“No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”
— Mark Twain
I agree with Twain. The great people of this state are safer when the politicians and special interests are not in Jefferson City threatening your liberty. Of the 2,224 bills proposed this session, 63 were approved by the legislature – 36 Senate bills and 27 House bills (20 of those are the FY2023 Supplemental bills and FY 2024 operating budget) making the total number of non-budget policy related bills to be “Truly Agreed and Finally Passed” this session 43.
While 43 bills might sound like a small number, most of these were loaded up with provisions from countless other, sometimes unrelated, bills. I estimate that provisions from at least 150 stand alone bills originally filed as single subject bills were passed in the form of omnibus legislation. Here is a list of bills with links to additional information.
A Peek into the Final Two Weeks of Session
Even though the legislature meets for four and a half months, the vast majority of bills are passed in the final two weeks of session. Many of the bills passed included provisions from hundreds of the other bills that did not make it through all the steps of the legislative process on their own. Rather, they were incorporated into omnibus bills, meaning they are combined into an ever expanding bill that is further along in the process and more likely to be TAFP’d (truly agreed and finally passed). All bills start off with a single subject; however, by the end of session, so many amendments can be added that the original bill is almost entirely unrecognizable. Often, legislators are expected to vote on several hundred page bills that were just given to them moments before. Senators who are sponsoring a particular bill will craft a Senate Substitute for their bill, which means a different version than what was previously seen. These Senate Substitutes can change anything from a minor punctuation error to attaching dozens of other bills onto the original bill in question. These additions can increase the length of the bill by hundreds of pages. In the Senate, Senators can “inquire of” other Senators and read through these bills for as long as they need before letting them come to a vote. In the House, Representatives who seek recognition to speak or ask questions can be ignored and a vote taken without giving them time for thorough examination.
Republican Legislative Victories
The two bright spots for conservative Republicans this legislative session were the passage of the S.A.F.E. Act (SB 49) and the Save Women’s Sports Act (SB 39). These pieces of legislation were top priorities for me, having sponsored a version of these bills myself. I was among a group of eight Senators that advocated within the Republican caucus for these issues to be a priority early in session because I did not want them to be used against the conservatives as a bargaining chip in the final weeks of session. In the past, these important issues have been used as political capital to leverage the passage of other bills. I did not want to see that happen again. Here is a link to read the letter we sent the week before legislative spring break and some more context I provided in a past Capitol Report.
The week after Spring Break, on March 23rd, the Senate passed the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (S.A.F.E) Act after an overnight filibuster from the Democrats. Because we stayed the course, we went from many Republicans wanting to wait until the end of session to try and pass it to 18 Republican Senators signing on as co-sponsors within a few weeks. The House waited to pass the S.A.F.E. Act until the last week of session, passing it on May 10th. SB 49 bans sex change surgeries, puberty blockers, and cross sex hormones on minors under the age of 18. Unfortunately, SB 49 contains a four year sunset. The sunset clause means the law expires in four years unless extended by the legislature. I am committed to ensuring the extension of these laws.
The Save Women’s Sports Act, which prohibits biological males from competing in women’s sports, also passed the Senate on March 23rd. This includes high school and college athletics. Like the S.A.F.E. Act, the House waited until the last week of session to pass the Save Women’s Sports Act. Unfortunately, this bill also includes a four year sunset.
The fact that we were unable to get these passed without a sunset is indicative of the tug of war between big Republican priorities and the status quo. Too few Republicans were willing to stand strong long enough to pass these bills without a sunset clause. These bills would likely have otherwise died in the last days of session (which has been the case for most conservative legislation in recent years). Even though I am not thrilled with the sunset clause, I am glad kids are protected in Missouri now, and will fight to protect them forever by removing the sunset completely.
Removing Barriers to Physical Therapy
A victory for medical choice, we passed a bill eliminating the requirement for patients to first see a doctor before a physical therapist. Due to the time and money required to see a doctor before a physical therapist, in the past, patients were delayed in getting the help they needed, and sometimes chose not to pursue it at all. Under the legislation we passed, patients can now directly seek care from a physical therapist without a referral from a doctor in some instances.
My MRNA Vaccine Mandate Amendments
This session, I was able to offer and successfully add three amendments to various Senate Bills to protect Missourians from tyrannical vaccine mandates. Unfortunately, the bills these amendments were attached to did not end up passing this legislative session.
- The first amendment I was successful in including simply states: “no public funds shall be made available to any health care facility that refuses to provide treatment or services to an individual based on the COVID-19 vaccination status of the individual.”
Across the country, patients are being denied access to life saving care, notably organ donations, based on their COVID-19 vaccination status. In one case, a father was prohibited from donating a kidney to his 9-year-old son because of the father’s vaccination status. A teenager was denied a kidney transplant because she was unvaccinated. There are many more stories like this. My amendment would ensure that no health care facility that refuses treatment based on COVID-19 vaccination status will receive state dollars.
- My second amendment prohibits the Department of Health and Senior Services or any K-12 public school from forcing the COVID-19 vaccine or any MRNA vaccine on kids in order to attend school. I successfully attached this amendment to some other bills near the end of session, but none of those bills were signed into law.
This issue will continue to be a priority for me.
