The pace is picking up with 6 weeks to go. We were in session from early Wednesday morning until 12:45 A.M. Thursday morning. You will be happy to know that after more that fourteen hours of debate and voting we took up the issue about 12:30 of the official State Desert. Some school children who had championed the issue were in the upper gallery with their parents. They had waited the entire day and were the only people left in the gallery. We did pass the bill but only after the sponsor gave a long impassioned speech that, frankly, most of us were not particularly interested in. I did feel good for the kids who got a standing ovation from the body.

Constitutional Amendment to limit Court Jurisdiction passes House with bare minimum 82 votes

House Joint Resolution 41 would severely limit the jurisdiction of Courts

The most difficult issue this week was the Resolution to put to a vote of the people an amendment to the Missouri Constitution that would limit the power of Courts to rule on disputes with both the State and local governments. The sponsor claimed the resolution was to prevent judges from ordering tax increases. But she could not name even one instance of a State Judge ordering a tax increase. The language of the amendment was much broader and would prevent citizens from recovering damages from State or local government on any claim.

This was the resolution that debate was cutoff on when it was first brought to the floor. This time some discussion was allowed and eventually the measure passed with the bare minimum of 82 votes. The vote was largely along party lines with two Democrats voting Yes and 5 Republicans voting No.

The Senate now gets the issue and the buzz is that it faces an uphill battle there because of the difficulty we gave it in the House.

Motorcycle Helmet law repeal given the same approval of the House it always receives

This week, in what has been an annual ritual for about 30 years, we approved a bill to repeal Missouri's motorcycle helmet law for riders age 21 and older. The bill typically passes each year in the House, where most lawmakers believe wearing a helmet should be a personal choice and not a government mandate, only to be blocked in the Senate by safety advocates. The House sent the measure, HB 1393, to the Senate on 94-52 vote. Here is the link to the bill if you want to follow it.

Effort to float a new casino boat in Sugar Creek flops

House bill 1929 would prevent any new casino licenses from being issued for at least two years. This is a setback for the Sugar Creek casino effort. If this passes the Senate it is likely that this will end the casino dreams of Sugar Creek. When casinos first entered the KC market Sugar Creek opposed any effort to to place a casino in their town but now the city elders have had second thoughts and have been trying to build interest in a casino .

April 8th City election features Payday Loans, Bus tax and Smoking ban

Also the renewal of the tax that pays for bus transportation is up. There has been opposition to that popped up at the last minute. It is merely a renewal of an existing tax to fund buses. Makes me wonder who could oppose that?

The No smoking - Question Three is a heated debate. Tobacco has put money in the race and is opposing Question 3. Will be interesting to see what happens there. I know I am supposed to be opinionated but this one really has me torn. On the one hand smoke free restaurants would be great and very healthy but the arguments that we are driving business away makes me stop and think. Then the casinos got exempted. That is not fair. Don't think I will vote for this one.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve. State Rep John Burnett