How elections for Missouri General Assembly could shape local responses to COVID-19
Rep. Justin Hill, a Lake St. Louis Republican, recently heard from a constituent with a child in school who’s been quarantined three times by the COVID-19 pandemic without testing positive.
“So he’s been out of school more than he’s been in school,” Hill said.
Frustrations with local pandemic restrictions are growing among Missouri conservatives as they’re set to expand their influence in the General Assembly next year. Hill, who co-chairs the House Conservative Caucus, anticipates the group will add more members. It has about 40 members in the 163-seat chamber.
At the same time, Democrats predict their own gains on Tuesday. The non-partisan Cook Political Report last week shifted the Missouri Senate and House from safe Republican to likely Republican, reflecting a “tightening environment” for the GOP in the state.
A mid-Missouri Senate race illustrates the competitive – and expensive – nature of the fight. In Columbia, Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden is facing Judy Baker, a former Democratic representative. Rowden won the seat with just 51 percent of the vote in 2016. Rowden and Baker have collectively raised more than $1.3 million.
Republicans currently hold 113 seats in the House and 23 in the Senate, giving the party two-thirds veto-proof majorities in both chambers. A loss of four House seats or one Senate seat would be enough to deprive Republicans of their supermajority.
The possible result is a smaller but more conservative Republican majority that will assume office while COVID-19 continues to surge across the state – complicating the pandemic response of the next governor. A vaccine isn’t expected to be widely available to the public until at least several months into 2021 at the earliest, so the virus will loom over the legislative session, which begins in January.
Republican Gov. Mike Parson has refused to issue a statewide mask mandate, but left decisions about restrictions up to local officials. He’s given no indication he plans to change that approach if elected to a full term, but conservatives could push him to support restrictions on local power.
Democratic opponent Nicole Galloway, the state auditor, has said she will impose a mask requirement if elected. A statewide order would anger many Republicans and provoke a backlash in the General Assembly. But without a veto-proof majority, Republicans would lose significant leverage in attempts to block it.
Who has authority over Missouri public health?
Regardless of who wins the governor’s race, many hard-right legislators want to move swiftly to restrict the authority of local officials during the pandemic. They contend local health departments have exercised too much power.
“I think there’s been a huge shock factor,” Hill said.
Although Republicans often trumpet the importance of leaving decisions to cities and counties, Hill in this instance said there’s support for taking away power from local governments.
“I think you’re going to see some appetite for ratcheting down local control on situations like this. Because there has to be an end,” Hill said.
Sen. Eric Burlison, a Springfield Republican, said he was “most disturbed” by restrictions on worship services. “There’s reasonable things that can be done, but I don’t think we should ever be violating the First Amendment,” he said.
Seventeen local health agencies in Missouri have issued COVID-19 health orders, mostly mandating masks, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. None currently have stay-at-home requirements.
In September, a bill was introduced in the House to prohibit health officials from ordering businesses, churches or schools closed for more than 15 days without a vote of a county or city’s governing body. Closures between 45 and 90 days would have to be approved by the Department of Health and Senior Services. Closures longer than 90 days would require approve from the General Assembly if it’s in session.
The legislation, offered during a special session on violent crime, wasn’t considered because it fell outside the scope of the session. Health officials expect the measure and others to surface next year.
“Anything that would completely remove the authority of a public health director to issue such orders as necessary to protect the health of a community is something we’re very concerned about,” said Scott Clardy, legislative chair for the Missouri Association of Local Public Health Agencies.
Democrats say that if they can win additional legislative seats, they can force more compromise on COVID-19 and other issues. If Galloway is elected, that could mean the power to sustain any veto of bills diminishing local health department authority or limiting the governor’s power to issue a mask order.
“It’s really challenging, being the superminority, to get anything done,” said Patty Lewis, a Democrat running unopposed for House District 25 in Kansas City. “If we even the playing field a little bit, I think we could have some collaboration and really focus … on real issues that matter.”
This story was originally published October 28, 2020 at 3:35 PM.
