Missouri gubernatorial election, 2020

Missouri is moving forward under the leadership of Governor Parson. His first year in office has seen the state economy create over 35,000 new jobs. Bunge, Bayer, Briggs & Stratton, CVS, Nucor Steel, Google and others are investing in Missouri and creating new opportunities for Missourians.

With record lows in unemployment, more people are going back to work in Missouri. Wages are on the rise. And Missouri was named the top small business wage growth state in the nation. More Missourians are keeping their hard-earned money because the legislature passed and Governor Parson signed the largest income tax cut in Missouri history.

From Day One, Governor Parson has been laser-focused on workforce development and infrastructure. The governor knows an educated workforce is key to moving Missouri forward and is focused on ensuring Missouri workers have the skills to compete for jobs in the modern global economy.

Governor Parson spearheaded a bold plan, that when fully implemented will address over $1 Billion of Missouri’s serious infrastructure needs, all in need of critical need of repair or replacement. By improving Missouri’s infrastructure, Governor Parson’s policies are helping increase access to transporting goods throughout Missouri. Leveraging the state’s rivers, interstates, highways and airports, Missouri will be able to expand into new trade markets around the United States and the world.^[23]

MISSOURI OPPORTUNITY: AN AGENDA FOR BLACK MISSOURIANS

Faith teaches us that it is impossible to heal what is ignored. Missouri has witnessed powerful examples of healing through countless acts of unity, with citizens and law enforcement standing in solidarity, wanting change.

Our children deserve to live in a Missouri that is fair and accountable to all of its citizens.

The following framework begins an ongoing conversation that Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway will continue to have with activists, concerned citizens, legislators, members of clergy from all across Missouri.

Nicole Galloway believes that Missouri’s Black lives matter.

As a state we must not just say Black Lives Matter in the street but show it with the executive actions we take and the laws we pass.

"Auditor Galloway’s commitment to Black Missourians is reflected in a comprehensive agenda that aims to tackle racial disparities and discrimination that existed in our state for too long. Auditor Galloway is not afraid to declare that Black Lives Matter and has laid out a vision to ensure Missouri laws uphold this conviction. I look forward to working with her in the Governor’s office to build a safer, fairer, and more inclusive Missouri."

— Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, II

Criminal Justice Reform

"'Those closest to the problem are the closest to the solution'” is a saying that has become more of a cliché than reality. That is why as a businesswoman who was formerly incarcerated, I believe we cannot have true justice or economic equality until we reform our criminal justice system. We need a leader who can bring accountability to a system that has persistently traumatized Black families across the state. We need a vision that focuses on long-term reformation rather than short-term intervention. Missouri needs a new way."

— Elder Shawntelle Fisher, Founder/CEO The SoulFisher Ministries

"Building community trust in law enforcement and the justice system requires transparency and accountability. Civilian oversight of law enforcement, and transparency through the use of body cameras are steps we’ve known are needed since Ferguson. It’s time to get this done."

— Auditor Nicole Galloway

Here's how Nicole will take action:

• Banning knee holds, chokeholds, and similar acts of applying force or pressure against the trachea, windpipe, carotid artery, or jugular vein.
• Requiring that body camera devices be used by all law enforcement agencies in Missouri and mandating that those devices be activated from the beginning to the end of all interactions with suspects or witnesses.
• Limiting the use of no-knock warrants in drug related cases.
• Give independent Oversight Boards subpoena power to investigate use-of-force and conduct violations, including deadly use of force incidents.
• Institute a review of all The Peace Officer Standards and Training Program (POST) training materials, review all licenses of law enforcement basic training centers, basic training instructors, to ensure that all Missouri law enforcement training curricula pairs up with best practices in community policing and includes mandatory implicit bias and de-escalation training.
• The Kansas City Police Department is one of the largest agencies in the U.S. that doesn't have local control of its police department. Kansas City must have control over its own Police Department.
• Creation of an independent statewide Civil Rights Accountability Board with subpoena power to investigate and refer for prosecution violations of POST standards by law enforcement officers. Create a Civil Rights Division within the Attorney General’s Office to provide legal counsel to the accountability board.

A Ban on Discrimination

"In recent years, state leaders have codified discrimination into law, stripped Missourians of their basic dignity, and perpetuated some of the worst sins of our past into the 21st Century. After years of racist policies coming out of Jefferson City, Auditor Galloway has offered a new way to promote equality and fairness so our children and grandchildren can flourish."

— Rod Chapel, President of the Missouri NAACP

"Missouri will never succeed until everyone can live and work without fear of discrimination simply because of who they are. Our shared success depends on striving for equality in opportunity."

— Auditor Nicole Galloway

Here's how Nicole will take action:

• Galloway will work with the legislature to introduce and get passed legislation that would put forth to voters an amendment to the Missouri Constitution to prohibit discrimination based on race, color, sex, age, disability, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, or national origin.
• As Governor, Galloway will update executive branch policies to explicitly prohibit workplace discrimination throughout state government.
• Galloway will fix the effect of 2017’s Senate Bill 43, which placed limits on damages victims of housing discrimination could win in the courts. This disastrous policy threatens Missouri’s share of federal HUD funding and resulted in the NAACP issuing a travel advisory for the state.

Investments in Missouri’s Black Communities

"Building a better Missouri starts with fostering an economic environment that places every community in a position to shape its future. For Missouri to nurture the ambition of its residents, we must get serious about closing the skills gap and uplifting our homegrown small businesses. Fortunately, Nicole has a new way for Black Missourians that is equitable, inclusive, and emphasizes shared prosperity."

— Jermaine Reed, Former Kansas City Councilman and Trustee of Metropolitan Community College

"For too long, economic policies have prioritized flashy developments and chasing out of state companies. We’re not economically empowering people and communities to build futures for their families where they live. We need an economic development strategy that addresses family needs and creates opportunities in communities that need them most."

— Auditor Nicole Galloway

Here's how Nicole will take action:

• Ensure that 20% of the Department of Economic Development Small Business Grants, and other entrepreneurial investments go to minority-owned businesses. And to ensure that this is accomplished we will reorganize the Department of Economic Development to include a department of Minority Business that will administer these investments.
• Expand the pre-kindergarten grant program, with targeted deployment into Black communities, working with existing providers to ensure that the roll-out of this expansion is done in a way that uplifts the communities that they serve and provide the youngest Missourians the head start they deserve.
• Prioritize development of places and businesses that address communities needs, such as grocery stores, public transit, and community spaces.
• End the practice of asking job applicants about their criminal history. Ban the box.

Healthcare: A Basic Human Right

"The COVID-19 pandemic is just the latest sign of the dramatic and long-standing health inequities between white and Black Missourians. Black Missourians are more likely to have heart disease, diabetes, stroke and kidney disease — and have a much shorter life expectancy than white Missourians. With this agenda, Auditor Galloway is showing the moral and political leadership needed to end these devastating health disparities and ensure every Black Missourians can get affordable, quality health care. Auditor Galloway understands that racism is a public health crisis that demands an immediate and comprehensive response from our leaders."

— Dr. Will Ross, Public Health Expert and Leading Physician in the St. Louis region

"This pandemic has impacted Black Missourians in a far more disproportionate way than in other states. That’s because Missouri hasn’t made healthcare a priority. Medicaid Expansion is the most important step we can take to make healthcare more accessible in a time when it is desperately needed. Governor Parson opposes it. I’ll implement it."

— Auditor Nicole Galloway

Here's how Nicole will take action:

• Expand Medicaid to give working Missourians with an income level at or below 133% of the federal poverty level health insurance.
• Work with local providers to open clinics in predominantly Black communities, and expand health care job training programs to ensure that the benefits of expanding Medicaid are more than providing insurance, but also creating jobs and expanding access to health care.
• Create a regional agreement to pool together and use our greater bargaining power to negotiate for lower prescription drug costs for Missourians.
• Use the savings from Medicaid Expansion to invest in Department of Mental Health programs so that our criminal justice system isn’t our front line plan for addressing mental health.

Our Vote. Our Future.

"Our state has a long history of intentional and pernicious voter suppression aimed at making it harder for Black Missourians to vote. By ending the notary requirement and allowing no-excuse absentee voting, a Galloway administration will end the barriers that block many Black Missourians from fully participating in our democracy. Auditor Galloway’s agenda is nonpartisan and noncontroversial, and it is exactly what we need to end Missouri’s long-standing history of intentional voter suppression and finally make voting safe, fair, and accessible."

— Don Calloway, Former Missouri State Rep. and National Voter Protection Action Fund founder

"Change begins with civic participation. In Missouri, we don’t make it easy to vote under normal circumstances, let alone during an infectious disease pandemic. It’s voter suppression by design. Missouri needs everyone participating in our democracy, no-excuse absentee vote by mail, without a ballot notarization requirement, automatic voter registration, and widespread early voting."

— Auditor Nicole Galloway

Here's how Nicole will take action:

• Eliminate the requirement that the voter attest to a specific excuse in order to vote absentee by mail. The majority of states allow any voter to vote absentee without stating a reason.
• Eliminate the requirement that absentee voters get their ballot notarized. The notary requirement is a modern-day poll tax, requiring an additional step of the voter having to find a notary public. Missouri is one of just a small handful of states that continues to have this requirement, which is only in-place to discourage absentee voting.
• Utilize federal funding provided to Missouri for its intended purpose: expanding voting options, such as early voting. Many states allow voters to cast their ballot in-advance at a time that it is convenient for them. Compressing voting into one single day disenfranchise working people or those that have unexpected emergencies.

REBUILD AND RECOVER: AN ACTION PLAN TO ADDRESS COVID-19 IN MISSOURI

Missouri needs a reset on COVID-19. Governor Parson’s strategy isn’t working. Cases continue to be significantly higher than they were this spring. School districts across the state are being forced to delay their reopenings. The lingering effects of the pandemic threaten to hobble a full economic recovery — and new restrictions to fight the virus mean the economic impacts of this pandemic will be both painful and long-term.

Missouri needs a new strategy to address the virus — and fast.

In the past week, Dr. Deborah Birx, the Coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force stood beside Governor Parson and said that the virus continues to spread at alarming rates in urban, rural and suburban parts of the state. Springfield Mayor Ken McClure told the Governor in a letter that the state’s rural, urban, and suburban communities are all linked — and that only a statewide mask order could stop the virus.

But instead of listening to local and federal officials calling for the state to do more to fight the virus, the Governor has failed to take action.

In the absence of new ideas or concrete solutions from the Parson administration, Auditor Galloway is putting forward an action plan filled with concrete steps to ensure that the state can recover and rebuild from this virus. Unlike Governor Parson, Auditor Galloway would act with urgency to address this pandemic and put the state on the path to economic recovery.

COVID-19 has taken a major toll on our rural and urban communities, revealing countless economic, racial and public health disparities. Missourians deserve a governor with an inclusive vision for recovery and a comprehensive plan that prioritizes the people and places hardest hit by the pandemic.

This action plan is aimed at tackling COVID-19 in Missouri in order to prevent new restrictions and avoid shuttering new businesses. This plan has been developed based on months of conversations and discussions with local leaders, public health experts, medical professionals, business and labor leaders. Auditor Galloway has also visited organizations across the state like Care STL Health in St. Louis who are on the frontlines of fighting this pandemic and providing testing and care to their communities.

Protecting Public Health

• MASK MANDATE: Missouri should follow the advice of Dr. Deborah Birx and Springfield Mayor Ken McClure by implementing a statewide mask rule.
• TESTING: In recognition that the virus does not adhere to state lines, Missouri should engage surrounding states to cooperate on the purchase of rapid testing supplies and equipment. Maryland, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, and Virginia entered into an interstate compact to purchase 3 million rapid antigen tests. Missouri should engage the Governors of bordering states and other regional partners to combine purchasing power to acquire more testing capacity.
• REOPENING SCHOOLS: A data-driven approach for safely reopening schools that recognizes the risk that community transmission poses to keeping fully in-person school on-track. Missouri should have clear guidelines for when local decision makers can offer fully in-person school, with clear requirements for how to ensure safety of students and staff.
  • The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) should issue guidance to districts that requires three types of learning models: fully in-person, hybrid, fully virtual. The hybrid model would split building attendance into two groups, with each group attending in-person two days per week and virtual for two-to-three days per week depending on the district.
  • Using Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) data, the 14-day case rate per 10,000 people in the district’s county will determine the threshold for when each type of learning scenario is recommended. Districts will retain the flexibility to, for instance, offer only virtual learning even if the case rate is below 50. Similarly, parents could select a virtual option even if the district is offering fully in-person or hybrid instruction. But, a district should not offer fully in-person learning unless the county case rate is below 10 per 10,000.
• SUPPORT FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS: Local community health centers have regularly served on the front lines of Missouri’s public health, particularly for uninsured and under-insured communities. But COVID-19 has exponentially increased their workload and forced many health centers in rural and urban communities to be stretched to their capacity. Community health centers in counties hardest hit by COVID-19 must have the adequate resources to combat the pandemic and provide service to those who need it the most.
• CONVENE AN EMERGENCY MEDICAL TASK FORCE: Bring together Missouri Health Care Experts in an Emergency Medical Task Force that would include the Chief of Medicine for a number of the state’s largest hospitals, designees chosen by the Adjutant General, the Director of DPS, the Director of DHSS, public health experts, epidemiologists from Missouri’s leading universities, local health directors, and experts in emergency response.
  • The task force should brief the public daily on the condition of COVID-19 in Missouri and steps being taken to stop the virus.
  • The task force should provide recommendations of executive actions to the Governor that can and will protect public health. In the same way that Dr. Deborah Birx and the White House Coronavirus Task Force brief media and the public on steps needed to contain the virus, the Parson administration should be putting public health experts — not just the Governor's political appointees — front and center in responding to this crisis.
  • The Task Force would also be a hub for collecting COVID-19 data — ensuring that the state would not have to rely on hospitalization data from the CDC. The state should never lose control of its COVID-19 hospitalization data.

Ensuring Missouri’s Communities And Local Governments Can Rebuild

• ASSIGN A STATE-LEVEL RESPONSE TEAM TO HELP COUNTIES SPEND THEIR CARES ACT MONEY — WITH A FOCUS ON CONTACT TRACING AND PPE: Assign a state-level response team to assist counties in deploying CARES Act money. Utilizing these resources is being stalled, and Jefferson City needs to do more to ensure communities can use this aid on critical needs like contact tracing and PPE. What the Governor and administration are doing right now simply isn’t enough.
• EMERGENCY RELIEF FUNDING FOR COUNTY GOVERNMENTS: Even before the pandemic hit, the state owed county governments more than $35 million in reimbursements for costs associated with housing and transporting state prisoners in county jails. The state should reimburse county governments for the cost of transporting and holding state prisoners.

Rebuilding Missouri's Economy

• STAND UP FOR MISSOURI: While other governors are calling on Congress to take immediate action to provide aid to state governments in order to fund economic recovery and school reopenings, Governor Parson has been largely silent. The Governor should be explicit with both the public and members of Congress about aid needed from Congress in order to ensure that schools can reopen and small businesses are able to survive through this economic crisis.
• CONVENE AN ECONOMIC RELIEF COUNCIL: Missouri is only beginning to feel the economic consequences of the pandemic. An economic relief council composed of labor members, business leaders, and small business owners is needed to advise the Governor’s administration on economic stabilization in the short term and economic recovery in the long term.
• RELIEF FOR WORKERS: Employer-provided paid sick leave is the appropriate first resort for workers who are ordered to isolate or become ill. In cases where that is not provided, the state of Missouri should provide some level of wage replacement. Families should not have to worry about putting food on the table because a wage earning family member is ill or cannot work.
  • If a worker who does not receive paid sick leave through their employer, but follows guidance from medical or public health officials to isolate or quarantine as a result of exposure to COVID-19, or needs to take time off from work to keep themselves or a loved one safe, should be eligible for unemployment benefits.
• SUSTAINING BLACK SMALL BUSINESSES: Missouri cannot ignore the alarming number of Black-owned small businesses that will not survive COVID-19 due to community wealth gaps and limited access to markets. As part of her Opportunity Agenda, Auditor Galloway will reorganize the Department of Economic Development to include a department of Minority Business that will be charged with ensuring vulnerable small businesses in Black and Brown communities are able to withstand future economic uncertainties.

LOWERING COSTS AND EXPANDING ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE FOR MISSOURI FAMILIES

Auditor Galloway knows that healthcare is a right — not a privilege. But for too many Missouri families, getting the care they need has just become too expensive. The average Missouri family is paying more now than they were just a few years ago in annual premiums and deductibles. Missouri is one of the worst states in the country for meeting the healthcare needs of its residents, ranking 41st in the nation according to US News and World Report. Governor Parson’s refusal to expand Medicaid has denied health insurance to hundreds of thousands of Missourians and led in part to the closure of at least seven rural hospitals in recent years. And during his time in office, Governor Parson kicked 100,000 Missouri children off of their healthcare.

As Governor, Auditor Galloway will reverse Governor Parson’s failures on healthcare by taking action to lower healthcare costs for working Missourians and expand access to affordable, quality care. A Galloway administration will:

• End the Parson administration's healthcare purge of Missouri children and families

• Lower prescription drug prices

• Tackle the rising cost of healthcare

• Enshrine protections for Missourians with pre-existing conditions into state law

• Address the addiction and mental health crises

• Implement Medicaid expansion without raising taxes or cutting programs

Protect Coverage For Our Children And Families

In contrast to Governor Parson, Auditor Galloway will protect healthcare coverage for Missouri children and families. The Parson administration purged 100,000 Missouri children from the Children’s Health Insurance Program, many of them without cause. As Governor, Auditor Galloway will end health insurance purges of eligible recipients and protect Missouri children and families’ access to healthcare.

Protect Coverage For Missourians With Pre-existing Conditions:

Currently, Governor Mike Parson and his hand-picked Attorney General Eric Schmitt are in court suing to gut protections for the millions of Missourians with pre-existing conditions. If Governor Parson and Attorney General Schmitt have their way, Missourians with pre-existing conditions — from diabetes to asthma— would see their health insurance costs skyrocket and could lose their care. As Governor, Auditor Galloway will sign a law that enshrines protections for pre-existing conditions into state law — so that no matter what happens at the national level, no one will ever be able to take away coverage from Missourians with pre-existing conditions.

Lower Prescription Drug Prices

Too many Missourians can’t afford to get the critical medications they need. No one should have to choose between getting a prescription filled and paying rent or putting food on the table for their family. As Governor, Auditor Galloway will take concrete steps to lower the cost of prescription drugs and ensure that Missourians can afford life-saving medications.

• Create the Missouri Prescription Drug Contracting Alliance: As Governor, Auditor Galloway will make prescription drugs affordable by bringing together state health programs, county health plans, and certain 501 c(3) programs under the new “Missouri Prescription Drug Contracting Alliance.” This effort will help ensure the costs savings Missouri has seen from its participation in the Minnesota Multistate Contracting Alliance for Pharmacy are brought home so that more Missourians can benefit.

Bring Down Healthcare Costs For Missouri’s Working Families

The cost of healthcare for Missourians with private insurance is rising. The average Missouri family is paying more now than they were just a few years ago in annual premiums and deductibles. Employers are also shouldering more of the burden of healthcare costs for workers. As Governor, Auditor Galloway will take steps to contain the growth in out-of-pocket costs, employee and employer premiums, and deductibles in order for Missourians to keep more of their own money — and afford their healthcare.

• Create An Office Of Health Policy To Set Priorities For Cost Containment And Transparency: As Governor, Auditor Galloway will create an Office of Health Policy composed of stakeholders from the state’s insurance and healthcare systems, MoHealthNet, and experts with a sharp focus on setting a per-capita cost containment goal for Missouri and increasing transparency around pricing.

• Require Greater Transparency In Healthcare Costs: The Office of Health Policy will set a cost growth goal and focus on strategies for reducing costs modeled on other state approaches. This can start with requiring greater transparency in healthcare pricing within Missouri health systems through an All-Payer Claims Database, which at least 26 states already have. This database would collect valuable data around pricing for procedures and spending by both public and private insurers that can be accessed by policymakers seeking cost reduction strategies.

• Allow Employers To Pool Together To Negotiate With Providers: Small and medium-sized businesses should be allowed to join together to negotiate directly with providers for employee health insurance plans and reference-based pricing strategies should be employed as a mechanism to bring cost uniformity to procedures.

• Increase Home-based Care: As Governor, Auditor Galloway will put in place a regulatory framework that allows reimbursement for more in-home care, including acute care, which can reduce system-wide costs. An Office of Health Policy can make recommendations for reforms that allow more healthcare to be delivered in-home, which reduces higher costs associated with care provided in hospitals and long-term care facilities.

• Expand Medicaid: Medicaid expansion reduces uncompensated care in hospitals. The resulting reduction in uninsured visits to healthcare providers can lower uncompensated care costs to hospitals by $6.8 billion by 2022. Those are costs that aren’t passed along to insured patients through higher prices for procedures.

Implement Medicaid Expansion

Implementing Medicaid expansion won’t just expand healthcare to hundreds of thousands of Missourians — it represents one of the biggest economic development opportunities for Missouri, especially rural Missouri. Governor Mike Parson has spent his career undermining voter-approved initiatives — and actively opposed expanding Medicaid for years. Only Auditor Galloway can be trusted to expand Medicaid.

• A Clinic in Every County: With the expansion of Medicaid, Auditor Galloway will work to ensure that there is a primary care clinic in every county in Missouri and that rural hospitals receive the funds they need to stay open. Currently, nine rural counties lack healthcare clinics in Missouri. And, due in part to the closure of seven rural hospitals in recent years, some Missourians in rural communities find themselves having to drive more than fifty miles to get the care they need. The Galloway administration will also work with local providers to open clinics in predominantly Black communities, and expand healthcare job training programs to ensure that the benefits of expanding Medicaid are more than providing insurance, but also creating jobs and expanding access to healthcare.

• Telehealth: Expand utilization of telehealth by ensuring reimbursement parity with in-person visits and investing in distant site technology, including broadband.

• No Cuts or Tax Hikes: Over the past year, Governor Parson has repeatedly said that if Missourians approved Medicaid, he would be forced to raise taxes or make cuts to critical programs. Yet a study from Washington University has shown that Medicaid expansion will be revenue-neutral. Auditor Galloway promises to expand Medicaid without raising taxes or cutting programs.

• Identifying Budget Savings Under Medicaid Expansion: As Governor, Auditor Galloway will establish a Medicaid Expansion Implementation working group within MoHealthNet to maximize system-wide budget savings.

• Expanding Access To Mental Healthcare: Expanding access to mental healthcare is even more vital now as we recover from the public health and economic emergency created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Auditor Galloway would use federal dollars coming to Missouri to help address the coverage gap that keeps people from accessing mental healthcare and utilize the fiscal benefits from expansion and the CARES Act to fund mental healthcare services.

Address The Opioid Epidemic And Addiction Crisis

As Governor, Auditor Galloway will give our law enforcement personnel the tools they need to go after pill farms, work with the Attorney General to keep the pressure on the drug manufacturers and provide the resources for treatment. Auditor Galloway will expand proven community programs that intervene to stop violence, like the CURE program, and expand proven community programs that intervene to stop addiction. Missouri also needs to ensure that Missouri hospitals are equipped to provide the appropriate medications for opioid use disorder — and that those who suffer from addiction are able to receive the treatment they need rather than relying solely on incarceration to solve this crisis.

• Pass A Statewide Prescription Drug Monitoring Program: Missouri is the only state without a statewide PDMP — Auditor Galloway will push to finally get a statewide Prescription Drug Monitoring Program passed. The program has bipartisan support but politics keeps getting in the way.

THE BEST PLACE IN AMERICA TO RAISE KIDS

Governor Parson has made being a parent so much harder than it needs to be. He has kicked over 100,000 eligible kids off their health insurance and has touted the cost savings, allowed the price of health care to skyrocket, and as a legislator voted to change the k-12 education funding formula to reduce state support for schools. Governor Parson’s actions mean our schools are struggling, it means that our kids are going without health insurance, and it means that parents are having to decide between groceries and taking a sick kid to the doctor. I know from raising my three boys how hard being a parent is. As Governor, I will ensure that Missouri refocuses our priorities on policies that help parents and kids - not allow them to be another statistic. I will invest in our schools and our teachers. I will put kids back on their health care and enact Medicaid expansion so Missourians have the health care they deserve. I will run a government that is on the side of families, that is transparent and constantly working to make it easier to be a parent.

It’s A New Way:

• End Governor Parson’s health insurance purges and restore coverage for eligible Medicaid recipients.

• Expand Medicaid to provide over 200,000 Missourian’s the health insurance they deserve and provide rural hospitals the lifeline they need to stay open.

• Invest in Education. For too long, school funding has been a political pawn moved around to help career politicians get re-elected. As Governor, I will put more money in classrooms and pay teachers what they deserve, work to expand pre-kindergarten to help give kids the head start they need and parents the peace of mind that their children are safe.

• Pass commonsense gun safety measures that keep guns out of the hands of those looking to terrorize our communities, destroy families and make us less safe. Additionally, pass legislation that enables local communities to identify and implement solutions that work for their communities and public safety.

• Expand paid family leave to 12 weeks.

ECONOMY: A MISSOURI THAT WORKS FOR ALL

Governor Parson’s economy has left working families behind. Governor Parson opposed raising the minimum wage and spent millions of dollars to bring companies here whose wages haven’t kept pace and with benefits that are harder to come by. Parson’s economic policy has put a strain on working families and our state budget. Over-reliance on corporate incentives has reduced our investments in our people, including giving $62 million dollars to a firm to move its headquarters down the road. Chronic underfunding of education is leaving students behind before they have a chance to get ahead, in schools that aren't accredited, with skills without jobs attached, and families saddled with debt. Nicole has spent her career fighting for taxpayers, finding corruption and wasted money. As Governor, stopping wasteful spending and corruption will help Missouri’s economy and make it more attractive to businesses. Nicole has a robust economic strategy that uplifts communities and workers, by attracting new business to Missouri, and creating a more transparent development and incentive program.

It’s A New Way:

• Create a development and incentive strategy that is transparent, attracts new business to Missouri and uplifts communities and workers.

• Create transparent funding for education that prioritizes students, teachers, and outcomes rather than the re-election of career politicians. Missouri’s education system needs to be approached in a holistic manner that looks at outcomes from early childhood all the way through a worker's career.

• Give workers a greater voice on the job. The freedom to collective bargain and ensure that public works projects pay the prevailing wage. Create safer working conditions, and protect workers from wage theft.

• Pass the Missouri Nondiscrimination Act and tell the rest of the country that we want you here no matter who you love.

• Create and expand workforce development opportunities that create pathways out of poverty and teach the skills necessary for family-supporting careers, like the apprenticeship programs in the unionized building and construction sector.

• Expand broadband internet throughout rural Missouri to connect even the most remote parts of our state to the world.

GOVERNMENT WITH INTEGRITY AND OPENNESS

For decades, corrupt insiders have been working in Jefferson City to increase their wealth and their client’s profits rather than to serve the people of Missouri. This Governor has been showered his whole career with gifts from lobbyists seeking influence and power, resulting in insiders dictating Missouri’s policy priorities, not the people. From overturning the will of voters countless times to failing to move policies with the overwhelming support of the people, Governor Parson has rigged the system to favor the well-connected, who get what they want while average Missouri families continue to struggle. As Auditor, I have been the outsider in Jefferson City, I have had to ruffle some feathers to get things done. I have never accepted a lobbyist gift, I have worked hard to uncover over $350 million in wasted tax dollars, and my audits have been used to bring charges against corrupt insiders and government officials. As Governor, I will make sure that taxpayers will call the shots - not the lobbyists. I will get rid of dark money, lockout the corrupt insiders and bring a new level of transparency and access for taxpayers to Jefferson City.

It’s A New Way:

• Get dark money out of our politics and in-state business. Require that companies and people wanting to do business with the state have to disclose their political giving and dark money contributions.

• Demand that state agencies and officials conduct state business in the sunlight. No excessive fees to fulfill sunshine requests. No disappearing message apps for state business.

• Expanding the transparency portal, so that all Missourians can easily see, search and find sunshine requests, appointments, grants and government contract awards.

• Bring state government out to the people, rather than hiding in Jefferson City. Our policies and the actions my government takes will resonate with every day Missourians because they will be created outside of Jefferson City and signed into law outside of Jefferson City.

SAFER COMMUNITIES

Too much of our state is lacking in hope for the future. In 2017, the last year there are statistics for, there were 952 overdose deaths­­­ involving opioids. 1,307 Missourians died from gunshot wounds. These are our children dying from gunshots in their own yards, these are farmers who lost everything who take their own lives, these are workers who got hooked on prescription drugs when they were hurt on the job. Governor Parson has done little to end the opioid epidemic. Governor Parson has said that he has to “stay in his lane” when asked about the rise in gun-related deaths. The lack of hope that changed over 2,259 of our families living in our communities is a direct result of public policy failure in Jefferson City. It is no wonder that our children see no optimism when they are living in communities that have been devastated by trauma. To succeed as a state, we have to restore optimism, we have to call out the problem and acknowledge the pain. Together we can restore hope for the future.

It’s A New Way:

• Give our law enforcement personnel the tools they need to go after pill farms, work with the Attorney General to keep the pressure on the drug manufacturers and provide the resources for treatment.

• Commonsense gun safety measures, such as universal background checks and permits. Let local communities adopt gun safety and anti-crime measures when Jefferson City fails to act.

• Provide resources so that every school in Missouri has the counseling services and teachers have the training to help deal with the trauma our children face.

• Incentivize economic expansion in distressed communities in urban and rural areas. Creating opportunities that can lift people and communities out of poverty and provide them hope.

• Expand proven community programs that intervene to stop violence, like the CURE program. Expand proven community programs that intervene to stop addiction.

REVITALIZE RURAL COMMUNITIES

Rural Missouri has seen a loss of nearly 10,000 jobs under Governor Parson’s watch. Farm debt is at a record-high, the debt-to-asset ratio has climbed for six consecutive years, and farm debt as a proportion of annual farm income is at 97 percent. This has resulted in 18 family farms filing bankruptcy in Missouri since Governor Parson was appointed Governor. Hospitals in rural Missouri have closed at a rate of more than one hospital per year. Communities have lost control of their own destinies because powerful special interests are calling the shots in Jefferson City. As Auditor, I have weeded out corruption in local governments, identified a health care executive who brought a rural hospital to the brink of closure by defrauding the community, state and federal governments. As Governor, I will put the power back in the hands of our rural communities, fighting to protect local control, will expand Medicaid to provide health insurance to 200,000 people which will help keep rural hospitals open. I will work to expand rural broadband and ensure that economic development dollars go to creating good jobs in rural Missouri.

It’s A New Way:

• Restore local control. Communities should decide for themselves how to manage their land - not foreign corporations.

• Restore rural health care through Medicaid expansion and a nationwide effort to recruit health professionals to underserved communities.

• Stop the increasing rate of the rural hospital closings by expanding Medicaid to keep our rural communities employed and insured.

• Expand rural broadband.

• Put a renewed focus on job creation outside of the four largest counties.^[23]