By Eli Yokley
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri House of Representatives passed a resolution last week calling on Attorney General Chris Koster to appeal a court ruling overturning last year’s Senate Bill 249, a bill that would have allowed employers to opt-out of insurance packages that would provide contraceptive care.
The call, led by House Speaker Tim Jones, was met with a firm “no” from Koster as the likely 2016 gubernatorial candidate begins to take firmer stances on issues that go further than the legal realm.
“The Republicans’ attempt to deny contraceptive coverage to women in Missouri is just plain foolishness,” said Koster. “The Republican effort to deny contraceptive coverage cannot be supported by case law or sound public policy.”
The ruling over SB249 occurred last year, when U.S. District Judge Audrey Fleissig found that the law conflicted with the federal mandate that all insurance carriers provide coverage for contraception under the Supremacy Clause. Koster filed a motion calling on the court to clarify its ruling so that federal exemptions for religious employers remain in effect.
Jones, in a rare speech on the House floor, said the issue is about “religious freedom restoration,” not contraception. But Jones also used the opportunity to rail on the 2010 federal health care law.
“Three years since the passage of that law, the American public is not in favor of it,” he said. “Even the great Donna Brazile knows Obamacare is a failure,” he added, referring to a tweet by Brazile, a Democratic activist who criticized rising insurance premiums.
In a response on Twitter, Brazile wrote: “@SpeakerTimJones: Thanks to Obamacare being a woman is no longer a pre-existing condition. #MOLeg #obamacare save lives w/preventive care.”
Jones, a rumored candidate for statewide office during 2016, said the issue is one he thinks Republicans will use against Koster if he runs in 2016.
“That is a very defining issue for Attorney General Koster as he seeks to obtain additional support from Missouri over the next to years,” he said.
Jones, himself, has used the issue politically. Last month, Jones held a press conference in Springfield on a Thursday afternoon — after his weekly meeting with reporters in Jefferson City — to call on Koster’s action, a reoccurring theme for Jones, who on Thursday marched across the street to the Attorney General’s office to call for him to act on the REAL ID controversy.
To contact Eli Yokley, email eli@themissouritimes.com, or via Twitter at @eyokley.
