Mid-Missouri's four state senators pre-filed 13 bills for lawmakers to consider this year, under the state Constitution's provision allowing bills to be pre-filed on or after Dec. 1.
Sen. Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, is the chamber's new floor leader and is responsible for handling the Senate's daily debate calendars and making sure as many bills as possible get to the floor for debate.
He didn't pre-file any bills but still could submit some proposals during the session's early weeks.
"My personal priorities remain the same for this session as they have been in past sessions," Kehoe told the News Tribune last week, "to keep government out of the way to the greatest extent possible, to limit unnecessary regulations, to promote economic growth through the private sector (in particular small businesses), and to protect unborn life.
"As Majority Floor Leader, my main job is to ensure that other members get time to debate and discuss their priorities - many of which will align with mine."
Sen. Jeanie Riddle, R-Mokane, pre-filed two bills and already is talking about a third.
"I re-filed the Civics Education bill that I filed last year," she said.
Her bill would require high school students to pass a test similar to the one given immigrants who are seeking to become U.S. citizens.
"(I've had) lots of contacts from people asking me to refile that," she explained, "and constituents saying they think it's a great idea that the kids are held responsible for the civics parts of their education, so that they can engage in the system and so that they can have their voices heard.
"If they don't understand how it works, then it doesn't help them and, in the long run, it doesn't help our political system overall if they don't understand."
The bill had support in 2015, but didn't win final passage in the Senate after a controversy over the way the right-to-work bill was handled last May resulted in the Senate's passing only one other bill during the session's final week.
Riddle also pre-filed a bill that Kehoe has handled in the past, allowing local governments to transfer "closed" retirement plans to LAGERS (the state's Local Government Employees Retirement System) if the local government's other employees already are covered by LAGERS.
Jefferson City's Fire Department has been one proponent of the plan. Current firefighters are part of the city's LAGERS retirement program, but the department also has an older pension plan that still covers some retirees and surviving relatives.
Supporters say LAGERS can handle the plans more efficiently than the local government can.
And, Riddle said, "I'm going to file, again, the court marshal bill for Callaway County" that would add one more marshal to the courthouse security staff in Fulton.
"Everybody says there is a need there, due to the Fulton State Hospital and the Department of Corrections, with our Diagnostic Center there."
Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia - who also chairs the Senate's Appropriations Committee and is an announced candidate for the attorney general's office in this year's elections - pre-filed three bills.
One would require the cities of St. Louis and Kansas City to end their earnings taxes - a 1 percent tax on the incomes of people who live or work in those two cities - by the end of 2017.
Senators and representatives from the two metropolitan areas have promised a fight over the idea.
Schaefer also wants lawmakers to add some "terrorism" acts "committed for the purpose of ... intimidating or coercing a civilian population, influencing the policy of a government (or) affecting the conduct of a government" as an aggravating circumstance that could support a jury's decision to impose the death penalty.
Schaefer's third pre-filed proposal would regulate "civil litigation funding" operations that provide money to people who are waiting for their lawsuit to be finalized.
Sen. Dan Brown, R-Rolla - whose district includes Camden County - pre-filed eight measures, including the controversial right-to-work proposal prohibiting unions and employers from agreeing to a contract that requires all employees to pay fees to a union.
A second bill would require public employees to give their consent each year before the government could withhold union fees from the employee's paychecks.
A third bill would require a special primary election to choose a candidate for a special election, when there's a vacancy in an office. Currently, the party candidates are chosen by a party nominating committee.
A fourth bill would eliminate the current law requiring contractors on public works projects to pay workers at least the calculated "prevailing wage," and would require a statewide vote to endorse the idea if the Legislature passed it.
Mid-Missouri senator contact info
All written correspondence may be sent to:
Senator's NAME
201 W Capitol Ave., Room NUMBER
Jefferson City, MO 65101
All telephone numbers are in the 573 area code.
• Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City - District 6 (Cole, Moniteau, Morgan, Miller, Maries, Osage and Gasonade counties). Room 321; 751-2076; [email protected]. (Kehoe also is the Senate's new floor leader.)
• Jeanie Riddle, R-Mokane - District 10 (Callaway, Audrain, Monroe, Montgomery, Warren and Lincoln counties). Room 431; 751-2757; [email protected].
• Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia - District 19 (Boone and Cooper counties). Room 416; 751-3931; [email protected].
• Dan Brown, R-Rolla - District 16 (Phelps, Camden, Pulaski, Dent and Crawford counties). Room 422; 751-5713; [email protected].
• President Pro Tem Ron Richard, R-Joplin - District 32 (Jasper, Newton and Dade counties). Room 326; 751-2173; [email protected].