Volume 1, Issue 6 – The Week of Feb. 25, 2019
Another Busy Week in the Missouri Senate
As the second month of session comes to an end, senators are spending more time on the floor of the Missouri Senate. On Tuesday in particular, the Missouri Senate spent over 15 hours working to perfect a piece of legislation. Working well into the next morning, members debated Senate Bill 7, which modifies our state’s joinder and venue laws. This legislation has the potential to drastically impact the judicial system in the City of St. Louis and all across the state. Because of this, my colleagues and I worked hard to protect the right of Missouri citizens to join together in lawsuits, while also protecting our state from unwanted legal claims from out-of-state litigants. I believe a compromise was reached and ultimately, the bill was perfected.
Despite the long time spent on the floor, work continues to be done in committees. One of the hot topics in the Missouri General Assembly this year is the creation of a prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP). This program would allow doctors and pharmacists to track a patient’s prescription habits in the hopes of curbing the abuse of highly addictive opioids. One measure creating a PDMP in Missouri was heard several weeks ago in the Senate’s Seniors, Families and Children Committee, but failed to have enough votes to move out of committee. This week, that bill, Senate Bill 155, was reconsidered by the committee and approved. It now heads to the floor for further debate and discussion.
In the Senate’s Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, we discussed Senate Bill 37. This legislation empowers state law enforcement to go after those owning, managing or operating websites that facilitate prostitution. This bill is about ending the exploitation of women and others, wherever it happens. As sex trafficking increasingly moves into the digital domain, our law enforcement must be able to keep up and continue to target traffickers. I am glad to support this bill, and I am excited to see it move through the legislative process.
One last bill we discussed this week dealt with judges. Senate Bill 248, heard in the Senate’s Government Reform Committee, modifies the terms of office and salaries of administrative law judges. This legislation would phase in six year term limits for these positions. As this bill moves through the legislative process, I will consider the effects of this legislation and whether we place a higher value on institutional knowledge or judicial turn-over in our state’s administrative law judges.
Thank you for your interest in the legislative process. I look forward to hearing from you on the issues that are important to you this legislative session. If there is anything my office can do for you, please do not hesitate to contact my office at (573) 751-3599.