Committee Activity Continues

We’re nearing the half-way point in the 2023 legislative session, and we reached a significant milestone this week. March 1 was the last day non-appropriations bills could be introduced in the Senate. That means all the legislation we are likely to consider this session is before us now. If anyone is counting, that’s just over 720 Senate bills and about 60 resolutions. I don’t know if that’s a record, but it’s got to be close.

Committees continue to work through Senate bills, taking testimony from citizens and others impacted by the legislation. This week, the General Laws Committee, which I chair, heard three bills. One expands a program to help adults receive a high school diploma, another cleans up some obsolete provisions of Missouri law and a third simply allowed the routine transfer of some state property.

Senate Bill 199 makes changes to Missouri’s adult high school program. Under a law passed in 2019, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is authorized to operate four high schools specifically for adults who seek a formal high school diploma to improve their ability to compete in the workplace. The bill before the committee transfers supervision of this program to the Department of Social Services, and allows for the creation of a fifth adult high school in Jackson County.

The committee also took testimony on a measure I sponsored, Senate Bill 185. This legislation repeals state statutes relating to the Division of Industrial Inspection. If you’ve never heard of this division, there’s a reason. The law authorizing the agency has not been revised since 1939, and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 made the division unnecessary. The state statutes being repealed by SB 185 are so out-of-date they actually required inspection of “moving picture houses.”

Finally, the committee held a hearing on Senate Bill 248, a measure to allow the conveyance of a small parcel of state property in Rolla.

I also want to update you on Senate Bill 22. This is the legislation I introduced to remove the possibility of early parole for persons convicted of second-degree murder when the offender was under the age of 18 at the time of conviction. This legislation was inspired by the murder of 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten in Cole County at the hands of a 15-year-old neighbor. The bill has passed out of committee and I’m hoping it will be brought up for perfection on the Senate floor soon.

As always, it is an honor to serve the 6th Senatorial District. If my office can be service to you, please feel free to contact us at 573-751-2076. For information about my committee assignments or sponsored legislation, please visit my official Missouri Senate website at senate.mo.gov/Bernskoetter.