Senators returned Tuesday afternoon after an extended weekend to observe the Easter holiday.

That afternoon the Senate Seniors, Families & Pensions Committee met for an informational session on pensions.  The meeting was a continuation of prior hearings designed to educate members on state pension systems.  The intent of the meetings is to better prepare members to hear and vote on bills relating to pensions while giving them a forum to ask questions about the system generally and each plan individually.  Given that the committee has thus far mostly focused on bills related to seniors and families, my goal is to ensure that members have enough background on how pensions work to be able to make informed decisions about legislation before the committee considers and votes on bills relating to the same.

Tuesday evening senators debated several bills on the Senate floor before adjourning for the day.  One of those bills, Senate Bill 258, sponsored by Sen. Paul LeVota, D-Independence, would modify the composition of the Kansas City School District Board of Directors by reducing the number of directors from nine to seven. The bill also reduces the number of at-large directors and directors representing subdistricts.  Further, it moves the election date for school board members from the municipal election date to the date of local elections for Kansas City. The Senate also debated legislation sponsored by Sen. Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, that pertained to a similar issue as that in Senate Bill 258.  Senate Bill 242 states that a school board member, officer or employee may sell or provide certain commodities to the district provided that he or she complies with certain ethical provisions.  The bill is essentially a technical change that aligns seven-director districts located in a first class county with current law regarding seven-director districts located in second, third and fourth class counties.

Wednesday morning I started my day in the House Utilities Committee to present Senate Bill 191, a bill I am sponsoring this session, to the committee.  That bill allows the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) to publish certain papers, studies, reports and commission decisions, findings and orders in an electronic format.  By doing so, the PSC estimates it will save up to $10,000 annually from reduced printing costs.  After the hearing I returned to my office to meet with several constituents from the 24th District, including two students from the School of Health Professions at the University of Missouri-Columbia and representatives from the Missouri Bar who were in town to discuss the comprehensive overhaul of the criminal code.

Later that morning, senators debated several bills, including Senate Bill 112, sponsored by Sen. Scott T. Rupp, R-St. Charles. The bill extends the New Markets Tax Credit program, which creates a tax credit that can be taken against state income tax, bank tax, insurance premium tax, other financial institutions tax, and express companies tax by investors in funds established by specialized financial institutions called Community Development Entities (CDEs) for projects in Missouri.  The bill was eventually laid over, but was taken up again late Wednesday night for perfection and given first-round approval by the Senate. 

At noon I had an opportunity to present three of the bills I am sponsoring this session to the House Committee on Children, Families & Persons with Disabilities.  Senate Bill 33, relating to accomodations for those with service dogs, was the first bill presented to the committee.  Under the bill, an individual with mental disabilities is added to the list of people who must be afforded the same rights as those without disabilities to use streets, highways, sidewalks, public buildings, public facilities, and other public places.  It also expands the definition of “service dog” to include those dogs specially trained to assist people with mental disabilities.  Thereafter, Senate Bill 47 was presented to the committee.  That bill adds to the list of qualified legal guardians of a child who shall receive subsidies in the same manner as such subsidies are available for adoptive parents.  The hope is that by extending such subsidies to a larger network of people, it will be easier to find a permanent home for children in state custody.  Lastly, I had the opportunity to introduce Senate Bill 77 to the committee.  That bill would help Girls Inc., an after school program in the St. Louis area, to continue to provide services as they currently do. I am very appreciative that the chairman of the committee gave ample time for testimony on all three of these bills and am hopeful that all of them will take the next step, to be debated on the House floor, in the very near future.

Wednesday afternoon, Senators returned to the floor to continue debating legislation. One of the bills considered, Senate Bill 2, sponsored by Sen. Rupp, would modify the initiative and referendum petition process.  Specifically, the bill would require petition circulators to affirm that they have never been convicted of, found guilty of or pled guilty to an offense involving forgery.  The circulators must also state that they are at least 18 years old and whether they are being paid to circulate the petitions.  Additionally, under SB 2, it would be a crime to intentionally submit petition sheets knowing that a person whose name appears on the petition did not sign it, to fraudulently obtain signatures, to knowingly accept or offer money or anything of value for a signature and to knowingly pay a circulator with knowledge that the circulator has committed signature fraud. 

Late Wednesday evening the Senate reconvened to consider bills on the perfection calendar.  One of those bills, Senate Bill 229, sponsored by Sen. Dan Brown, R-Rolla, modifies the Mental Health Disqualification Registry.  Under current law, an employee in a mental health facility is disqualified from holding a direct care position if such employee has been found guilty of or pleaded guilty to certain criminal offenses. Senate Bill 229 would add additional felony crimes of drug- stealing- and alcohol- related offenses as well as violations of aiding the escape of a prisoner and supporting terrorism to the list of criminal offenses that are included in the Mental Health Disqualification Registry. The Senate also perfected Senate Bill 126, sponsored by Sen. David Sater, R-Cassville.  The bill would prohibit a requirement that a Missouri licensed pharmacy must carry or maintain an inventory of any specific drug or device.  Senate Bill 126, like many of the other bills perfected this week, was finally voted out of the Senate on Thursday and now heads to the House for similar consideration. 

After a late night of debating bills, I returned early Thursday morning to attend the Senate Ways & Means Committe. That committee heard several bills, two of which would allow hospitals to abolish the current property taxes authorized to fund hospital operations and establish a sales tax for such operations instead.  A third bill would allow Greene County or any city within the county to impose a sales tax, upon voter approval to fund early childhood education, and the final bill heard would extend the expiration of an income tax deduction for energy efficiency audits and projects to Dec. 31, 2019.

Following the Senate Ways & Means hearing, the Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Committee met to vote on several bills that it heard in previous weeks.  Thereafter, senators returned to the Senate floor for debate and final votes on the bills perfected earlier in the week. During that time, I had an opportunity to step to the side gallery to welcome a group of constituents from St. Louis Children's Hospital who were in town for their advocacy day. It was great to meet with members of the group and most especially to welcome one of my former interns, Jessi Favre, back to the Capitol.

Though it was a quick week, it was definitely a productive one.  I hope you all enjoy what is anticipated to be beautiful weather this weekend.  I look forward to reporting back next week.