A Long and Hardworking Week Following Easter
Following Easter Sunday, the business of the Senate this week can be described with just two words: appropriations and budget. The Senate, together with the House of Representatives, has until May 5 to pass a budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Our Missouri Constitution requires my colleagues and me to pass a budget by a specific time, and you expect us to uphold our constitutional duties. My colleagues and I must continue to hold each other accountable so that we can properly take care of the state’s needs.
As I stated last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee devoted many hours to testimony and bills concerning funding our state agencies and departments. And the committee held more hearings this week to discuss, in particular, House appropriation bills.
As the Senate is hearing House bills, the House is reviewing some of my pieces of legislation that were passed by the Senate. On Wednesday, the House referred Senate Concurrent Resolution 21 to its Special Committee on Government Oversight. In recent years, state legislatures across the country have called for a constitutional convention to limit the federal government, especially its fiscal authority. And we are approaching the number of states constitutionally needed to force that Congress convene such convention. The Assembly of State Legislatures is a bipartisan institution whose mission is to define and establish rules during a convention of the states. As an honoree to the institution, I was chosen by the President Pro Tempore to represent the State of Missouri at the Assembly of State Legislatures. During the past four years, I worked on the Committee on Rules and Procedures to carefully craft rules and procedures to convene a convention and ensure that such a convention functions effectively and decisively. Some of the Assembly’s goals are to establish rules that foster communication and interaction between legislators and ensure an effective convention process. Should a convention be convened, SCR 21 will let other state legislatures know that Missouri supports the adoption of rules by the Assembly of State Legislatures.
On Thursday, the House’s Committee on Consent and House Procedure moved my bill, Senate Bill 194, out. Current law has accessibility requirements related to a health carrier and its network. For example, a health carrier must provide its enrollees access 24 hours per day and 7 days per week in case of an emergency. A health carrier’s network must also ensure that its providers are geographically accessible. And our state has criteria to make sure that a health carrier is making its network accessible. One criterion is that an organization or agency that specializes in health care, such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, accredits a health carrier’s network. Senate Bill 194 would grant the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) such accreditation privileges. The AAAHC is an organization that accredits more than 6,000 other organizations for purposes related to ambulatory health care, and is the official accrediting organization for the US Coast Guard.
More progress is still to come as we continue to approach the end of the session. I also look forward to the Senate considering another one of my bills, Senate Bill 535, which was quickly moved out of committee because of the serious demand for it. Senate Bill 535 would give the Children’s Division of the Missouri Department of Social Services the authority to keep and maintain information that could be vital in solving more than 11,000 cases of child abuse. If the division does not have the Legislature’s support, it may be forced to eliminate evidence that is important to identifying child abusers and further protecting our children. We must assure our children and parents that we are doing everything we can to protect them and bring them justice.
I urge you to contact me with any questions or concerns you have about state government so that I can better represent you during the 2017 legislative session.
Contact Me
I always appreciate hearing your comments, opinions, and concerns. Please feel free to contact me in Jefferson City at (573) 751-2459. You may write me at Wayne Wallingford, Missouri Senate, State Capitol, Jefferson City, MO 65101, or email at wayne.wallingford@senate.mo.gov or www.senate.mo.gov/wallingford.
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