Lant: House Hits the Ground Running

Boy, when I said last week that we were going to hit the ground running, little did I know how fast we were going to have to run. We drove up on Sunday evening after receiving a message from the Highway Patrol that the roads would be bad by Monday morning. At 8:00 A.M. I already had 45 E-mails and a stack of paper 3 inches high on my desk. We had a caucus meeting at 10:00 And Tom Schweich's swearing in ceremony at 12:00. John Danforth spoke at the ceremony and it was nicely done. At 3:00 we had another caucus meeting and Session started at 4:00. We got out of Session by 5:30 and left the Capitol to go to a reception for freshman Legislators. Finally at 8:30 we got back to the hotel and were happy to call it a day! What a surprise it was to discover that Monday was to be the slowest day of the week!

On Tuesday we passed HR39 which was a resolution directing Attorney General Chris Koster to join 21 other states in the lawsuit exempting us from the provision in the Healthcare proposal requiring us to buy specific insurance. After a spirited debate the resolution passed by 114 to 44.

Wednesday and Thursday were taken up by caucus meetings, Session, and organizational meetings for the various committees. The Appropriations Committees all start meeting early in the year as recommendations on spending amounts need to go to the Budget Committee as fast as possible. I am on Appropriations for Transportation and Economic development and have been tasked with studying DOT mission statements and the latest audit recommendations. We will start hearing testimonies next week and will probably be meeting 3 or more times a week until we have our reports ready. The other 3 committees I am on will also start meeting next week but won't require as much time initially.

So far, around 200 bills have been filed and although not all of them will be asigned to committees, there will be a steady stream of work. Last year over 200 bills were filed but only about 120 made it to the Governor for his signature. I am having a couple of ideas for bills researched and will let you know next week if we decide to file. So far, I have co-signed aat least a dozen bills but have not submitted any of my own.

Next week promises to be both busy and exciting. If you need to contact me, you can call mmy office at (573)751-9801 or E-mail at bill{dot}lant{at}house{dot}mo{dot}gov.