By State Senator Holly Thompson Rehder
Hey Y’all! I’m happy to report that your state Capitol has been full of bustle and activity the last week or so as elected officials prepare for the mid-session legislative spring break in a couple of weeks. The Senate has passed its first big batch of bills and sent them to the Missouri House of Representatives, and have received more than two dozen bills from the House in return.
One of my priority pieces of legislation was the focus of a long debate on the Senate floor on Monday night. Currently, benefits, such as social security, that are passed down to children in the foster care system are absorbed by the state. Senate Bill 862 would ensure that children whose parents have passed or are disabled would ultimately receive that benefit as they age out of the system. The studies I have looked at show that starting these kids out with money for tuition, housing or any of the things you need as you set out on your own greatly increases their odds for success throughout their lives.
I have spoken before about the work that it takes to get a bill through the legislative process and across the finish line. It takes weeks, often months, of working with committee members and other senators to makes sure everyone at least understands the intent of the bill, even if they may not agree with it. This gives it a better chance of making it to the governor’s desk.
Oftentimes though, what can derail a bill’s journey is rogue amendments that get added during a bill’s perfection. This is the final step before the Senate votes to pass a bill, and when other Senators can add amendments that must fall within scope of the initial bill. There is nowhere near enough time during the five months we are in session to get through every bill that gets filed, so I understand the need for amendments containing the provisions of other bills being added. What I do not have time for, however, is the addition of controversial or dead-end bills being tacked on to clean, bipartisan legislation that could end up tanking the bill, in this case a bill that could help thousands of children.
Unfortunately, that is where SB 862 was headed on Monday as seven amendments got added to the bill while it was on the floor. Some of these were uncontroversial, related to the subject matter or the presenting senator talked to me beforehand and it didn’t cause any problems. Other amendments, however, were extremely controversial and likely would have resulted in a long filibuster that could have killed the bill. I agree with the content of most of these amendments, and I told my colleagues so, but I am not going to allow language to be added that would jeopardize this significant investment in our state’s foster children. There are plenty of other opportunities for those bills and amendments to be passed by the Senate. We need to make sure we aren’t making the easy and important wins more difficult.
I laid SB 862 over in order to have conversations with those offering these amendments and I am hopeful the bill will be brought back up next week. I believe we can get it sent over to the House by our spring break, which begins March 15.
Contact Me
I always appreciate hearing your comments, opinions and concerns. Please feel free to contact me in Jefferson City at 573-751-2459. You may write me at Holly Thompson Rehder,
Missouri Senate, State Capitol, Rm 433, Jefferson City, MO 65101, send an email to Holly.Rehder@senate.mo.gov or visit www.senate.mo.gov/Rehder.