All signs point to a historic session starting next month for the Missouri General Assembly.

The state would define a man and a woman, abolish the state income tax, change the way most judges are selected, and protect churches from any more government-ordered closures, under just some of the bills filed in advance of the legislative session beginning Jan. 8.

Some highlights:

HOUSE BILL 76 – The Defining SEX Act:

Filed by newly elected freshman state Rep. Cathy Jo Loy, and patterned after a prototype from The Heritage Foundation, the bill would define a female for purposes of state law and regulation as “an individual who naturally has, had, will have, or would have – but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption – the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports, and utilizes eggs for fertilization.”

A male under the bill would be “an individual who naturally has, had, will have, or would have – but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption – the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports, and utilizes sperm for fertilization.”

The bill also specifies that “gender” means “sex” – not one’s perceived identity.

Loy says it just makes sense to have the definitions in one stand-alone bill, rather than dealing with the issue differently in various bills.

Though, she says, it’s bizarre to have to deal with it at all.

“We’re in a sad state of affairs. Can you believe that we’re having to define male and female?” she tells The Heartlander.

“I’m kind of a freedom loving person … live and let live. But in 1,000 years, when they dig up our bones, we’re gonna be either male or female. I’ve got 10 grandkids; I’m like, what kind of world am I leaving for them?

“I’ve been hearing that we’re going to have bathrooms that are open to both sexes. And I’m like, what the heck? I don’t want my granddaughters going into a bathroom being fearful that a man’s in there too.”

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 5 – Selection of Judges

Also filed by Loy, HJR 5 would change how many of the state’s judges are installed – which may not be a sexy issue for ordinary citizens, but can drastically impact how they’re treated by the judiciary.

Currently, under what’s known and used nationally as “The Missouri Plan,” the state’s Supreme Court and appellate judges, and many circuit court judges, are screened by judicial nominating commissions that then send three nominees to the governor to choose from.

The system is also used in St. Louis city and county, Jackson, Clay, Platte and Greene counties.

Loy’s resolution – which would have to be voted on by the people if the Legislature passes it – would change judge selections to a federal-style process in which the governor alone would choose the nominee and the state Senate would then vote on whether to confirm.

Why do it?

Despite Missouri being a reliably red state, under the Missouri Plan judicial nomination finalists are chosen primarily by lawyers – who, critics argue, are much more liberal than the state’s voters. That can saddle a conservative governor with choosing among a group of left-leaning jurists he or she finds unpalatable.

And it makes for a court system that is oddly out of step with the residents of the state – and, at times, with the laws passed by their elected representatives.

“I just think that our judges have not reflected the Missouri voters at all,” Loy says, echoing the concerns of many conservatives. “You just see this progressive ideology that just gets pushed through, and I think that the Missouri Plan is probably a lot of the reason behind it.”

The Missouri Plan is used in some 30 states across the country – and ironically enough, it may be time for its namesake state to do away with it.

“When I heard about the Missouri Plan and how some states had adopted it and some states were getting rid of it, I’m like, well, Missouri should get rid of their own Missouri plan,” Loy says.

Loy says she’s been warned the powerful Missouri bar will fight her resolution, but that she’s resolute.

She didn’t run for office “to cower down,” she says.

Indeed, Loy also has filed HB 75, the Missouri Religious Freedom Protection Act, which would prohibit the government from imposing COVID-style lockdowns on houses of worship.

Various bills – Elimination of the state income tax

If pre-filed bills are any indication, there’s a lot of momentum among lawmakers for eliminating the state income tax all together.

As examples, Rep. Bishop Davidson, R-Republic, has filed HB 100 and House Joint Resolution 1; Sen. Nick Schroer, R-St. Louis County, has sponsored SB 220 and Senate Joint Resolution 24; and Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, R-District 22 near St. Louis, has filed SB 146.

While other bills suggest particular ways to phase out the income tax, Coleman’s bill simply calls for ending the tax – as a vehicle where all approaches are welcome in order to find the best one, she tells The Heartlander.

“Anybody who wants to do this, I’m on the same team of,” she explains. “There’s a number of different ways in which states have addressed eliminating the income tax. And I think that many of them have been really valid ways to do so. And so, as long as we’re able as a state to enact this change, I’m all-in for it.”

She doesn’t see competing ideas on how to it as competition. But she sees Missouri competing against neighboring states that have moved in that direction – making it difficult for the Show-Me State to compete for both population and economic growth.

“When we’re competing for growth in our state, we’re competing against states that do not have an income tax. And so, rather than look at this-or-that economic development plan, instead why don’t we do what the states that are winning the investments have done, which is eliminating barriers of entry and really ensuring that we’re taxing consumption rather than production? 

“What I’d like to see our citizens do is to go and make the most money they possibly can, and then to be able devise that type of activity rather than funding essential government services on that production.

“Missouri is falling behind in terms of economic growth – and the reason we’re falling behind on economic growth is because we’re falling behind in population growth.  

“We’re still a destination state compared to many of the other places in the country. We’re that way because we’re an incredible place to raise a family. It’s a beautiful place. We have really fertile ground, lots of natural resources.

“But if you’re looking at relocating your business, it’s just silly to think that that management group who’s making those decisions isn’t going to look at what the bottom line is for that investment that they’re going to be making.  

“So, we want to do everything that we can to attract people. Not just to keep people home – everybody who is a Missourian obviously wants their children to stay in Missouri – but to attract people to the state as well.”