ shocked the Missouri legislature for a number of reasons, one being that the tool is very rarely used, because it's seen as antithetical to the chamber's tradition of unlimited debate. The other is that the move came after a session in which Republicans and Democrats, despite their disagreements, were able to find some common ground and collaborate on legislation. Republicans have held a two-thirds supermajority in both chambers of the Missouri legislature since 2012. This year, Democrats held 10 of 34 Senate seats and 52 of 161 House seats. Even so, this session was marked by considerable bipartisan cooperation — a stark contrast from previous years, when Republican infighting dominated the Senate and made it difficult to get much of anything to the governor's desk. While extreme political polarization nationally might make bipartisan cooperation seem impossible, it's a requirement in the Missouri legislature if Democrats want to get anything done, said state Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, a Kansas City Democrat. 'I would not be successful as a legislator if I worked in a silo or if I worked on purely hyperpartisan issues. That's not going to get me anywhere as a Democrat in the superminority of Missouri,' she said. 'It all comes down to me finding common ground with others.' Sharp said: 'As a member of the superminority, we have to constantly, constantly be talking to these folks in the majority party daily. They're the ones controlling everything.' Republican House leadership — including House Speaker Jon Patterson of Lee's Summit, Majority Floor Leader Alex Riley of Springfield and committee chairs — have control over every step in the legislative process, including whether a bill is introduced and referred to a committee. Because of that, 'at every corner, we should be working across the aisle to make sure that these bipartisan pieces of legislation are given a chance … because we know the partisan ones won't,' Sharp said. He said 'it can be frustrating' to be a Democrat working in the Republican supermajority-controlled Missouri legislature, but 'you've got to have a short memory.' Despite being in the supermajority, many Republicans were 'absolutely' interested in working with Democrats, Nurrenbern said. One of those Republicans was Sen. Kurtis Gregory from Marshall. He and Nurrenbern together represent Clay County in the Senate, and 'as soon as we were both elected, we sat down and talked about what we could do together to move Clay County forward,' she said. When Nurrenbern decided to file a bill to create a Clay County Sports Authority, she reached out to him and said, 'I would like you to champion this with me.' 'He was an absolutely great supporter every step of the way to get that done,' she said. 'He was … excited to carry that legislation with me.' But the collaboration wasn't just one-way, Nurrenbern said. Sen. Mike Henderson, a Desloge Republican, also asked for her input on a massive education bill he was working on. 'He came to me right away and said: 'Maggie, I'd really like your input on this. You're a former educator. I respect your opinion on these provisions, and I want to work with you on this,'' Nurrenbern said. State Sen. Tracy McCreery, an Olivette Democrat, cosponsored several bipartisan bills this session and said it was 'refreshing' to work across the aisle. 'I'm in a district that's 50/50, and I feel like my constituents want me to work together with people of all political stripes and all backgrounds to find common-sense solutions,' McCreery said. 'They appreciate that politicians aren't fighting all the time and calling each other names.' While some issues consistently divide Republicans and Democrats in the Missouri legislature, others offer more opportunities for bipartisan cooperation, such as economic development and health care. 'All of the things I worked on successfully with colleagues from the other side of the aisle are just issues that are going to help make people's lives a little bit better,' McCreery said. For Democrats in both chambers of the Missouri legislature, getting a policy over the finish line often means amending another bill to include their language. It's especially critical in the House, Sharp said. 'Freshman Democrats feel like their specific House bills should be moving. That's now how it works. … Republicans aren't going to pass a bill in your name,' Sharp said. McCreery said it's 'pretty common' for Senate Democrats, when they're unable to block the passage of a bill, to try getting some of their own bills added as amendments to soften the impact. 'Once the supermajority decides that a bill is going to move and make it out of the chamber, you, as a senator, have to decide. Do I want to try to stop it, or do I want to try to make a bad bill a little less bad by putting some good things on it?' McCreery said. McCreery said one example was a 'terrible' omnibus utility law that passed early in the session, which she said will increase Missourians' utility rates. 'I voted no on it, but I was able to get some consumer protections in there for low-income people,' she added. 'It was a tough decision, but I didn't have the ability to stop the bill, so then I had to make a decision to try to put some things in there that can make it a little less harmful to people.' Nurrenbern said she tries to remember 'that we, as Senate Democrats, are just 10 of 34 senators' and that 'while we should have a mark on the legislation that is passed, it is going to be not as large a mark as the Republican supermajority.' 'I don't think a single piece of legislation got across the finish line without Democratic input,' she added. 'But we also recognize that we're not going to be overdemanding or overbearing in our asks. The asks that we put forward are reasonable, I think, and are really in the spirit of serving Missouri well.' Sharp said that unlike in previous years, House leadership — and especially Patterson, who just completed his first session as speaker — was more open to keeping an open dialogue with Democrats. 'I will give House Speaker Patterson this: he did a very good job of working with Democrats, (and) particularly African-American Democrats in Kansas City,' Sharp said. 'He made time for us regularly in Jefferson City and in Kansas City.' That shift meant that 'a few more opportunities were thrown to members of my caucus,' Sharp said, with Patterson and various Republican committee chairs being more willing to help some of Democrats' bills move through the legislative process. Those opportunities meant that Democrats, including freshmen, were able to add their bills' language as amendments to Republican legislation, including bills banning hair discrimination in schools, extending a tax credit for donations to diaper banks and eliminating sales taxes on diapers and feminine hygiene products. But other House bills with bipartisan support were casualties of the Senate's breakdown. That included Sharp's bill requiring some people with DUIs to install ignition interlocks in their car, which he said was on the Senate agenda but was effectively 'killed' when the PQ was used. With the use of the PQs, 'all of that bipartisan cooperation and collaboration was pretty much thrown out the window,' according to McCreery. At the time, Republicans and Democrats had been negotiating to find a compromise on Republicans' bill to repeal Proposition A's paid sick leave protections, passed by voters last fall. 'We were working right up to when we were given word that negotiations were finished,' McCreery said. 'I went into that Wednesday still feeling hopeful that we would figure something out.' According to the Missouri Independent, Democrats told Republican leadership they would stop filibustering the two bills if language were changed to remove references to gender-affirming care for minors — which is already illegal in Missouri — from the abortion bill and to allow for minimum wage to rise with inflation. McCreery — who was leading the filibuster when the PQs were used — said 'the PQ may have been used against me, but it's bigger than me.' 'Shutting down the debate was done against the will of the people. And that's what makes this more harmful and harder to look the other way on, because the PQ was used on me, but shutting down debate was used against 1.5, 1.6 million Missourians that voted for Prop A or voted for Amendment 3,' she said. That move 'eroded my trust and confidence to negotiate in good faith with Republican senators,' Nurrenbern said. While Democrats said negotiators were on track to find a solution, Sen. Nick Schroer, a Republican from Defiance, said on the day of the PQ that 'goalposts were being moved' in those negotiations, which ultimately 'hit a logjam.' Gov. Mike Kehoe was working behind the scenes in the lead-up to the PQ to try to prevent it and improve the chances of the Missouri legislature passing his proposed stadium funding plan, according to the Missouri Independent. In the lead-up to the PQ, Nurrenbern and other Democrats said that while they enjoyed the bipartisan cooperation, 'That is not going to be the case next session.' 'It marked a change in how we are going to operate as senators,' Nurrenbern said. 'There are a lot of motions that happen throughout the legislative day in the Missouri Senate, and we are going to use every opportunity to make our point that it's paramount to negotiate in good faith.' McCreery said she didn't want to speculate about how Democrats might proceed, but did say that 'it's going to be much harder to get things done, even things that are perceived as nonpartisan or noncontroversial. There was a lot of harm done not just to this session, but future sessions as well.' 'I'm certainly disappointed with how session ended this year, and I have a long memory,' she added. 'I don't anticipate that I'll go into special session this summer or regular session next January with all of this disrespect just put behind me.' Gov. Mike Kehoe recently announced that he will call lawmakers back to Jefferson City for a special session sometime this summer to vote on a bill to provide state funding for a new Royals stadium and a renovated Chiefs stadium. Nurrenbern said she doesn't know 'what the call is for special session yet, but I would certainly expect to see some of that spill over.' McCreery said Democrats 'have not had any discussions' about the special session. 'I will say, as someone who is a proud resident of the St. Louis region, to see all of the destruction that happened on Friday night with the tornado, it's going to be really hard to think about giving $900 million or more to a wealthy team owner when we've got so much destruction in the St. Louis region that is going to have to be dealt with,' she said. Sharp — who has been a vocal advocate for finding a way to keep the Royals and Chiefs in Missouri — said an even bigger barrier to getting the stadium bill passed will be senators' lingering resentment over the House failing to pass a massive construction bill. However, he said he's optimistic that House leadership will put it up for a vote during the special session to clear the way for the Senate to pass the stadium bill. At a press conference after the end of session, Kehoe told reporters he understands lawmakers' concerns about the construction bill. 'I've heard and listened to quite a few senators and representatives from both sides of the aisle on that very same issue, and I understand what their concerns are,' Kehoe said. 'I think it's fair to say everything is on the table of what that special session might look like.' As Democrats prepare for the sessions to come, Nurrenbern said she hopes to see bipartisanship in the Missouri legislature again. 'Everybody comes from a different walk of life, from a different area of the state, and we work best — and the institution works best — when we come together for the common good,' she said. 'I hope we get back there sooner than later.' This article first appeared on Beacon: Missouri and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Missouri Senate once again overwhelmingly approves child marriage ban
State Sen. Tracy McCreery, a Democrat from Ollivette, prepares to introduce a bill (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent). Marriage would be banned for anyone under 18 under a law that advanced out of the Missouri Senate Thursday. Under current Missouri law, anyone under 16 is prohibited from getting married. But 16 and 17 year olds can get married with parental consent to anyone under 21. The bill, sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Tracy McCreery, would ban child marriage outright. State Sen. Rick Brattin, a Republican from Harrisonville, filed similar legislation. 'The current marriage laws incentivize and legalize the trafficking of minors under the guise of marriage,' McCreery said Thursday. The vote Thursday was 32 to 1. The only no vote was state Sen. Mike Moon, a Republican from Ash Grove. In 2023, Moon garnered national attention when he said: 'Do you know any kids who have been married at age 12? I do. And guess what? They're still married.' There was no opposition voiced in the public hearing in January, or the Senate debates this week. The bill now heads to the House for consideration. Last year, the bill cleared the Senate in April with only Moon in opposition. It was stalled by a small group of Republican critics in a House committee, who said it would constitute government overreach and infringe on parental rights. After the bill finally passed out of that committee, when several of those critics were not present for the vote, it was never brought up in the House for a vote. 'I'm honored to pick up where we left off last year and to get this legislation passed into law,' McCreery said during Monday's Senate debate. Those in favor of the ban argue child marriage is coercive and can transform into forced marriage, especially because children lack the legal rights of adulthood. 'This is not only a legislative imperative, but also a moral one,' McCreery said, pointing to data showing those married as children are at a higher risk of mental and physical health issues, isolation, poverty, and intimate partner abuse. Others in favor at the public hearing in January included women who had been forced into marriage as children and advocates against domestic violence and child abuse. No one testified in opposition. Until the legislature voted to raise the minimum marriage age to 16 in 2018, Missouri had among the most lenient child marriage laws in the nation — making it an especially popular state for 15-year-olds to travel to be married. Despite the 2018 change, Missouri law still does not align with international human rights standards, which set the minimum age at 18. Activists argued at the time Missouri's new law would continue to leave 16 and 17-year-olds vulnerable to potential coercion. Brattin said Monday during Senate debate that initially he'd been against the ban because he knew family members who'd been married young and had long, successful marriages. 'And it was difficult to kind of come to the realization that that's not where we're at any longer, that yesterday was yesterday, and this is today,' Brattin said. '…I've come around completely, so much so that I've even sponsored the parallel bill that you have.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Missouri bill may ban counselors from providing conversion therapy for minors
MISSOURI — A lawmaker aims to prohibit mental health professionals from providing conversion therapy for minors in Missouri under a new bill. According to the bill, conversion therapy relates to any practice or treatment seeking to change a minor's sexual orientation or gender identity, including behaviors related to same-sex attraction. Collinsville woman's death a murder-for-hire: Police The bill sponsored by Democratic Senator Tracy McCreery of District 24 in St. Louis County also states the term 'conversion therapy' used in the proposal does not impact counseling that supports a minor undergoing gender transitioning. If passed, any mental health professional who engages in conversion therapy with a minor after Aug. 28 may have their application for a license or its renewal denied. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Missouri bill seeks refunds for electric customers after long power outages
MISSOURI — A state lawmaker wants electric companies to reimburse their Missouri customers after experiencing a power outage. Democratic Senator Tracy McCreery of the 24th District in St. Louis County sponsored the bill that would require electrical companies to reimburse their customers if a power outage occurs for longer than 48 hours. Collinsville woman's death a murder-for-hire: Police According to the bill, electric companies will be required to create a form online for customer's to report power outages. If the loss is greater than $200, a customer will need to submit receipts before receiving a reimbursement. If the bill is passed, electric companies will be required to abide by the law effective August 28. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
