Senator Jason Holsman (D-Kansas City)

State Senator Cindy O’Laughlin of northeast Missouri’s Shelbina says the makeup of the Senate will be changing soon. She says the governor is appointing two Kansas City members – Jason Holsman to the Missouri Public Service Commission and Kiki Curls to the State Labor Commission.

“They will both be leaving probably toward the end of week,” she says. “So that kind of changes the dynamics a little bit because there are only ten total in the Senate that are Democrat. So now they’re down to eight.”

The chamber has 24 Republicans.

O’Laughlin, a Republican, tells Missourinet affiliate KWIX in Moberly the changes will present some unique challenges.

Senator Kiki Curls (D-Kansas City)

“Those positions won’t be filled until the election,” says O’Laughlin. “This then means that we have a lot of different committees addressing a lot of different topics and it’s going to be very hard for them to make all of those hearings. So, we’ll see how that plays out.”

The state commission jobs pay about $109,000 annually, compared to the nearly $36,000 annual salaries for term-limited work as a Missouri Senator.

Bob Ehle of Missourinet affiliate KWIX in Moberly contributed to this story