There’s just four weeks left in session.  The last day of session will be Friday, May 12.  Since the beginning of session there have been 1,475 bills filed in the House.  You should be thankful, not all of them will make it to the finish line.

Each of the 163 State Representatives have filed legislation important to them or their constituents. We each think our bills are the best and deserve a checkered flag. Each representative will take a variety of roads to get to the end and as we gain experience we’ll learn which roads to take.

I’d like to give you a personal example.  I have filed the same House Bill for the last couple of years. This is a simple bill about license plates but the journey of the bill is the story I want to tell. This year my license plate bill made it to the floor for a debate. It was a simple stand-alone bill, which easily passed with no opposition. 

However, a simple bill with no opposition is no guarantee the bill will be taken up by the Senate. I also had a chance to attach this same bill as an amendment to another House Bill.

Still, there’s no guarantee this second House Bill will make it to the finish line. 

Another path to get my bill to the winners circle, was adding my bill as an amendment to an amendment to yet a third House bill. It’s an interesting race to the finish.  In addition, there’s still time to add my bill as an amendment on to Senate bills.

To be clear, the story I just told about adding amendments to bills is not one that should be over-generalized. The group of amendments added to a bill have to be related to a very specific subject matter.

Speaker of the House Dean Plocher continues to move the Republican caucus priorities forward. Two big bills receiving lots of debate on the floor included legislation to protect Missouri’s children from unnecessary and harmful sex change drugs and surgeries. By a vote of 103 to 52, the House approved HB419, which would establish the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (Safe) Act.

The second priority bill this week sent to the Senate is meant to promote fairness in competition and opportunity for female athletes. By a vote of 107-41, the Missouri House perfected HB183 to establish the Save Women’s Sports Act.

Other bills debated this week included one that should be important to those of us living in rural Missouri. HB316 modifies provisions relating to the Historic Preservation tax credit and renames such tax credit the “Missouri Historic, Rural Revitalization, and Regulatory Streamlining Act.”

I think this has some potential to help encourage investments in rural areas and I was glad to see it passed to the Senate.

If you get a chance to come to the Capitol to witness this race to the finish, please stop by the office.

If you want to watch online view https://house.mo.gov/ or stay connected electronically, I welcome all emails to:  bruce.sassmann@house.mo.gov.

If you want to call Jill she can be reached at 573-751-6668.