The last few years in the Missouri Senate have seen much attention paid to those who can speak the loudest.  This is not shocking as in politics, the loudest personalities are often given the lion’s share of the attention by the media, the public, and others. National politics has a long history of these sorts of figures and Missouri politics, of course, is no different and the Missouri Senate has had its share of larger-than-life personalities.

There are those, however, who do not seek the limelight. Those who tend to be policy-minded and more concerned with the mission to enact meaningful reform. Those who would rather than enhance their public ID with grandiose speeches or controversial statements, are happier to keep their eye on the job of governance. One senator in particular is keen on doing such a task.

Trent is one of those.

He came up the hard way, born and raised on a small farm in Douglas County, near Ava, Missouri. His family had a few cattle, a small garden, and, as he puts it, “the main crop was rock.” His father fixed refrigerators, his mother ran the books, and together they made things work.

“I guess we were probably pretty poor, but we didn’t know it,” Trent says. “We always had plenty to eat, and when you’re a kid, you don’t think about things like how the car is ten years old.”

His upbringing was steeped in faith. Every week, they went to the Church of Christ, and he still attends today. When he wasn’t working the farm or helping with the family business, he enjoyed reading.

“There wasn’t a lot to do for fun living out in the countryside, but the local library let you check out eight books a week. I always tried to finish them all before the next week,” he recalls. A love of reading and literature would eventually help shape his views on politics, economics, and philosophy.

While at Ava High School, Trent participated in speech, debate, and drama which would help to shape his skills in politics later on. Coincidentally, former State Senator Karla Eslinger, now Commissioner of DESE, served as the Superintendent for Ava when Trent attended High School.

After high school, he became the first in his family to graduate college, earning a political science degree from Missouri State with a history minor. But law school was calling.

St. Louis University was where he found his real passion: Constitutional law, especially free speech. About the same time he was finishing his education, a local businessman named Billy Long was running for Congress. Trent sent an email offering to volunteer. Next thing he knew, he was Long’s first full-time campaign staffer.

When Long won, Trent followed him to D.C. as his Deputy Chief of Staff, working on Missouri-centric issues and assisting with the Congressman’s work on the Energy and Commerce Committee. But Trent never planned to stay in Washington.

“I knew I didn’t want to stay in DC forever,” Trent said. “So I started looking for jobs practicing law back in Missouri and eventually found one dealing with Social Security Disability.”

He enjoyed practicing law and helping people with their legal problems, but he couldn’t resist the opportunity to return to public service. When the 133rd House District opened up due to term limits, he saw his shot. He won the seat in 2016.

“Being a state representative seemed like something that would fit the skills I had already developed,” Trent explains. “I had seen how government worked, or in most cases how it didn’t work, and thought I could provide a unique view on what the state can do to avoid making the same mistakes as the federal government.”

Trent served six years in the House when Senate District 20 opened up. He threw his hat in the ring and won the two-way primary and would go on to again replace Eric Burlison, who had chosen to run for Congress.

If you were to watch Senator Trent from the gallery, you would think he had been in the Senate for much longer than just two years. Putting aside his ability to put complex policy issues into something even a middle school student could understand, Senator Trent seems to be well-adjusted to the Senate’s style of deliberation and its process. While many former House members seem to have a difficult time adjusting to the debate, process, and customs of the Senate, Trent acts as if this were all second nature to him.

Three years in, Trent has already passed three bills and five amendments. In a legislature where gridlock is the norm, he’s moving pieces across the board.

When asked if he had a piece of legislation he would like to see pass during his career, he stated “Repealing the income tax is one of the long-term goals I’d like to see get done. I think few things can change the trajectory of the state more than that because it unlocks the potential of the individual. If you tax something you get less of it and if you tax people’s productivity, their income, then you are going to get less productivity.”

Trent has the potential to go much further than the Missouri State Senate. By the end of his first term, he will be one of the most successful Senators in state government and if granted a second term, well then the sky’s the limit.

He doesn’t have to be the loudest guy in the room when his actions speak volumes. If you’re watching Missouri politics in 2025 and 2026, keep an eye on Senator Curtis Trent.

Jake Kroesen

Jake Kroesen is a Jackson County native and a graduate of the University of Central Missouri. He holds a B.S. in Political Science.

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SB 47
The committee started off with hearing SB 47. The bill amends the class action rules in the Supreme Court to mirror the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Key changes include requiring class action certification orders to define the class, claims, issues, and defenses, and specify findings and conclusions to support the decision. The order must also contain provisions for appointing class counsel. Notice to class members can be done through various means, but must include essential information in plain language, such as the nature of the action, class definition, and time for requesting exclusion. The rule also requires court approval for class actions to be settled, dismissed, or compromised, with consideration given to fairness, reasonableness, and adequacy of the proposal.

It would alter Missouri’s rule 52 and change it to mirror Federal Rule 23, which saw its latest alteration adopted by the Supreme Court in 2018. So far 19 states, such as Texas, Wisconsin, California, Arizona and others have adopted legislation similar to Rule 23.

Some proponents of the bill argued that it would help to discourage out-of-state firms soliciting Missouri residents from igniting class action lawsuits against companies based here in the state.

Those against the bill argued against one line of the bill in particular, that being a simple word change from MAY to SHALL. Those against the bill stated that this simple change could add an extra one to two years into the litigation process.

Individuals involved in the bills creation told me this issue is one which can easily be resolved.

SB 46
Senator Trent then proposed SB 46 before the committee.

The bill summary reads “For all tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, this act authorizes an income tax deduction for one hundred percent of all income reported as a capital gain for federal income tax purposes.” A simple removal of Missouri’s capital gains tax.

Senator Trent argued that the capital gains tax has an adverse effect on the state’s growth and that it punishes those who invest in our state. As it stands now, Missouri’s capital gains tax rate is the same rate as the income tax, that being 4.7%.

Representative Chad Perkins is currently sponsoring an identical bill in the House. HB 594, also known as “The Missouri Revitalization Act,” will be receiving a House hearing today at noon before the Commerce Committee in House Hearing Room 1.

Jake Kroesen

Jake Kroesen is a Jackson County native and a graduate of the University of Central Missouri. He holds a B.S. in Political Science.

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Removal of Committee Slot Limits

A new change this session is the removal of the Committee Slot Limit, a rule that was established in the prior General Assembly. The Slot Limit only allowed committees to choose two bills to be voted out of committee. This in theory forced committees to choose which two bills were likely to pass through the Senate and possibly be signed by the Governor.

Removing this could be a possible tactical error on the House’s part as the Senate could be even more inclined to disregard a higher quantity of House bills that touch on every subject. After all, as Scott Faughn pointed out on his Midweek Update, the Senate did end up passing the House’s budget last session.

Whether this is due to the tactical thinking of former Speaker Dean Plocher or the condition which the Senate was in during the 2024 session, only time will tell.

Elimination of the Current Bill Count

In another move to increase the number of bills the House could pass, we will see an elimination of the bill cap. House members, in the past, were only able to only sponsor 20 pieces of legislation, with this rule change members could theoretically sponsor as many as they wanted.

 Removal of Spontaneous Amendments and Forcing Bills to Remain Germane to Underlying Bills

Another major rule change is one which would require amendments to the amendment and substitute amendments to be distributed prior to speaking on a bill or inquiring on a bill or an underlying amendment. Floor Leader Alex Riley argued on the House floor that this would ensure more time for members to be able to analyze amendments prior to voting on them.

Another change would see that amendments would need to be germane to the underlying bill. The question of who decides whether or not an amendment is germane would, I suspect, be down to the Speaker himself.

Cutting Third Read Bill Debate Times from 10 Minutes to 5 

The final major change is that the time to speak on a bill during Third Read will be 5 minutes rather than the usual 10. An amendment sponsored by Democratic Rep. Keri Ingle was offered that would have kept the 10 minutes. The amendment was voted down 103-51.

All but one Democrat supported Ingle’s amendment and three Republicans voted for it.

The vote total for HR7 was 106-54 with Republican Representatives Michael Davis, Sparks, Durnell, Wolfin, Titus and Christensen voting No.

Jake Kroesen

Jake Kroesen is a Jackson County native and a graduate of the University of Central Missouri. He holds a B.S. in Political Science.

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