State Rep. Keri Ingle is the latest guest on St. Louis Public Radio’s Politically Speaking, where she previewed the 2024 legislative session.
Ingle represents Missouri’s 35th District, which takes in a portion of Jackson County. She was first elected to her post in 2018, flipping a seat to Democrats.
Here’s what Ingle had to say on the program:
- She expects the 2024 session to be rough, especially since legislators will be jockeying either for statewide office or to move into the Missouri Senate. Those election year pressures, she said, could affect the ability for lawmakers to pass much of substance.
- Legislators may have difficulty passing what’s known as the Federal Reimbursement Allowance, a tax hospitals place on themselves to help fund the state’s Medicaid program. Lawmakers had to go into special session in 2021 to pass the FRA.
- She discussed efforts to get measures on the 2024 ballot that would legalize abortion. There are competing ideas about how to roll back the state’s abortion ban, with one group taking a relatively modest approach and some abortion rights organizations pushing for something more expansive.
- Ingle talked about a budgetary push to pay Children’s Division workers more money. That issue has gained more attention amid recruitment and retention issues for child abuse investigators, especially in the St. Louis region.
Ingle has a background in social work and previously investigated child abuse and neglect as a Children’s Division employee.
Ingle won reelection in 2020 and 2022. She can run for one more term in 2024 before service limits will prevent her from being elected again in the House.
