This week marked our fourteenth week in the 2014 legislative session.  

Senate debate on Monday afternoon focused on a bill addressing revisions to the state’s criminal code. Missouri’s criminal code was last updated in 1979 after years of hard work and input from interested parties. Senate Bill 491, co-sponsored by Sen. Jolie Justus, D-Kansas City, and Sen. Bob Dixon, R-Springfield, is a comprehensive piece of legislation aimed at updating Missouri’s criminal laws in order to improve efficiency in our judicial and law enforcement systems. The Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee spent much of the first part of the session holding hearings on each of the different sections included in the revisions. The bill that was first debated on the Senate floor several weeks ago underwent several drafts before receiving first-round approval by the Senate on Monday evening. I applaud the hard work of the sponsoring senators and all parties who helped with this important piece of legislation.

On Tuesday morning, the Senate Seniors, Families, and Pensions Committee met to hear seven House bills. Each year at this time, Senate committees start to hear House bills that have passed through the entire process in the House and are now in the Senate for similar consideration.  Next Tuesday is the deadline for House consent bills to be added to the Senate calendar. Consent bills are those that are considered to be non-controversial, and do not contain a significant fiscal impact or impose new criminal or civil penalties. These bills do not require the additional step of perfection on the Senate floor; instead, they are third read without the additional debate that occurs during the perfection process. Click here to view a list of all the bills assigned to the Seniors, Families, and Pensions Committee.

Also on Tuesday, the House took up House Bill 1490, a bill sponsored by Rep. Kurt Bahr, R-St. Charles.  That bill is similar to legislation I filed in the Senate, Senate Bill 514, to halt the implementation of Common Core in Missouri, and Senate Bill 798, legislation filed by Sen. Ed Emery, R-Lamar.  Though the bills were originally filed with an intent to halt implementation, both have changed to reflect ideas presented by senators and representatives on both sides of the aisle.  The substitute versions of both bills ask the state to create work groups consisting of content-specific professionals in four areas of study to develop new Missouri state standards. The bill was third read and passed in the House on Thursday and now heads to the Senate for similar consideration.

On Wednesday, the Senate spent both the morning and the evening sessions debating bills relating to tort reform in Missouri.  Much of the evening debate was on Senate Joint Resolution 25, a proposed constitutional amendment which, if approved by voters, would allow the General Assembly to limit by statute awards of noneconomic damages. The focus of the debate was on the amount of the cap which would be placed on those damages. Discussion lasted for several hours before the bill was placed on the informal calendar to be taken up at a later time.

Thursday morning was spent taking final votes on a number of Senate bills.  Among those bills given final approval were Senate Bill 729, which would create a tax credit for donations to Innovation Campuses; Senate Bill 491, the criminal code update I mentioned; and Senate Bill 774, which would modify provisions relating to tax increment financing in St. Louis, St. Charles, and Jefferson counties.

As a reminder, next Monday is the Senate’s Memorial Service, where we will pay tribute to the distinguished former members of the Missouri Senate who have passed away since May 1987. More information on this important event can be found by clicking here.

I hope you all enjoy the warmer weather this weekend. I look forward to sending you another update next week.

Very Sincerely,

Senator John Lamping

24th Senatorial District