Latest news with #DennyHoskins
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
ACLU sues Missouri over language in proposal to reinstate abortion ban
COLE COUNTY, Mo. – The ACLU of Missouri has filed a lawsuit against Missouri Secretary Denny Hoskins, challenging the ballot language of House Joint Resolution 73, a proposal that could reinstate abortion bans in most cases across the state. Last November, Missouri voters approved Amendment 3 to enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution. HJR 73, which recently cleared the state legislature, would repeal those protections and allow for the reinstatement of significant abortion restrictions to be reinstated, if approved by voters in a future election. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the Cole County Circuit Court, alleges that ballot language that Hoskins has certified is 'intentionally misleading and inaccurate.' THE ACLU says HJR 73 could appear on a future ballot as Amendment 3, the same name as the measure that established abortion protections in Missouri last year. Because of that, the group argues, the newly-proposed measure would eliminate those protections and mislead voters about its effects. Bank robbery suspect arrested in suburban home neighbors say they warned about As a result, the ACLU is asking the courts to declare the proposal's summary and fair ballot language as 'unfair and insufficient,' and either require a revised version or block the measure from reaching the ballot entirely. 'Less than six months after we voted to end Missouri's abortion ban and protect reproductive freedom, politicians chose to ignore the will of the people so they can reinstate their ban on abortion,' said Tori Schafer, Director of Policy and Campaigns at the ACLU of Missouri via a news release. 'Amendment 3, passed as HJR 73, is a copy and paste bill from special interest groups that will abolish our constitutional right to reproductive freedom, including access to abortion care.' FOX 2 has reached out to the Missouri Secretary of State's Office for comment. Our requests for comment have not been returned as of this story's publication. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Children at play in Jeff City: Secretary of state and legislature upend 22 lives
Missouri's coffers are so flush with cash that the governor and legislature have committed $1.5 billion to keep the Chiefs and Royals from moving to Kansas. Meanwhile, nearly two dozen state employees have been needlessly fired, their lives upended because of a secretary of state who appears to have no human decency and a childish feud among Jefferson City politicians. I have seen the resulting carnage firsthand. As one of dozens of volunteers at the Missouri State Archives, I visit the wonderful research room in Jeff City once a week to help staffers dig into public requests for information. This past week, the research room was emptier and significantly less joyful. Secretary of State Denny Hoskins had mercilessly eliminated 17 of the 60 employees under his purview in the Records and Archives Division the previous Friday. For good measure, he canned five of 16 workers in the State Library upstairs from the Archives. Hoskins became Missouri's secretary of state, a job that includes running elections, handling business filings and protecting the state's public records, after winning the November election in a landslide. He ran on a pro-MAGA, anti-woke platform, so maybe it's no surprise he would pull such a stunt. You might remember Hoskins, a former state senator, as one of the three Freedom Caucus members who maliciously — and wrongly — identified an Olathe man in social media posts as the shooter at the Chiefs' deadly Super Bowl celebration in 2024. He never apologized, and the falsely accused man was found dead in April as he pursued lawsuits against the three public officials. Now Hoskins has turned his attention to other innocent victims, and the situation stinks to high heaven. It resulted, by all appearances, from a feud between him and his former Republican cohorts in the state Senate — primarily Mike Cierpiot of Lee's Summit. This much is certain: Hoskins is solely responsible for how he dismissed these 22 state employees under his leadership. With no notice or even a suggestion that anybody might be fired, his victims were ambushed at their desks one by one. They were walked into a meeting room, where a supervisor, a human relations person and a state legal counsel informed them they were unemployed as of the end of the fiscal year on June 30. Then, after getting a few minutes to clean out their desks, they were escorted out of the building. Hoskins was nowhere to be found, of course. He evidently didn't have time in his schedule, just as when he was asked for an interview on the matter. He did send an email statement in which he boasted about his agency's operation, then said, 'This is not a decision I wanted to make, nor one I would ever make lightly.' His spokeswoman, Rachael Dunn, followed with, 'Secretary Hoskins did not choose these cuts — the legislature did.' As that great Missourian, Col. Sherman T. Potter of 'M*A*S*H,' liked to say, 'Horse hockey!' Usually, a story about job cuts such as these transitions into something like, 'This is part of wider cuts caused by the budget crisis' or 'an economic emergency.' But, no, there is no budget crisis or economic emergency in Missouri. Just some grownups acting like children. It is no secret in Jefferson City that Hoskins and his Freedom Caucus cronies made a lot of enemies in the General Assembly over the past three years by holding the lawmaking process hostage as they promoted their far-right agenda. Things got personal between Hoskins and Cierpiot. The Lee's Summit Republican decided to lob a grenade at his foe by pushing through a budget amendment earlier this year to cut 25 of the secretary of state's roughly 60 unfilled full-time equivalent employees (of 267 total positions) and $680,000 from a fund that helps pay salaries. But Hoskins chose to trim real people instead of unfilled positions. Caught up in the fracas were 22 faithful employees, including at least two who were due pay raises of 10% in the next fiscal year under the new budget rewarding longtime employees. It's probably just a coincidence that Hoskins eliminated them just before their raises were to kick in and put a bigger dent in his budget. State Sen. Mike Bernskoetter, a Jefferson City Republican, issued a statement saying in part: 'The budget we passed did not require any layoffs or cuts to current staff. … The decision to cut current employees and use that money elsewhere ultimately lies with the secretary of state.' Although Cierpiot and other senators have confirmed that sentiment, Dunn insists her boss 'had no choice' and 'our hands were tied.' Even if that were true — and she and Hoskins might be the only people who think so — Hoskins could have distributed the cuts throughout his agency so that one department wasn't so thoroughly ravaged, especially when that department works so intimately with the public. He could have stepped up to publicly defend the reasons for his actions. He could have treated the victims of his purge with some semblance of humanity. Instead, he issued canned statements and played the blame game. Dunn used the word 'dignity' in describing the firing process. Sure, if you consider it dignified to treat your employees as if they were enemies of the state. 'There's no dignity here,' Bob Priddy said. Priddy knows dignity. The near-legendary Missouri broadcaster also knows the State Archives, which he called 'the most visible part of the secretary of state's office.' He's on the board of directors of the Friends of Missouri State Archives and is a former president of that group. The veteran of Missouri politics also writes a blog, and he was working on a new entry last week. 'It basically says that the state Senate and the secretary of state are engaging in a urinary contest, and the only people getting wet are the more than 20 people who don't deserve to get wet.' Still, Priddy maintains a somewhat optimistic outlook. 'I'm hopeful there can be some grownups in the room that can get together and work this thing out,' he said. 'But history is not in favor of grownups these days in the Capitol.'
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Missouri secretary of state cuts jobs as budget feud with state Senate escalates
Sen. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg, walks away after briefly talking to Sen. Mike Cierpiot, R-Lee's Summit, following the Senate's adjournment in 2024 (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent). Almost two dozen employees in Missouri State Archives and the State Library are on paid leave and will lose their jobs at the end of the month because of a politically motivated budget cut targeting Secretary of State Denny Hoskins. Twenty-two employees — 17 in the archives, five in the library — were told Friday that they did not need to return to work Monday. The employees are being paid through the end of the month, — the final month of the current budget year — but according to Hoskins could not be retained because of 'budget restrictions enacted by the Missouri General Assembly.' However, the Republican lawmakers behind the cut say it only targeted unfilled positions in the office and there was absolutely no financial reason for Hoskins had to lay off any staff. Hoskins, a Republican, is former state senator and has been secretary of state since January. While in the General Assembly, he tried repeatedly to cut job slots he said had been unfilled for months or years, arguing that agencies that had functioned without filling some jobs didn't need the help. Hoskins was also a member of the Missouri Freedom Caucus, which fought harder with the GOP majority leadership than it did against Democrats. State Sen. Mike Cierpiot, a Lee's Summit Republican regularly tussled with Hoskins and the Freecom Caucus, punished him earlier this year with a budget amendment cutting 25 of the office's authorized personnel strength of 267 full time equivalent employees, or FTE, and $680,000 from one of the funds that helps pay salaries. In the last full year under Hoskins' predecessor, only 204 of those positions were filled. The office has not used more than 215 of its full time slots for at least eight years. At the time the cut was made, Cierpiot said it should not require any layoffs. In a statement to The Independent, Rachel Dunn, spokeswoman for Hoskins, claimed the office had no choice. 'The General Assembly did not cut vacant or flexible FTE authority,' she said. 'It explicitly eliminated 25 FTEs from our budget, meaning we were required by law to reduce filled positions to meet that mandate. These cuts were not based on current vacancies but on a hard reduction in authorized staffing levels.' The employees were given leave with pay to allow them time to seek new jobs, she wrote. 'This was done out of respect for their service, and to give them time to plan next steps with dignity, rather than executing immediate unpaid terminations,' Dunn said. The $19.6 million budget approved for Hoskins' office operations includes $11.6 million in general revenue and $8 million from other funds. In addition to the archives and library, the office is the state's chief election authority, the repository of records establishing every business and not-for-profit in the state, and the regulator of securities brokers and sales. Lawmakers give Hoskins — and every other statewide elected official — complete flexibility in determining whether each dollar is spent on payroll or the expense of maintaining the office. And in each of the past three years, the office has returned about $3 million unspent to the state treasury, including $300,000 to $400,000 of general revenue. There was enough money and enough flexibility for Hoskins to retain all his employees, Cierpiot said. The budget change, he said, did not mandate layoffs. 'If Secretary of State Hoskins thinks that he needs to pull back the number of people working at the archives, that's his decision,' Cierpiot said. State Sen. Lincoln Hough, a Republican from Springfield who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said there is no reason Hoskins should have terminated employees. 'I can't understand a financial reason,' Hough said, 'that there isn't ample personal service dollars within the 100% flexibility that the Secretary of State has to continue paying not only all those folks, but I'm sure they're still flexing some other dollars associated with the vacant FTEs.' The problem with looking to the flexibility within the office budget for money to retain the staff is the limited nature of some funds. Money collected to regulate securities can only be spent on that function, Dunn said, and there isn't enough general revenue to cover the cut in the dedicated funds that support the archive and library functions. 'The legislature cut both the FTEs and associated appropriations,' Dunn said. 'Previous administrations had kept many unfilled FTEs on the books, but unfilled FTEs don't always have funds associated with them. When the legislature cut both unfilled FTEs and payroll funds, our hands were tied.' The archives is one of the office's most public-facing functions. It stores and preserves records from the most important to the most mundane and is used for historical and genealogical research. It is also the only part of the office to have regular evening and Saturday hours. The archives for example, is where the original document for Gov. Lilburn Boggs' 1838 order that Mormons 'must be exterminated or driven from the state' is stored, as is former Gov. Kit Bond's 1975 order rescinding Boggs' directive. Online collections include territorial and state censuses, every volume of the Revised Statutes going back to 1825, and service records for soldiers and sailors from the War of 1812 through World War I. The archives will have 43 employees after the cut, and the library will have 11, Dunn said. 'The Missouri State Archives are a vital part of our shared history and cultural legacy,' Dunn said. 'These cuts will have lasting impacts on public access, preservation, and the historical transparency Missourians deserve.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Missouri Secretary of State withdraws state funding of digital library catalog
Secretary of State Denny Hoskins speaks to reporters at the conclusion of the 2024 legislative session. Hoskins announced Monday that he is withdrawing funding for a digital library catalog provider(Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent). Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins is pausing funding to the digital library catalog company Overdrive until it can prove that it has as safeguards barring children from accessing inappropriate content. The action comes after a Missouri Senate committee heard a bill last week seeking regulation of digital library catalogs, alleging Overdrive-run app Sora allows minors to access explicit sexual material. Rachael Dunn, spokeswoman for the secretary of state, said the move was in direct response to the bill and 'agency investigations involving digital library catalogs.' Overdrive and its other apps like Sora and Libby allow library patrons to check out digital copies of books and audiobooks online. The Secretary of State's Office, which runs the state library, helps fund access to Overdrive and its applications for a network of schools and libraries called the Missouri Research and Education Network, or MOREnet. The office's $3.1 million appropriation to MOREnet, of which $30,000 is directed to Overdrive, funds access to databases and discounts for services like Overdrive. 'Our priority is protecting Missouri's children while holding taxpayer-funded vendors accountable,' Hoskins said in a press release. 'We expect Overdrive to clarify its policies and demonstrate how it is ensuring appropriate access to content.' Overdrive did not respond to a request for comment.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Secretary of State Hoskins defends his decision to delay sports wagering
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins is defending his decision to delay the implementation of sports betting across the state. In particular, Hoskins objected to emergency rules from the Missouri Gaming Commission that would have expedited legalizing gambling of sports. 'Basically, the first (criteria for emergency rules) talks about if it's in the best interest and the for the well-being and health of Missourians,' Hoskins said in an interview. 'Well, a sportsbook has nothing to do with the health or general well-being of Missourians.' Hoskins, a Republican from Warrensburg, says the emergency rules clause was not designed to rush ballot initiatives into law before they are ready. 'Just because the casinos and some of the professional sports teams want to institute sports betting faster here in the state of Missouri or quicker, that doesn't constitute an emergency, according to Missouri state law,' he said. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Despite the perception that he is against sports betting, he said that is not accurate. 'When I was a state senator, I filed bills to legalize sports betting here in the state of Missouri,' he added. Hoskins believes that the campaign for November's Amendment 2, which only passed by a margin of less than 3,000 votes, didn't tell the whole story. 'I've had several voters and Missourians reach out and say that they want public input,' he said. 'Many of those commercials said that education would receive between $30 to $35 million a year with the passage of sportsbook in taxes–that those casinos would pay.' A recent report hints that number would be a lot lower, closer to $1 million. 'There's a big difference between $35 million and $1 million,' he added. As for when sports wagering will actually be rolled out, Hoskins said the fall season was a reasonable expectation. It must be enacted by Dec. 1. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
