By Scott Welton
scottw{at}standard-democrat{dot}com
SIKESTON — Like every legislative session, the Missouri General Assembly was able to accomplish some important objectives while others weren’t achieved before adjournment Friday.
“I think without question the budget was the most important legislation this session,” said State Rep. Ellen Brandom, 160th District. “Of course, it was
more important than ever this year.”
Brandom said crafting a budget was particularly difficult this year as money had to be cut from many program.
“That’s always tough to do,” she said. “It deserved a lot of time and attention.”
Brandom said while the budget preparation was a time consuming endeavor this session, it is likely to be even worse in 2011.
“The budget next year is going to overshadow everything,” she predicted.
Foremost among what many consider to be unfinished business during this session was a jobs creation bill. [HB1675]
“I think many of us were disappointed we didn’t pass any economic development legislation,” Brandom said.
Brandom said she was also hoping to see the mandatory drug testing for welfare applicants pass. [HB1377]
“I will go back with that next year,” she said.
One item that was passed but in a less-than-satisfactory form was an ethics reform bill.
“I thought the ethics bill was important,” said Brandom, who was on the House Ethics Committee. “I was disappointed that it was not the bill that the committee put forth. It was sidetracked by a legislative maneuver and, at the last minute, another ethics bill appeared. It was not nearly as comprehensive as the committee report was. We had we spent hours and hours on it.”
Brandom described the ethics bill which was approved, Senate Bill 844, as “a watered-down version, a much weaker bill than the ethics bill that came out of our committee. There were some improvements but not as much as many of us would have liked.”
She said legislators should not be allowed to offer consulting services while serving in office and regrets this restriction didn’t make it into the version that finally passed. “That was my No. 1 priority,” Brandom said.
There were some bright points, however, to the 2010 legislative session, according to Brandom.
“I think one of the good things that passed was changes to Access Missouri scholarships for needy students that are attending two year or four year
Missouri colleges and universities,” she said.
Currently, students at private schools are eligible for larger scholarships. Under the changes approved in Senate Bill 733, “its the same amount of money regardless of where you are going to school,” Brandom said.
Brandom said she was also pleased to see the bill addressing Autism issues, House Bill 1311, pass.
“Autism prior to this time was not covered by health insurance.”
Under this bill’s provisions, group insurance policies regulated by the state must cover the diagnosis and treatment of autistic children including up to $40,000 per year for behavioral therapy.
“Children with autism who receive help when their young can make great strides,” Brandom said.
Brandom described Senate Bill 793 as “pro-life legislation” as it requires additional information to be given to women 24 hours before an abortion including the option to view an ultrasound and listen to the heartbeat of the fetus.
“We don’t want women to be forced into an abortion if its not what they really want,” Brandom said.
Brandom said she was also happy to see House Bill 1764 pass. This bill gives the state’s voters a chance to pass a referendum in August which would exempt Missouri from being compelled by the federal health insurance mandate to have health insurance and from penalties for paying for their own health care.
The state should be able to regulate health care itself, she said, “and citizens should be free to make their own decisions about health care without any penalty.”
Some information for this story was provided by the Associated Press.
Urgent Call to Action
As many of you know we are in the middle of a census count. Unfortunately, the Missouri response rate has been extremely poor in rural areas. If this underperformance continues its present course, our state may lose a representative in the United States Congress and an electoral vote in the presidential election.
I would like to encourage all of you to return your census form and remind your neighbors to do the same.
If you did not receive a form or have misplaced it you can call the Kansas City regional office to request a replacement form at 1-866-872-6868.
This is a very important issue that will have a tremendous impact on the future of our state.
On a personal note, I wanted to thank everyone who visited my office during this past session. It is always a pleasure to have friends, neighbors, and constituents visit.
The Sikeston Jaycees were presented a resolution in the Missouri House of Representatives to honor their tireless dedication to the Sikeston community and support of charities. In the last ten years they have given over 1 million dollars to a number of local charities.
Pictured are Paul Myers the State Jaycee’s President, Ryan Merideth the 2010 Jaycee’s President, Matt Matthews the 2009 Rodeo Chairman, Barry Johnson, Sam Thomas, Bart Ziegenhorn, Brandon Kuehn, Zac Black, Patrick Douglas, Matt Drake, Jason Pounds, Marc Leible, Matt Bain, and Representative Ellen Brandom.
As always, please contact me if you have questions on this or any other issue. My toll-free number is 866-834-9219 or you can email me at Ellen{dot}Brandom{at}house{dot}mo{dot}gov
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