Last night the House Telecommunications Committee had a scheduled committee hearing at the Jefferson City Country Club. The “refreshments” were reportedly provided by the Missouri Telecomm Industry Association. Our good friends at Progress Missouri attended and streamed the committee meeting dinner provided by lobbyists live from a country club dining room.

Much Twitter hilarity ensued:

Sean Nicholson @ssnich

Telecomm Cmte with country club ‘hearing’ tonight has exactly zero bills assigned to it at this time. #MOLeg 7:02 PM – 27 Jan 2015

Kasia Kovacs @kasiakovacs

Here’s an actual livestream of members our actual state government having an actual meeting at a country club [….] 8:01 PM – 27 Jan 2015

Michael Bersin @MBersin

Heh. “The sacrifices we make” You know, like dinners at a country club with lobbyists. Irony challenged. @ProgressMO #MOLeg 8:03 PM – 27 Jan 2015

tmservo433 ‏@tmservo433

“It’s like you lose track of watching your kids grow up.. hey.. so, what about this food?” @MBersin @ProgressMO #moleg 8:05 PM – 27 Jan 2015

And on and on.

A bill, introduced today by Representative Jeremy LaFaver (D):

HB 732

Prohibits General Assembly standing committees from holding meetings at any location other than the Capitol grounds

Sponsor: LaFaver, Jeremy (025)

Proposed Effective Date: 8/28/2015

LR Number: 1718L.02I

Last Action: 01/28/2015 – Introduced and Read First Time (H)

Bill String: HB 732

Next Hearing: Hearing not scheduled

Calendar: Bill currently not on a House calendar

[….]

[emphasis in original]

Any bets on this coming to the floor for a recorded vote?

Heh:

Missouri Lawmakers Can’t Hold Dinner “Hearings” at Fancy Country Clubs Anymore

By Danny Wicentowski Wed., Jan. 28 2015 at 1:45 PM

….Enjoying a lobbyist-funded meal is hardly excessive for the Missouri legislature, but the stink raised after last night’s hearing got so bad House Speaker John Diehl announced this morning that, effective immediately, all house committee hearings must take place at the capitol, according to PoliticMO….

Was that so difficult?

Getting all their ducks in a row.

A bill, introduced today:

FIRST REGULAR SESSION

HOUSE BILL NO. 732

97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES HICKS (Sponsor), RHOADS, SPENCER, REIBOLDT, ROSS, HURST, LEARA, MILLER, WALKER, REMOLE, BAHR, MORRIS, FITZWATER, GUERNSEY, WILSON, FRANKLIN, SMITH (120), REHDER, FITZPATRICK, LOVE, CORNEJO, PIKE, DOHRMAN, KOLKMEYER, MCGAUGH, AUSTIN, SOMMER, HIGDON, COOKSON, PARKINSON, WOOD AND FOWLER (Co-sponsors).

1867L.01I   D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk

AN ACT

To amend chapter 571, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to firearms ownership and medical records.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:

           Section A. Chapter 571, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 571.175, to read as follows:

           571.175. No health care professional licensed in this state, other than a mental health professional as defined in section 632.005, shall inquire of any patient in conjunction with obtaining the patient’s personal information and medical history whether the patient has any firearms in the patient’s home or on the patient’s property, and shall not require the disclosure of such information prior to providing treatment.

[emphasis in original]

Previously:

HB 350: “Nobody move suddenly, he’s got a duck and he knows how to use it.” (January 29, 2013)

….571.012. 1. No health care professional licensed in this state shall be required by law to:

          (1) Inquire as to whether a patient owns a firearm;

          (2) Document or maintain in a patient’s medical records whether such patient owns a firearm; or

          (3) Notify any governmental entity of the identity of a patient based solely on the patient’s status as an owner of a firearm….

What’s past is prologue:

Blackout: How the NRA suppressed gun violence research

6:00 AM on 01/14/2013

….After Republicans won control of Congress in 1994, lawmakers allied with the NRA zeroed in on the NCIPC [National Center for Injury Prevention and Control]. “There was an immediate push not just to stop gun research, but to terminate the entire center,” Kellermann recounted.

Ultimately, NCIPC survived, but in 1996, Rep. Jay Dickey, an Arkansas Republican and the NRA’s point man in Congress, engineered an effort to cut $2.6 million from its budget-exactly the amount it had spent on gun violence research the previous year. (The funding was later restored by the Senate, but earmarked for traumatic brain injury, ensuring it couldn’t be used for gun violence work.) And the following sentence was added to the law funding CDC: “None of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be used to advocate or promote gun control….”

Duck.

But we can’t talk about that.