Capitol report

While it’s been almost a month since the regular session ended, the work of the legislature for the people of Missouri continues. In recent days, the Governor has signed into law several of the approximately 150 bills sent to his desk by the General Assembly. The Governor has until July 14 to take final action on these pieces of legislation. Thus far he has not vetoed an entire bill, but has issued 21 line-item vetoes to 10 separate budget bills. The governor’s line-item vetoes impact more than $12 million in funding in the state’s $28.6 billion operating budget.

I’m proud of the fact that I was able to get four of the bills that I sponsored across the legislative finish line this year will have a positive impact on the citizens of St. Francois County. I’m very thankful that all of these pieces of legislation have already been signed by the Governor and will become effective on  August 28, 2018.

One of my bills, (HB 1290) was incorporated into SB 573, which was approved by the legislature and then signed into law by the Governor on June 1. The legislation requires that the POW/MIA flag be flown on state properties that have the capability of flying the US, Missouri and POW flags together.  This bill has no cost to the state of Missouri but is very important to the veterans in my district, and to all of us who want to acknowledge the sacrifices of those who have not returned from war.

Another piece of legislation I sponsored (HB 1291) was signed by the Governor on July 5 as an omnibus local and county government bill.  The legislation will give the County Commissioners flexibility in their use of the special road and bridge tax money which in turn will benefit the citizens in St Francois County.

The Governor signed SB 659, which contains provisions from my HB 2306, on June 29. The bill will allow the creation of a non-profit land trust for the purpose of managing contaminated land, and will allow our community to benefit from the money being held in the ASARCO funds.

On June 1, the governor signed SB 982, which contains my legislation, HB 2225. This is an important consumer protection bill relating to the billing practices of insurance companies.  This bill will help control the charges for unexpected emergency room and out-of-network billing.

This was a very productive session for our district and I want to thank everyone for their support and input regarding their opinions as legislation was being discussed on House Floor.

This report was filed July 12, 2018