We dealt with over 45 bills last week. Many of these were brought up as a courtesy to the bill handlers to give them experience for possible legislation next year. As I've said before, most good bills are the effort of as much as three or more years work. Some of them, although just one- or two-liners, are important additions to statute. HB1955 is a good example. It exempts volunteer workers from having to have workers compensation insurance. Organizations like the VFW or Elks Clubs that depend on volunteers who only work a few hours a month to do much of their work would be exempted from the expense and paper work of workers comp. SB677 allows Epinephrine usage in emergency situations and SB814 gives deployed military personal an exemption from Missouri Income tax. There were also some very complicated bills such as HB1765 which deals with Criminal Code Revisions. This is an example of a bill that has been in the works for 4 years or more. HB1465 allows doctors to have more latitude with collaborative practices with nurse practitioners. This law has tremendous importance for rural areas where there are fewer and fewer doctors.
The big news splash last week was SJR39 failing to make it out of committee. This bill originated in the Senate early in the session and caused a 39-hour filibuster which ended in a little used procedure forcing a bill to come to a vote. I was one of 12 members on the Emerging Issues Committee that heard the bill two weeks ago in a 5-hour marathon that didn't end until 2 a.m. At the end of the hearing we thought we were probably one vote short of having the seven needed to pass it on and, after an intense 10 days of lobbying, we ended up with a 6-6 tie. The bill was titled Religious Freedom and would have prevented the State from penalizing a person for refusing to participate in a same-sex wedding. I voted to pass the bill out of committee because I felt that we should have sent the bill forward for floor debate and eventually put it on the ballot for the voters of Missouri to decide. The sponsors have assured us that they will bring the bill back next session with improvements to make it more acceptable. We'll have to wait and see.
With only two weeks left before adjournment, we still have some important bills left unresolved. One of them is Photo ID. It was filibustered in the Senate and set aside for consideration this week. We also have to decide on the fuel tax increase and the override attempt on the Paycheck Protection measure. We have some long days ahead of us for sure.
I was the speaker at the Crowder Ag Banquet Thursday evening. I gave the students a little lesson on the history of food production. I pointed out that at the end of World War II, there were only 150 million people in this country compared to over 312 million today. The world population was 2.5 billion compared to 7.5 billion today. Beef numbers were at 17 million and today - 38 million, and poultry was nearly nothing compared to over 9 billion chickens being processed last year. To accomplish this, we use fertilizer, pesticides, insecticides, antibiotics and genetic modifications. In the next 50 years, world food needs will double from today's levels. I told them they had a big job to do to meet those needs while dealing with the Government-mandated reductions in the use of all the minerals and chemicals that allowed us to keep up with the growth since the '50s.
Friday morning we met with the Crowder Board and were given a presentation lining out their needs for next session. They are doing an amazing job of educating while keeping the costs low enough to be affordable. They are emphasizing vocational training and have a high school dual credit program that allows high school students to graduate with their high school degree and a two-year college degree simultaneously! Our hats off to the administration and faculty for an outstanding job!
More next week. Until then, I am and remain in your service.
-- State Rep. Bill Lant may be reached by calling 417-437-8223 or 573-751-9801, or emailing [email protected]. Opinions are those of the author.
Community on 05/05/2016