Parson replaces Missouri judge who ruled against state on abortion clinic license

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has replaced an administrative law judge who ruled against his health department in two high-profile cases related to abortion and medical marijuana.

Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudi last year quashed the state’s efforts to shut down Missouri’s last abortion provider, a Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis. The clinic had sued over a 2019 denial of its state license, and Dandamudi ruled the denial was improper. The Department of Health and Senior Services last year issued a license renewal through this month.

Dandamudi was appointed to the Administrative Hearing Commission by then-Gov. Jay Nixon in 2010, and was serving a term that expired in 2016. Many members of Missouri state boards and commission continue serving in expired terms until their replacement is appointed.

Parson this month appointed Spencer Bartlett, general counsel for the Missouri Department of Revenue, to replace Dandamudi in the post. Because the appointment was made outside the regular legislative session, Bartlett can start without Senate confirmation.

The Administrative Hearing Commission, part of the executive branch, resolves disputes between state agencies and individuals or businesses over issues such as licensing, tax credits and other state decisions.

Dandamudi allowed the clinic to continue providing abortions while the case was litigated, and allowed Planned Parenthood’s attorneys to question a former Parson aide and then-Parson campaign manager over whether he was involved in the health department’s decision to deny the license. The attorney general’s office called that questioning politically motivated.

He also ruled this year the state must pay $140,000 in legal fees to the clinic.

In February, he ruled against the state health department again over its denial of medical marijuana licenses to two applicants, forcing the state to issue them permits.

The administration has appealed that ruling to Cole County Circuit Court. Legal fees over the medical marijuana program, which has been plagued with concerns of irregular scoring among license applicants, have rankled lawmakers this year.

Before being appointed to the commission Dandamudi worked for nine years as an assistant attorney general, primarily representing the state’s medical licensing board.