Pre-Filing is in full swing...
Tuesday, Dec. 1st, marked the first day legislators in both
chambers of the Missouri General Assembly could pre-file bills for the 2016
legislative session. During the first two days of pre-filing House members
filed 261 bills. This figure shatters previous marks for bill filing activity.
In comparison, the 2014 session saw just 195 bills pre-filed throughout the
month-long pre-filing period. Many are
projecting over 2000 bills to be pre-filed this month. I am afraid we will make or even surpass that
projection!
For the 2016 legislative session, the bills pre-filed by my
office include:
•HB 1366 is taking a proactive
approach in the pharmaceutical arena by enacting a new law that would allow for
an interchangeable biological product to be dispensed. This bill has the potential to allow
Missourians better access to biological products used in the treatment of
conditions such as arthritis, anemia, skin conditions, and various forms of cancer. I am hopeful it will be a proactive step
towards controlling one area of prescription drug costs.
•HB 1367 would give the General
Assembly an additional level of involvement and oversight of the state
education department particularly in regard to the use of federal funding. I am hopeful this bill will be a conversation
starter for a re-building of trust between the people of this state, DESE and
the General Assembly and a reunification towards us all working together to
ensure Missouri children receive the very best education possible.
•HB 1368 (refiled from last
session) would establish a committee to examine the regulations the State
Schools for the Severely Disabled operate under in an effort to make changes to
allow the schools to better meet the needs of children.
•HB 1557 and HB 1558 both are from
last session and relate to duplicative regulations/inspections for nursing
facilities, hoping to get this to a unified and consistent type of inspection
process as well as clear and consistent regulations. This will be a step to ensuring safe and high
quality nursing facilities, it is very difficult for them to achieve this when
the inspectors and regulations contradict.
•HB 1712 will add that a managed
care plan's network (health insurance) shall be deemed adequate if the plan is
offered by a carrier accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory
Health Care.
•HB 1866 will allow Advanced
Practice Registered Nurses to practice without a mileage restriction and
address some other barriers to healthcare access that currently negatively
impact rural Missourians.
•HB 1879 will reinstate the Cap
back into the Foundation Formula for the funding of education making it so that
the Foundation Formula may be fully funded without a massive tax increase each
year, this will also allow our rural schools to be more adequately and fairly
funded compared with urban schools.
•I am still working on 2 other
bills that I plan to file, one is related to offering dyslexia training to
every teacher in the state at no cost to our local schools and addressing the
certification process for educators. The
wording on both of these are still being discussed, I will let you know as soon
as I file these bills.
•One final bill, I am not sure when
we will have it ready for filing as it is very complicated, is to address
nursing facilities via quality improvement/incentives and/or
reimbursement. Our nursing facilities
get a very bad "rap" due to the care or perception of the care
delivery system. I am hoping to address
this through improved training, quality improvement methods and reimbursements
so that CNA's (Certified Nursing Assistants) will receive better pay as they
are the ones who provide the majority of direct hands on patient care, we all
know "you get what you pay for" so I hope to ensure the best possible
staff for our elderly who are in nursing facilities.
I will be also filing, in January when that filing time
opens, 3 resolutions that will address Federal Government overreach. I am hopeful these statements will receive
bipartisan support and make it clear to our Federal Delegation that we, as
Missourians, support common sense approaches to government that are as close to
the people as possible and we do not feel the Federal Government knows best in
all things.
This update is quite lengthy, I could list more than what I
have listed here but I am afraid the report would become so large and
cumbersome no one would want to read it!
I have tried to keep things brief and list only the highlights. I have attended many, many meetings which I
have not listed but if you have questions about any of the meetings I have
attended, please feel free to call or email me and ask! I am always happy to share with others what I
have been doing most importantly the things I have learned!
I very much appreciate another opportunity to serve you in
this upcoming session. I will work hard
to stop government overreach while also protecting our citizens and our way of
life. Please contact me if you would
like to discuss any of the bills mentioned above or any of those filed by other
legislators. I will be happy to find a
time for us to meet and talk!
I won't send out a report again until after Christmas as we
all will be spending as much time with family as possible. Enjoy this Holiday Season and spend as much
time as possible with your loved ones!!
Merry Christmas!!
