Lawmakers say lobbyist gift ban will likely fail again this year in Missouri
JEFFERSON CITY • On the first day of this year’s legislative session, House Speaker Todd Richardson, a Republican, vowed to make restrictions on lobbyist gifts to legislators the first bill out of his chamber.
His side of the capitol made good on the promise, too, voting Rep. Justin Alferman’s measure out of committee at 7:30 a.m. on Inauguration Day, Jan. 9, and sending it to the Senate on Jan. 17 on a 149-5 vote. Alferman, R-Hermann, was finding it easier to be optimistic despite the obstacles looming in the Senate, where a similar measure stalled last year.
Missouri voters had just voted to end unlimited campaign contributions and had elected Gov. Eric Greitens, a Republican who frequently bashed a Jefferson City full of “career insiders, well-paid lobbyists and self-serving politicians” on the campaign trail. The people were clamoring for a cleanup.
Alferman was less enthusiastic Thursday. During the three months his bill has sat in a Senate committee waiting for a vote, the upper chamber has ground itself to a halt with filibuster after filibuster from lawmakers in both parties.
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