Linda Fischer

The Surburban Journals printed a defensive op-ed from Birther Rep. Cynthia Davis this weekend in which she responds to a Steve Pokin column detailing her refusal to hold a hearing on legislation sponsored by Rep. Linda Fischer.  Fischer's proposal, called "Sam Pratt's Law" (HB1534) is designed to close a "a legal loophole that allows unlicensed baby sitters to continue to care for children while being investigated in a criminal matter."

Davis has refused to even have a hearing on Fischer's bill, largely because it doesn't have anything to do with what Davis views as the primary focus of the House Children and Families Committee -- abortion.  Davis has taken a little heat for her stonewalling, and is now trying to pass the buck. 

In her weekend column, Davis suggests that limits imposed by Speaker Ron Richard and Majority Leader Steve Tilley mean she just doesn't have the time or ability to consider Fischer's bill. 

As a committee chairman, I am only allowed by the Speaker to vote out three bills to go before the full House. Even at that, they only had enough time last year to deal with one of the three bills that came from our committee.

This would be a far more persuasive argument if Davis' committee had not already voted out six bills this year. 

Richard and Tilley may limit the number of bills he considers on the House Floor, but the Children and Families Committee can debate and vote on as many bills as it wants. Davis has held hearings on 11 of the 12 bills assigned to her panel; only Fischer's legislation has been denied a hearing.

Today, Rep. Cynthia Davis (R-Other Universe) introduced HJR 49, a constitutional amendment very similar to the Missouri Roundtable for Life's latest ballot initiative (their 30th in 22 months) that would, in supporters' words, "stop taxpayer funding of abortion, human cloning, and embryonic stem cell research because they all destroy human life."  

Though it's not entirely clear at this point, the Roundtable's endorsement of this new approach may indicate that they're not able or interested in collecting the signatures to put anything on the ballot this year.

Just like the Roundtable ballot initiative it replaces, the language in Davis' proposal would allow lawmakers to withhold public funds to Missouri universities and hospitals to block lawful stem cell research, and could even prevent grants and private foundations from going to institutions like the University of Missouri.