Mike Lear – Page 50 – Missouri House of Representatives Newsroom

Legislature called back for extraordinary session to consider Southeast Missouri jobs issue

State lawmakers will return to Jefferson City next week for a special legislative session. Governor Eric Greitens (R) is calling them back to address an economic development issue in Southeast Missouri.

Representative Don Rone (at microphone) (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The legislature did not pass in its session that ended last week language that backers say could allow one company to proceed with plans to reopen the Noranda aluminum smelter at Marston; and another company to build a new steel mill at New Madrid, both in Southeast Missouri.

Both companies hope for lower utility rates that would allow those facilities to be profitable. To consider lower rates the Public Service Commission (PSC) says it needs the legislature’s approval.

Representative Don Rone (R-Portageville) attached that language to several bills in the final days of the session, but it did not become law. He said people in that region are in desperate need of jobs, especially after Noranda closed last year eliminating nearly 900 jobs. He said these two projects could create more than 500 new jobs.

Greitens wants legislators to come back and focus on that one issue.

“I cannot thank the governor enough for the people of Southeast Missouri – all of Southeast Missouri,” said Rone. “I can’t tell you what it means to these people here to have hope, and the governor saw fit to give us hope by calling a special.”

The House voted for Rone’s language 148-2, and its support in that chamber is expected to remain high, but at least one senator who Rone said blocked it in that chamber – Senator Doug Libla (R-Poplar Bluff) – remains opposed to the proposal.

Rone said he believes the bill can get through both chambers and to Greitens.

“[Senator Libla] can keep his position. We’ve never asked – in the many conversations I’ve had with him and his people – we’ve never asked him to change his vote. We’ve always asked him just to allow it to come to the floor and let the people in the Senate vote,” said Rone. “All we’re wanting to do is let democracy work, let the 34 senators take vote their conscience, and see where it takes us.”

Rone said the entities behind the two facilities are expected to decide soon whether to give up on progressing with their plans for those two sites. He said if the legislature can quickly pass his bill he is confident those companies will postpone their decisions until they can meet with the PSC.

“I would think that [Governor Greitens] was well aware of the timeline and how critical it is,” said Rone.

The call for the special session comes one week after Rone called attention to the issue in a passionate floor speech in which he called out Libla and two other senators, saying they were, “heartless,” “selfish,” and “egotistical,” in rebuffing his proposal.

The House and Senate will begin the extraordinary session at 4 p.m. Monday.

House panel recommends changes in Missouri Corrections to fight harassment, bullying, and favoritism

The state House is recommending the Department of Corrections make several policy changes to battle sexual harassment, bullying, retaliation, and favoritism among its employees.

Representative Jim Hansen (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

After news articles last fall brought such issues to light, as well as millions of dollars in settlements with the state by former Corrections employees who had been victims, the House formed a subcommittee to investigate the work environment in the Department.

Read the subcommittee report by clicking here.

Representative Jim Hansen (R-Frankford) chaired that subcommittee. He and other members heard what they called “disturbing” reports of harassment and treatment of employees over the last few months, as current and former Corrections employees offered testimony.

Hansen said some of the subcommittee’s key recommendations are the implementation of a zero tolerance policy toward harassment; a change in how complaints are handled; the creation of a hotline for taking employee complaints with a mandated 24-hour response to calls; and a review of how employees are promoted and trained.

Hansen said some of those recommendations have already been implemented under the Department’s new director, Anne Precythe.

“Some of them have. Not all of them,” said Hansen. “She’s also looked at the training and her approach to training new leaders. She’s got some ideas in the works there.”

Hansen expresses a lot of confidence in Precythe to improve the environment in Corrections.

“It’s in the bottom of the first [inning] or to top of the second – however you want to look at it – but so far she’s made a lot of the right moves,” said Hansen. “There’s a lot of good employees out there and we’re asking them to be part of the solution and not the problem, to help her, and with time I think that she’ll get the changes done that need to be done.”

Hansen hopes House Speaker Todd Richardson (R-Poplar Bluff) will keep the subcommittee active so that it can follow-up on the Department.

“We want to have the director come and report to us on a quarterly basis and give us updates, so I don’t see any reason to disband this committee,” said Hansen.

Other recommendations included standardizing policies and procedures across all institutions except with department director’s approval, and increasing the minimum age of employment from 18 to 21.

Hansen thanked the members of the subcommittee and said each of them took seriously the task of hearing what was going on in the Corrections Department and recommending changes.

Some earlier stories:

Number 2 Corrections official faces committee investigating sexual harassment, retaliation in department

House votes to require monthly reporting on settlements in cases against Missouri

Panel on Corrections Department environment hears of ‘vague’ harassment policies, working in ‘hell’

Subcommittee on harassment in Corrections Department frustrated by Department’s structure, process

New prison system director talks to House committee about harassment, more

House backer of prescription drug monitoring wants a special session to get program passed

The legislative session has ended without passage of a statewide prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP), but the top advocate for that issue hopes the legislature will be called back early to try again.

Representative Holly Rehder (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Representative Holly Rehder (R-Sikeston) has been pushing for a statewide PDMP for several years. Missouri is the only state that does not have one, though several of its counties are participating in a program based in St. Louis County.

She kept fighting until the final hours of the session on Friday for passage of a bill to create a program. Now she hopes Governor Eric Greitens (R) will call a special session of the legislature to focus on the issue.

“I think if there’s any hope of us getting a statewide [PDMP] passed it’s going to have to be a special [session] sooner than later, and I’m going to have to have help from [legislative] leadership,” said Rehder.

Backers of PDMPs say they help fight prescription drug abuse, particularly opioids. PDMPs collect and monitor drug prescription and dispensing data to look for, among other things,

“doctor shopping;” the visiting of multiple doctors in an attempt to get as much as possible of drugs that are commonly abused.

Rehder came away from a conference between selected House and Senate members with a version of the program that would purge patient data after two years; would include reporting on all schedules II through IV drugs; and a mandate that all physicians would have to report to the system. She said she simply ran out of time Friday to educate fellow lawmakers on the measure to get it passed.

She said in order to get a statewide PDMP passed time is now of the essence, because with no program having been approved by the legislature, more counties will be looking to join St. Louis County’s system.

“We’ve kind of reached a tipping point with these counties,” said Rehder. “We can never get that type of a robust program out of both [chambers of the legislature], yet I need counties’ representatives’ votes to get it out of the House, and so … if we don’t get this out in something like a special session right away, the more counties that get added, just the more reps that are going to have to be against it.”

Rehder believes if the legislature is called back for a special session it will be able to come to agreement on a monitoring program, and she thinks it will look much like the bill that came out of the conference committee in the final days of the session.

Rehder said if a county-by-county PDMP is the only option, she’ll support that, but she still thinks it is important that a state-run PDMP be created.

“We shouldn’t be penalizing people’s safety because of their zip code,” said Rehder, saying anyone could drive until they are in a county that isn’t participating in a program.

She noted proposals for a state program would also prohibit authorities from using prescription data to prevent individuals from owning guns – a provision the St. Louis County program doesn’t have.

In order for a bill to pass the House, Rehder would likely need to regain the support of urban Democrats whose districts are covered by the St. Louis County program. Many voted against the final proposal to come before the House, viewing the program it would create as less robust than the county’s.

Southeast MO lawmaker not giving up after impassioned speech doesn’t win jobs amendment passage

A fiery speech from a state representative was not enough to propel language he proposed that aimed to secure hundreds of jobs for his district, where people are struggling after it lost 900 jobs last year.

Representative Don Rone (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Representative Don Rone (R-Portageville) said the legislature needed to act to allow one company to proceed with plans to reopen an aluminum smelter, and another to build a new steel plant, both in southeast Missouri. Both companies are hoping for lower utility rates that would allow the facilities to be profitable, but the Public Service Commission needed the General Assembly’s approval to even consider setting lower rates.

Rone attached language to multiple bills that would’ve given the PSC that approval, but it wasn’t passed before the session ended on Friday. That was despite an impassioned speech from Rone, who called out three senators for blocking his language.

Earlier story: Frustrated Representative calls out senators as ‘heartless,’ ‘selfish’ for blocking jobs in Southeast Missouri

“I got a little passionate there at the end and it’s because I work for the people of my district really hard and I take it very serious, and I was disappointed in the outcome,” said Rone.

Rone said the only hope now is for Governor Eric Greitens (R) to call the legislature back together for a special session to consider the issue.

“I will be reaching out to ask him to consider a special session to address this issue,” said Rone.

Special sessions are both rare and expensive and offer no guarantee of success, especially with Rone’s proposal opposed by some in the Senate. Rone points out the legislature has been called into special sessions in similar situations in the past, when economic development and jobs were on the line in the St. Louis and Kansas City regions.

Rone said the impact in his region would reach beyond the 500-plus people he said would get new jobs from the two new facilities.

“500 jobs would probably relate to 2,000 people and all of the secondary jobs that would come around. Restaurants staying open, businesses staying open, our port facilities becoming even a greater asset to us here at New Madrid because of bringing in the alumina to make aluminum, back in to bringing the scrap metal in to making steel. Our port becomes even more valuable than it is today,” said Rone.

Rone said he understands that there is little time for the entities considering moving forward with those plants to make a decision.

“The gentleman is wanting to make a decision, I understand, by the end of May for the steel plant, and the Magnitude 7 people that are dealing with the aluminum mill, they’re out money every month to maintain that facility, to put guards up to maintain that facility, and I question how long that they will be willing to have money going out and nothing coming in,” said Rone.

Rone said his district is in need of these jobs as much as any portion of the state, particularly after the closure last year of the Noranda alumni smelter. He said the major industry in the region – agriculture – is in need of fewer people to work because of advances in technology.

“I tell my friends in the legislature if they want to see poverty, come to southeast Missouri,” said Rone.

Rone’s speech last week raised eyebrows not only in the Capitol but in much of the state, when he accused three senators of being selfish, egotistical, and heartless in rejecting his proposal. Normally soft-spoken and even in his tone, Rone became so emotional during his speech that he developed a nose bleed before sitting down. In response the House overwhelmingly voted to attach his language to the bill that was before it, after giving him a standing ovation as a show of support.

Representatives say flood recovery continues, urge documenting of damage

Many Missourians are still recovering from flooding in recent weeks. Two House members say that recovery could continue for months, and urge those Missourians to document their damage.

Representative Shawn Rhoads (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Representatives Shawn Rhoads (R-West Plains) and Kirk Mathews (R-Pacific) were two among many House members whose districts were struck hard.

Mathews said two municipalities he serves were hit particularly hard – Eureka and Pacific.

“The areas that were affected in each one are a little different. Eureka was more impacted in a commercial district – they had some residential – but Pacific was really impacted in a residential area. Over 200 homes in an area that was hit very, very hard,” said Mathews.

Mathews spent an entire weekend sandbagging in both communities, and Governor Eric Greitens (R) also filled sand bags in Eureka. Mathews said a commercial district in Eureka was protected by flood control efforts, but despite similar efforts in Pacific, many homes were damaged.

Rhoads said in West Plains six inches of rain fell in three hours. He said preplanning there was key. State rescue boats were part of the response effort, which was staged out of a nearly completed fire station.

“They made over 100 rescues Saturday night,” said Rhoads. “No one hurt, nobody killed.”

Representative Kirk Matthews (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications) — Representative Kirk Mathews (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

As for damage, Rhoads said a few homes in West Plains were damaged while two of the hardest hit businesses were DRS, a military equipment manufacturer with government contracts, and Armstrong Flooring, each of which he said suffered damage estimated at around $10-million.

Rhoads noted that Governor Greitens praised the response in West Plains as being, “textbook. This is the way it’s supposed to be done.”

Cleanup is continuing in both districts, but both representatives said the focus now is also shifting to documenting damage so that affected areas can get assistance.

“The assessors are turning in their damage to the [State Emergency Management Agency], and SEMA’s going to compile it up and then go east with it to the [Federal Emergency Management Agency] folks and I think that’s where we need to be quick about this so that we can get that help so we can get something to people to say, ‘Hey, look, here you go, now we got you back in normal, where you were kind of before this all happened,’” said Rhoads.

Mathews agreed that it’s important that everyone document their damage quickly, “so we can make sure that whatever funds are available are appropriately applied for.”

Meanwhile, both representatives say the long-term response will continue.

“It’s a double-edged sword for someone to lose their home but for the business that employs them to also be inoperable and they don’t have an income,” said Mathews. “That’s why it has to be a two-pronged effort to really help the commercial areas that were affected get back on their feet as fast as we can as well as helping the people who are affected in their personal residence.”

Rhoads said relief efforts must carry on to help those displaced, whose recovery won’t be completed in a matter of days or weeks.

“People come in and say, ‘Hey, I’ve got an 8-month-old and our house is gone, and all their clothes, the changing table, the baby bed,” said Rhoads.

Both representatives lauded the response of volunteers as well as law enforcement and state officials to recent flooding.

Legislature passes Real ID legislation as session’s end nears

The state House has voted to send to Governor Eric Greitens (R) a bill that would let Missourians choose whether to get an ID that complies with the federal Real ID Act of 2005. Compliant licenses are needed to do things like board airplanes and enter military bases and federal buildings.

Representative Kevin Corlew (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Real ID was passed in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In 2009 Missouri adopted a law barring compliance, citing concerns over citizens’ privacy because the Act required citizens to produce source documents that would then be stored electronically. After January 2018, however, those who lack compliant IDs will not be able to get through federal security such as at airports and federal courthouses.

The sponsor of House Bill 151, Kevin Corlew (R-Kansas City), said the bill gives Missourians an option.

“We’ve heard from our citizens from our military bases, from our businesses, from people who travel and fly, from people who access military bases to visit their loved ones or to go to the grave sites or those who do business on them, they’ve requested that we provide this as an option so they can use their Missouri driver’s license. They don’t have to get a national identification in the form of a passport. Instead they can use their state-issued identification to access these, but also recognizing … there are some who would say I want my regular old Missouri driver’s license. I don’t need the Real ID compliant, don’t want my source documents stored, whatever it be, then they have the freedom to choose the other one,” said Corlew.

Many lawmakers said the issue was the one they felt the most pressure from the public to solve.

Representative Charlie Davis (R-Webb City) told Corlew, “You would think that this year being such a tough budget year the number one number of emails I would’ve got was from the budget … 12 emails. Real ID? 327 emails from my constituents, not from people across the state of Missouri.”

Corlew said the bill calls for the storage of documents required by Real ID to be done on a system that is not connected to the internet, making them more difficult to access.

“You know the scene from Mission Impossible with Tom Cruise dropping down [on a wire]? I would think that’s what you would need to get it,” said Corlew.

Representative Rick Brattin (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Still the measure faced some opposition from lawmakers who remain concerned about the privacy of citizens. Representative Rick Brattin (R-Harrisonville) told Corlew that when the Jay Nixon Administration was learned to have shared information on Missouri concealed carry permit holders with the federal government, the internet was not involved.

“They scanned and had a disc made,” said Brattin. “It’s still capable to have that scanned and sent off, so the problem that we already faced and encountered in the State of Missouri occurred and can still occur with this sort of system.”

Corlew said that is why the Senate put tougher provisions in the bill for punishing those who violate the privacy of those documents.

“The first of which is up to a year in prison under a Class-A misdemeanor and then it goes up from there with substantial jailtime for felonies,” said Corlew.

Still, the legislation passed 112-39 with broad bipartisan support. It’s now up to Governor Greitens whether it will become law.

Frustrated representative calls out senators as ‘heartless,’ ‘selfish’ for blocking jobs in Southeast Missouri

Frustration with the state Senate boiled over on the House Floor as one representative called out three Senators he called “heartless,” “selfish,” and “egotistical.”

Representative Don Rone (R-Portageville) told his colleagues he was rebuffed when he went to some senators seeking support for a measure that would allow the reopening of an aluminum plant and the construction of a steel mill in southeast Missouri.

Scroll to the bottom of the story to hear Rep. Rone’s entire speech.

The amendment would authorize the Public Service Commission to set a lower utility rate so the aluminum plant could be profitable. Rone said that would have restored more than 400 of the jobs lost when the Noranda smelter shut down last year, and the new steel mill would create around 200 jobs.

“My people lost 900 jobs, but we had the ability to bring back 500 of em, plus, and all we had to do was give the Public Service Commission the right to negotiate,” said Rone.

Rone, normally soft-spoken and calm in debates, became emotional when describing what happened when he and other representatives from southeast Missouri went to the Senate seeking support for the amendment, which had been added to Senate Bill 302.

“King [Senator Doug] Libla sitting over on the far side telling [Senator Rob] Schaaf to come over and talk to me and the rest of us and try to convince us that their way was the right way. The first thing Schaff did was pull a piece of paper out and slap it in my face and said, ‘This is how much money that these senators got,’” said Rone.

Rone was asking his fellow House members to vote to add his amendment to another bill, Senate Bill 124. They listened intently as he grew more passionate.

“I have traveled this entire United States and I have dealt with a lot of people … but I’m here to tell you that I have never dealt with, don’t ever want to deal with, the most selfish, the heartless, egotistical people as Libla, as [Senator Gary] Romine, in my life. Never.” said Rone.

Rone claimed when Senator Romine was asked whether he was, “willing to walk away from 500 jobs,” Romine’s response was, “You bet.”

“Now isn’t that a fine how do you do when we’re offering them 500 jobs at no cost to the state of Missouri, shovel ready, ready to go, 120 days and we’re doing something,” said Rone.

Rone pleaded with his fellows to again support his amendment so the bill could be sent back to the Senate as a “last-ditch” effort to give the PSC the authorization Rone said it needs.

“I serve some of the finest people you ever want to be with, but they are so poor. They are all so poor,” said Rone. “Thank you all so much. You all agreed to do it, but anything that goes on [in the Senate] we shouldn’t even pass anything that they do, because they’re heartless, they’re selfish, and I’m asking you to pass this amendment.”

Rone was given a standing ovation by the members, many of whom have criticized the Senate this session for what they’ve called “dysfunction,” or a “lack of integrity.”

His amendment was adopted 148-2.

Click here to hear representative Rone’s entire speech on the House Floor.

Missouri House debates act barring discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity

The state House has for the first time debated the Missouri Nondiscrimination Act (MONA), which would prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in housing or employment.

Representative Kevin Engler (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Missouri law already prevents discrimination for other factors, such as race or religion. MONA would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the law’s definition of “discrimination.”

The proposal has been heard in House committee hearings and debated in the state Senate, but this was the first time it was debated on the House Floor.

Farmington Republican Kevin Engler offered MONA.

“We’re one of the few states, Mr. Speaker, that you can fire somebody for just cause if you find out they’re gay. For just cause. For just cause. I think that’s sick. We should be disgusted that we have that policy in this state,” said Engler. “We need to, as this body, take a stand that hate has no place in Missouri.”

Kansas City representative Randy Dunn (D), who is openly gay, said he has experienced discrimination and Missouri needs MONA.

“One part of me as a black man, I do have those protections [against discrimination] under current statute but as a gay man I don’t, so there’s a duality there,” said Dunn. “This is a real issue. People are discriminated against every day because of who they are, who they love, who people think that they are, and that is absolutely not right and that is not what Missouri stands for.”

Frankford Republican Jim Hansen said he supports MONA in spite of some of the tenants of his faith.

“The Bible says it’s a sin. I agree with the gentleman from Cass on that. I don’t believe in gay marriage, but I don’t control that. That’s their choice. Somebody else will judge that. But I also don’t think that a preacher should marry maybe a person that’s been married five times either. That’s a sin in the Bible. So who are we going to pick and choose of how to handle and how to discriminate against?” asked Hansen. “This is overdue. I mean, we’re living in the dark ages and we’re standing up here still fighting this.”

Representative Randy Dunn (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Some Republicans spoke in opposition to the amendment, but most representatives who chose to speak on it were supportive. It did not come to a vote. Engler withdrew it saying he wanted to have the debate, but he believed its passage would result in the failure of the bill it would have been attached to, and because many representatives would have voted against it using their support of the underlying bill as an excuse to vote no.

He asked Republican leadership to bring the issue back next year, which will be his last in the legislature due to term limits.

“In the Senate … if you did the full boat and you served your 16-years [in the legislature] it was a tradition to let you at least debate a bill of your choice on the floor. Mister Speaker I hope that you would honor that next year, and the bill that I’m going to ask for is this bill. I would like it debated on the floor on its own merits and I would like it voted on.”

Another, similar amendment was voted down after Engler and other supporters of the underlying bill said the amendment’s passage would cause the bill to fail.

Missouri Legislature proposes tougher standard for employment discrimination

The legislature has sent Governor Eric Greitens (R) a bill that would make it harder to prove discrimination in the workplace.

Representative Joe Don McGaugh (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Senate Bill 43 would require a former employee to prove that his or her age, race, gender, disability or ethnicity was the main reason he or she was fired rather than one among other reasons. Republicans said the bill is needed because the courts have allowed too many cases of alleged workplace discrimination to proceed.

The House’s handler of SB 43, Representative Joe Don McGaugh (R-Carrollton), said the legislation responds to Supreme Court decisions that lowered the standard in employment discrimination cases.

“Senate Bill 43, in my opinion, isn’t even tort reform. It’s undoing judicial activism,” said McGaugh. “So what’s the effect of the court playing legislature? Even the most meritless cases have to be decided by a jury. Employers are required to spend thousands of dollars defending completely baseless claims brought by lawyers arguing anything that can contribute.”

The bill also places limits on the damages that can be awarded to successful plaintiffs, exempts from liability supervisors and managers who are not employers, and limits protections for whistleblowers.

The legislation cleared the House on a Republican-led 98-30 vote, but it had Republican opposition.

Representative Jay Barnes (R-Jefferson City) spoke against the measure’s whistleblower section.

“The proponents have not identified a problem with whistleblower law in the State of Missouri. There is not a spate of whistleblower cases in this state,” said Barnes. “The whistleblower portion eliminates protections for the employees most likely to know about illegal activity in their employer.”

Democrats said the legislation would make it easier for workplace discrimination to occur and go unpunished, and argue it represents a conflict of interest because its senate sponsor, Senator Gary Romine (R-Farmington), is the owner of a business that is the subject of a pending discrimination lawsuit.

Representative Bruce Franks, Junior (left), talks about SB 43 with Republican colleague Nate Tate (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

St. Louis Representative Bruce Franks, Junior, read a series of racial slurs cited in that case and called the bill unacceptable.

“We’ve heard time and time again how this sets us back. All of the forward movement we’ve done, this sets us back,” said Franks.

McGaugh said the legislation has been filed for years, long before there was a case against Romine’s company.

“If you’ve been in this body more than one year you’ve voted on this multiple times,” said McGaugh. “Everything that we’re going to talk about today this body has seen before and we’ve talked about before.”

The House debated the bill for more than five hours Monday, rejecting five amendments, before voting to pass the bill the Senate had proposed. It’s now up to Governor Grietens whether it will become law.

Lawmaker in need of transplant urges continuation of organ donor checkoff donations

A state representative who needs a liver transplant hopes that before the General Assembly’s session ends on Friday it will vote to continue to allow donations from tax refunds to the organ donor program.

Representative Steve Cookson (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Poplar Bluff Republican Steve Cookson is a survivor of both liver cancer and hepatitis C, the latter of which he contracted from a blood transfusion when he was young. He learned last year that he is in liver failure.

“I’ve been told that I can look forward to getting much worse before I’ll probably end up getting better,” said Cookson.

Cookson has made it a priority, as part of his personal story, to push for the passage of a bill that would allow the organ donor program checkoff on individual and corporate income tax returns to continue. It is set to expire at the end of the year unless the legislature acts. The House and the Senate each have bills on the issue that could be sent to the governor before the session’s end.

“I just would ask the members of the body to think about how they may personally be affected by this (bill) and how important it would be for them, their spouses and their children,” he said. “I would ask that the body overwhelmingly support this bill for all those people that just want to have a chance at continuing life.”

The checkoff allows people to donate $2 or more from their refund to the Missouri Organ Donor Trust Fund, which maintains the organ and tissue donor registry. The money is also used to promote organ donation and its benefits.

The registry allows individuals to give consent to have their organs and tissues donated so that family members aren’t called upon to do so. Cookson encourages Missourians to enroll.

Cookson has remained active during this year’s session despite his condition. When possible he spends time in his office resting and listening to debate, and comes to the chamber when necessary to debate or vote.

“Some of the way it affects me is it causes toxins to build up in my mind, like ammonia,” said Cookson, his normally strong voice quieted with fatigue. “Not only do I talk slow already but I have to really concentrate to pull all my thoughts together.”

He said in recent months he has spent a lot of time reflecting on his life, and what life itself is.

“Life is just time,” said Cookson. “Each individual wants a chance at life because they want to make those connections to the important people in their life, I think. That’s the reason for life is the keeping of connections with important people like my son and my wife and my relatives, my close friends.”

Cookson encourages other baby boomers to get tested for Hepatitis C, as others may have been exposed to it the way he was.

“It was something that happened during a time where medical science just didn’t know what they were doing to me,” said Cookson.

Cookson is in his final two-year term in the House. He will undergo on Tuesday more testing regarding his condition.

In the meantime, he plans to pressure fellow lawmakers to get one of those bills across the finish line.

“That’s why I’m back up here this week,” said Cookson. “I have to have faith that God has had a plan for my life.”

The two bills dealing with the checkoff extension are House Bill 105, sponsored by Representative Warren Love (R-Osceola); and Senate Bill 248, sponsored by Senator Will Kraus.