Committees at Work

This time of year in the Missouri House one finds most of the work being accomplished in committees. It during this time that bills are heard by a small group legislators who review the bill in detail, discuss it’s merits, make amendments, and hear testimony from the public. The hearing process is the time when the public has the opportunity to be on record “for” or “against” any bill before the House or Senate. Hearing schedules can be grueling with most legislators sitting on three to five committees that meet at least once a week for hours at a time.

Once a bill has been vetted in committee and voted “DO PASS” it may advance to the House calendar for debate before the entire body. At this time, few bills sit on the House calendar. That number will increase significantly over the next two to three weeks, when the time demands will shift from committee work to floor debate.

This past week the House Committee on Homeland Security passed a concurrent resolution that aims to protect Missourians from the dangers associated with the closing of Guantonamo Bay as ordered by President Obama. The destination of these suspected terrorists is still in question. This resolution would oppose the use of Missouri’s airports, highways, railways, and waterways for the transportation of these terror suspects. It also would express opposition to the sheltering of these terror suspects in our state as they are being transported to detention centers. Additionally, the resolution opposes granting these prisoners asylum in Missouri. The Missouri House is committed to keeping terror suspects out of our state.

Once again this session, the House passed the Teacher Protection Act, to change the laws regarding school employee liability, safety practices, and reporting acts of violence. It gives teachers the ability to maintain order as long as they follow established school policy. Most importantly, the bill allows school employees to focus on teaching without worrying about litigation.

In addition, the bill makes aware to all teachers and administrators of acts of violence throughout the school. Suspended students would not be allowed on school property without specific permission and would be prohibited from attending off campus, school sponsored activities. It requires a notice of reportable offenses to be attached to an offending student's record and transcript.

The Teacher Protect Act exempts unqualified employees who refuse to administer medication or medical services from disciplinary action and exempts qualified employees from any civil liability for administering medication or medical services. Teachers should be able to take the necessary steps to protect their student’s health.

All of these provisions are aimed at ensuring a safe learning environment for Missouri students.

Also, this week the Real ID and Personal Privacy Committee passed the concurrent resolution that claims sovereignty for the states under the Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution for all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government under the Constitution.

In other news, Congress passed and President Obama signed into law the controversial federal dependency package. This $787 billion dollar package is the largest amount of tax dollars ever spent at one time by Washington. It is unfortunate that we have elected leadership in Washington that has decided to play on America’s financial insecurity to create evermore dependence on the federal government.

From what little that has been communicated to the state, a quick look at, as Senator Chuck Schumer described, the “porky” bill shows us that out of the $787 billion dollar package, $509 billion of our money will be used to expand and grow federal and state welfare programs, create temporary government project jobs that will not receive the same funding in future years, and gives tax cuts to people who don’t pay income taxes, in other words, it redistributes wealth.

Now that the bill has passed, Governor Nixon and the Missouri General Assembly have significant decisions to make. Missouri is expected to receive about $4.3 billion from this package. Our total state budget is about $22 billion, so this federal give-away is equivalent to increasing our spending by nearly 20%. Washington’s ways cannot be Missouri’s ways. The Missouri House is committed to using one-time dollars for one-time expenditures. We refuse to put ourselves in a position to spend money today that we will likely not have in the future.

Teacher Liability Protection

No matter how many years it has been since graduation day, every one of us can still remember that one teacher in our elementary and secondary experience that stands out. Whether that teacher pushed you to your limits, made you laugh on the worst of days, or had that unique gift of making the complex understandable, these teachers still stand out today.

No matter how long it has been since you walked out of class for the last time, you will still find teachers and staff that continue to work hard providing the best learning environment with the resources available to them for our children. As in your life each new day brings new challenges and that is no different for our teachers and supporting staff. Unfortunately, there are days when unforeseen incidents take place that are beyond the control of a teacher which create a liability for the school district and its employees.

From a teacher breaking up a fight between students resulting in an accidental strike to a student in the scuffle to a child injuring himself after running away from the group during a field trip there are many situations in between and beyond that can find a teacher or staff member liable for events that are out of their control.

Unfortunate episodes such as these have led to lawsuits being filed against teachers and staff around our state, despite the fact that school board policies were being followed to address the situation.

Teachers have enough on their hands every day than to worry about whether an accident will happen in which they will be liable. To help address this issue I have co-sponsored the Teacher Liability Protection Act. This legislation is intended to protect teachers, staff, and volunteers from unnecessary lawsuits that divert money away from the classroom and into the courtroom. Such lawsuits can ruin the career of valued a teacher regardless of whether negligence or guilt was found.

The proposed legislation expands the existing liability protection for teachers and other school personnel. Teachers and staff already have some legal protections against liability on matters relating to discipline under our current law. This bill expands the existing protections and establishes a legal precedence to throw out lawsuits if the teacher or staff member was acting within established school board policies. This proposal will not extend these protections to teachers and staff that are not following school board policies or are willfully negligent in performing their duties.

The bill also provides immunity from liability to qualified teachers and staff who dispense medication or life-saving medical treatments such as CPR. In addition, a teacher or other public school employee who is not qualified or one who refuses to offer a treatment or administer medication will not be held liable.

The Teacher Liability Protection Act will provide teachers and staff the security they need to perform their duties without fear of reprisal. The parents and children of Missouri rely on teachers to provide our children the education they need for success. This legislation will give teachers the tools they need to create the best educational environment possible for our children.