As Parson sets special session, two Missouri House staff found positive for COVID-19

Two Missouri House of Representative employees have tested positive for COVID-19, ahead of Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s call for lawmakers to return for a special session.

Those who came in direct contact with the individuals have been informed, according to a notification sent by the House Clerk Dana Rademan Miller. The employees are self-quarantining at home and are not currently working in the Capitol building.

Rademan Miller wrote: “...there is a possibility that direct or indirect exposure to others may have occurred before the employees were tested.”

Parson announced a special legislative session during an afternoon press conference. The session, expected to begin July 27, will focus on violent crime and will bring lawmakers from all over the state back into Jefferson City.

Missouri mayors, including Kansas City’s Quinton Lucas, and law enforcement have expressed support for a witness protection and relocation program, funded by the state, that would help with cooperation in homicide investigations. The number of murders in Kansas City is on pace to exceed last year.

One staffer who has tested positive is a nonpartisan member of the research division for the Missouri House of Representatives, according to a lawmaker keyed into discussions.

Nonpartisan research staff help lawmakers draft legislation, and with amendments to bills during floor debate. They often spend long hours in the Capitol building during session.

Rademan Miller encouraged those in the Capitol building to practice physical distancing, wear a mask and get tested.

During the regular legislative session that ended May 15, most nonpartisan staff wore masks and some committee hearings and floor debate were distanced.

However, lawmakers were not required to socially distance, nor wear masks.

While some lawmakers chose to wear masks, most didn’t, and in the Missouri House chamber, lawmakers sit side by side.

The Missouri Senate minority leader, Sen. John Rizzo, sent a letter Tuesday asking the state health department to provide COVID-19 testing to anyone working within the Missouri Capitol during the special legislative session.

Cole County, where the Capitol building is located, has seen a rise in cases, he noted.

“The General Assembly must not create further hardships for the Cole County Health Department, or local hospitals, by contributing to the spread of COVID-19, especially in the Jefferson City area where more than 40,000 people live and work,” Rizzo, a Kansas City Democrat, wrote in the letter.