JEFFERSON CITY- Just a week away from spring break, Missouri lawmakers took up eight different bills to push through to the Senate floor on Monday.
These are the bills that were read a third time and got enough votes to move to the Senate floor:
- HB 2974 would allow a licensed healthcare provider in Missouri to provide telehealth (virtual) services. Melanie Stinnett (R-Springfield) is the sponsor of this bill.
- HB2934 supports the expansion of sports complexes and convention centers in in St. Louis by giving the Regional Convention and Visitors commission to levy certain sales taxes and "collect special assessments and taxes," according to the bill summary. Brad Christ (R-St. Louis) is the sponsor of this bill.
- HB2057 allows for entertainment districts to be designated in Osage County and Chesterfield. Jeff Vernetti (R-Camdenton) is the sponsor of this bill.
- HBs 1839, 2921, 3015. This string of bills requires an 18+ age verification for pornographic websites, specifically ones that 33% of its content is established as "harmful to minors." Rep. Sherri Gallick (R- Belton) is the sponsor of HB1839, Melissa Schmidt (R-Eldridge) is the sponsor of HB 2921, and Jeff Farnan (R- Stanberry, Nodaway) is the sponsor of HB3015.
LaKeySha Bosley (D-St. Louis City) said these efforts should also be applied to "other things," such as purchasing firearms.
"I agree with the lady, I just think that we should do this across the board for all of adult websites that are harmful to students, our scholars and our children in this state," said Bosley. "Let's not just limit it to age verification on adult websites and specify of porn and try our very best to end sex trafficking."
- HB1707 excludes certain processing fees (such as from debit and credit cards) excluded from sales taxes. Jeff Coleman (R- Grain Valley) is the sponsor of this bill.
- HB2819 allows for a vendor to round cash transactions to the nearest 5 cents as pennies cease to be printed. Brenda Shields (R-St. Joseph) is the sponsor of this bill.
- HB1800 aims to put a cap on how much the government can raise a property's assessed value. The sponsor: Mark Matthiesen (R-O'Fallon). Lawmakers debated the bill on the floor, with arguing the possibility of it taking away income from schools and fire departments, since both of those are heavily funded by property taxes.
- HB2600, sponsored by Jeff Farnan (R- Stanberry, Nodaway), makes ambulance services more accessible by giving options to eliminate certain subdistrict boundaries.
The eight bills are headed to the Missouri Senate, where they will go through committee and receive a vote on the Senate floor.
