Missouri lawmakers have approved new rules cracking down on reimbursements for travel to and from the state capitol—a change that a source says was triggered by apparent abuses of past policy by a Brentwood Democrat.
State Representative Ray Reed filed paperwork claiming he’d made 31 trips to and from Jefferson City while the legislature was not in session last summer, a tally that far exceeded other legislators from the St. Louis area. That led to Reed being cut checks for gas and mileage reimbursements totaling $5,076, supplementing his standard $41,770 annual salary.
Get a fresh take on the day’s top news
Subscribe to the St. Louis Daily newsletter for a smart, succinct guide to local news from award-winning journalists Sarah Fenske and Ryan Krull.
This past May, the Missouri House’s Administration and Accounts Committee changed the rules for such reimbursements when the legislature is out of session. Lawmakers are currently allotted up to $9,000 a year for travel, mailers and postage for constituent communication, office supplies, and technology. (Lawmakers can get a little more if they share a legislative assistant.) That money comes from what is often called a “700 Account,” a name derived from the fact that the account used to provide $700 a month for lawmakers’ operating expenses.
Going forward, lawmakers will only be able to get reimbursed for one trip each week to and from the Capitol without special approval. That would mean far less reimbursement for Reed: In the first week of June 2025, for instance, he sought, and received, reimbursements for no fewer than five trips to and from the Capitol.
Reed’s behavior was a major factor for the changes to the policy concerning mileage reimbursement, according to a source familiar with the changes.
Reed’s 31 trips took place between May 19 and August 29 of last year. During roughly that same timeframe, Representative Steve Butz, who represents South City and a sliver of South County, appears to have been reimbursed for one trip, to the tune of $187. Marty Joe Murray, whose district includes downtown, sought reimbursement for four, for around $730.
Representative Kimberly-Anne Collins, whose district covers the parts of the central corridor and North City, submitted five out-of-session trips to Jefferson City during that same general timeframe for which she was reimbursed about $840. She also received additional reimbursement for travel within her own district, specifically for disaster relief after the May 2025 tornado as well as for driving to prisons around the state, part of her passion for helping incarcerated Missourians. Even including all that, her total travel reimbursement was about half of Reed’s just for travel to the Capitol and back to St. Louis.
Representative Peggy McGaugh (R-Carrollton) chairs the Administration and Accounts committee. She says that it became clear to her that policy changes related to the 700 accounts were necessary, saying, “There were, yes, a couple of people that seem to habitually drain theirs pretty quickly, down down to nothing left.” She believed the money wasn’t being spent on mailings to constituents or other constituent work. “It was definitely for reimbursements,” she said, though she declined to name any specific lawmakers who triggered the change.
Representative Kemp Strickler (D-Lee’s Summit), the ranking Democrat on the committee, was similarly nonspecific. “I don’t know who was doing it, who was not doing it,” he said. “But there were a few cases.” He did say that, as far as he knew, Reed’s name did not come up.
In a brief interview last week, Reed stressed that he followed House rules with his travel reimbursements. “I checked in with HR in the basement before I turned in every single form to make sure I was doing it the right way.”
He says the large number of trips he was reimbursed for was a matter of timing. Last year saw two special sessions called by the governor: One in June related to trying to keep the Kansas City Chiefs in Missouri as well as pass disaster relief for St. Louis. That special session ran from June 9 to 11. The other special session in 2025 was related to the governor and legislature making the Missouri congressional map more favorable to Republicans by gerrymandering the district in Kansas City. Reed was among that effort’s most outspoken critics. That special session ran from September 3 to 9.
Reed’s reimbursed travel includes seven trips in May, thirteen trips in June, five in July and six in August. He says that while he was doing “special session stuff in Jeff City” he was also having to come back to St. Louis to help his wife finalize her legal paperwork to get her green card. (Reed has written and spoken significantly about this.)
“I had to go back and forth between the lawyer’s office and then back home to the district, and then back to the Capitol, as the governor called that special session,” he said. All of that added up to “a lot of traveling.”
Asked about one instance of Reed being reimbursed for travel to and from Jefferson City on the same day he posted a photo of himself having lunch in Maplewood, Reed was adamant: “I was actually in Jeff City each of those days.”
On August 14, 2025, Reed was reimbursed for travel from St. Louis to Sedalia for the Missouri State Fair’s “MoLeg” day. However, that same day he posted photos to his Facebook page tagged to Jefferson City.
“I wasn’t reimbursed for that,” Reed initially told SLM of the $220 reimbursement. After we sent him a screenshot of his House Member Expense Account, he said he’d get back to us.
He later emailed to say that a mileage reimbursement had been submitted for the state fair trip, which had been preapproved for legislators. “But I ultimately was unable to attend and only made it to Jeff City that day,” he wrote. “I take responsibility for this oversight and thank you for bringing this discrepancy to my attention.” He said he worked with House staff and to repay the difference in the mileage..
Reed said that, overall, he saved Missouri taxpayers money by not using the full funding allotted to his 700 Account.
“I did not abuse or misuse the taxpayers’ dollars,” he said. “And actually, my office saved the taxpayers in my district a few thousand dollars, because we didn’t use it and sent it back to the state.”
Reed is currently in a primary race for his seat against Brentwood Mayor Mayor David Dimmitt. He said that the biggest difference between him and the mayor is that of style. “I’m running a positive, hopeful campaign,” he said, in contrast to Dimmitt, who Reed said was going negative against him.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article provided the wrong amount of reimbursement for a trip Reed reported making to Sedalia (which he later acknowledged involved only going to Jefferson City). He was reimbursed approximately $220 after claiming 316 miles of travel, not $316. We regret the error.
