State Legislative Session Opens Wednesday

Missouri state lawmakers will be back in Jefferson City as the 2012 legislative session opens at noon Wednesday. Much like 2011, issues tied to job creation and managing a tight state budget figure to be front and center.

Lawmakers were able to prefile bills starting Dec. 1, 2011 for consideration in 2012. Below is a look at some of those filed by State Senator Jane Cunningham, the only state lawmaker representing the who has began filing.

• SB 451: Sharing of Services and Increasing Efficiencies Act
• SB 451: School enrollment in cases of transportation hardship
• SB485: Changes to liens on motor vehicles and other property
• SB453: Establishes damage caps for Human Rights Act cases and workers's compensation discrimination cases
• SB510: Assessors should consider market factors in determining property tax value
• SJR39: Prohibits laws interfering with freedom of choice in health care

State Represenative Margo McNeil has not prefiled bills as of Tuesday afternoon, but many of those she co-sponsored last year dealt with education. Here's a summation of some of the bills she sponsored last year:

• HB175: Increases from $14,300 to $16,000 the minimum base used to calculate the senior citizens property tax credit, commonly known as circuit breaker
• HB248: Authorizes an income tax deduction for 100 percent of tuition and fees paid for up to the last nine or 18 hours required to complete an associate or bachelor degree from a public two-year or four-year college
• HB267: Establishes requirements for environmentally sustainable construction for certain state-funded buildings
• HB514: Changes the laws regarding the attendance of a pupil from an unaccredited school district
• HB602: Changes the laws regarding the lapse of a school district when it has been unaccredited by the State Board of Education for two successive school years
• HB624: Prohibits corporal punishment from being administered in any public school and removes provisions specifying that certain spanking in a school is not to be considered abus
• HB800: Prohibits spanking from being used in a public school on any student with an individualized education plan who is receiving special education services
• HB870: Changes the laws regarding school course materials and instruction relating to human sexuality and sexually transmitted diseases