John William Loudon

Early life

He was born and raised in St. Louis, one of four boys to parents, Robert and Janice, who enjoyed opening their home and exposing their children to a steady flow of foreign exchange students. In high school, Loudon showed particular aptitude in German which led to his being an exchange student in Jever, Germany and staying with the language into doing master's level work at the University of Missouri, Columbia. He was also the captain of his high school wrestling team. He graduated from Westminster College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1989.

Career

He is the executive director of a California construction organization. Formerly he operated a Public Relations business co-founded with his wife, Legacy Group of Missouri, Inc.

Political career

He was first elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1994, serving there through 1998. He was elected to the Missouri State Senate in 2000, and again in 2004. While in the Senate, Loudon founded and chaired the Senate’s Small Business, Insurance, and Industrial Relations Committee, was vice chair of the Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee, and a member of the committees on Education, Gubernatorial Appointments, and Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence.

Accomplishments

While mostly known for business and labor issues including health insurance affordability and passage of bipartisan unemployment insurance reform that raised the weekly benefit amount from $250 up to $320, Loudon also passed legislation and a fallen workers license plate and a number of bills relating to liberty issues including passage of a model anti-SLAPP law, protecting citizen participation and public speech. He also passed state laws recognizing Bill of Rights Day and Tartan Day. He created significant controversy when he legalized the practice of midwifery by slipping a change into his omnibus health insurance reform bill.

Adoption and Child Protections

Loudon, an adoptive parent of a special needs child, devoted considerable effort to rewriting Missouri adoption laws including the liberalization of the Missouri version of the federal Special Needs Adoption Tax Credit. Adoptive families of special needs children, including orphans either domestic or foreign, may use up to $10,000 of federal credits and Missouri is the only state that allows an additional $10,000 in tax credits which they may subtract against the amount of the credit from the total they owe the IRS or the state.

When political commentator, Bill O'Reilly exposed Missouri for low ratings by the child protection organizations behind Jessica's Law and Megan's Law, Loudon, who has a brother who trains probation officers to supervise sexual predators, decided to bring Missouri laws up to the standards of those organizations. He created in Missouri, the first in the nation, state fund providing grants to help local policing agencies hire cyber detectives to seek and stop sexual predators from finding kids. He also merged many provisions from his SB563 into HB1689, including enhanced penalties for those who violate children, a state hotline and a provision adding abortion clinic workers to the state list of mandated reporters, people who have regular contact with vulnerable people and are therefore legally required to ensure a report is made when abuse is observed or suspected.

Health Care Sharing Ministries

With the rising costs resulting from the full implementation of "Obamacare" the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Americans are increasingly seeking affordable health care coverage as traditional high deductible low benefit (sometimes referred to as "catastrophic" plans) were essentially outlawed. As part of his omnibus health insurance reform bill, Loudon made Missouri the only state to provide both safe harbor protection for the non-profit ministries, declaring them to be free from insurance regulation, but also afforded individuals and families the same tax deductibility of their plan premiums previously only available to holders of traditional insurance polices. Promoting the use of Health Care Sharing Ministries (sometimes called Medical Needs Sharing Ministries) was a major component of Loudon's Missouri Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 2007 which was designed as a state solution to lower the cost of insurance and reduce the pool of the uninsured. It included numerous provisions including tax credits for the insured and the ability of parents to keep their children on their plans until age 25 and any disabled child for life. Rather than mandating coverage, the bill allows Missourians to refuse to buy insurance but allowed health care providers to seek payment for unpaid bills through the state withholding of tax returns and lottery winnings.

Personal life

He married Gina (Gentry) Loudon, PhD in 1990, and they have five children, Lyda, Lily and Jack, Samuel, and Bo (Robert Brewster III). They reside in San Diego, California.