Medical marijuana bill moves out of the House Rules Committee
My bill HB 1290 is on the calendar and should be coming to the House floor soon for discussion. This bill requires all state buildings and state parks to fly the POW/MIA flag along with the United States flag and the Missouri flag. If a state building or state park does not possess a POW/MIA flag, a flag must be requested from a local veteran’s organization. If a donated flag is unavailable or if displaying the flag under any circumstance would be inconsistent with the state policy for display of national and state flags the state building or state park must be exempt from the provisions of the bill. There would be no cost to this bill.
HB 2306 creates the “Environmental Restoration Corporation Act,” which allows for the formation of a nonprofit corporation to hold, manage, or own environmentally impaired property that is subject to an ongoing cleanup or remedial action. In addition to the powers of all nonprofit corporations, any environmental restoration corporation has certain additional powers as specified in the bill, including the ability to acquire, accept, convey, dispose, encumber, manage and own real property that is subject to certain clean up or remedial action and to enter into contracts with private or public entities to conduct, manage, oversee, and regulate activities that may be necessary for the implementation of clean up and remedial actions on such property. Any environmental restoration corporation will be managed by a board of no less than five directors, who will initially be appointed by the incorporators. The bill specifies the make-up of the board and its duties and requirements. All actions of the corporations must be taken at meetings open to the public. If an environmental restoration corporation receives public funds for any activities at a specific property, the corporation must allow for periodic audits by the State Auditor and upon request, provide an annual report to the General Assembly concerning the receipt and use of the funds. A court settlement last week will allow $111 million to be used for cleanup in St. Francois County over the next 12 years and this bill would allow for projects outside the scope of the settlement.
HB 1554 for medical marijuana was passed out of the House Rules Committee this week. This bill changes the law regarding the use of hemp extract to treat intractable epilepsy to authorize the legal use of medical marijuana to treat terminal illnesses. This bill authorizes the Department of Health and Senior Services to issue medical cannabis registration cards to any Missouri resident, 18 years old or older, who can provide a statement signed by a doctor stating that the individual suffers from a terminal illness and may benefit from treatment with medical cannabis and that the individual has considered all other treatment options currently approved by the FDA and all relevant clinical trials conducted in Missouri. I am all in favor of easing the pain of terminally ill patients, but I need to continue to gather information before I could consider voting for the measure.
House Investigative Committee Releases Report
It was on March 1 that the Missouri House of Representatives gave overwhelming bipartisan support to a resolution that outlined the powers of a special investigative committee. The committee was formed by the House Speaker to investigate the facts surrounding alleged misconduct by Governor Greitens.
During the last several weeks, the committee conducted a fair, thorough, and timely investigation of the facts. The committee’s membership included lawyers, retired law enforcement officers, and other members with diverse professional backgrounds, from different parts of the state. Their job was not to make their own conclusions but to hear testimony and make a judgement about the credibility of that testimony. After weeks of hearings and testimony, the committee finally released its findings on Wednesday, April 11.
The committee’s findings are now available online on the Missouri House of Representatives website located at www.house.mo.gov. The link to the committee’s findings is on the front page of the website under “Special Investigative Committee on Oversight.” The link leads to a page where the committee’s report, transcripts, and exhibits are available in PDF format. Before reading any of the provided material, please be aware the report contains content of a sensitive and sexual nature. The House Special Investigative Committee on Oversight has kept descriptions of an adult nature and coarse language in order to provide an unfiltered record of witness testimony. In some cases, the identities of witnesses and sensitive information have been redacted from the record to protect privacy.
I will keep you updated as additional information is available. It is an honor to serve as your State Representative.
Missouri 117th District House Representative Mike Henderson, R-Bonne Terre, files his Capitol report at the end of each week during the state legislative session.
Henderson
