Did a Clay County lawmaker sink a Kansas City Royals stadium deal that might’ve benefited her constituents – in order to preserve sex changes for minors?

Legislative sources say Missouri Democrat senators helped kill Gov. Mike Kehoe’s incentive package to keep the Royals, and potentially the Kansas City Chiefs, in the state. Kansas has offered financial incentives to move across the state line.

Kehoe’s package sailed through the House Tuesday but immediately stalled in the Senate, which adjourned two days early for the year Wednesday without taking action on it.

State Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, D-Clay County – whose support of the stadium package might have swayed other Democrats to join her, in order to help her constituents – was among Democrats who opposed the package.

Legislative sources say her and other Democrats’ opposition to the package wasn’t necessarily over its merits, but appears to have been retaliation for the Legislature’s approval of a referendum allowing Missourians to vote on health and safety regulations for women’s healthcare.

Reports say a provision of the abortion legislation that was a key sticking point for Democrats was its ban on sex-change treatments for minors.

The Heartlander reached out to Nurrenbern for comment on whether she opposed the stadium package on those grounds.

The Heartlander reported exclusively Wednesday that Gov. Kehoe had warned Republican lawmakers he believes the Royals will announce their move to Kansas next week if his incentive package were to fail, as it did in the Senate.