With just over five weeks left in the session, the Senate worked hard to move bills through the legislative process this week.

On Monday afternoon, the Senate took up Senate Bill 159, sponsored by Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Glendale, which would require parity between the out-of-pocket expenses charged for physical therapist services and the out-of-pocket expenses charged for similar services provided by primary care physicians.  Senate Bill 159 was eventually perfected later in the week and given a final vote in the Senate.  It now moves to the House for similar consideration.

Also perfected on Monday was Senate Bill 275, a bill sponsored by Sen. Gina Walsh, D-Bellafontaine Neighbors. Under current law, a customer of an electric company is not eligible to receive a monetary incentive offered by the company for an energy efficiency program if the customer has received a tax credit for low-income housing or historic preservation. This bill would make an exception to this restriction for low-income customers.  Senate Bill 87, sponsored by Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, was also perfected on Monday.  The bill provides that the act of breast-feeding would not constitute the criminal definitions of sexual conduct or sexual contact, nor would it be considered an act of public indecency, indecent exposure, sexual conduct, lewd touching, or obscenity or any other similar term for purposes of state or municipal law.  The bill would also add a nursing mother to the list of those people entitled to be excused from jury service.

Much of the Senate’s time on Monday evening was devoted to working on Senate Bill 297, sponsored by Sen. Brad Lager, R-Savannah.  This bill modifies provisions related to ratemaking for water utilities.  Currently, only water corporations in St. Louis County may utilize infrastructure system replacement surcharges (ISRS). This act makes all water and sewer corporations eligible, provided the corporations produce ISRS revenues of at least $1 million, or $10,000 for small water and sewer corporations every three years.  By allowing ISRS statewide, water companies will be able to replace old water pipes by increasing rates by a small amount each year, rather than with one large rate increase every few years. 

Tuesday morning, the Senate Seniors, Families & Pensions Committee met to hear two pension-related bills.  The first is a cleanup bill sponsored by Rep. Mike Leara, R-St. Louis, in the House.  The second was a bill I sponsored, Senate Bill 475, that would require pension plans to become fully funded.  Though the bill will not move out of committee this session, it provided a good opportunity for the committee to further examine the state of pension systems in Missouri in an attempt to fully understand and appreciate the outstanding liability in each.  The end goal is not only to make sure that promises made to pensioneers are kept, but also to ensure that plans work toward the goal of becoming fully funded.

After our committee hearing on Tuesday morning, the Senate again worked on bills from the perfection calendar.  Senator Joe Keaveny, D-St. Louis, presented Senate Bill 99 on the Senate floor, which would require the St. Louis City public administrator to be an appointed position rather than an elected position. Under this bill, the public administrator will be appointed by a majority of the circuit and associate circuit judges of the 22nd Judicial Circuit. 

Thereafter, the Senate worked toward perfection of Senate Bill 252, sponsored by Sen. Will Kraus, R-Lee's Summit, which would prohibit the Missouri Department of Revenue (DOR) from retaining copies of source documents used to obtain driver’s licenses.  Senators also debated Senate Bill 342, sponsored by Sen. Mike Parson, R-Bolivar, which would raise the loan amount available through the Missouri agricultural and small business development authority for livestock feed and crop input from $40,000 to $100,000, and Senate Bill 381, sponsored by Sen. Kraus, which would create the Innovation Education Campus Fund and recognize the University of Central Missouri’s Missouri Innovation Campus.

Tuesday also brought a lot of visitors to the Capitol.  Early that afternoon, I had an opportunity to meet with employees from Express Scripts in St. Louis.  I also had a chance to meet with leaders of the Webster Groves School District.  We had an opportunity to discuss education-related legislation, including the Common Core State Standards Initiative.  Thereafter, I met with a group of representatives and constituents from Paraquad.  It was a great opportunity to thank them for all of the important work they do in the district to help those with disabilities.

Wednesday proved to be an extremely busy day at the Capitol.  That morning I attended committee hearings for the Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Gubernatorial Appointments Committee.  Thereafter, senators returned to the Senate floor to debate legislation.

The Senate spent much of its floor time on Wednesday working on House Joint Resolution 11, which proposes a constitutional amendment affirming the right of farmers and ranchers to engage in modern farming and ranching practices.  This bill received much attention across the state and provoked many thoughtful discussions.  I am glad the Senate came to an agreement on this very important piece of legislation that is intended to protect our state’s largest industry, while at the same time ensuring the right for citizens to petition their government through the initiative petition process.

Following the morning debate on Wednesday, I attended two committee meetings in the Missouri House of Representatives. I first attended the House Judiciary Committee meeting to present Senate Bill 222 to the members.  That bill contains cleanup language for a bill I filed during my first session in office that would help protect victims of domestic violence.  Thereafter, I presented SCR 5 to the House Healthcare Policy Committee.  Though the concurrent resolution would have no binding effect, it would urge the federal government to continue to reimburse states for a portion of the state’s Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments based on each state’s federal medical assistance percentage for those states that have chosen not to implement the Medicaid expansion.  Later in the day I learned that the president did just that by requesting Congress to postpone Medicaid cuts to hospitals for one year.  I applaud the administration’s efforts in that regard.

Wednesday afternoon the Senate returned to the floor to continue debate on House Joint Resolution 11, before eventually perfecting it.  Thereafter, the Senate continued to debate bills on the perfection calendar.

Thursday morning, senators reconvened to vote on all bills that were perfected earlier in the week.  In addition to our work on the floor, there has been a lot of coverage about the work of Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, whose efforts to protect the privacy rights of Missouri citizens I greatly applaud.  Senator Schaefer uncovered information about the Missouri State Highway Patrol providing a list of 163,000 Missouri residents with concealed gun permits to federal authorities.  I support the senator’s efforts toward further investigating this issue and hope to work with him to ensure the privacy rights of all Missourians are protected.

As you can tell, the Senate accomplished a great deal this week. I look forward to returning next week and having an equally productive outcome.  Best wishes to you and your families for a great weekend.