Committee co-chairmen Rep. Tim Harlan, D-Columbia, and Sen. Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico, have both put accessibility to emergency care at the top of their list.
The committee is in the final stages of a nearly six-month look at managed care in Missouri. Committee co-chairs Sen. Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico, and Rep. Tim Harlan, D-Columbia, said they hope to finalize a list of recommendations by the end of November.
Committee Co-chairman, Senator Joe Maxwell...says it can be next to impossible to get proper treatment if you get hurt outside your own health care region.
Committee Co-chairmen Sen. Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico, and Rep. Tim Harlan, D-Columbia, said on Thursday that they think more regulation is needed for HMOs and the managed care industry as a whole.
Canuteson called the Senate version "watered down lobby reform" and "not very meaningful." But for Senate Sponsor Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico, committee dinners encourage the participation of average citizens, and therefore should not be eliminated.
But schools will receive money from other sources as well. A bill sent to the governor, sponsored by Sen. Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico, gives some relief to smaller school districts suffering from a variety of financial woes.
"It's trapped in the House," said Sen. Joe Maxwell, one of the sponsors. The Senate passed my bill on March 20, in addition to a self-imposed rule against gifts, if the House is serious they should pass their own rule, the Mexico Democrat said.
These exceptions were granted, said Sen. Joe Maxwell, the bill's sponsor, because they have little to do with influence and more to do with citizen involvement. For example, many associations, such as the Farm Bureau or the Methodist Women's Club, host dinners for legislators in which citizens -- not professional lobbyists -- get a chance to talk with lawmakers, he said.
The Senate Education Committee passed through the Safe Schools bill with a few amendments. Allowing schools to honor or negate suspensions of new students was one. Another amendment reduced the criminal charge of a false bomb threat to a misdemeanor. Funding for alternative education was expanded to include after school, summer and latch-key programs. Senator Joe Maxwell stressed the importance of having alternative schools.
"Optional is the way to go," said Sen. Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico. "Just because we remove a child from one school district doesn't mean the state loses its responsibility to educate that child."
Also to be thrown into the mix is work being done by the New Standards project, a cooperative effort of 19 states. Sen. Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico, is Missouri's representative on the project's governing board.
The rule comes in the middle of debate on a bill that would make such gifts from lobbyists illegal. Senator Joe Maxwell says the new rule is not meant to substitute for the bill.
The 1994 bill - backed by Carnahan and sponsored by Rep. Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico (now a member of the Senate) - established "self-sufficiency pacts" signed by social workers and welfare recipients. Under the pact, the state provides a recipient with work experience, mentoring, and parenting and child-development programs in return for the recipient agreeing to a time limit on their welfare benefits.
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