Lawmakers Have Returned to Jefferson City! Lawmakers have returned to Jefferson City, and the 2026 legislative session is officially underway! I’m truly blessed and honored to serve in the Missouri Senate and am excited for the work ahead. With more than 1,000 bills and joint resolutions filed by the Missouri General Assembly – and more coming – it’s clear this session is off and running. The first week was largely ceremonial, and the second week - highlighted by the governor’s 2026 State of the State Address outlining his legislative priorities and budget for fiscal year 2027 - quickly shifted into action as Senate committee hearings began. As chair of the Senate Government Efficiency Committee, I am dedicated to making Missouri’s government more efficient, accountable and responsive to its citizens. I started the year with a committee hearing to review bills aimed at improving administrative rule approval, removing outdated laws and streamlining state government operations. You can find a current schedule of Senate committee hearings and listen to live audio at senate.mo.gov . Several key measures I sponsored were heard and passed out of the Senate Government Efficiency Committee this week, including: Senate Bill 889, my bill targeting obsolete statutes, removes old, expired or outdated laws and any reference to them in other laws. Senate Bill 890, my bill streamlining outdated boards and commissions, requires every state department that oversees a board or commission to send a yearly report to the General Assembly. The report must list any board or commission that hasn’t held a public meeting or done public business in the past three years (up to August 28 of that year). It also repeals and reassigns duties for certain boards and commissions and eliminates several other boards and commissions entirely. Senate Bill 891, the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, states that if a state agency wants to make a new rule that would either cost more than $250,000 in public funds or cause someone to lose more than $250,000 in income, the rule cannot take effect until the General Assembly approves it through a vote. This does not apply to emergency rules, rules required by federal law or rules needed to receive federal funding. | 