Senator Karla May's May Report for the Week of Jan. 22, 2024

Friday, January 26, 2024

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The Week of Jan. 22, 2024

State of the State

On Wednesday, Jan. 24, the governor gave his final State of the State Address to a joint session of the General Assembly. Much of the speech focused on the successes of his administration, such as prioritizing the repair and replacement of crumbling roads and bridges. His administration set out to repair 250 bridges across the state and ended up repairing or replacing over 1,000, as well as over 17,000 miles of roads. This means about 50% of Missouri’s entire highway system, the seventh largest in the nation, has been repaired or replaced. Additionally, the I-70 expansion project is set to begin this summer, and the governor has called for a similar expansion project on I-44. 

 

The governor also laid out his funding proposals for the Fiscal Year ‘25 state operating budget. He has called for a $52 million investment in Missouri’s Child Care Subsidy Program; raising teachers’ starting pay to $40,000 a year; fully funding the school transportation budget; fully funding the K-12 Foundation Formula, with an extra $120 million over last year; and raising state employee pay. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I look forward to supporting these measures as we discuss the FY ‘25 budget in the coming months.

 

Bills and Committees

Senator May’s Legislation:

The following bills have been second read and referred to committee for a hearing:

  • Senate Bill 761 allows a child to be excused from attendance at school if the child is unable to attend school due to mental or behavioral health concerns, provided that the school receives documentation from a mental health professional.
  • Senate Bill 762 requires that, in addition to suicide prevention information mandated in current law, student ID cards must list the phone number for the Crisis Text Line, as well as the phone number for campus security for college students and the local non-emergency police department phone number for students in grades 7-12.
  • Senate Bill 857 establishes the “Elementary Literacy Fund” for the purpose of providing grants to school districts and charter schools for home reading programs for children in kindergarten to 5th grade.
  • Senate Bill 858 authorizes a sales tax exemption for diapers, incontinence products and feminine hygiene products.
  • Senate Bill 859 states that if a person is found to have suffered from a serious mental illness at the commission of the offense of murder in the first degree, and has significantly impaired capacity to exercise rational judgment, then that person is ineligible to receive the death penalty as punishment.
  • Senate Bill 943 requires practitioners, before an initial opioid prescription and the third in a course of treatment, to consult with the patient as to the risks of taking opioids and alternatives to opioids.
  • Senate Bill 944 establishes an extreme risk order of protection, which allows a court to prohibit an individual from possessing any firearm if a law enforcement officer or agency proves by a preponderance of the evidence that an immediate and significant danger exists to the individual at risk of causing personal injury to him or herself or others.
  • Senate Bill 945 creates the Missouri Family and Medical Leave Program to allow paid leave from work to care for a family member with a serious health condition; to care for a child within one year of the birth or placement of the child in the home for adoption or foster care; or for the educational advancement of the child.
  • Senate Bill 1021 establishes the Missouri Video Lottery Control Act and allows the State Lottery Commission to implement a system of video lottery game terminals and to issue licenses. 
  • Senate Bill 1022 adds a modifier for free and reduced lunch students to weighted average daily attendance. 
  • Senate Bill 1023 allows the circuit court of St. Louis City to collect a civil case filing fee of an amount not to exceed $20, rather than $15, for certain uses, including the maintenance of a law library.
  • Senate Bill 1083 also establishes the Missouri Video Lottery Control Act, adding that the State Lottery Commission is authorized to incur fees when accepting debit cards or other electronic payment methods, except for credit cards, for the sale of lottery game plays. 
  • Senate Bill 1278 designates the phrase “The Love Me State” as the official slogan of the state of Missouri.
  • Senate Bill 1279 provides that collaborative practice arrangements between a collaborating physician and an advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) will be exempt from geographic proximity requirements if the arrangement outlines the use of telehealth.

Judiciary Committee:

My legislation to add firefighters to the Critical Incident Stress Management Program, Senate Bill 760, was passed by the committee. 

 

The committee heard four bills this week:

  • Senate Bill 841 modifies provisions relating to the funding for the Office of the Public Defender.
  • Senate Bill 887 modifies provisions relating to certification of juveniles as adults for trial.
  • Senate Bill 765 establishes a conviction review unit.
  • Senate Bill 861 modifies provisions relating to expungement.

 

All four of these bills were added to Senate Bill 754, which creates Max’s Law to increase the charge and punishment for the offense of assault on a law enforcement animal. The committee voted to pass SB 754 with the newly added bills. 

 

Commerce Committee:

The committee did not hold a hearing this week. 

 

Appropriations Committee:

This week, the committee heard an overview of the governor’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget recommendations. 

 

Rules, Joint Rules, Resolutions and Ethics Committee:

The committee heard and passed Senate Concurrent Resolution 23 this week. This concurrent resolution disapproves and suspends the final order of rulemaking for a rule proposed by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education relating to the Virtual Instruction Program. This amendment related to rules attempting to implement House Bill 1552 (2022), which changed provisions regarding the funding of charter schools and full-time enrollment for the Missouri Course Access and Virtual Schools Program. Last year, the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules held hearings and found that the proposed amendment from the department violated state law, so SCR 23 needs to be passed within the first 30 legislative days of session by both the Senate and House of Representatives. 


Gubernatorial Appointments Committee:

This week, I had the honor of presenting Megan Price to the Gubernatorial Appointments Committee for appointment to the Missouri Workforce Development Board. Ms. Price previously served as the chief of staff for former state Senator Jill Schupp and currently serves as the executive director of the Missouri Works Initiative. She has had the opportunity to oversee several workforce development programs, including the Pre-Apprenticeship Construction Program in Kansas City, St. Louis and Springfield; the Dislocated Worker Program; and the Worker Wellness Program. Ms. Price has a proven track record as a leader and the initiative to get work done, and I am confident in her ability to serve the state well in this capacity. I look forward to seeing her work in this position and wish her the best of luck in this endeavor.

Senator Karla May presents Megan Price to the Senate Gubernatorial Appointments Committee for appointment to the Missouri Workforce Development Board.


Other News

State Auditor Audit of Secretary of State 

Missouri’s State Auditor issued a report on Jan. 22 accusing the Secretary of State of violating the law by refusing to provide information to auditors on implementation of a new statute relating to cyber security reviews of local election authorities.

 

Under the law in question, which the legislature enacted last year, the Secretary of State’s Office is required to perform cyber security reviews of Missouri’s 116 local election authorities. A separate state law grants the State Auditor’s Office access to all records of agencies subject to an audit.

 

“With a major election cycle right around the corner, verifying the implementation of the new cyber security reviews was a vital part of our audit,” the state auditor said in a news release accompanying the audit. “The law clearly provides our audit staff with the authority to receive and review this information, and it's disappointing the Secretary of State's Office stood in the way of our efforts to perform a thorough analysis of how the new cyber security reviews have been implemented.”

 

In his official response accompanying the audit findings, the Secretary of State said the disclosure of the details of his reviews could jeopardize election security. However, he cited no legal authority for withholding that information from auditors.

 

The audit also criticized the Secretary of State for withdrawing Missouri from its membership in the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), saying the move cuts off local election officials from information necessary to identify and correct inaccurate voter registration records without providing an alternative to obtaining that information. In his response, the Secretary of State said the benefits of ERIC, which Missouri joined in 2018, were less than expected.

 

“I can respect why the Secretary of State felt it was necessary to end the relationship with ERIC, but that doesn’t negate the responsibility to have a plan in place to replace that data so the office has a reliable way to ensure we don’t have dead voters registered in Missouri as we enter a major election year,” the state auditor said.

 

Transgender Health Care

The House Emerging Issues Committee on Jan. 24 voted to advance House Bill 1520 that would repeal the scheduled sunset of a law enacted last year that bans minors from receiving most gender transition treatments. The ban on these treatments is currently set to expire in 2027. The sunset provision was included in last year’s bill as part of a compromise brokered to overcome a filibuster. The measure would also prohibit medical providers from being required to perform gender reassignment surgeries or other gender transition treatments.

 

The committee, however, took no action on related legislation it heard the prior week that seeks to statutorily define someone as “male” or “female” based on their reproductive system at birth. Also not advancing, at least for now, are bills seeking to restrict which public restrooms transgender people could legally use.

 

CONTACT INFORMATION

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.