2022 LEGISLATIVE SESSION BEGINS
Dear Citizens: Lawmakers returned to the State Capitol Building Wednesday, January 5 for the start of the 2022 legislative session, which is officially the Second Regular Session of the 101st General Assembly.
In the Missouri House there are 108 Republicans, 49 Democrats, and 6 vacant seats. Leading up to the start of the session, pre-filing began Dec. 1 and ended January 4. In that period of time House members pre-filed 770 pieces of legislation.
Legislators begin the session with a number of pressing issues on the table and will move quickly to approve new congressional district maps based on the latest U.S. Census data. The maps have to be approved and signed into law in time for the August 2 primary. Lawmakers will also work expeditiously to approve a supplemental budget bill proposed by Gov. Parson. The governor has asked the House and Senate to have the legislation approved by February 1.
As the 2022 legislative session progresses, members will also focus on a number of other important issues including the state operating budget, protections for the unborn, election integrity, school accountability and transparency, and protections against overly burdensome mandates.
Missouri Legislative Leaders Release Proposed Congressional District Map – Before the New Year began, the respective chairs of the Missouri House Special Committee on Redistricting and Senate Select Committee on Redistricting jointly released their proposed changes to Missouri’s congressional district map. The map, which is treated as a legislative bill, was filed as HB 2117.
The proposed congressional map balances several required criteria including compliance with the Missouri and U.S. Constitutions as well as the Voting Rights Act. The map’s districts are compact, contiguous, and equal in population. The districts adhere to the doctrine of “one person, one vote” and have preserved the cores of each existing congressional district to the greatest extent possible.
Both congressional and state legislative districts are redrawn every ten years upon the completion of the census. Missouri’s congressional districts are drawn by state legislators and state legislative districts are drawn by independent, bipartisan, citizen commissions. The 2021 redistricting process has been compressed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and technical delays by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The proposed maps are available at the following links:
https://house.mo.gov/pr/Maps/JointProposedMap.pdf
https://house.mo.gov/pr/Maps/JointProposedDistricts.pdf
For more information, contact Representative Patricia Pike at patricia.pike@house.mo.gov or call 573-751-5388.
