A mid-Missouri GOP state lawmaker is optimistic the Legislature will get abortion-related legislation to the governor’s desk.
State Rep. Mike Bernskoetter (left) and Jefferson City Mayor Carrie Tergin address a House committee in 2017 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at Missouri House Communications)
The Missouri Senate will return to the Statehouse Monday afternoon at 4 to consider abortion-related legislation.
State Rep. Mike Bernskoetter, R-Jefferson City, notes the Senate and House have approved different versions of the abortion bill.
“Hopefully we can get it done,” Bernskoetter says. “The Senate is supposed to start looking at it again next week, the changes that the House had made, and hopefully they’ll agree with us. If not, we’ve got several options.”
Bernskoetter, whose district includes Cole and Miller counties, tells Missourinet he supports Governor Eric Greitens’ (R) special session call.
The House is “on call” to return to Jefferson City Wednesday morning at 10. Representative Bernskoetter talks about July 26th.
“I guess it could be either, it could be a technical (session), if we need a technical we’ll do a technical but if we need to look at what the Senate’s done then the full body will come back,” says Bernskoetter.
The House voted 110-38 in June to approve State Rep. Diane Franklin’s bill, which includes whisteblower and fetal tissue language. Franklin is a Camdenton Republican.
Bernskoetter and Franklin are in their fourth and final terms in the Missouri House. They were first elected in 2010.
The Senate voted 20-8 in June to approve a bill overturning a St. Louis ordinance that bars discrimination based on pregnancy decisions. The Senate bill also requires annual safety inspections for abortion clinics.
Senate Minority Leader Gina Walsh, D-Bellefontaine Neighbors, wants the issue to go to a conference committee. Walsh tells Missourinet she believes the House version would run into Senate opposition.
If the bill goes to a conference committee, it would then have to go back to the Missouri Senate and House for another vote.
Missouri House Majority Caucus Chair Glen Kolkmeyer, R-Odessa, wants to see the Senate approve the House version of the bill.