Sen. Rupp calls out Speaker Richard for killing autism bill
There's was an interesting article in yesterday's Post-Dispatch (h/t to John Combest) about the autism insurance bill (SB167) that languished in the House this year. As you may recall, the bill had broad bipartisan support, and even passed the Senate by an overwhelming 29-2 vote -- but Speaker Ron Richard refused to let it pass. The P-D piece quotes Rep. Sally Faith (R-St. Charles), who says the bill's price tag -- $10 million over three years -- was just too much to bear. Given the House leadership's demonstrated willingness to spend money (just not very much for health care), this isn't a very compelling argument.
Senator Scott Rupp (R-St. Charles), on the other hand, goes straight to the top:
Rupp said informal polling revealed the bill had 110 votes in the House, more than enough for passage. He said he thought Speaker of the House Ron Richard and other House leaders blocked the bill.
"We had overwhelming support from rank-and-file members, but key House leadership did not want it to come to fruition," Rupp said.
Richard, not surprisingly, has a different story:
Richards said he could not build consensus among House members about whether the mandated benefit would be $60,000-$70,000 per individual, as the Senate favored, or $20,000, as House members preferred.
"And I can't get any compromise between autism groups and insurance groups," Richards said. "Each one has their own supporters in the House."
"I told the insurance companies that they are going to come to the table and compromise," Richards said. "They assured me they would. I said, 'If you don't, I will do it for you.'"
I think the key thing in the Richard's statement is that he couldn't build consensus among the right House members about the legislation. There was an obvious majority to pass the legislation, but the bill wasn't as restrictive as the ideological leaders and/or insurance companies wanted, so Richard just killed the bill.
One key detail left out of yesterday's story was Richard promise to to kill the bill in April, long before the end of session. Richard's own spokesperson acknowledged that it was Richard who made the final decision against the legislation. There was no honest effort to reach a compromise in mid-May -- he had decided weeks before to shut the whole thing down.
Republican Speaker Ron Richard is the one who stalled an autism bill , killing it in the House.
Earlier in the day, several House committee chairmen pointed fingers at who was responsible for the casualty.
Finally, the Speaker's communications director, Kristen Blanchard admitted the House will not be taking up the bill at the direction of Richard.
Previously, all signs pointed to a bill passing the legislature and the House Health Care Policy Committee chair says he was surprised and disappointed the bill was blocked.
Yet another reason to be thrilled with Ron Richard's leadership. Family values, y'all!
