House Takes Up First Actual Bill... And It's Not Autism Coverage
Submitted by .Sean on January 27, 2010 - 5:03pm
Speaker Ron Richard has been making a lot of promises in recent months about making the autism legislation he killed last year the "top priority" this year.
Today, the House took up its first actual bill on the floor -- and it was legislation from birther Rep. Tim Jones (R-Eureka) bill to end the uncertainty over local sales taxes and shut down former Rep. Tom Burcham's predatory lawsuits.
Apart from the meaningless gesture of assigning autism legislation to committee early in the year, there's no way Richard can say he's kept his many promises to make autism insurance his #1 priority.
Here are just a few of the press accounts regarding those promises:
- Missourinet, 8/6 - "Richard vowed that an autism bill will be the first bill the House takes up next year."
- Post-Dispatch, 12/3 - "House Speaker Ron Richard pledged to make the issue the House’s first priority when the Legislature convenes next month."
- Associated Press, 12/3 - "Richard joined the lead House sponsor, Rep. Dwight Scharnhorst, in a media conference call outlining the latest legislation and pledged it would be the first bill on the House calendar when the session starts in January."
- Post-Dispatch, 1/7 - "Richard has promised to make autism insurance the first bill debated this year. The speaker told reporters that today, he would assign it to Wilson's Health Insurance Committee, which could hold a hearing as early as next week."
