It is hard to believe that the next legislative session is right around the corner. With this in mind, I thought this would be a great time to talk about some of the legislation I will be supporting during the upcoming months.

Protecting life and keeping our citizens safe is the highest duty of a public servant. This protection should extend to the most defenseless among us, namely unborn children.

Our laws hold people accountable for harming unborn children in many contexts, but fail to protect unborn children from the life changing, often devastating effects they endure if their mother chronically abuses drugs or alcohol during pregnancy. I have filed SB766 to protect unborn children by making it a crime to knowingly and chronically abuse drugs and alcohol during pregnancy.

More specifically, a person would be guilty of the crime of child endangerment if they chronically and severely expose an unborn child to a controlled substance during pregnancy. Child endangerment is a Class A misdemeanor.

Missouri must continue our effort to ensure that Missouri’s farmers remain competitive by providing them with adequate educational resources. I am again filing the Farm Mentoring and Education legislation I worked on last year. This program will provide classroom instruction to new farmers, offering business and technological information that will benefit new farmers facing the additional challenges of agriculture in the twenty-first century.

In addition, the program will include a mentoring program, pairing younger farmers with their more experienced, successful counterparts. Both of these strategies have proven to be highly successful and a real asset to new farmers in our pilot program and in other states.

Finally, we are all aware of the crisis caused by the rising cost of healthcare. To help address this crisis, I have drafted legislation that will promote more affordable, short term health insurance policies for those in a difficult financial situation. Over the years, many well intended mandates have been passed by lawmakers requiring various treatments and procedures to be covered under every health insurance policy in Missouri.  Unfortunately, while creating better coverage, these mandates also result in more expensive insurance premiums for everyone.

This leaves some Missourians with no coverage, because they cannot afford the premiums for all of the mandated coverage. My plan would create the opportunity for our citizens to purchase “hardship” policies from insurance providers offering a less expensive insurance alternative with basic coverage during limited periods of financial difficulty, as when someone is between jobs or temporarily disabled.

These are just a few of the ideas I am working on for next year’s session. I will address other issues and efforts in upcoming reports. Thank you for letting me work for you in the Missouri Senate.  As always, I welcome your ideas, questions and concerns about Missouri government. You can contact me at the capitol as follows:  (573) 751-2234, jack.goodman@senate.mo.org or by writing to Senator Jack Goodman, Missouri State Capitol, Room 331, Jefferson City, MO 65101.