On the latest episode of Politically Speaking, state Sen. Brian Williams discusses the Missouri budget process and 2024 election cycle.
Williams represents the 14th District, which takes in several dozen municipalities in St. Louis County. Williams was first elected in 2018 and was reelected with no opposition in 2022.
Here’s what Williams talked about on the show:
- Williams expects major changes to the state budget when the Senate Appropriations Committee starts going over the individual bills in the coming days. Williams is seeking to steer more money to the University of Missouri-St. Louis, which is in his district.
- He wants his colleagues to be “adults” over reauthorizing the Federal Reimbursement Allowance, a critical tax on hospitals to help pay for the state’s Medicaid program.
- His criminal justice legislation, including the Clean Slate bill that would provide automatic expungement for certain offenses. He noted the bill has support from several key GOP legislators.
- Not running for anything this election cycle, including in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District primary. He talked about how that race could shake out, including whether the Israel-Hamas war may determine the outcome.
Williams is a Ferguson native who worked many years for former U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay, D-University City. Among other tasks, Williams was responsible for communicating with local and state legislative officials on issues that Clay was working on — such as moving the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to north St. Louis.
He won a crowded Democratic primary for the 14th District seat in 2018, which was tantamount to election. Since he joined the Senate, Williams has spent much of his time focusing on budgetary and criminal justice matters. He is barred by term limits from running again for the Senate after 2026.
