Rural Caucus Newsletter, May 22 2026

Kehoe moved four proposed constitutional amendments to the Aug. 4 primary ballot: Missouri governor places tax overhaul, initiative petition limits on August ballot • Missouri Independent :

Amendment 1 - renewing a sales tax for state parks and soil conservation; 

Amendment 2 - requiring direct election of county assessors; 

Amendment 4 - changing the threshold for constitutional amendments proposed by initiative petition;

Amendment 5 - authorizing lawmakers to expand sales taxes as part of an effort to eliminate the state income tax. 

Kehoe dropped two of the year’s biggest ballot fights into August and we know why: keeping Amendments 4 and 5 off the November ballot means they won’t share space with the heavyweight fights over abortion rights and the congressional map. 

Now that we know what’s landing on the August ballot versus November, we’ll be able to line up the right SWAG and voter‑education materials for the State Fair tent. It also gives the State Fair Planning Committee a chance to put together a simple, plain-spoken guide and clear voter checklist to hand out to help folks with the November ballot. Even though the Fair starts after the August primary, we’re planning to release a digital checklist on social media to help voters navigate the August measures as well as lots of infographics! 

Missouri News

• Nothing says ‘community partnership’ like using pandemic recovery money to prep 5,000 acres for Big Tech, then telling actual residents they can hear the details later: Google data center plan raises tax, transparency questions in rural Missouri • Missouri Independent. Google said water usage will be less than "kitchen needs." So ask them this: How exactly does a multi‑billion‑dollar, multi‑building hyperscale new data center - sitting on 900+ acres - magically have "minimal" impact on local water systems?  Does it run on vibes? Does it hydrate itself with hope? Another major kick in the ass: residents are being excluded in discussions. That's on purpose, folks.

• According to the fiscal note 5720S.01I, MO is covering basically nothing for these new “Missouri Rangers.” One admin job, a $2,000 IT tweak, and that’s about it. All the real costs - equipment, liability, insurance, training, staffing - gets dumped on schools. Missouri schools could hire armed ‘rangers’ under bill sent to governor • Missouri Independent. Republicans said these new armed guards will improve responses to threats… but only if schools can afford them. And the fiscal note makes it pretty clear the state isn’t planning to help with that part.

• There could be as many as nine ballot measures in August and November, including proposals on abortion, taxes, initiative petitions, state parks and congressional redistricting: Missouri voters could face as many as nine ballot measures in 2026 • Missouri Independent

• Tuition is going up due to overall costs are rising and state funding isn’t keeping up: University of Missouri Curators plan 4% tuition increase for undergraduates on all campuses | KCUR - Kansas City news and NPR so they’re shifting more of the burden onto students.

• The next price shock isn’t going to hit at the pump -  it’s going to smack folks right in the grocery cart. Groceries just had the biggest price hike in years. It’s about to get even worse, experts warn  Oil’s the headline, but food is the plot twist nobody’s ready for. Even Walmart is sounding the alarm that food inflation is about to surge again  Walmart among retailers issuing price warnings: Full list - Newsweek. When the biggest grocer in the country starts warning families to brace themselves, rural communities know what that means: higher bills on basics we can’t skip.

• We all know Trump's “anti‑weaponization fund” is basically a slush pile with a catchy name - a pot of money with no guardrails at all. But Blanche and Trump have no idea what kind of Pandora’s box they just cracked open, and Will Westmoreland is plotting to use it against them: Get your receipts ready! We’ve are all targets of this Trump Administration!. Stay tuned.

National News

• If the price is right - corporations can buy anything. Reynolds American dropped $5 million into Trump’s super PAC on April 30, and - what do you know - eight days later the FDA magically delivered the exact gift the tobacco industry had on its wish list: Vape Company Gave Millions to Trump Before Key Decision. And just to make the corruption storyline nice and tidy, there’s a documented lunch with Trump in the middle where he personally stepped in to “help.”  

• The US Senate gave its strongest bipartisan rebuke of Trump’s war powers when they voted 50-47  to advance a War Powers Resolution to limit Trump’s war on Iran: US Senate votes to advance resolution to curb Trump’s Iran war powers | US Senate | The Guardian. And the House panicked when they realized they didn't have the votes to stop it: GOP leaders abruptly cancel House vote on Iran war powers, shielding Trump from rebuke. 

• David Venturella did the full revolving‑door cha‑cha: left ICE, made $6M at private‑prison giant GEO Group (one of the biggest private prison and detention companies in the country), then strolled right back in to oversee the same detention contracts that enriched his old employer. Now he’s acting ICE director: David Venturella represents the revolving door between ICE and private prison corporations | Detention Watch Network. Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee fired off a letter warning that putting a former GEO Group executive in charge of ICE’s contracting pipeline isn’t a “potential conflict of interest” - it’s the dictionary definition.

• The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts - a panel composed entirely of members appointed by Trump and despite overwhelming public opposition - voted to approve the modified design for that 250-foot "triumphal arch" monstrosity: Design plan for Trump's proposed Washington arch is approved by Trump-appointed commission | PBS News.

• The Social Security Administration is warning that by 2037, if Congress keeps doing nothing, every retiree in America is looking at a 26% automatic cut to their benefits. Not a rumor. Not a meme. SSA’s own 2025 Trustees Report: The 2025 OASDI Trustees Report. The math is simple. We’ve got fewer workers paying in and more retirees drawing out. The bucket’s draining faster than it’s being filled. And here’s the part that Republicans don't want to admit: undocumented workers have been paying $20–25 billion a year into Social Security but they’re not allowed to collect a dime. That money props up the Trust Fund. Always has. The Impact of President Trump’s Deportation Policies: The Social Security Program | Penn Wharton Budget Model

• According to the GAO - Congress’s own nonpartisan watchdog - numbers tell a very different story than the one Trump, Musk, and DOGE kept selling. They promised to cut “waste, fraud, and abuse” by $1 trillion, but the measurable outcome in 2025 went the opposite direction -  up 15% or $186B dollars, and improper payments increased by $153B: Payment Integrity: Agencies' Estimated Improper Payments Increased to $186 Billion in Fiscal Year 2025 | U.S. GAO. Turns out the only thing actually cut was the oversight.

Other News

• Erin Brockovich is back at it - setting her sights on Big Tech’s AI boom. She’s calling the data‑center land rush the next great environmental shakedown of American communities, and the early evidence is backing her up. Her new self‑reporting map at Brockovich Data Center Reporting – U.S. AI Data Center Awareness & Issue Map pulled in more than 1,600 complaints in the first week alone, with residents flagging everything from noise pollution to spiking utility bills to serious water‑depletion risks. And the pattern she’s seeing is the same old song: corporations roll in promising “jobs and tax revenue,” local officials fast‑track approvals with minimal environmental review, and the people who actually live there end up holding the bag - stuck with the noise, the bills, the water strain, and the long‑term consequences.

In closing...

The Senate confirmed Steve Pearce as the next director of the Bureau of Land Management - the agency that manages 245 million acres of our public land.Senate confirms Steve Pearce to lead the Bureau of Land Management | AP News

Pearce’s record:
• Co‑founded an oil & gas drilling company
• Took $2.3 million in oil & gas industry campaign contributions over 14 years in Congress & personally made up to $2 million in a single year from his own oil & gas holdings
• Scored 4% from the League of Conservation Voters - one of the worst ratings in the entire U.S. House
• Pushed to sell off federal public lands to “pay down the deficit,” arguing the government owns land “we do not even need”
• Voted to fast‑track public‑land sales
• Fought to shrink national monuments
• Blocked reforms that would have required oil & gas companies to pay fair royalties for drilling on public land

That’s the guy the Trump wants running the BLM. On the same day he was confirmed, the BLM officially killed the Public Lands Rule the rule that required the agency to treat conservation as an equal use of public land alongside drilling, mining, and grazing.

So the rule is gone. And the man to enforce that is someone who spent his entire career trying to sell the land off entirely even though 76% of Westerners oppose selling public lands for oil and gas development & 98% of public commenters told the BLM to keep the conservation rule. Nobody asked for this.

This Memorial Day Weekend, take a moment to remember the soldiers who died serving our country and the families who carry their stories forward. Stay safe out there!

Joshua Dunne

Chair

Jacqueline Farr

Vice-Chair

John Parks

Treasurer