Week 5 was dominated by continued debate on Senate Bill 1, legislation that would modify the law relating to the Second Injury Fund as well as occupational disease within the workers' compensation system. Debate began Monday evening and continued throughout the week with breaks from time to time to consider other bills also on the perfection calendar. Though the legislation was not officially perfected this week, the Senate certainly made strides toward reaching a compromise.

After a late night of debate on Monday evening, I had the pleasure of returning Tuesday morning to introduce Julie Blatz to the Senate Body.  Julie is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis.  She will serve as a health policy intern in my office this session where she will focus on issues pertaining to health, mental health, seniors and families. Julie’s background in the area is significant.  She received her undergraduate degree from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., and thereafter spent several years working in a nursing home setting before heading to St. Louis to pursue her master’s degree. I know that Julie will be a great asset to our team and feel very fortunate to have her help this session.

In addition to debating worker's compensation legislation Tuesday afternoon and evening, the Senate also took up Senate Bill 7, relating to state intervention in failing school districts. The bill states that when a school district becomes unaccredited, the State Board of Education must review the governance of the district to determine whether or not an existing board can continue to govern the school, or whether or not that board’s authority should lapse and an alternative structure should be sought.  The benefit of this legislation is that it allows the state board to intervene in a failing school system more quickly, so the district can start to turn things around and hopefully move toward becoming accredited again.

I support the concept of allowing an intervention as early as possible while also ensuring the best board is selected, there is leadership structure on that board and that there is a procedure for moving forward – all points I made during the Senate debate. While this bill takes a small step, I'm hopeful that we can continue to find ways to truly advance the status of unaccredited schools and ultimately put the focus back on the students.

After another late evening on Tuesday, senators were back Wednesday morning to attend committee hearings. I began my day in the Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Committee meeting where members heard legislation aimed at naming the new bridge spanning the Mississippi River in St. Louis after Stan Musial (SB 192 and SB 176). At the same time as the Senate Transportation hearing, members of my staff attended a house hearing on school bullying. The proposed bill requires school districts to have a policy that prohibits bullying and that, among other provisions, states who should report bullying, how the district will respond to reports of bullying and a statement prohibiting retaliation against someone who reported an act of bullying. Given the many incidents of bullying in the news, I think this is a very timely issue for the Legislature to address.

Following the morning hearings, the Senate body gathered Wednesday to debate two bills, one of which was Senate Bill 33, a bill I am sponsoring, relating to accommodations for people with mental disabilities and the right to be accompanied by service dogs. That bill is one I've mentioned multiple times in this column, as it's one I filed in previous years.  Essentially, the bill states that those people who have mental disabilities shall be given the same accommodations and right to use a service dog as those with physical disabilities currently have. The bill was perfected on Wednesday, thus getting first-round approval in the Senate. 

Throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, I had the pleasure of meeting with constituents from all across the 24th District, including members of several St. Louis County libraries and members from several arts organizations in the district.  I also had the pleasure of welcoming Dr. Han Paik, an anesthesiologist with Western Anesthesiology in St. Louis, to the Capitol to serve as the Doctor of the Day for the Legislature.  It was great to meet Dr. Paik and all the constituents I had the pleasure of welcoming to the Capitol.

Thursday morning was a short one for the Senate.  Both the Senate Ways & Means and Senate Appropriations committees met in the morning.  Thereafter, the Senate body voted on three bills, including Senate Bills 47 and 33, both bills I am sponsoring this session.  Each bill received 32-0 votes in the Senate, thereby declaring them fully passed.  Both now move to the House for similar consideration.

Overall, it was a productive week in the Missouri Senate.  I look forward to continuing our strong pace next week.  Hopefully you and your families have a wonderful weekend.