Two bills I’ve been working on will go before committees Monday, Feb. 13th:
1. My Ste. Genevieve mining bill, House Bill (HB) 982, to stop the silica sand plant from opening due to concerns from residents and friends of Hawn State Park, will be heard by the Rural Community Development Committee. This bill has drawn statewide interest. Local level efforts and communication are ongoing. HB 982 – ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL
2. House Committee Substitute (HCS) House Bill (HB) 713 will be heard in the Rules Administrative Oversight Committee. The intent of this bill is to stop the personal property tax on cars and trucks 16 years and older. This bill implements the use of the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) instead of the current National Automobile Dealers’ Association (NADA) value book which caused us to pay higher personal property taxes due to inflated NADA used car and truck prices. HCS#2 HB 713 – MOTOR VEHICLE ASSESSMENT VALUATIONS
Public Safety Legislation (HB 301)
This week we took an important step to provide assistance to areas of the state, like St. Louis, plagued by violent crime.
I want to do everything I can to ensure we have safe communities where kids live without fear and criminals know they will be prosecuted for their violent actions. With hundreds of murders each year and thousands of unprosecuted criminal cases, we see a St. Louis that is anything but safe and that drives people and employers away from the St. Louis area. I’m confident HB 301 can help restore law and order to St. Louis or any part of our state where violent crime has grown out of control. This law will not completely stop crime, we all know that. The family structure could do so much more to reduce crime, but I can’t legislate that.
HB 301 will allow the governor to appoint a special prosecutor in areas of the state with an excessive homicide rate. The bill specifies the governor would be empowered to appoint a prosecutor in any circuit or prosecuting attorney’s jurisdiction that has a homicide rate in excess of 35 cases per 100,000 people and where the governor determines there is a threat to public safety and health. The special prosecutor would be appointed for a period of up to five years. In my opinion, the current St. Louis city prosecutor is not prosecuting crime, instead she is more interested in police officers being prosecuted.
Crime in our state, and across the nation, is a concern but particularly in the urban areas. Today, one of our communities (St. Louis) has a per capita crime rate that more than doubles the per capita crime rate of Chicago. Some may say I shouldn’t meddle in another community’s business, but I’m a Missourian and care about all parts of our state. In the past five years 1,043 Missourians have died in the city limits of St. Louis. I have constituents that are afraid to drive into St. Louis for a ballgame, a play, or even to shop. That is not acceptable!
The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration.
Direct Access to Physical Therapy (HBs 115 & 99)
We gave strong bipartisan approval this week to legislation that would allow patients to have direct access to physical therapy. Currently, 47 states allow some form of direct access to physical therapy.
Under HBs 115 & 99 a physical therapist would no longer need a prescription or referral from a doctor in order to evaluate and initiate treatment on a patient. To qualify, the physical therapist would need a Doctorate of Physical Therapy Degree or five years of clinical practice as a physical therapist.
The bill also states the physical therapist must refer to an approved health care provider any patient whose condition is beyond the physical therapist’s scope of practice, or any patient who does not demonstrate measurable or functional improvement after 10 visits or 30 days, whichever occurs first.
I think we should allow our constituents the opportunity to seek the health care that they desire.
The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration.
Supplemental Budget Bill (HB 14)
This week we gave first round approval to a supplemental spending bill that will allocate additional funds for the current state operating budget.
The bill allocates more than $627 million in funding. Here are some of the highlights:
8.7% pay increase for state workers
Does not include general assembly and statewide elected officials
$286.5 million in spending authority for the State Emergency Management Agency.
$628,750 appropriation to the Department of Agriculture to help address the growing black vulture problem impacting livestock owners statewide.
$20 million to establish school safety programs, including physical security upgrades and associated technology, bleeding control kits, and automatic external defibrillators.
The bill now requires a final vote in the House before moving to the Senate.