Missouri General Assembly Session Update 1/23/2023 [TEAMKIEHNE]

Missouri’s 102nd General Assembly has begun its 2023 Session and they’re getting back to work. Democrats continue to file legislation intended to improve the lives of Missouri citizens while Republican legislators- including the ones representing our Districts- use the power of government to attack fellow Americans and wage culture wars against U.S. citizens.

The Legislators representing the voters of HD88 in Missouri’s General Assembly are Rep. Holly Jones (R), Sen. Ben Brown- SD26 (R), and Sen. Andrew Koenig- SD15 (R).

Both Senators Brown and Koenig prefiled a number of bills attacking and attempting to discredit and defund our public schools, attempting to make teaching Black History against Missouri State Law, attacking LGBTQ children, their families, their Healthcare providers, and the schools that they attend, and even proposing policies restricting the installation of Electrical Vehicle Charging Stations.

Missouri Republicans (and Republican politicians around the United States) are waging culture wars based on identity politics to use the power of government to diminish the Constitutional Rights of United States citizens as opposed to addressing the needs of ALL of our citizens including helping to facilitate creating jobs that pay a living wage, providing tuition-free public schools that provide a high-quality education to every child of every ability, every faith, rich or poor, rural or urban, black or white, straight or gay, making quality Healthcare affordable and accessible, protecting Worker’s Rights, supporting families that are living paycheck to paycheck in challenging economic times, and creating an environment that encourages and attracts new businesses.

In our own Rockwood School District, so-called “conservatives” continue to harass and threaten Black administrators forcing them to make hard decisions about whether it is safe or worthwhile to be employed in our District. This last week yet another Black administrator resigned and we continue to get local and even national attention for allowing right-wing driven racism and homophobia to victimize our student population. Attacking our top-ranked school district as a means to score political points may yield short-term political support for Republican politicians but has divided our community and will eventually reduce our property values and stifle growth in our area.

While Senators Ben Brown and Andrew Koenig have sponsored a number of pieces of legislation for this Session Rep. Holly Jones has yet to sponsor or co-sponsor any legislation this Session.

Legislation sponsored by Sen. Ben Brown- SD26:
SB 87 Establishes the “Save Women’s Sports Act”
SB 88 Modifies provisions relating to professional licensing
SB 89 Creates the Missouri Education Transparency and Accountability Portal and the Parents’ Bill of Rights Act of 2023
SB 167 Specifies the means by which a medical examiner’s certificate may be provided to the state when applying for a commercial driver’s license or instruction permit
SB 168 Modifies provisions relating to the rulemaking authority of the Department of Health and Senior Services
SB 169 Modifies provisions relating to refusal of medical procedures or treatment
SB 233 Creates provisions regulating requirements for electric vehicle charging stations
SB 234 Moves school board elections to the November general election
SB 411 Provides that no school district shall be a member of a statewide activities association that prohibits a home school student from participating in any event or activity offered by a public school in the school district in which the student resides
SB 412 Authorizes the board of trustees of a consolidated public library district to change the dates of the fiscal year
SB 508 Establishes a procedure for school board recall elections
SB 522 Modifies provisions relating to tobacco product regulations
SJR 30 Modifies constitutional provisions relating to elections

Legislation sponsored by Sen. Andrew Koenig- SD15:

SB 4 Modifies provisions regarding transparency in public schools and creates the Parents’ Bill of Rights Act of 2023
SB 5 Allows the enrollment of nonresident students in public school districts
SB 6 Creates the Getting Missourians Back to Work Act
SB 95 Modifies provisions relating to property taxes
SB 96 Modifies provisions relating to certain improvement districts
SB 97 Creates the offense of unlawfully gaining entry into a motor vehicle
SB 173 Modifies a sales tax exemption for the sale of certain medical devices
SB 174 Modifies provisions regarding the Missouri Sunshine Law
SB 175 Modifies provisions relating to youth employment
SB 238 Modifies provisions relating to foreign limited liability companies
SB 239 Establishes provisions relating to moratoriums on eviction proceedings
SB 240 Requires closed primary elections
SB 360 Modifies provisions of the Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Program
SB 361 Requires licensing authorities to issue an exemption from continuing education requirements under certain circumstances
SB 362 Modifies public notice requirements for certain public projects
SB 410 Establishes the “Do No Harm Act” relating to diversity-equity-inclusion requirements
SB 463 Creates new provisions relating to the treatment of summary statements prepared by the General Assembly for ballot measures
SJR 2 Modifies provisions relating to initiative petitions
SJR 3 Modifies provisions relating to taxation
SJR 4 Modifies provisions relating to MO HealthNet beneficiaries, providers, and services

I encourage you to follow the links to these bills and resolutions to get more insight about what the politicians representing us are prioritizing in Missouri’s State Legislature.