Greetings, My Fellow Missourians

I spent Saturday evening with my wife, Marla, attending the 47th Annual Benefit Dinner for the Benton County Historical Society. I was honored to offer the invocation before dinner, which was followed by music with a live auction and pie auction. Thank you to the dedicated board members, sponsors, and participants for a wonderful meeting. This annual event raises over 50% of the funds that support the Benton County Museum located at 1660 Hilltop Drive. The museum is completely staffed by volunteers and is open Friday and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. and on Sunday from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. For more information, please go to www.bencomo.org.

On my way to the Capitol Monday morning, I drove the “Discover More on Route 54” highway to Jefferson City. My purpose was to visit with constituents Brandon and Laura Yates who own and operate Yates Rustic Range Trading on Highway 54 east of Preston. This is the 3rd year I have filed legislation that would change MoDOT regulations which would allow the Yates to install two business signs on their own private land directly across the highway from their store without any fees. The current law in MO requires the Yates to pay a permit fee of $200 as well as a biennial inspection fee of $100 per sign. This legislation has received support from its House committee hearing and House members in the chamber. It has been sponsored in the Senate this year for the first time by Senator Crawford. MoDOT officials are in support of changing the laws to remove the permit and inspection fees. The legislation must now get Senate approval.

Legislation this week:

The Missouri House has voted to take more steps toward fighting opioid addiction with a focus on shifting the response to addiction from law enforcement and incarceration to treatment availability in the form of HB2105.

The main provision of the bill would create the “Improved Access to Treatment for Opioid Addictions” Program (IATOA). It would use assistant physicians – a position created by legislation passed in 2014 – to work in a collaborative way with licensed doctors to provide addiction treatment throughout the state. The assistant physicians would be supported by the ECHO program (Extension for Community Healthcare Options) – a program that uses videoconferencing to connect experts with providers statewide to help providers offer specialized care. The sponsor said the program would be among the first of its kind in the nation, and other states are already taking note of it and considering how to create their own.

Another of the bill’s main provisions would limit the amount of an opioid drug that could be prescribed to someone for acute pain to a seven-day supply. The provision is meant to keep people from becoming addicted while not limiting such drugs to those who rely on them for long-term pain management. The sponsor said, “The idea is to prevent people like the high school athlete who has a knee injury and the doc gives him 150 Percocet or whatever – it’s to nip that in the bud; prevent new people from getting addicted, but while acknowledging that there are people in our state that have chronic pain and they’re getting along pretty well.”

The legislation now moves to the Senate for consideration.

Two selected for Missouri agribusiness academy from District 125:

Congratulations to Kaylee Lower of Collins and Justin Austin of Appleton City who have been selected to participate in the Missouri Department of Agriculture’s Missouri Agribusiness Academy. Only 30 high school sophomores are selected to participate each year. They will spend the first week of June in the St. Louis region exploring various aspects of agriculture with a graduation ceremony to be held at the State Capitol in Jefferson City at the end of the week.

House investigative committee report:

During the last several weeks, the Special Investigative Committee has conducted a fair, thorough, and timely investigation of the facts surrounding the alleged misconduct by Governor Greitens and released its findings on Wednesday. Following the release of the report, House Speaker Todd Richardson met with media and noted that the committee will continue its work to gather additional information that comes to light. The committee will also expand its mission to provide House members a recommendation of any and all appropriate discipline of the Governor. As the Speaker told the press, “The power given to the MO General Assembly to take disciplinary action or remove elected officials from office is one of the most serious and consequential powers the Constitution grants the legislature. We will not take that responsibility lightly, nor will we act rashly, however, we will not shrink from it.” His goal is for the General Assembly to remain focused on the tasks that Missourians sent legislators to Jefferson City to complete. To that end, he said he and members of House and Senate leadership have begun the process of calling a special session for full consideration of any recommendations by the committee.