SIKESTON, Mo. -- As she enters her second full term, State Rep. Holly Rehder, R-Sikeston, said she feels more confident and ready to bring more to the state, especially Southeast Missouri.
The first regular session of the 98th Missouri General Assembly convenes at noon Wednesday in Jefferson City.
Rehder, who was elected to her first two-year term in November 2012, represents District 148, which is comprised of parts of Scott and Mississippi counties. She has served on the Appropriations Committee for Health, Mental Health and Social Services and also the Appropriations Committee for Revenue, Transportation and Economic Development, among others.
Earlier this month Rehder pre-filed to sponsor a bill she has co-sponsored the past couple years, House Bill 130, which establishes the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Act.
"This bill is a high priority for me," Rehder said. "The last two years Rep. (Kevin) Engler had carried that bill, and I felt that this year I'm filing it to be the sponsor."
Missouri is the only state without a prescription drug monitoring program in place. The prescription drug monitoring program is a database that collects information to let doctors and pharmacists know a patient's prescription history. The program is used to reduce the amount of medications that are sold on the street and to reduce the risk of doctor shopping and abusing painkillers for nonmedical reasons, according to Rehder.
"We have one senator who has talked about privacy rights, and I'm very concerned about that; however, what I think a lot of people are misunderstanding is it's the same type of information that's on their medical records," Rehder said.
Also, the program would pertain to only Schedule 2-4 drugs, which include opiates and other drugs people are misusing and abusing, Rehder said.
"This is not your psychiatric medications. It's not your antibiotics and those types of things," she said.
Concerns people have raised with Rehder have included the government deciding in the future to say that everyone on these types of medications can't own a gun.
"If the government wanted to do that -- and I pray that never happens -- that information is available now," Rehder said. "Electronic medical records have already enabled that process."
Rehder is hopeful the bill will pass this year.
"We have House leadership on board, and I want to get it on the House schedule as soon as possible," Rehder said.
In addition, Rehder said she plans to continue pushing bills already worked on but didn't get passed last session. Among those at the top of her list is the grandparent guardianship bill.
"I'm hopeful we're going to mimic some legislation that's been done in other states," Rehder said. "You have so many children now -- and often because of the drug epidemic -- being raised by their grandparents, and a lot of them are just dropped off or their mom goes to jail, and these kids are left with their grandparents who are strapped for money already."
Court proceedings to get guardianship for that child are expensive and required, she said.
"It's very costly and difficult process. You have to have permission from both parents," Rehder said. "... There has to be a happy medium for these loving grandparents who are taking care of these children who they don't want to see go in the foster care system."
In addition, Rehder said she hopes to see movement on right-to-work legislation.
"Labor reform is still on the top of my list," Rehder said. "... I am 100 percent for employees' freedom, and I believe it's the employee's right whether they want to join a union or not."
Rehder said she also plans to pursue the paycheck protection bill, which last year made it all the way through House and Senate before being traded for the bill regarding the 72-hour abortion waiting period.
"I'm very happy and proud about that," Rehder said. "We have a larger majority this year than last so I feel that we can get that (paycheck protection bill) passed through both the House and Senate this year."
The bill prohibits any public employee from being required to pay dues or other fees to a labor organization.
"It allows the employee to have the right of whether they want their dues to go to political purposes or not political purposes," Rehder said, adding public employees would also have to sign off once a year on whether they want to be part of the union, Rehder said.
This year Rehder will also explore equal rights among parents with children, she said.
"In the last two years I've had many, many constituents who've called that we've tried to help," Rehder said. "The majority have been fathers who aren't getting those equal rights and for whatever reasons, there are some things that are standing in the way."
Rehder said she's looking to see what other states have done to deal with these issues and how Missouri's laws are currently written.
Rehder noted the newly elected representatives for Southeast Missouri this session: Don Rone of Portageville, who represents portions of Pemiscot, Scott, New Madrid and Mississippi counties; Tila Hubrecht of Dexter, who represents parts of Stoddard and Scott counties; and Andrew McDaniel of Deering, who represents Dunklin and Pemiscot counties. She said she has already reached out to the new representatives to help them with laying their groundwork this session.
Southeast Missouri and the Bootheel face different challenges than the rest of the state, the experienced representative said.
"It's really more than being Democrat or Republican; it's more rural versus urban," Rehder said. "There's a fight for the money and us getting our fair share."
Economic development in Southeast Missouri is much different than those in Kansas City or St. Louis, Rehder said.
She added: "The more the rural representatives band together for a common cause, the more we can bring to Southeast Missouri."