Legislative Column for the Week of Dec. 8, 2014

Senate Readies for 98th General Assembly

As a result of the General Election held in November, six new state senators will join the ranks in the upper chamber when the General Assembly convenes at noon on Jan. 7, 2015. The Senate elected their leadership on Nov. 6, and committee hearings are under way as legislators get ready for the first day of session.

Legislative sessions require a certain amount of preparation to ensure efficient use of the time spent addressing and debating bills. For this reason, legislators are allowed to file bills several months before session begins. The senators began prefiling legislation on July 1, 2014, to enable the senate to begin the legislative process as early as possible.

On Dec. 1, all the prefiled bills are assigned numbers. The number of a bill determines its position on the roster, and the order in which it will be brought up on the floor. You may view the prefiled legislation by visiting www.senate.mo.gov.

I am looking forward to a very interesting, as well as productive session in 2015. I hope you will share your ideas and concerns with me during the upcoming session. Many of the bills we consider are brought to us by constituents like you, who come to your legislators for help dealing with a great many issues, and make us aware of the need for change. In many cases, we can introduce legislation to help.

Always feel free to contact me throughout the year with any comments, questions, or issues by calling my office at (573) 751-5713 or by visiting www.senate.mo.gov/brown.

Thank you for reading this and for your participation in state government.