The Second Regular Session of the 97th General Assembly has reached its conclusion. As usual, it was another year of difficult decisions. In the end, I believe it was quite productive, with some benefits for the people of northeast Missouri.

I have written before about Senate Bill 668, legislation signed into law by the governor that will require health benefit plans to establish equal out-of-pocket costs for covered oral and intravenously administered chemotherapy medications. This measure, which will take effect on Aug. 28, 2014, is similar to Senate Bill 663, which I sponsored. Senate Bill 668 was among the first to be sent to the executive branch this year, and I am glad it was. Oral chemotherapy drugs are covered under the “prescription drug benefit” provision of most health insurance plans, which requires a significantly higher co-payment than the intravenously infused (IV) or injected versions. These co-pays can run anywhere from just a few dollars, up to thousands per month for patients, depending on the case.
Other legislative successes this year include:

• SB 504 requires state agencies to post proposed rules, summaries and fiscal notes on their websites;
• SB 506 modifies provisions relating to agriculture;
• SB 745 modifies the provisions regarding sheriffs and other law enforcement officers, weapons, and concealed carry permits; and
• HB 1090 allows any Department of Corrections employee who has accrued overtime hours to use those hours as compensatory leave time.

The Missouri Legislature is only required, by the constitution, to do one thing: pass the budget. We did so. This year’s $26.4 billion operating budget for Fiscal Year 2015 adds funding for K-12 and higher education. As I wrote earlier in May, the Missouri Department of Agriculture will also see an increase in 2015. The 22 percent change includes $7,223,100 in additional funding for the biodiesel incentive payments. Agriculture is Missouri’s top industry, but state spending in this area only accounts for approximately 1 percent of the entire Missouri budget.

Overall, legislators filed 1,845 measures this year, with nearly 200 reaching the governor’s desk. To give you an idea of how hectic the final week of session can be, 100 of these bills were passed during the last week of the legislative session. For the most part, new laws will take effect on Aug. 28, 2014, although some of the measures have an emergency clause. This means they will become law as soon as they are signed by the governor.

For a complete list of Truly Agreed to and Finally Passed legislation, go to senate.mo.gov, hover your cursor over the word Legislation, and click on Truly Agreed Bills, in the drop box.

To learn more about the bills I sponsored this year, go to senate.mo.gov/Munzlinger.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact my office. Thank you.