Volume 2, Issue 1 – The Week of Jan. 13, 2020
The Start of Another Legislative Session
State lawmakers have returned to the State Capitol in Jefferson City for the start of the Second Regular Session of the 100th General Assembly. In the Missouri Senate, hundreds of bills have been filed, and we’ve already started to hear some of them in committee this week.
In the Senate Rules, Joint Rules, Resolutions and Ethics Committee, we heard Senate Joint Resolution 38. I believe this proposed amendment to Missouri’s Constitution undermines the Clean Missouri initiative voters overwhelmingly approved in Nov. 2018. Senate Joint Resolution 38 returns Missouri’s redistricting system to bipartisan citizen commissions. Under the Clean Missouri language, which is still currently law, a nonpartisan state demographer will be in charge of the redistricting process. I do not believe we should undo the will of the voters and eliminate the nonpartisan state demographer before they even have a chance to do their job. If approved by the General Assembly, SJR 38 would still have to be approved by Missouri voters in order to go into effect. I’ll do my best to keep you informed on SJR 38 and other pieces of legislation similar to it as they move throughout the legislative process.
Another proposed constitutional amendment was discussed in the Seniors, Families and Children Committee. Senate Joint Resolution 32, if approved by voters, would place work requirements on certain MO HealthNet participants. I oppose this legislation as well. In my opinion, stipulations like work requirements place costly bureaucratic hurdles in front of some of our state’s most vulnerable citizens and these dangerous requirements could also potentially force these individuals to lose vital health care services.
In the comings weeks, another issue will be discussed in the Missouri Senate that hits close to home for us in the St. Louis region. Senate Bill 558 and Senate Bill 905 propose removing the residency requirements for police officers in the City of St. Louis. Currently, commissioned and civilian personnel of the St. Louis City police force must have a primary address in the city for a total of seven years, and then they are only required to live within a one-hour response time of the city. These bills remove the primary residency requirement for those living within a one-hour response time. I’m interested to hear from my constituents on this issue and how they believe removing the residency requirements may affect our city’s police force.
Lastly, while the Legislature is discussing a range of important issues, my colleagues and I recently had the opportunity to hear from the governor on his ideas for the coming year. During his annual State of the State Address, the governor focused largely on promoting workforce development initiatives meant to build a highly skilled workforce here in Missouri. The governor touted the over 42,000 Missourians taking part in the One Start program, which provides customized on-the-job training to help fill the need of high-in-demand labor. He discussed how hundreds of adult Missourians are returning to school to better themselves with the help of the Fast-Track Scholarship program. He also highlighted ASPIRE MO, which is helping incarcerated women gain the business skills and knowledge to successfully reenter the workforce. Many of these programs were started in the past year with the help of the General Assembly, and the governor called on lawmakers to continue to support these programs and others like them to ensure Missouri’s workforce remains strong for the future.
Thank you for your interest in the legislative process. I look forward to hearing from you on the issues that are important to you this legislative session. If there is anything my office can do for you, please do not hesitate to contact my office at (573) 751-3599.