Missouri bill to cut off recurring political donations moves toward state Senate debate

A Missouri Senate committee on Monday gave a warm reception to a bill intended to bar candidates from raising money with automatically recurring donations, a practice the sponsor of the legislation called “appalling.”

The bill has three main provisions, said state Rep. Jim Murphy, a St. Louis County Republican. The first would require campaigns to make donations a one-time event unless the donor agrees to make them recurring contributions. The second would end all recurring contributions when an election is over. The third would require all solicitations to state the candidate or PAC that will receive the money and if a donation processing service is taking a share of the funds.

Murphy told the Senate Local Government, Elections and Pensions Committee on Monday that the bill is a response to a November report in The Independent that showed how former state Sen. Bill Eigel, a Republican running for St. Charles County executive, was receiving large amounts of money from out-of-state donors originally solicited to give to his failed 2024 campaign for governor.

A Korean War veteran from Nebraska named Russell Wood made 35 donations, starting in December 2024 and totaling $1,050, to Eigel’s campaign for executive. Wood made his first donation to Eigel in October 2023 and was tapped for $1,380 before Eigel terminated the gubernatorial campaign committee in early October 2024.




https://missouriindependent.com/2026/03/30/missouri-bill-to-cut-off-recurring-political-donations-moves-toward-state-senate-debate/