Missouri legislature heads toward adjournment focused on abortion and redistricting

JEFFERSON CITY -- Missouri lawmakers will adjourn for the year at 6 p.m. Friday, but not before a potentially chaotic final week in which they will consider enacting some of the nation’s toughest abortion restrictions and overturning a redistricting plan approved by voters last year.

To do so, Senate Republicans will have to fend off a promised filibuster from Democrats. They also face a challenge from a feisty conservative caucus on their own side of the aisle, which has spent the entire session blocking key pieces of Gov. Mike Parson’s legislative agenda. They show no signs of wavering.

For Parson, the next five days will largely determine the success of his first session as governor, and could set the stage for his administration’s effectiveness moving into the 2020 election year. All will come down to whether legislative allies can drag his new economic development plans across the finish line.

The combustible situation will come to a conclusion, one way or another, in the next five days.

Read more: https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article230243624.html