Missouri Attorney General’s Office Archives

Judge strikes down Cleaner Missouri ballot summary; state moves quickly to seek appeal

August 17, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Cole County Judge Pat Joyce has ordered the ballot summary in a Cleaner Missouri legislative redistricting plan must change. In a judgement issued Monday, Joyce says the Amendment 3 ballot description is “misleading, unfair, and insufficient” and therefore in violation state law.

Missouri judge strikes down Cleaner Missouri ballot summary; state moves quickly to seek appeal

The Republican-dominated Missouri Legislature passed the proposed Constitutional amendment, SJR38, this year and wrote the ballot summary. Under the plan, bipartisan commissions would redraw districts, instead of a nonpartisan demographer. It also slightly lowers campaign gifts.

The measure was in response to Clean Missouri redistricting changes passed by 62% of voters in 2018. Some lawmakers said voters did not know what they were voting for when they approved Clean Missouri – they just saw the political donations portion.

Joyce says the summary “fails to inform voters that adopting the measure would eliminate the legislative redistricting rules Missourians adopted two years ago to combat political gerrymandering and replace them with a process similar in substance to the one they just voted to abandon.” She says the legislature’s summary instead “seeks to entice voters” to adopt the measure by “misleadingly overstating” a modest $5 reduction in allowable lobbyist gifts and a $100 reduction to Senate campaign contribution limits.

“Where, as here, the legislature seeks to override the recent, clearly expressed will of Missouri voters on a matter as important as redistricting, the law requires that voters be plainly informed what they are being asked to consider,” Joyce says.

During a court hearing this month, the Missouri Attorney General’s Office said the ballot language is fair and the lobbyist gift restrictions portion is written for ordinary voters to understand. It said the Legislature was required to craft the summary in 50 words or less.

The state has requested an appeal in the Missouri Court of Appeals at the end of next week.

The deadline to get revised language on the November ballot would be sometime in September.

Doctor’s credentials reportedly stolen, used to help 600 Missouri patients get medical marijuana cards

June 29, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

The state health department has launched an investigation after an unauthorized physician signature was used to help about 600 Missouri patients get certified for medical marijuana use. Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Spokesperson Lisa Cox tells Missourinet an involved party notified the state of suspected case of the fraud, and then the agency worked to find additional affected individuals.

Doctor’s credentials reportedly stolen, used to help 600 Missouri patients get medical marijuana cards

“What we’ve found was that a doctor who is perfectly capable of certifying patients if he or she chose to, their name and credentials were being used without their knowledge to actually certify these patients,” says Cox. “It’s primarily affecting the St. Louis area, is what we’ve found. There were some patients in the northern part of the state.”

Cox says all of the roughly 54,000 medical marijuana patient applications received have been reviewed for good standing and for red flags or discrepancies that indicate the need for additional checks. On top of that, the department does regular random checks.

Missouri’s medical marijuana process allows patients to request certification virtually. Cox thinks the patients got an unauthorized signature primarily through telemedicine visits.

“What the investigation is, is trying to determine who this person was that was possibly offering these telemedicine visits to patients who unknowingly maybe weren’t being seen by an actual doctor,” says Cox.

Patients impacted are being notified and given a deadline to submit a valid doctor’s approval to the state. If a valid certification is not received by the deadline, the individual’s license will be revoked, pursuant to 19 CSR 30-95.030(3)(B)1.C, and a pro-rated refund of the original $25 registration fee for the amount of time left on the deactivated license will be provided. If patients contact DHSS and are working to make an appointment or are struggling to do so, the state could try to resolve the issue on a case by case basis.

Some clinics are even offering free appointments to help the defrauded patients get a valid doctor’s approval.

The suspected fraud case has been referred to the Missouri Attorney General’s Office and the Board of Healing Arts for further potential action.

Missouri could start selling medical marijuana later this summer, possibly in August, to patients with qualifying health conditions.

(VIDEO) Top takes from today’s COVID-19 briefing in Missouri

April 20, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Gov. Mike Parson is freezing another $47 million in the current state budget to help Missouri fight the coronavirus. The largest chunks of funding being withheld are nearly $16 million to K-12 education and $7.1 million in school bus transportation costs. During today’s virtual briefing, Parson says the restrictions will be felt by seven other state agencies, the Attorney General’s Office and the Legislature.

Gov. Mike Parson (Photo courtesy of governor’s Flickr page)

“COVID-19 is unlike anything we have ever dealt with before, and like many families during this time, we are having to make adjustments and cut back on our state expenditures,” says Parson. “These are not easy decisions, but this is the right thing to do to ensure our budget is balanced and that we are financially prepared to deal with the impacts of COVID-19 going forward.”

To view the full list of funding restrictions, click here.

On April 1, Parson announced $180 million in budget withholds – more than $81 million was to the Missouri Department of Higher Education. Other agencies affected were the Missouri Office of Administration, Transportation, Economic Development and Natural Resources.

Missouri Department of Public Safety Director Sandy Karsten (Photo courtesy of governor’s Flickr page)

Meanwhile, a vendor has given a refund to the state for an order of protective masks that did not fit correctly. The Columbia Daily Tribune reports Missouri paid $9 million in advance to NMS LLC of St. Louis to secure 3.9 million masks. Department of Public Safety Director Sandy Karsten says discussions determined that the vendor remains committed to helping Missouri get more protective equipment to fight the coronavirus.

“During those talks, it became clear the vendor was no opposed to and never was opposed to refunding the state the deposit paid for the order,” says Karsten.

Karsten says the agreement resolves all refund issues with vendors used to get personal protective gear. She says the state will no longer be buying KN95 respirator masks.

More than 5,800 people have tested positive in Missouri for the coronavirus and 177 people have died as a result of the respiratory disease.

Missouri sues federal agencies, others in effort to halt proposed North Dakota water project

February 6, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation, and several other officials in an attempt to stop the construction of a water diversion project in North Dakota.

Missouri sues federal agencies, others in effort to halt proposed North Dakota water project

The lawsuit alleges that North Dakota and the Bureau of Reclamation failed to conduct significant analysis on the impact of the Central North Dakota Project, and falsely stated that the project would pose insignificant impacts on “existing water needs and uses.”

The Central North Dakota Project is a proposed water service contract between the North Dakota Garrison Diversion Conservancy District (Garrison Diversion) and the Bureau of Reclamation. That contract is reliant upon the construction of a six mile pipeline that would deliver water from the McClusky Canal to the Red River Valley Water Supply Project. Waters that run through the McClusky Canal originate from Lake Audubon, which is connected to and comprised of Missouri River water.

Noted in the lawsuit is the fact that the Missouri River is already depleted by an average of 5.05 million acre-feet per year by the Garrison Dam, located just downstream of the proposed Central ND Project.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri, Central Division. View the lawsuit here.