The 2017 Legislative Preview
This past Friday The Springfield Chamber of Commerce’s Governmental Relations Committee held is 2017 Legislative Preview. Nearly 70 government and business representatives attended this meeting. Representative Elijah Haahr, Speaker Pro Tem of District 145 led this meeting. In this meeting nearly all items discussed will be couched in terms of “reform”. Ethics reform and Uber ride sharing were big issues that we discussed. Other important items were:
- Labor reform
- Regulatory reform
- Occupational license reform
- MO plan changes
- New special standing committee on litigation in the house
- Tort reform
- Transportation funding, tolls, gas tax, County roads
Missouri as a “Right to Work” state will also be a big item of discussion and debate for 2017.
In my personal views I worry that “reform” merely to make changes without regard to the consequences is dangerous. It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out in our local, state, and national governments.