Seventh District State Representative Rusty Black is finishing his fifth year in the legislature. He says he has gotten into a niche with a group of people who work with him on legislation.
He is on the Missouri State Employee Retirement System Board of Trustees. He reports there is a piece of legislation he has carried for two years, and most of it is to clean up legislation.
Black comments he does not know if the legislation will pass this year, but he hopes it does.
Black has also worked with the Public School and Education Retirement Systems on some legislation dealing with the teacher retirement system. He says he filed part of it before, but there will be a new piece he will file this year.
He comments it would be good if the legislation would pass in its first year, but that likely will not happen. Black is okay with that because, he says, sometimes taking two or three years, you get a better product than when you do it “right off the bat.” Once you pass something, it becomes law, and it is difficult to fix something after it has become law.
Black is also looking at legislation that deals with something called No Patient Left Behind. He explains if there is another pandemic, the legislation would require medical facilities to pick one or two individuals in a family who could stay with a patient, help advocate for him or her, and take care of the patient, if the family chose to do so.
Black thinks there could be value in No Patient Left Behind. He does not know if it is something that would go through the legislature quickly, and he has not yet decided if he will file it.
Black can be contacted at his office in Jefferson City at 573-751-2917 or [email protected].
Seventh District State Representative Rusty Black of Chillicothe serves on multiple committees. He says he has spent “quite a bit of time” in the interim with the Budget Committee, including a special session at the end of June to pass the Federal Reimbursement Allowance. The FRA provides funding to MO HealthNet.
ARPA stands for the American Rescue Plan Act.
Black is the chairperson for the Education Appropriation Sub-Committee. The committee has met and started looking at what the supplemental budget will look like when the members go back into session.
The Education Appropriation Sub-Committee is also looking at what the 2023 budget will look like.
Black hopes everyone sees the value in Missouri being a state that has to have a balanced budget.
Black notes the Elementary and Secondary Education Committee met one day and mainly discussed learning loss with schools not in session.
Constituents can contact Black at his office in Jefferson City by calling 573-751-2917 or emailing [email protected].
State Representative Rusty Black of Chillicothe this year changed his thoughts about a piece of legislation involving requirements for children to go to school. He explains the bill involved different vaccinations required, and it had been going through the Missouri House of Representatives for about four or five years.
Black says that, as negotiation went on, he became a supporter of House Bill 137. He was part of the group negotiating, so schools still had a voice and parents also still had a voice to make decisions for students. He voted for the legislation in committee.
Black says his first thought was health insurance, as this was before Saint Luke’s Health System, Mosaic Life Care, and others started talking about a vaccine mandate.
Black reports he could no longer support the bill after the amendment was added. He explains the motion was pulled from the floor, laid on a table, and never came up again because it lost too many votes.
Some mandates have been issued with the COVID-19 pandemic involving masks and vaccines.
Seventh District State Representative Rusty Black of Chillicothe says mandates have been around for years. However, he notes United States citizens are used to a freedom concept, and they rarely like being told what to do.
Black reports he received comments from people on both sides of the issue.
Mandates are not laws. Black explains laws passed in Missouri.
Black says that was something he voted for, and he thinks it was a good choice.
He notes that in the three counties he represents, even residents who did not like some decisions being made, realized voices are better listened to in that area. He serves Grundy, Livingston, and most of Linn counties.
Black agrees that mandates imposed on private businesses become “tricky.” He does not support the idea, and he is surprised so many places have made that choice.
He says it is hard for him to work through how, if he does not want to mandate something, he can mandate a decision on some entity, company, or business.
Black says it was brought to his attention that some health insurance groups are thinking about changing the pricing and increasing premiums if individuals do not get vaccinated.
Black can be contacted by calling his office in Jefferson City at 573-751-2917 or sending an email to [email protected].
