Lawmakers reconvened in Jefferson City on Wednesday for the start of the 2023 legislative session. This year's agenda includes a renewed effort to legalize sports betting in the state and a push to raise starting pay for teachers. Also, Missouri's $6 billion budget surplus has new House Speaker Dean Plocher eyeing additional tax cuts. Plocher has not outlined a specific plan, but he sees more room to slash income, sales or personal property tax rates following nearly $800 million in cuts approved by lawmakers in September.
In a 10-minute speech in the Senate, new President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, asked members to consider their place in history and to reject the factional splits that undermined the chamber’s work in 2022.
The policies he wants the Senate to address, Rowden said, would provide more health care coverage to new mothers, continue benefit programs as family income increases to provide a smooth transition off public assistance, make it harder to amend the constitution and overhaul education. You can read more here.
