Mazzie Boyd Capitol Report for April 13, 2023

To the Great Constituents of District 2,

“Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.”

-George Washington Carver, American Agricultural Scientist

I can get used to this 70 degree heat! I hope everyone had a blessed Easter with their friends and family. I’m always so thankful for the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ. What.A.Gift!

This week in the legislature we passed over 9 bills to the Senate and 1 to the Governor’s desk. Here’s some highlights of those bills:

House Members Approve the Save Adolescents from Experimentation Act (HB 419)

The SAFE Act would prohibit health care providers from performing gender transition surgery on young people under the age of 18. The act also prohibits a health care provider from prescribing or administering cross-sex hormones or puberty blocking drugs for the purpose of a gender transition for anyone under the age of 18. The performance of a gender transition surgery or the prescription or administration of cross-sex hormones or puberty-blocking drugs to an individual under 18 would be grounds for a cause of action against the health care provider. Such action could be brought within 30 years of the injured individual reaching the age of 21 or the date the treatment of the injury at issue in the action has ceased, whichever is later.

HB 136 defines “adverse action”, “belief-based student association”, and “benefit” and prohibits public institutions of higher learning from taking any action or enforcing any policy that denies a belief-based student association benefits available to other student associations. The bill also prohibits discrimination against a belief-based student association based on its requirement that leaders of the association adhere to its sincerely held beliefs, sincere practice requirements, or standards of conduct. The bill also authorizes aggrieved belief-based student associations to seek appropriate relief in a judicial or administrative proceeding against a public institution of higher learning that violates the requirements of the bill.

HB 316 modifies provisions relating to the Historic Preservation tax credit and renames such tax credit the “Missouri Historic, Rural Revitalization, and Regulatory Streamlining Act”. Currently, any taxpayer that incurs costs and expenses for the rehabilitation of eligible property, which is a certified historic structure or structure in a certified historic district, may receive a credit of 25% of the total costs and expenses of rehabilitation incurred after January 1, 1998.

HB 88 defines an animal chiropractic practitioner as someone who is a licensed veterinarian or a person who is licensed by the Board of Chiropractic Examiners and is certified by a veterinary chiropractic organization. The bill also allows an animal chiropractic practitioner to engage in animal chiropractic care under certain circumstances without being considered practicing as a veterinarian and authorizes the Board of Chiropractic Examiners to refuse to issue a permit or license to a chiropractor if they have engaged in the practice of animal chiropractic without a patient referral from a licensed veterinarian.

HB 805 modifies the provisions related to road signage. The bill exempts from the current $200 outdoor advertising fee and biennial inspection fee for certain highway signs under state law, a sign displayed by a landowner who also is the permit holder and owns the business advertised on the sign if the business has a physical location within 750 feet of the sign. The bill requires the Department of Transportation to pay all costs associated with the designation of memorial highways and bridges honoring deceased Missouri veterans who died in the line of duty, Missouri members of the armed forces who are missing in action, deceased Missouri law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty, and deceased Missouri firefighters who died in the line of duty.

Bill to Provide Direct Access to Physical Therapy Receives Final Legislative Approval and Will Go to the Governor’s Desk (SB 51)

The legislation would allow physical therapists with a doctorate of physical therapy or five years of clinical experience to evaluate and initiate treatment on a patient without a prescription or referral from an approved health care provider. The bill also states physical therapists must refer to an approved health care provider patients with certain conditions, including those with conditions beyond the scope of practice of physical therapy, as well as any patient who does not demonstrate measurable or functional improvement within ten visits or 30 days, whichever occurs first.

It’s a pleasure to serve and as always if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to my office at (573) 751-4285 or email me at [email protected].

All my Best,

Mazzie Boyd, State Representative for District 2