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Departing Missouri House Speaker Haahr reflects on successes, disappointments (AUDIO)

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Missouri’s outgoing House Speaker says life issues and the largest tax cut in state history are some of his biggest successes in the Legislature.

Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, gavels the chamber into session on August 24, 2020 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, was first elected to the House in 2012. He’s finishing his eighth and final year in the House, due to term limits. He’s also finishing his term as Speaker.

“I was very proud of the work we did on the pro-life bill last year, I thought that was a big thing,” Haahr says. “Prior to me being Speaker, I carried also the largest tax cut in Missouri history and that was a really big one, I think, for our constituencies in the state.”

The 2019 abortion legislation essentially banned abortions once a fetal heartbeat was detected. The House vote was 110-44, and the Senate approved it last year after about 15 hours of filibuster and negotiations behind the scenes.

Haahr is the first and only House Speaker from Springfield in state history, and says that symbolizes Springfield and southwest Missouri’s growing political and economic influence. He says boosting funding for Missouri State University is another success he’s proud of.

“Worked really hard last year on bringing Missouri State University’s funding on parity with other schools, and so we did a $10 million increase to them to get them to a place where they’re funded equally with all the other schools,” says Haahr.

Haahr says this has been talked about for years and even decades, and that to get it done while he was Speaker is very important.

While Haahr has been Speaker, State Rep. Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, has served as House Minority Leader. While the two have disagreed on issues like abortion and Medicaid expansion, they have worked together on issues involving Greene County, such as Missouri State funding and Hailey’s Law, which was sponsored by State Rep. Curtis Trent, R-Springfield.

Haahr has said several times from the House dais that while he and Leader Quade frequently disagree on policy, they both share a love for Springfield.

Haahr became speaker on November 1, 2018. His predecessor, former House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, resigned the day before to take over as state Medicaid director. Haahr campaigned hard for House GOP candidates across the state in the fall of 2018, helping Republican Mary Elizabeth Coleman unseat State Rep. Mike Revis, D-Fenton. He also helped protect Republican seats in swing districts across the state.

Not all of Haahr’s priorities have passed in the Legislature, even with GOP supermajorities in both chambers and a Republican in the governor’s mansion.

During an interview in his Capitol office in Jefferson City last week, Haahr reflected on some of his disappointments. He says Hyperloop is one of his biggest disappointments.

“I had made a real strong push to try to bring the Hyperloop to Missouri,” Haahr says. “And they chose West Virginia. We were one of the three finalists that got really close but we didn’t get it. I think in 15 or 20 years that will have a transformative impact on West Virginia’s economy.”

Speaker Haahr says that would have jump-started Missouri as a leader on an issue of transportation importance.

Virgin Hyperloop chose West Virginia for its futuristic tube travel test track and certification center, but has said Missouri is not out of the picture. Haahr is hopeful that will still happen.

Haahr is speaker until the end of the year, and expects the House to be in session in December to take up COVID liability during the ongoing special session.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with outgoing Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, which was recorded on November 10, 2020 at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City:

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Parson plans to call Missouri Legislature back soon for another special session

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Gov. Mike Parson says he plans to call another special session soon. The Missouri Legislature wrapped up its veto and special sessions yesterday.

Lawmakers did not override any of the governor’s vetoes of bills and they only passed two of seven crime-related items he wanted. One bill passed would remove a requirement for St. Louis first responders to live in the city. The other would create a fund to protect witnesses and their immediate family members leading up to a criminal court trial or during investigations.

Gov. Mike Parson

At a Capitol press conference, Parson says the state will find the money to fund witness protection.

“Well we’re going to look and see what avenues we can to get that money there. You know, we’ve made a commitment to that,” says Parson. “There will be another special session on the supplemental budget sometime in October– I do know that, at some point. It may be addressed then. But you know, we’re going to see what another avenues we have to might be able to utilize to do that. But it’s something we want to get implemented as soon as we can, again to help the victims out there. We’ve just got to step it up.”

The governor says he is content with the two bills that passed because they are his two top special session agenda items.

“You know, I don’t keep score on how many bills I pass or how many I don’t,” says Parson. “It’s about making things into law that helps everyday people. You know, we’ve got a violent crime situation in this state. We need to do everything we can.”

The Legislature is made up of a supermajority of Republicans in both chambers – the same party as the governor.

“You know look, you’re not going to hit a home run every time in this building,” Parson tells reporters. “We’re very content with what we got. Anything we can do to help law enforcement, to help victims in this state to fight violent crime is a win no matter how small or how big it is.”

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, says the special session wasted $200,000 solely to boost the governor’s prospects of winning November’s General Election. The extraordinary session, which started on July 27, took almost two months to complete.

“I don’t know what the cost of special session is but maybe she could explain what the cost of 191 people that’s died in St. Louis or the 130 some odd that’s died in Kansas City. Maybe we put a value on that. I’m sure not going to,” says Parson.

A statement from Quade says Parson defunded police and other emergency responders over the summer by unilaterally slashing $2.66 million in funding from the Missouri Department of Public Safety’s budget, including eliminating $1.81 million allocated to the State Highway Patrol.

“A year ago, House Democrats strongly urged the governor to take the mounting death toll from violent crime seriously, but he ignored it until pretending to care seemed politically expedient. Even then, he spurned polices to prevent violent crime in favor of legislation focusing on crime’s aftermath, which won’t prevent a single life from being lost or family from being destroyed. Try as he might to manufacture a contrary public image, the governor’s record on public safety remains dismal,” says Quade.

Here are the bills that did not pass during the special session:

•House Bill 2 would allow an otherwise inadmissible witness statement if a “preponderance” of evidence shows the defendant engaged in wrongdoing to cause the unavailability of the witness. It would also let the Missouri Attorney General intervene in some St. Louis murder cases.

•House Bill 11 would criminalize adults who knowingly encourage, aid, or cause a child under 17 years old to commit a crime with a weapon.

•House Bill 12 would let judges decide whether juveniles 16 to 18 years old should be prosecuted as adults and possibly go to prison for certain crimes committed with weapons.

•House Bill 16 would toughen the penalty for selling or giving a firearm to someone under 18 years old to avoid or interfere with an arrest, detention, or investigation of a crime.

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Missouri House gets to work today on six crime bills – not seven

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The Missouri House of Representatives gets down to business today on a special legislative session about crime. Gov. Mike Parson cites the state’s increasing crime rate as his reason for calling the extraordinary session.

Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, and Assistant Minority Floor Leader Tommie Pierson, D-St. Louis, brief Capitol reporters on March 5, 2020 in Jefferson City (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The chamber is expected to debate and take a preliminary vote on six bills today. Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, says there was a lot of pushback on both sides of the aisle about the Senate’s approach. Instead of the Senate’s wide-ranging package, House Republican leadership has broken up each key component into separate bills.

“Logistically, instead of making their members vote yes or no on a bill that had a lot of really bad stuff in it, breaking it up allows them to pass the pieces that they want and not pass the other pieces,” she says.

One contentious piece would remove a requirement for St. Louis police officers to live within the city. St. Louis Police Chief John Hayden says lifting the condition would help to boost recruitment. Hayden says his department has a shortage of about 130 officers at a time when violence is on the rise in his city. Sen. Jamilah Nasheed says the state does not need to get involved in this local control item because St. Louisans will be voting on the very issue in November.

A bill Quade and others in both parties have a big problem with is one that would let judges decide whether 16 to 18-year-olds should be prosecuted as adults for certain crimes using weapons. A House committee increased the age minimum to 16, instead of the Senate’s bill making the minimum 14 years old.

A bill absent from today’s lineup is one that would let the Missouri Attorney General get involved in some St. Louis murder cases. Parson expanded his special session call to urge lawmakers to pass the measure.

“It seems as though that is not a priority issue from the Republican majority in the House,” Quade says.

The Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys might have something to do with it. The group of 115 Missouri prosecutors, many being Republicans, is not on board with the governor’s bid to let the State Attorney General get involved in local cases. It says such measures undermine the independence and autonomy of locally elected prosecutors and any prosecutors seeking help can reach out to the association and get the support they need.

Some Republicans have been critical of St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s handling of former Governor Eric Greitens’s invasion of privacy case involving his ex-mistress. Parson and Attorney General Eric Schmitt, both Republicans, have also publicly disagreed with Gardner, a Democrat, for prosecuting an affluent couple who pointed guns at protesters walking through their neighborhood in June.

Kansas City is on pace to have its highest murder rate in history. However, the governor’s spokesperson, Kelli Jones, says St. Louis has reached a record number of murders and a growing backlog of murder cases. She says Parson’s efforts are currently to assist St. Louis.

Quade maintains the special session bills do nothing to prevent crime.

“We need to be looking at funding in a much more equitable way – an intentional way. Then we also need to be addressing the larger-scale problems around police reform, around making sure that we are funding social workers to go out on the scene, you know things that even police officers have been asking for. I feel like the way that this special session has been handled does nothing to get to before the crime happens.”

Other bills focused on during this special session would:

*Create a witness protection fund to keep witnesses and their families safe before trial

*Toughen the penalty for anyone who sells or gives a gun to a juvenile

*Make it a crime to assist someone 17 or younger to commit a weapons offense

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Missouri House committees to hear crime bills on Monday; Kendrick wants to expand special session call

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Three Missouri House committees plan hearings on Monday afternoon in Jefferson City, relating to the special session on violent crime.

House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, Speaker Pro Tem John Wiemann, R-O’Fallon, and Majority Leader Rob Vescovo, R-Arnold, announced earlier this week that they would simplify the process with single-subject bills to protect the integrity of the lawmaking process and to ensure the issues are thoroughly vetted.

Missouri House Judiciary Committee Chairman David Gregory, R-St. Louis County, checks paperwork at a hearing on August 10, 2020 in Jefferson City (photo courtesy of Ben Peters at House Communications)

The House Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by State Rep. David Gregory, R-St. Louis County, will hear three bills on Monday, including legislation from State Rep. Ron Hicks, R-Dardenne Prairie, that would eliminate the residency requirement for St. Louis Police officers.

The Hicks bill says that St. Louis Police cannot impose a residency requirement on their officers, more stringent than a one-hour response time. St. Louis Police Chief John Hayden has testified that the residency requirement is the greatest challenge that his department has with recruitment and retention. Opponents of the plan say it’s safer for neighborhoods to have the officers living in the city.

The Judiciary Committee will also hear a bill on Monday about witness protection. State Rep. Jonathan Patterson, R-Lee’s Summit, has filed legislation that would create a pretrial witness protection services fund, which would be administered by the state Department of Public Safety (DPS) to law enforcement agencies. The money would be used to provide security to witnesses, potential witnesses and their immediate families in criminal proceedings or investigations.

The Judiciary Committee will also hold a hearing on legislation from State Rep. Barry Hovis, R-Cape Girardeau, regarding witness and victim tampering.

The House Special Committee on Criminal Justice will hold a Monday hearing on legislation from State Rep. Nick Schroer, R-O’Fallon, which would allow Missouri courts to certify some juveniles as adults for violent weapons offenses.

Governor Mike Parson (R) has called for this provision, saying it’s aimed at violent crime, such as murder and rape.

But State Rep. Rasheen Aldridge, D-St. Louis, and other critics say it will lock up children and put them in prison with violent offenders and murderers. Aldridge and others protested in downtown Jefferson City this week.

“Charge them as an adult because that is how we are going to fix violence- by being tough on crime to individuals that have made a mistake and should be held accountable but you are charging our youngest babies,” Aldridge said Thursday. “When do we go to ten? When do we go to nine? What’s going to be next? Eight? Seven? We are locking up literally babies and putting them in jail with serial killers.”

The House General Laws Committee will hold a Monday hearing on two bills from Representative Schroer. One involves the unlawful transfer of weapons, and the other involves endangering the welfare of a child.

Meantime, Governor Parson spoke to Missouri House members today about the special session on violent crime. The governor hosted conference calls with House members. Parson spokeswoman Kelli Jones tells Missourinet that there have been several calls today.

There have been 167 homicides in St. Louis in 2020. The city had 194 murders in 2019. The “St. Louis Post-Dispatch” reports there have been 15 child homicides so far in 2020, which tops all of last year.

Across the state in Kansas City, there have been 124 homicides. There were 90, at this point in 2019 in Kansas City.

The governor expanded his special session call on Monday, to include a provision to allow the state attorney general’s office to take on some murder cases that haven’t been prosecuted yet by St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner (D). The governor says this is about fighting violent crime.

Circuit Attorney Gardner and the bipartisan Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys oppose that plan.

A hearing on a Gardner-related bill has not been scheduled, at this time.

The Missouri Senate approved the crime bill earlier this month, by a bipartisan 27-3 vote. The full Missouri House is scheduled to return to Jefferson City on Monday August 24.

There was another development in Jefferson City on Friday, when State Rep. Kip Kendrick, D-Columbia, requested that the governor expand the special session call to address absentee ballots for the November general election.

Representative Kendrick, the House Budget Committee’s ranking Democrat, wants the General Assembly to take legislative and appropriation action to ensure that every Missourian’s properly postmarked, but late delivered, absentee ballot for November will count.

Kendrick, House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, and others will address Capitol reporters Monday in Jefferson City, about the issue.

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Missouri woman whose mom died from COVID delivers photo memorial to governor’s office

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A St. Louis woman whose mother died from the coronavirus in June is calling on Missouri’s governor and other elected officials to take stronger action to control the spread of the disease.

St. Louis resident Angela Kender briefs Capitol reporters in Jefferson City on August 11, 2020. Kender’s mother died from COVID in June (photo courtesy of Ben Peters at House Communications)

Angela Kender traveled to Jefferson City on Tuesday to deliver copies of photos of Missourians who’ve died from COVID to the governor’s office. Kender also joined House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, for a Statehouse news conference. Kender says COVID families have had enough.

“Missourians are dying due to terrible leadership, and in this state, lack of policy entirely. The continued deaths are preventable and that is why I am here today. My mother’s life mattered,” Kender says.

Kender supports a statewide mask order, that includes schools. She brought 15 photos of Missourians who have died from COVID.

“I am here today to shine light on these faces that are gone,” says Kender. “Because if you look at these faces and you don’t realize that it could easily be you or your loved one, you are sadly mistaken.”

State health officials say there have been 1,312 COVID deaths in Missouri.

Missourinet contacted the governor’s office to see if they have a response to Kender’s comments. We have not heard back, at this time.

Governor Mike Parson (R) opposes a statewide mask order, telling Missourinet at a July 22 press conference that it’s not the state’s place to mandate everyone to wear a mask.

“I am not anti-mask and I’ll say that clearly again. I wear a mask from time-to-time when I feel that need is there. I am not anti-mask, what I am is anti-mandates,” Parson said that day.

The governor also announced last week that 1.8 million cloth masks have been made available through the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), and that state officials are developing a plan to distribute them to school districts. Parson also said last week that $7.5 million of Missouri’s Coronavirus Relief Fund has been allocated to a cost-share program with local counties, to help schools cover personal protective equipment (PPE) costs. The money will also help schools with cleaning and medical supplies for school buildings and buses.

Missouri Education Commissioner Dr. Margie Vandeven testified Tuesday before a House committee in Jefferson City. Vandeven says the state has distributed as much federal COVID aid to schools, as it can at this time.

As for Leader Quade, she wants Governor Parson to call a special session about the COVID-19 pandemic.

“With the pandemic still spreading throughout Missouri, the governor’s top priority should be on protecting lives,” Quade says. “Instead, the governor wants to talk about anything but COVID-19. However, we will not let the human toll of this disease be forgotten.”

Quade says Missouri’s school districts have not received proper guidance from the Parson administration, about this fall.

Quade and Kender were also joined Tuesday by a Kansas City teacher, who represents a new group called “Missourians for Educational Change.” He expresses safety concerns about school reopening, and says it should be virtual.

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Missouri Senate committee to hear crime legislation on Tuesday (AUDIO)

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Missouri’s special legislative session on violent crime is underway at the Statehouse in Jefferson City. The Missouri Senate gaveled-in Monday at noon and listened to about an hour of floor speeches.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson briefs Capitol reporters in Jefferson City on July 27, 2020 (photo courtesy of the governor’s Flickr page)

Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, says a Senate committee will hold a hearing on the crime bill Tuesday afternoon at 12:45 in the Senate chamber.

“The Transportation (Infrastructure and) Public Safety Committee will be meeting and hearing the legislation at that time,” Schatz says.

The committee is chaired by State Sen. Doug Libla, R-Poplar Bluff. With the hearing taking place in the Senate chamber, public seating for Tuesday’s hearing will be in the Capitol’s fourth-floor gallery.

Pro Tem Schatz says there’s agreement in the Legislature on the majority of Governor Mike Parson’s special session call on violent crime. Schatz says eliminating the residency requirement for St. Louis Police officers is the most controversial proposal. The Sullivan Republican tells Missourinet it’s still the right thing to do.

“We’re 150-plus law enforcement officers short in the city of St. Louis right now. Residency will help solve some of that problem,” says Schatz.

St. Louis Police Chief John Hayden testified in January that the residency requirement is the greatest challenge that his department has with recruitment and retention.

St. Louis has had at least 143 homicides in 2020. KMOV-TV reports that compares to about 110 at this time last year. Kansas City has now had 110 homicides in 2020, a 35 percent increase from last year.

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, and Missouri’s Legislative Black Caucus are calling for legislation to utilize unused funds from the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) to support programs for gun violence survivors.

“Missouri has failed our survivors of gun violence by not properly utilizing available VOCA funds,” Leader Quade says, in a statement. “The governor’s special session to address violent crimes is the perfect avenue for us to help these survivors and provide money for efforts that stem gun violence before it starts.”

Quade and House Democrats are calling on Governor Parson to utilize $4 million of Missouri’s average annual VOCA funding, that would provide assistance to eligible community-based gun violence intervention groups. Quade says while the VOCA funds directly assist crime victims, they also work to mitigate violent gun crimes from happening in the future.

Governor Parson (R) told Capitol reporters on Monday that he’s narrowly focused on violent crime and does not intend to expand the special session call. He was not specifically asked about VOCA.

The governor says witness protection and juvenile certification are key parts of the call, along with eliminating the residency requirement for St. Louis Police officers.

Parson also says last week’s roundtable discussions with local leaders and law enforcement officers about violent crime were productive. The governor traveled to St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield and Columbia. He also went to eastern Missouri’s Hannibal and Cape Girardeau.

“One of the reasons I went to Hannibal, Cape Girardeau is I really wanted to drive the point home that this violent crime is just not a Kansas City, St. Louis issue,” Parson says.

The governor says violent crime impacts all Missourians, adding that Hannibal recently had a homicide.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s two-minute interview with Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, which was recorded on July 27, 2020 at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City:

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Are Missouri polling places safe for Tuesday elections? Parson says if people are worried, they don’t have to vote

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On Tuesday, some Missourians will vote in local elections, including about ballot measures and candidates running for city council or school board. During a press conference this week, Gov. Mike Parson was questioned about the message he would give voters who are deciding whether the polling atmosphere is safe for them during the coronavirus outbreak.

Gov. Mike Parson

“I hope people feel safe to go out and vote. But if they don’t, the number one thing is their safety should be number one. So, if they don’t, then don’t go out and vote. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard myself say that,” says Parson. “If you didn’t feel safe, then I wouldn’t do that. But I hope people feel safe enough to go out and vote. Those elections are important – they’re important for what happens down the road as we all see right now what elected officials on the local level are doing.”

Parson says he thinks election workers are well prepared to help prevent voters from getting the coronavirus. He mentions Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, a fellow Republican, making visits last week to election authorities across the state.

“I think they’re going to make that as safe as anywhere else you go in the state of Missouri,” says Parson.

Ashcroft’s office says the Secretary of State delivered nearly 17,000 face masks and 17,000 face shields, more than 500 gallons of sanitizer, 1,200 8-oz. pump bottles of hand sanitizer, 16,000 posters advocating physical distancing and more than 40,000 bright yellow floor strips to set distancing expectations.

“We have been working for months to secure the supplies that local election officials need to ensure the safety of our upcoming elections. Delivering these supplies to each of our 116 local election authorities the past two weeks provided a great opportunity to speak personally with them. You can have a different kind of conversation when you’re face-to-face. I also wanted to personally thank the county clerks because they are working very hard to keep your elections running smoothly. I want Missouri voters to know that we are working together on the local, state and federal levels to take every precaution to make voting safe and streamlined in the upcoming elections,” Ashcroft said.

The governor’s comments do not sit well with some elected officials on the other side of the aisle, including State Auditor Nicole Galloway, who’s running for the Democratic nomination in the governor’s race.

On Twitter, Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, also fired back.

Missouri does not have “no-excuse” mail-in voting. But a bill awaits Parson’s consideration that would let all registered Missouri voters cast an absentee ballot in this year’s August and November elections, if a notarized signature is included.

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Haahr and Quade view Missouri’s 2020 session differently; both predict special session

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Missouri’s House Speaker describes the historic 2020 session as “incredibly successful,” noting lawmakers lost about six weeks because of the COVID-19 pandemic. His Democratic counterpart disagrees.

Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, presides over the chamber on May 15, 2020 in Jefferson City (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, tells Missourinet that he’s most proud that lawmakers approved a state budget, before their constitutional deadline.

“The work that the Budget Chair (State Rep. Cody Smith) did in having to take six weeks off, try to come up with the best calculated estimate of what we believe the revenues would look like,” Haahr says.

The $35.2 billion state operating budget approved earlier this month includes $20 million for Missouri meat processing facilities, impacted by COVID-19. House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, says it’s for plants with less than two hundred employees, for support, workforce assistance and capital improvements.

The budget also contains $12 million for broadband expansion, relating to the pandemic. Both parties say that is critical.

In addition to the six weeks the Legislature lost because of the coronavirus, they also lost several days in January and February because of snow and ice in Jefferson City.

“If I look back at the beginning of the session, and I look at the things that I most wanted to accomplish and that our caucus listed as their priorities to get done, I think it’s an incredibly successful session for having lost six weeks in the middle of it,” says Haahr.

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, disagrees, telling Capitol reporters that the GOP-controlled Legislature should have focused more on protecting Missourians from the coronavirus.

“In fact, the House spent far more time discussing feral hogs than it did talking about COVID-19,” Quade says.

The $35.2 billion state budget approved by the Legislature contains language that prohibits the state Department of Conservation from funding a federal employee at the Mark Twain National Forest in southern Missouri.

The feral hog issue was discussed in-detail during that May debate, and also came up on the House floor and during budget hearings this session.

Leader Quade says House Republicans “largely ignored” COVID-19 during the 2020 session, an issue she describes as the single-biggest crisis that Missouri has faced in at least a century.

During a floor speech just before Friday’s adjournment, Quade praised grocery employees across the state.

“To our grocery workers truly keeping us alive, I’m sorry the Legislature chose not to give you the protection of essential workers that you truly deserve,” Quade said on the floor.

One area Speaker Haahr and Leader Quade agree on is that there will be a special session this summer. Haahr believes it will involve the budget, and Leader Quade tells Missourinet she is hearing that it could happen in three to four weeks.

Haahr also told colleagues from the dais on Friday that he and Quade both share a love for Springfield. She nodded her head in approval, from her desk.

Republicans control the House 114-48.

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Missouri now has 34 COVID-19 deaths; Governor Parson’s “Stay Home Missouri” order takes effect Monday

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State health officials announced Sunday that Missouri now has 2,367 confirmed COVID-19 cases, along with 34 deaths.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) announced the updated numbers Sunday afternoon. The numbers have increased from Saturday’s number of 2,291 cases and 24 deaths.

Governor Mike Parson speaks at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City on April 4, 2020 (photo courtesy of the governor’s Flicker page)

Governor Mike Parson (R) notes about 27,173 people have been tested, and that the state’s total population is about six million.

During Friday’s announcement, the governor said about 8.5 percent of those tested have been positive and that of those 8.5 percent, about 22 percent have required hospitalization. Governor Parson said Friday that means the remaining 78 percent are recovering at home or have already recovered.

The governor announced Friday evening that he has issued a statewide “Stay Home Missouri” order, which will take effect at 12:01 am Monday and go until April 24.

The governor emphasizes that his order states that Missourians shall avoid leaving their homes unless necessary. He also notes the order still allows you to access essential services such as grocery stores, gas stations and banks. You can also go to work in certain jobs and can recreate outdoors, as long as you maintain appropriate social distancing.

“First and foremost, I want everyone to know that I love this state and the people of this state,” Parson says. “The people of this great state clearly define who were are in Missouri, and as Governor, I have no greater responsibility than to protect the health, well-being, and safety of all Missourians.”

The governor says his order will be observed throughout the state and will be enforced by all local and state health authorities. Governor Parson says all Missourians must make sacrifices, saying “this is about our families, friends, neighbors and the entire state of Missouri.”

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, issued a statement on Saturday, saying the governor’s order “does far less than advertised.”

“The order is not at all what was advertised and what health care professionals and Missouri residents had been demanding for weeks. It is so riddled with exemptions that it differs little from the weak and ineffective social distancing directive the administration previously issued, and it formally punts responsibility for imposing stricter measures to local officials,” Quade’s statement reads, in part.

Leader Quade is warning that COVID-19 will continue to spread in Missouri “until the Parson administration takes the strong action the situation requires.”

Meantime, Missouri lawmakers will return to Jefferson City later this week to vote on a key supplemental budget, which includes federal money to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Senate returns on Tuesday morning, and the Missouri House will gavel-in Wednesday at 1 p.m. Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, and House Majority Floor Leader Rob Vescovo, R-Arnold, have been working with MU Health Care to ensure the safety of state lawmakers to get back inside the Capitol to vote.

Governor Parson’s “Stay Home Missouri” order closes all state office buildings to the public, but the order does not apply to the Missouri Capitol “during meetings or proceedings of the General Assembly.”

The Capitol has been closed to the public, since March 24.

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Missouri House Democratic Leader describes medical marijuana rollout as “atrocious”

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Missouri’s House Democratic Leader said Thursday in Jefferson City that she has several concerns about the state’s medical marijuana program.

Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, and Assistant Minority Floor Leader Tommie Pierson, D-St. Louis, brief Capitol reporters on March 5, 2020 in Jefferson City (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, spoke to Capitol reporters in the House press gallery, after Thursday morning’s adjournment.

Missourinet asked Leader Quade about the three hearings conducted by the House Special Committee on Government Oversight. She says the hearings have left her with even more questions.

“My position is that the rollout has been atrocious,” Quade says. “That we have a lot of questions from conflict to interests to decisions that were made on licensing.”

The oversight committee has been focusing on how licenses have been approved. During hearings, some committee members in both parties have questioned Missouri medical marijuana director Lyndall Fraker’s qualifications and his handling of the program.

Mr. Fraker testified this week that the hearings are all about “money and politics,” and that he stands by all of his decisions.

“I’m quite offended by it. We’ve got a team of folks that, they’ve put their heart and soul into this for over a year now and they’re hurt by this (House oversight committee inquiry). They’re hurt by this inquiry, as well as I am too,” Fraker told House committee members.

The oversight committee has asked questions about the decision to hire a third-party scoring company whose partners are already active in the industry.

As for Leader Quade, she’s frustrated by what she describes as a lack of responsibility, during testimony.

“You know the first couple of hearings were with Director Fraker, and his response is that was the Office of Administration (OA). We had them in yesterday, they bucked it back to the department,” Quade tells the Capitol Press Corps.

Quade says the responsibility lies with the Parson administration.

But House Oversight Committee vice chairman State Rep. Nick Schroer, R-O’Fallon, disagrees. Schroer defends Fraker and Governor Parson, saying the issues are with third-party scorers who are unaffiliated with the Parson administration.

The oversight committee has held three hearings. The first one was informational, and the last two have involved committee members asking questions of witnesses.

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