PDMP Archives - Missourinet

Missouri Senate President Pro Tem focused on aging I-70 Rocheport bridge (AUDIO)

June 26, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s governor has signed a $29.7 billion state operating budget, which takes effect on Monday. It includes $301 million in bridge bonding funding, contingent upon the awarding of a federal Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant.

A crew member inspects the aging I-70 Rocheport bridge in mid-Missouri (2018 file photo courtesy of MoDOT’s Sally Oxenhandler)

The bridge bonding measure is a top priority for Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, who sponsored the legislation. He tells Missourinet that U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (R) is now working to obtain federal grant funding for a new I-70 bridge in mid-Missouri’s Rocheport.

“The effects it’s going to have on commerce and traffic and people and the ancillary roads that are going to be affected by the traffic that goes to them, it’s extremely important,” Schatz says.

State Department of Transportation (MoDOT) Director Patrick McKenna has warned that rehabilitation of the bridge will cause three to eight-hour backups, including 25-mile backups to Kingdom City “on a bad day.”

“Now it’s up to Senator Blunt to go to work for us, go to bat for Missouri and try to bring home some of that grant funding that will help us get that Rocheport bridge done,” says Schatz.

MoDOT says it would cost about $200 million to replace the bridge, which was built in 1960. The bridge is more than 3,000 feet long.

Columbia Chamber of Commerce President Matt McCormick has described I-70 as a focal point of business, as well as moving goods and services across the nation.

Meantime, Pro Tem Schatz is disappointed lawmakers didn’t approve prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) legislation this year. He’s already looking ahead to 2020.

Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz (R-Sullivan) visits the House chamber on May 17, 2019 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

“But I will tell you that we will come back next year and I have three more years in this chamber (Missouri Senate). And I will work every year until we get that thing accomplished,” Schatz says.

Missouri is the only state in the nation without a PDMP, which is an electronic database that collects data on controlled substance prescriptions within a state.

The House approved PDMP legislation from State Rep. Holly Rehder, R-Scott City, by a 103-53 vote in February but the bill died in the Senate, primarily because of opposition from the Senate Conservative Caucus.

Senator Blunt has also called on lawmakers to pass PDMP, saying drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in Missouri and the nation.

Blunt addressed the Missouri House in Jefferson City in April, noting that firefighters in the St. Louis suburb of Maryland Heights tell him they’re ten times as likely to respond to a drug overdose as a fire.

Overall, Schatz says the 2019 session was successful, also citing passage of anti-abortion legislation and a bill aimed at attracting a $1 billion expansion at the sprawling General Motors (GM) plant in eastern Missouri’s Wentzville.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full three-minute interview with Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, which was recorded on May 17, 2019 at the Statehouse in Jefferson City:

Missouri GOP congressman describes opioid epidemic as a “scourge”; supports PDMP

June 6, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

(Reporter Bailey Strohl at Missourinet Springfield affiliate KSGF Radio contributed to this story)

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.- A congressman who represents southwest Missouri on Capitol Hill says a prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) is needed in the Show-Me State. U.S. Rep. Billy Long, R-Springfield, discussed the nation’s opioid crisis during a roundtable discussion this morning at Springfield’s Cox Medical Center South.

U.S. Rep. Billy Long, R-Springfield, speaks at a Springfield roundtable discussion about the opioid crisis on June 6, 2019 (photo courtesy of KSGF’s Bailey Strohl)

“No one doesn’t know someone that’s affected by it. I mean, it’s a scourge,” Long tells roundtable participants. “And so, that’s why we try and have get-togethers like this and find out what works and what doesn’t work.”

Congressman Long says the opioid crisis is killing people across the nation everyday.

“It’s killing 130 people a day in this country, I mean when I was growing up here in Springfield I never went home and my folks said so-and-so’s kid down the block died today,” says Long.

Cox officials are touting their new program that gives assistance and treatment to addicts who want to get clean. Cox officials also emphasize the need for a supervised short stay center to free up emergency rooms.

Congressman Long met with health care professionals today, including nurses. He toured Cox South’s neonatal intensive care unit to see how CoxHealth is treating babies who have a condition called Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, a condition caused by mothers who are addicted to opioids while pregnant.

“It is truly devastating to see the impact opioid addiction is having in our community. Touring the neonatal intensive care unit and seeing babies affected by opioid addiction is heart-wrenching,” Long says.

Congressman Long notes that President Donald Trump has signed legislation into law called the SUPPORT the Patients and Communities Act, which establishes grants to combat the opioid epidemic.

He says CoxHealth has been awarded a $790,000 federal grant to expand rural telemedicine services such as substance abuse counseling and mental health treatment.

Cox South is located on what’s known as Springfield’s “Medical Mile.”

Long supports a statewide PDMP, which is an electronic database that collects data on controlled substance prescriptions within a state. Long notes 49 other states have it, and that Missouri is the only state in the nation without a PDMP.

“It’s an anomaly that we don’t have it,” says Long.

The Missouri House approved PDMP during the 2019 session, but the measure died in the Senate due to opposition from the Senate Conservative Caucus.

PDMP sponsor State Rep. Holly Rehder, R-Scott City, tells Missourinet she intends to file the legislation again in January.

Haahr and Quade reflect on Missouri’s 2019 legislative session (AUDIO)

May 20, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

The Missouri House Speaker describes the 2019 legislative session as the most successful policy session he’s seen in his seven years in the Legislature.

Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, delivers a rare House floor speech on May 17, 2019 (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, tells Capitol reporters the Legislature passed 94 bills that are now on the governor’s desk.

“Obviously the Missouri Stands for the Unborn Act, what we believe to be the boldest most comprehensive pro-life legislation in the nation. We also passed three different major criminal justice reforms,” Haahr says.

The heartbeat abortion legislation received final approval from the House on Friday afternoon. The vote was 110-44. The bill from State Rep. Nick Schroer, R-O’Fallon, would essentially ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected.

The criminal justice reform measures passed with bipartisan support, and were top priorities for both Speaker Haahr and Missouri’s Legislative Black Caucus. One of the bills eliminates mandatory minimum sentences for some nonviolent crimes.

Haahr is disappointed the Legislature didn’t pass prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) legislation. During a Friday evening Statehouse press conference, Speaker Haahr told Missourinet he expects PDMP to be filed again in 2020.

“Obviously, the prescription drug monitoring bill was not able to get across the finish line. We remain committed to it, and I believe (Scott City) Representative Holly Rehder remains committed to it as well,” says Haahr.

Missouri is the only state in the nation without a PDMP, which is an electronic database that collects data on controlled substance prescriptions within a state.

Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, briefs Capitol reporters on May 17, 2019 (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

As for Representative Rehder, she tells Missourinet she intends to file PDMP again in January. Rehder says that year after year as lawmakers have failed to act, “thousands of our children have lost their lives.”

Speaker Haahr is also praising the Legislature’s passage of Fast Track, which allows Missourians to receive advanced training in high-demand areas. He’s also pleased with the General Assembly’s quick passage of legislation aimed at attracting a $1 billion expansion at the sprawling General Motors plant in Wentzville.

Haahr says the Legislature has approved a $29.7 billion state operating budget, which fully funds the k-12 school foundation formula. He also praises passage of the bridge bonding bill.

House Democrats were outnumbered this year 114-46, putting them in a superminority.

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, delivered a floor speech just before session ended on Friday, saying her members feel ignored by House GOP leaders. Missourinet asked Quade about her comments during Friday evening’s press conference. She says no Democratic budget amendments were approved in committee or on the floor in 2019.

“This is the first time since the Republicans took control of the House (in 2003) that the minority leader didn’t have a single bill move. So few of our members got hearings it was laughable,” Quade says.

Quade says she’s proud of her caucus, adding that Democrats will “work tirelessly” to flip seats in 2020.

Quade says her caucus fought in 2019 to hold the state Department of Revenue (DOR) accountable, over this year’s surprise tax bills.

“House Democrats fought for taxpayers, demanding answers from the Department of Revenue and ultimately forcing the resignation of its director,” says Quade.

Former DOR Director Joel Walters resigned in March, after being criticized by lawmakers in both parties about a tax withholding issue.

House Special Committee on Government Oversight Chairman Robert Ross, R-Yukon, told Missourinet recently that the committee is working to draft a final report about DOR.

One key bill that did pass that had strong support from both Speaker Haahr and Leader Quade is Hailey’s Law, which would require Missouri’s Amber Alert System Oversight Committee to meet at least annually.

The bill, which is sponsored by State Rep. Curtis Trent, R-Springfield, is in response to the gruesome 2014 kidnapping, rape and killing of ten-year-old Hailey Owens in Springfield.

The murder happened in Quade’s district.

Click here to listen to the full press conferences from House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, and House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, which happened on May 17, 2019 at the Statehouse in Jefferson City: