State Rep. Travis Fitzwater Archives

What we’re watching this week in Missouri Legislature: Medicaid expansion, budget, PDMP and proposal to reduce Missouri House’s size

March 29, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

The state operating budget and prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) legislation will likely take center stage in the Missouri Legislature in Jefferson City this week.

Missouri House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, testifies before a House committee in Jefferson City on February 24, 2021 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Governor Mike Parson (R) has proposed a $34.1 billion state operating budget. House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith (R-Carthage) tells Missourinet that he hopes to see the House give initial and final approval to the operating budget this week. The state Constitution requires Missouri lawmakers to approve a balanced budget, by early May.

Once the budget goes to the House floor this week, there will likely be a floor debate on the issue of Medicaid expansion.

Medicaid is formally known as MO HealthNet, and it’s a federal and state program that assists with medical costs for residents with limited incomes. 53 percent of Missouri voters approved Medicaid expansion in August, although it failed in 105 of the state’s 114 counties. Amendment Two expands Medicaid for residents between the ages of 19 and 64 with an income level at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty level.

Last week the House Budget Committee voted against funding Medicaid expansion. Chairman Smith issued a statement, which says the expansion would help able bodied adults, many who choose not to work. He’s filed a bill to use that money to support seniors in nursing homes, to provide care for the developmentally disabled and to expand mental health programs. Smith also wants to use some of the money for additional public defenders.

During his January State of the State Address, Governor Parson pledged to move forward with implementation of Medicaid expansion, because voters approved it.

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade (D-Springfield) and other House Democrats have called a Statehouse news conference for Monday afternoon at 1 to address the issue. Leader Quade and House Democrats say Missouri voters have spoken. She describes the Budget Committee’s decision as an irresponsible attempt by House Republicans to defund Missouri’s Medicaid program.

State Sen. Holly Rehder (R-Scott City) speaks on the Missouri Senate floor in Jefferson City on March 9, 2021 (file photo courtesy of Harrison Sweazea at Senate Communications)

Across the Capitol Rotunda in the Missouri Senate, PDMP should hit the Senate floor this week. State Sen. Holly Rehder (R-Scott City) has filed PDMP for the ninth straight year. Rehder filed it for the eight years she served in the House. She was elected to the Missouri Senate in November, and has filed Senate Bill 63.

Senator Rehder delivered a passionate speech on the Missouri House floor in May, revealing to colleagues that her late mother and late sister were both sexually assaulted multiple times and that they turned to prescription drugs for their pain.

“I look forward to having that (Senate floor debate) conversation, obviously this is something that (State) Senator Rehder is very passionate about. When she was in the House, I carried that legislation myself (and) tried to find a resolution for that,” Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz (R-Sullivan) told Missourinet last week.

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

Rehder and other supporters say Missouri’s medical professionals must have knowledge of what their patients are on, prior to prescribing more medication. Bill opponents such as State Sen. Mike Moon (R-Ash Grove) worry about potential data breaches involving your prescription information.

While both the Missouri House and Senate approved PDMP in 2020, they approved different versions of the bill.

Pro Tem Schatz says education reform bills will also likely be debated on the floor this week. He also expects some long nights between now and May.

“Not sure exactly the floor schedule, but would anticipate working longer hours from now till session ends,” Schatz tells Missourinet.

Another interesting issue that will be discussed in a Missouri House committee this week involves reducing the Missouri House’s size.

State Rep. Travis Fitzwater (R-Holts Summit) is proposing a constitutional amendment that would reduce the Missouri House from 163 to 136 members. Fitzwater will present his proposal Wednesday afternoon to the House Elections and Elected Officials Committee.

Fitzwater’s proposed House Joint Resolution 34 is similar to his 2019 proposal, which failed. Missouri currently has 197 lawmakers, although there is one House vacancy. Fitzwater says it’s the seventh-largest Legislature in the nation, and that Missouri has more state lawmakers than any of its bordering states.

Missourians ratified a constitutional amendment in 1966, which locked in the number of House seats at 163.

The Missouri House and Senate will both gavel-in Monday afternoon at 4 in Jefferson City.

Top Missouri laws taking effect today

August 28, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Several bills become law today that the Missouri Legislature passed during the second regular session of the 100th General Assembly. Here is a snapshot of the top bills approved by lawmakers and signed by Gov. Mike Parson:

Top Missouri laws taking effect today

Partial motorcycle helmet law repeal
House Bill 1963 is a sweeping transportation bill allowing motorcycle drivers 26 years and older to go helmetless if they have their own health insurance. It requires insurance to cover medical costs for injuries from a motorcycle crash. Under the plan sponsored by Representative Travis Fitzwater, R-Holts Summit, motorcycle passengers would still be required to wear a helmet.

Cameras within long-term care patient rooms
St. Louis Representative Jim Murphy’s bill will let long-term care center patients put electronic monitoring devices in their rooms. Murphy, a Republican, tells Missourinet House Bill 1387 allows devices like video cameras to be placed within patient rooms at Missouri nursing homes, assisted living centers and mental hospitals. Under the plan, a visible sign must be placed in rooms where monitoring is occurring. Murphy says he thinks the devices will help to address potential abuse and neglect and help families stay in contact with their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic. Anyone featured in a recording must approve of the release of the recording unless the information is being given to law enforcement for investigative purposes.

Changes to Missouri’s foster care system
House Bill 1414 is comprehensive legislation about Missouri’s foster care system. It requires the creation of a response team to review the practices of the state Children’s Division and any contractors. The package gives Missouri’s homeless kids access to a free birth certificate and provides them with Medicaid health coverage. Representative Sheila Solon, R-St. Joseph, is sponsoring the proposal ensuring foster parents have access, at the time of placement, to full medical records of a child placed with them. It also clarifies that a child’s attendance in court hearings should only take place when the judge and family support believe it is in the best interest of the child.

Further healthcare coverage for certain conditions
Former state Representative David Wood, R-Versailles, is the sponsor of a wide-ranging healthcare bill allowing pregnant Missouri women on Medicaid to have access to mental health services for postpartum depression or related conditions for up to an additional 12 months. Previous law gave the benefits to eligible mothers for up to 60 days after giving birth. The extra help depends on state budget and federal approval.

House Bill 1682 also specifies that coverage for certain breast cancer screening and evaluation services must be provided annually to any woman deemed by her physician to have an above-average risk for breast cancer. Furthermore, the bill requires coverage of ultrasound or MRI services when determined by a physician to be medically necessary for any woman deemed by the doctor to have an above-average risk of breast cancer.

Rape kits testing
Sen. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester, sponsored legislation streamlining Missouri’s testing process for sexual assault evidence kits and it creates a statewide task force aimed at protecting the rights of assault victims. Senate Bill 569 requires the state to create a centralized place to store untested rape kits and requires those kits to be stored for at least five years. Missouri has about 6,800 untested rape kits.

Tort Reform
Senate Bill 591 puts new limits on punitive damages in liability lawsuits. It allows juries to award punitive damages only when plaintiffs prove by clear and convincing evidence that defendants “intentionally harmed” someone without just cause or acted with “deliberate and flagrant disregard for the safety of others.” The business-friendly measure is sponsored by Sen. Bill White, R-Joplin.

Medical marijuana
Lawmakers passed changes to the state’s new medical marijuana industry. The FBI informed the state health department, which regulates the industry, that the Missouri agency will not have access to its national fingerprint background check database. Representative Lane Roberts, R-Joplin, says his legislation will clear up that problem. Under House Bill 1896, the agency requires fingerprints from medical marijuana business employees and department employees associated with licensing medical marijuana businesses. It bans medical marijuana edibles designed in the shape of a human, animal, or fruit, including realistic, artistic, caricature, or cartoon renderings. However, geometric shapes, including, but not limited to, circles, squares, rectangles, and triangles, are allowed.

Hawley: volunteers who showed up after Jefferson City tornado “showed the very best of who we are” (AUDIO/VIDEO)

May 23, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s junior senator describes the EF-3 tornado that struck Jefferson City one year ago today as devastating.

Missouri Senator Josh Hawley views a tornado-damaged building near the old MSP in Jefferson City on May 25, 2019 (Brian Hauswirth photo)

The May 22, 2019 tornado, which the National Weather Service (NWS) in St. Louis says packed an estimated peak wind of 160 miles per hour, destroyed about 240 homes and businesses.

“I remember my very first feeling was just incredible gratitude and thankfulness that more lives were not lost and more people not injured, because the devastation, the severity of the storm, the tornado was very, very significant,” Senator Josh Hawley says.

Senator Hawley walked down East Capitol Avenue in Jefferson City with a Missourinet reporter a year ago Saturday, viewing the devastation. Hawley praised the more than 1,000 volunteers who turned out that day, to remove debris and to help tornado victims.

“People coming with their tools and their chainsaws to help and clear away things,” Hawley told Missourinet that afternoon, in blazing heat. “People taking in neighbors and letting them stay in their homes, it really is a testament to the spirit of this state.”

East Capitol Avenue is just east of the State Capitol and near the old Missouri State Penitentiary (MSP), which also took a direct hit from the tornado.

Hawley visited that afternoon with residents and shopkeepers who had been affected. Some had lost everything, and were in tears.

During an interview this week, Hawley reflected on that tour. He says the volunteers who showed up in Jefferson City that day “showed the very best of who we are.”

“I also remember the number of people lining the street who were out helping their neighbors, out delivering food, I think there was a local restaurant owner who had set up a tent and was cooking meals for people right there on the spot,” says Hawley.

The restaurant owner donated all of the food that day to tornado victims and to volunteers.

There were no fatalities from the tornado, which State Rep. Travis Fitzwater, R-Holts Summit, described as an amazing testament to the community and the coordination with first responders.

Jefferson City Mayor Carrie Tergin describes the tornado as terrifying, noting the extensive destruction.

“But the damage was outdone by the volunteers. The sheer power of the tornado was no match for our community strength. We were determined to come back from this stronger, and we are,” Tergin says.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s interview with U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R), which was recorded on May 21, 2020. Brian also asked Senator Hawley about the Table Rock Lake duck boat issue: