Whatever new laws are left to be approved by our elected representatives in Jefferson City have to be enacted in the next five days. 

Legislators finished the state budget last Thursday after an arduous four days,, giving them three days to rest up for what is usually a long and intense last week of the legislative session.  Senate floor leader Tom Dempsey has one big unfinished issue on his priority list.—workers’ comp 

Governor Nixon has vetoed one workers’ comp bill this year.  Dempsey says the governor and his staff have been negotiating about something more acceptable.  He’s not looking for the long, long debate the first version got.. He says the primary focus will be on occupational disease coverage.

Dempsey says a lot of important issues got backed up by last week’s concentration of budget bills and two non-debate days that were needed to reached a compromise that freed those bills to get passed. 

 Reform of the prevailing wage law started the year as a priority.  Although some think it’s a dead issue, Dempsey notes the long-standing saying, “If I die, I want to die on the Senate floor because nothing ever dies on the Senate floor.”  

 AUDIO: Dempsey interview 7:15