Nance: Legislators' Swearing-In Ceremony and Ball, Show Me Solutions Initiative

“Every senator or representative elect, before entering upon the duties of his office, shall take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation: "I do solemnly swear, or affirm, that I will support the Constitution of the United States and of the state of Missouri, and faithfully perform the duties of my office, and that I will not knowingly receive, directly or indirectly, any money or other valuable thing for the performance or nonperformance of any act or duty pertaining to my office, other than the compensation allowed by law."

Last week, Sally and I traveled to Jefferson City for the swearing in of the General Assembly and the Legislative Ball. I want to thank everyone who attended to share in the ceremonies.

I have included some of the priorities that House Speaker Steve Tilley outlined in his opening session address.

The Show Me Solutions Initiative

The “Show Me Solutions Initiative” encompasses five (5) key areas: Job Creation, Taxes and Spending, Government Accountability, Education, and Healthcare. Over the next few weeks, the House will focus in on each of these topics. First, I will discuss what the State of Missouri can do to help create jobs.

The first priority is to help put Missourians back to work. Steps must be taken to improve employers’ ability to hire and retain employees, and secure certainty in take-home pay of every working family in Missouri. Government is not the solution to our bad economy, but we need to assure that our state government is not making it worse. Tax reform, tort reform, and regulatory reform will help make our state more attractive to the business investors that will put our folks back to work. The specific legislative areas on which we will focus are:

Reducing Small Business Regulation & Taxes

The Missouri House will review and reduce job killing regulations on small businesses and work to phase-in full deductibility of federal income taxes from state taxes.

Small Business Tort Reform

This legislative item (which I have sponsored over the past few years) significantly improves the workplace environment in Missouri by strengthening the legal requirements to file a suit and capping damage awards that have gotten out of hand from a handful of poorly decided court decisions that are wreaking havoc on Missouri businesses as a whole.

Immigration

The House will seek to protect Missouri workers by adopting an immigration bill similar to the law passed in Arizona, but expand it to include human trafficking and cross referencing the sexual predator list.

Nuisance Laws

The House must stop repeat lawsuits from out of control trial attorneys on small businesses and family farms.
(More on “Show Me Solutions Initiative” next week)

At The Capitol

Bill and Sherry Thomas, Lou Ann Jamison, Barbara and Reuben Blubaugh, Bruce and Connie Taylor, Christol Milligan, Ben Wierzbicki and Mike Shane visited the Capitol for the Swearing in Ceremony and Ball (see picture above).

In the District

Wood Heights Fire District, Wood Heights, Crystal Lakes, and Homestead Village are looking into an Emergency Management System through FEMA. The first meeting was December 27th.

I attended a meeting in Excelsior Springs that is looking into the placement of a Community Center with taxpayer support.

Cerner of North Kansas City shared information with legislators on new technology for developing medical health cards.