State Sen. Bill Eigel (R-Weldon Spring) tells 939 the Eagle’s “Wake Up Mid-Missouri” that there is no path forward for sports wagering legislation this year. The 2023 session ends this evening at 6. He says any bill that would pass today with Sportsbook attached to it would be a clear Hammerschmidt multiple subject violation and would be thrown out by the courts. Senator Eigel also delivered a message to Missouri Senate and House GOP leaders on “Wake Up”: he says the Missouri Senate will pass his personal property tax cut bill today or nothing else will happen. Eigel says it’s badly needed for seniors and others hit with whopping personal property tax bills:
Hoskins: Missouri gaming legislation would be impacted by Hammerschmidt; final day of session is today
Sports wagering could be dead for Missouri’s 2023 session, which wraps up at 6 this evening in Jefferson City.
Senate Economic Development and Tax Policy Committee chairman Denny Hoskins (R-Warrensburg) tells 939 the Eagle that there are no bills currently under consideration that have Sportsbook on them. Senator Hoskins says any bill that passed with Sportsbook on it would be a clear Hammerschmidt multiple subject violation and would be thrown out by the courts. Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden (R-Columbia) and House Speaker Dean Plocher (R-Des Peres) have been trying to get the bill through. The clock is the biggest factor facing them now.
Lawmakers have approved a total of 23 bills, which include budget bills. The governor has already signed bipartisan physical therapy legislation. Missouri lawmakers have also passed bipartisan distracted driving legislation, a crime package and two transgender bills. The texting while driving bill heading to Governor Mike Parson’s (R) desk would create a hands-free driving requirement for all Missourians.
Anti-hazing legislation appears to be dead at the Missouri Capitol for the 2023 session, due to language concerns about the bill. House Speaker Plocher tells “Wake Up Mid-Missouri” that he doesn’t like fellow State Rep. Travis Smith’s (R-Dora) bill that says any person who renders aid to a hazing victim or the first to call 911 is immune from prosecution. Speaker Plocher notes that under the bill’s language, you could haze someone before calling 911 and be immune. The Speaker says it should be a duty for people to help each other.
Former Mizzou student Danny Santulli’s family members say that he’s blind and unable to walk, after an alleged October 2021 hazing incident at a Mizzou fraternity house.
(AUDIO): Missouri Senate leader is not optimistic about sports wagering legislation
Missouri’s Senate President Pro Tem says the Legislature is unlikely to approve sports wagering this session.
The House voted 118-35 in March to approve sports wagering, but a frustrated Pro Tem Caleb Rowden of Columbia says there are roadblocks in the Senate.
“I think the (Missouri) House is going to take another run at trying to find a different mechanism for it. Potentially we still have the same general set of problems in the Senate, which is really just one person. But obviously that person is still there,” Rowden says.
The Associated Press has reported that 33 states and the District of Columbia now offer some form of sports wagering. The House bill from veteran State Rep. Dan Houx (R-Warrensburg) taxes sports betting at ten percent and those revenues would fund public education. There are legislative opponents to sports wagering, including State Rep. Cheri Toalson Reisch (R-Hallsville). She warns about compulsive gambling.
During a live interview on 939 the Eagle’s “Wake Up Mid-Missouri”, Pro Tem Rowden did not sounds optimistic about Senate passage.
“I would say it’s unlikely, not impossible. Nothing is dead until next Friday (May 12) at 6 o’clock. But I think we’re going to have to figure out a different way to get this thing done. It’s frustrating,” says Rowden.
Missouri’s 2023 legislative session ends on Friday May 12 at 6 pm, under the state Constitution.
Representative Houx, the House sponsor, tells 939 the Eagle that Chiefs fans are traveling to Kansas to place bets on NFL games. He says that during the January Chiefs-Bengals playoff game at Arrowhead, about 4,500 attempted bets were made inside Arrowhead and in the parking lot. Representative Houx says that same day in Kansas, there were more than 1.1 million bets made. He says the majority of them were around the Missouri-Kansas state line.
(AUDIO): State Rep. Cheri Toalson Reisch (R-Hallsville) appears on 939 the Eagle’s “Wake Up Mid-Missouri”
State Rep. Cheri Toalson Reisch (R-Hallsville) has been appointed as vice chair of the Missouri House Higher Education Committee. Representative Reisch, who’s in her fourth and final House term due to term limits, tells 939 the Eagle’s “Wake Up Mid-Missouri” that the appointment is huge, adding that Mizzou officials know she’ll go to bat for them on funding issues in Jefferson City. Representative Reisch also tells listeners that she will be a no vote on sports wagering:
(AUDIO): State Rep. Phil Christofanelli (R-St. Peters) hopeful about gaming legislation in 2022; he spoke on 939 the Eagle
Legislation that authorizes sports wagering in Missouri has the backing of St. Louis Cardinals President William Dewitt III, as well as from the Kansas City Chiefs, the St. Louis City Soccer Club and the Kansas City Current. It’s also backed by Penn National Gaming. The bill is sponsored by State Rep. Phil Christofanelli (R-St. Peters), …