JEFFERSON CITY – Lawmakers in the Missouri House wrapped up the first half of the 2022 legislative session with a productive week of work and a long list of legislative accomplishments. As the General Assembly heads into its annual spring break, House members have been able to send the majority of their legislative priorities to the other side of the building.
House Speaker Rob Vescovo, Majority Floor Leader Dean Plocher, and Speaker Pro Tem John Wiemann touted the passage of key policy items such as the No Patient Left Alone Act, voter ID requirements, school funding equity and school choice bills, protections from burdensome vaccine mandates, stronger Second Amendment rights, and safeguards to prevent efforts to defund law enforcement.
“Our members have worked hard during these first months of session to address the issues the people of Missouri care about deeply. We’re extremely proud of what they’ve been able to accomplish and we’re hopeful the Senate will be able to take up many of these measures and pass them into law in the final eight weeks when we return from break,” said Vescovo, R-Arnold, Plocher, R-St. Louis, and Wiemann, R-O’Fallon.
In total, the House has sent more than 35 pieces of legislation to the other chamber. To date only one measure, a supplemental budget bill, has received final approval in the Senate. Vescovo, Plocher, and Wiemann said the House will continue to advance its priorities with the hope many of them will be approved by the Senate and sent to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.
As the legislature heads into its week-long break, some of the key items approved by the House include:
- Protections from Burdensome Mandates – HB 1686and HB 2358 & 1485are two bills designed to protect Missourians from mandates that would take away their right to decide whether to receive a COVID-19 vaccination.
- No Patient Left Alone Act – HB 2116would protect the rights of patients to have visitors during a hospital stay.
- School Funding Equity – HB 1552works to secure fair funding for all students in public education in areas where public charter schools can currently function
- Public School Open Enrollment Act – HB 1814is designed to make students and their families the center of the state’s educational focus by allowing inter-district transfers in the public school system.
- Congressional Redistricting – HB 2117would establish new boundaries for Missouri’s eight congressional districts that are compact and contiguous as required by the constitution while also keeping communities of interest and like-mindedness together.
- Enhanced Election Integrity – HB 1878and HJR 94would give voters the option to reinstate a voter ID requirement that was approved by voters but struck down by the Missouri Supreme Court in 2020.
- Initiative Petition Reform – HJR 79and HJR 91would give voters the option to reform Missouri’s initiative petition process to require a two-thirds majority vote at the ballot to change the Missouri Constitution.
- Medicaid Reform HJR 117– A proposed constitutional amendment that would allow voters to decide if key reforms should be enacted for the state’s growing Medicaid program.
- Law Enforcement Funding Protections – HB 1986is designed to ensure the Kansas City Police Department receives the funding it is entitled to under state law.
- Strengthened Second Amendment Rights – HB 1462will expand and strengthen the rights of law-abiding gun owners in Missouri by allowing a concealed carry permit holder to lawfully carry firearms on public transportation, reducing the age requirement for a concealed carry permit to 18, and removing the prohibition on carrying of firearms in churches and other places of worship.
- Support for Ukraine – HR 3658expresses support for Ukraine and its people, and condemns Russia’s attack on the sovereign nation. The resolution condemns the attack in the strongest possible terms and strongly endorses swift and severe economic sanctions and stringent export controls on Russia.
The Misouri House will return from its break Monday, March 21. Lawmakers have until Friday, May 6 to complete work on the state operating budget and Friday, May 13 to secure final passage for all other legislation.