Perspective: Into the home stretch

The Capitol building has been eerily quiet this week as the House and Senate have been on Spring Break, gearing up for the home stretch of the legislative session. Following Spring Break, topics relating to tort reform, labor reform and regulatory reform will again be at the forefront of debate. During the 2017 session there has been focus on legislation that promotes and fosters economic growth and job creation in all industries and communities across the state. The senate intends on continuing leading on similar substantial legislation in the coming weeks in hopes of creating significant long-term economic improvements for Missouri.

Recently, there has been debate on the floor regarding House Bill 153, which relates to expert witness testimony. Tort reform is critical to Missouri's business climate and economic future, and HB153 is one of several reasonable and needed improvements the state needs. For the last few years, the trial attorney association represented this bill as calamitous to the judicial system. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. HB153 ensures individuals who testify as experts in court do in fact have the expertise they claim. The passage of this legislation aligns our outdated expert witness testimony standard to the federal standard and will improve the business climate and safeguard the reliability of expert testimony. Currently in Missouri, unscrupulous trial attorneys bring in "expert witnesses" who often have no expertise whatsoever and testify in strict accordance with the wishes of the attorneys who hire them. This is not the way the courts are intended to work and with the passage of HB153 Missouri will create a new standard which will ensure that our juries are given the most reliable and factual evidence on which to base their decisions, which is the way the federal courts work today. Now that the house and senate have both passed HB153, we look forward to Governor Greitens signing it in to law.

Thursday, March 16, was an historic day in the Missouri State Capitol. This day marked the 100th anniversary of the 49thGeneral Assembly holding its very first session in this Capitol building. It is humbling to have been in the very chamber where our predecessors congregated for the very first time on March 16, 1917. On Thursday, I read an article from the Jefferson City Post-Tribune dated March 16, 1917. The article attributed the events of the day, even explaining the speaker presided on temporarily constructed rostrums, while members sat in camp chairs as the construction of the building was still in process. The line that most caught my attention was "They talked and talked and then some." It is reassuring to know that no matter how many years go by and how many people come and go through this building, some things never change.

I encourage you to visit our new blog at mosenatesidebar.wordpress.com. Here you will be able to find more information about the bills in progress as well as watch videos and read some news.

My purpose and my intent is to serve the constituents of the 6th Senatorial District. If you are in the State Capitol during the coming weeks and months, please stop by your office in Room 321.

State Sen. Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, represents the 6th District, and shares his perspective on statehouse issues each week.