On a daily basis, legislators enjoy the privilege of introducing special guests on the floor of the House of Representatives. These special guest and other visitors to the Capitol help reinforce Thomas Jefferson’s belief that government works best when it’s being observed. Sunshine laws are meant to shine a light on backroom politics. All visitors are welcome to witness the legislative process and their presence helps avert any abuse of power.

This past Thursday, I introduced a local team of newspaper staff during the beginning of our Thursday session. Jacob Warden, Roxie Murphy & Colin Willard were welcomed by the entire body of the House. This trio also enjoyed a moment to speak individually to Dean Plocher, Speaker of the House, and Jon Patterson, Majority Floor Leader.

Thursdays are typically a short day as we wrap up legislation for the week and legislators begin their drive home. This week’s wrap up session was a Third Read of a Workforce Development Bill, HB417. This legislation was designed to address the state’s current workforce shortage. By a vote bipartisan vote 124-29, the passage of this bill helps employers develop and retain skilled workers. The bill moves on to the Senate for their consideration.

Representative Alex Riley reignited the debate on the floor regarding HB268 that would help innovators navigate the regulatory rules that may otherwise prevent them from bringing new products and services to the market. The bill sponsor told his colleagues, “The impetus behind this bill is the extremely high regulatory burden that is imposed on the people in our state, specifically our small businesses. There was a recent study back in 2017 that showed over 113,000 regulations imposed by the state of Missouri on our citizens. That doesn’t even take into account the regulations imposed by our counties, our cities, and certainly doesn’t account for the likely hundreds of thousands, if not more, imposed by the federal government.” This discussion began last year and sometimes complicated legislation takes years to completely develop.

An easy vote this week was a proposal to improve the pay for Kansas City Police officers. Legislation is now on its way to the Senate that would help the Kansas City Police Department. By a vote of 151-3, the members of the Missouri House gave overwhelming bipartisan approval to HB 640 & HB 729 to allow the department to offer better pay to officers.

Please contact our office at the Capitol in Jefferson City @ 573-751-6668 or email @ bruce.sassmann@house.mo.gov with any questions or concerns.