What a great week in the Missouri Capitol! We took the opportunity to come in
early and stay late to get some great pieces of legislation out of the House
and sent on over to the Senate. We
will be on “Spring Break” this week where I will be taking the opportunity to
meet with Mayors, Superintendents, Veterans Organizations, and citizens all
across the District! I am looking
forward to the opportunity to be working back home in the District and visiting
with all of you to learn more about the important issues confronting our area!
Relieving the Burden on Rural Schools
Too often our schools face tough decisions on whether or not to authorize
spending on maintenance costs. It
would seem simple enough, but Missouri’s existing law requires that even simple
maintenance like painting is subject to prevailing wage laws. Moreover, our rural areas are often
bound to prevailing wage rates that more accurately reflect urban rates. Should your local elementary school be
forced to pay $35 an hour to paint a wall? Would they?
They likely wouldn’t until the problems are so severe that they demand
action.
This is the heart of the problem we’ve attempted to address
this week: allowing public entities to maintain their facilities on a timelier
basis. The end goal is to increase
workplace safety for our public employees and students and to also minimize the
distraction to our students that crumbling infrastructure causes. In our reforms, we’ve also included new
construction so that local school districts can get more “bang
for the buck”, which will add value to your hard-earned tax dollars. This is a common sense reform. Rural Schools should never have to
choose between affording new textbooks and learning materials or paying for
infrastructure upgrades when they could have both.
Conscience Rights of Medical Service Providers
On Wednesday the House advanced legislation to recognize and defend our
individual freedom of conscience. Our conscience serves as an internal system
of self-guidance—a private radar through which only the individual judges and
discovers his or her truest thoughts and feelings. Therefore, the ability to
abide by one’s conscience must be protected. This week we answered the call of
thousands of workers in the medical field who do not want to be forced to
perform or participate in procedures or research that infringe upon their
beliefs.
HCS HB 457 is a shield for medical professionals to exercise
their conscience rights. It serves to protect them from participation in
medical procedures or research that violates their religious, moral or ethical
beliefs. Major advances in the medical field and the looming encroachment of
Obamacare, are forcing health care providers to face the daunting task of
providing the best care possible while preserving their right to follow their
beliefs that they hold sacred.
HCS HB 457 was Passed with an overwhelming bi-partisan vote
of 116-41 and now moves to the Senate.
As always, please feel free to contact me with any
questions, comments, or concerns you might have! I can be reached by phone at
573-751-4028 or by email at