JEFFERSON CITY 鈥 The Missouri attorney general鈥檚 office has asked a federal judge to dismiss a challenge to a law requiring state lawmakers to wait six months before they become lobbyists.
In a court filing late last month, the attorney general鈥檚 office said a lawsuit filed by former Rep. Tony Lovasco and former Sen. Holly Rehder no longer is valid because the six-month 鈥渃ooling-off period鈥 after they left office in January had expired.
The duo鈥檚 鈥渃laims for prospective relief all became moot on July 8, 2025, because plaintiffs can now work as paid lobbyists,鈥 Assistant Attorney General J. Michael Patton wrote.
Lovasco, a St. Charles County Republican, lost his reelection bid last year and filed a constitutional challenge to a 2016 law barring lawmakers and statewide elected officials from registering to become lobbyists immediately after leaving office.
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Rehder, a Sikeston Republican, lost a primary race for lieutenant governor. She joined Lovasco鈥檚 lawsuit earlier this year and since has registered with the Missouri Ethics Commission to become a lobbyist.
Lovasco has not registered.
The legal debate over a mandatory waiting period on lawmakers has been underway for years. Last year, a federal court tossed out a separate 2018 law that imposed a two-year waiting period aimed at preventing elected officials from currying favor from special interests while in office and from having undue influence on former colleagues after leaving office.
Moving from the Legislature to the lobbying ranks is common as lawmakers seek to cash in on their time in office, where they make about $41,000 per year.
Former Senate President Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, who left office in January due to term limits, waited the required six months to register. In his July ethics commission filing, Rowden lists Torch Electronics as one of his clients.
During his time in the Senate, multiple unsuccessful attempts were made to legalize and regulate the gambling machines that Torch has placed in gas stations and bars across the state.
Rowden, who works for a firm headed by former House Speaker Steve Tilley, also is representing the Osage Nation, which wants to build a casino at the Lake of the Ozarks.
Rehder鈥檚 client list includes School Choice Missouri, which promotes a private school voucher program she backed during her tenure in the House and Senate.
They will join dozens of their former colleagues in the building, including former Senate Presidents Michael Gibbons and Tom Dempsey.
At least 32 other states impose waiting periods for lawmakers looking to move into lobbying, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
In his lawsuit, Lovasco said the removal of the two-year waiting period provides a pathway to ending the current six-month waiting period.
The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in July found the two-year restriction violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution because it usurped free speech laws of both a former legislator and the company that wanted to hire him.
Patton, nonetheless, asked U.S. District Judge Beth Davis to bring the case to a close because it had become moot under the law in question.
鈥淭his court鈥檚 show cause order correctly observes that (state statute) no longer applies to plaintiffs, so this action is now moot and therefore requires dismissal,鈥 Patton wrote.
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