Prefiled Senate Measures Marked with Bill Numbers

JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri Senate rules dictate the first day of December as the day senators and senators-elect can have their prefiled legislation numbered for the upcoming legislative session.  It is customary that each member of the Senate, beginning with the most senior member, pick his or her top three priority bills, which are then each assigned a number.

Lawmakers were allowed to prefile bills beginning July 1 and may continue up to, but not including, the first day of session.  Senate bills filed during this timeframe are automatically introduced in the upper chamber and read for the first time on the opening day of the legislative session.  Measures may also be introduced by any senator during the regular legislative session until Feb. 28, 2013.

Approximately 60 measures, Senate bills and joint resolutions, have already been prefiled with the Missouri Secretary of the Senate’s office, with many more expected in the days leading up to the next legislative session. 

This legislation includes Senate Bill 1, which would modify Missouri’s law relating to workers’ compensation, sponsored by the upper chamber’s most senior member Sen. Scott T. Rupp, R-Wentzville; Senate Bill 10, sponsored by Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Glendale, which would create a tax credit to attract amateur sporting events to the Show-Me State; Senate Bill 15, which would change various benevolent tax credits, sponsored by Sen. Ron Richard, R-Joplin; Senate Bill 19, sponsored by Sen. Jay Wasson, R-Nixa, which would revise tax credits for renovations for disability access; and Senate Bill 38, which would ban members of the General Assembly and their family and staff from receiving certain gifts from lobbyists, sponsored by Sen.-elect Scott Sifton, D-St. Louis.

Measures relating to health care and education to taxation and public safety, as well as numerous other important topics, will be under consideration by members of the Missouri Senate once lawmakers convene for the First Regular Session of the 97th General Assembly, starting Jan. 9, 2013.

To see a complete list of bills prefiled for the 2013 legislative session, visit www.senate.mo.gov and click on “List of 2013 Prefiled Senate Bills” under the “Legislation” tab.  For more information about the Missouri Senate, visit www.senate.mo.gov. To contact the Senate Newsroom, call (573) 751-3824 or email newsroom@senate.mo.gov.