Legislative session marked with wins, losses

The session for the 102nd General Assembly has officially ended except for a technical session on May 20. This is my fifth session, and each one is unique in itself where some have been more productive in the number of bills we have passed through both chambers, while others not so much.

This one is marked with some wins and some losses, and in this article, I will try to share with you some of both of those. I do want to encourage you to reach out to my office if you have questions about those that crossed the finish line and those that didn’t. But before I begin that, I do want to share with you what I did in and out of the district last week.

On Monday, I had the chance to visit with the Eastside Business Residential Committee to discuss with the city the issues of absentee landlords and the condition of many of our rental properties within the city. I was surprised to hear that almost 70 percent of the housing on the east side is rental property and 40 percent are owned by out of city/state landlords and the bulk of the code violations are happening at those properties.

Our code enforcement department has only five employees and two of those are part-time. My hat goes off to these civil servants for the work they do in keeping our community a place we can be proud of. They did say that 90 percent of the code violations they investigate are complaint-driven and that was not surprising. Having served on the City Council, I was well aware of the issues some homeowners and residents face with their neighbors every day. It was a productive meeting, and we can be proud of these city employees for the work they do.

On Tuesday, Leigh and I attended the Zonta Women of Achievement Award luncheon. I have been a big supporter of this organization dating back to when I worked for the television station. There were 10 outstanding women nominated and picking two winners had to have been difficult to pick from those outstanding women.

As is tradition, another Zonta Chapter is tasked with making those decisions, and this year’s winners were Pat Thomas and Jan Haviland. All of the nominees were well deserving and my favorite part of the luncheon is the Second Chance Scholarship awards. Three ladies were nominated this year to receive the scholarship and their stories were heartwarming and inspirational. I am proud of the work that Zonta does in our community and, if you have never been, I would highly recommend attending next year.

On Thursday, I traveled to Troy to talk with 125 veterans at their weekly “Veterans Coffee Talk.” On the third Thursday, they have a nice breakfast and don’t usually talk politics, but made an exception on this Thursday for me to give a legislative update on veteran legislation and issues. Lincoln County boasts to have the largest veteran population at more than 3,800 in the state. A great group of men and women, and they even had four World War II veterans in attendance. Really a joy to visit with them.

Then on Friday, Sen. Mike Bernskoetter, Rep. Rudy Veit and I made our end of session update to the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce “Friday Coffee.” Each of us shared our take on the session from our perspective and covered topics germane to our business community. One of their concerns is the parking we have in downtown especially surrounding the Capitol complex. I think it is incumbent on us as legislators and city leadership to collaborate on solving these issues and work together moving forward.

This past session, I got three bills across the finish line: the Stars and Stripes Historic Region bill, State Employee Bi-weekly pay and the elimination of the Personnel Advisory Board. I have explained each of these bills to you in previous columns so I won’t go into detail today.

I am truly blessed to have these bills pass however I am disappointed that my priority bill on veteran suicide did not get through the Senate. It passed out of the House 153-0 and was on the calendar to be third read the last week of session. There was definitely time to accomplish that, but once again, the Senate imploded in the final days. It frustrates me and many of my colleagues in both the House and Senate that this is the third year this has happened.

Something needs to be done but it is going to have to happen on that side of the building. In talks I give throughout the state, I encourage their constituents to reach out to their senator and legislator and let them know how they feel. Until enough pressure is placed on them, I believe this will continue.

I am honored to serve you as your state representative and will continue to fight for those issues that most affect you and your family. This is the People’s House, and you are always welcome to come by and visit.

State Rep. Dave Griffith, R-Jefferson City, represents the 60th District and shares his perspective on statehouse issues twice a month.