Tagged: John Lamping

A State Senate panel assigned to study immigration issues in Missouri held its final meeting today in Jefferson City.

Some of the discussion focused on so-called “anti-immigrant” comments made on the House and Senate floors in recent years.  Vanessa Crawford Aragon is Executive Director of Missouri Immigrant and Refugee Advocates.  She told committee chair Senator John Lamping (R, Ladue) that inflammatory speeches by some lawmakers have made life harder for immigrants in Missouri and they need to tone it down.

Despite being rejected by voters last month, there’s a new proposal to raise Missouri’s cigarette tax.

It’s part of a bill prefiled in the Missouri Senate that would also raise the state’s sales tax by one-half percent while fixing the state income tax rate at a flat 4 percent.  The proposal would raise the cigarette tax by 26 cents, from its current 17 cents per pack to 43 cents per pack.  It’s sponsored by Republican Senator John Lamping of St. Louis County.