Volume 1, Issue 8 – The Week of March 11, 2019
Halfway Through the Legislative Session
The Missouri General Assembly has reached the halfway mark of the legislative session. Before heading for a week-long legislative spring break to connect with our constituents and families, the Missouri Senate was hard at work this week, moving bills through the legislative process. In fact, I sponsored two bills this week in committee.
One of the bills I sponsored was Senate Bill 74. This legislation reforms mandatory prison terms. Currently, certain offenders must serve a specified mandatory minimum percentage of their sentences. This act makes such minimum sentences to be at the discretion of the court. It also specifies that any offender, except for those found guilty of first degree murder or certain sex offenses, who meets specified qualifications is eligible for a parole hearing. What we are attempting to do with this legislation is minimize the use of minimum sentencing requirements. Too often, the punishment far exceeds the crime. By putting in options for judicial discretion on a case-by-case basis, I believe we can improve the criminal justice system. Senate Bill 74 is a work in progress and will be combined with Senate Bill 8, also dealing with minimum prison terms.
In the Senate’s Agriculture, Food Production and Outdoor Resources Committee, I sponsored another one of my bills. Senate Bill 408 names the hellbender salamander as the official endangered species for the state of Missouri. This legislation is meant to help raise awareness for this declining species. Also known as the snot otter or lasagna lizard, the hellbender salamander lives in spring-fed rivers in the eastern and central portions of the United States. There are two types of these large amphibians, the eastern and the Ozark hellbenders, and Missouri is the only place in the world where both subspecies reside. Over the years, the number of hellbenders has dramatically declined. The loss of amphibians like the hellbender salamander and others across the country are raising alarms about imbalances in our ecosystem. Efforts are underway to help repopulate our waters with this species and better understand what is happening in our environment. SB 408 aims to highlight these efforts and protect a threatened species.
While I did not sponsor a bill in the Senate’s Seniors, Families and Children Committee, I would like to bring to your attention one of the bills we recently discussed that I believe is an attack on Medicaid in our state. Senate Bill 77 requires the Department of Social Services to apply for a global waiver for a Medicaid block grant. This would change the funding mechanism for our state’s Medicaid program from matching federal dollars to a single lump sum of federal dollars. Proponents argue it would save money and allow the state to better handle Medicaid in its own way. However, I believe this will only cost the state more in the long run because without matching federal dollars, once the block grant is gone, Missouri is on the hook for the rest of the bill. I believe if we were really interested in saving money when it came to Medicaid, we would have expanded the program with the federal government absorbing some of the costs. I believe SB 77 is wrong for Missouri, and it will hurt some of our state’s most vulnerable citizens.
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.