Disabled worker program, political call ban among proposals filed

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- An effort to restore a version of a program that provided health-care benefits for disabled workers was among a couple of dozen bills filed Friday.

Friday marked the first day for lawmakers to prefile legislation for consideration in the session that begins Jan. 3. But heavy snow in mid-Missouri tempered what is sometimes a busy day of lawmakers and aides dropping off legislation at clerks' offices. The Senate secretary's office didn't open Friday because of the snowy weather.

In the House, one measure by Rep. Chuck Portwood, R-Ballwin, carried more than 30 co-sponsors, including Democrats and Republicans. The legislation would restore a version of what was known as Medical Assistance for Workers with Disabilities, or MAWD.

Other early legislative proposals include several that would add political phone calls to the categories on the state's do-not-call list.

Attorney General Jay Nixon said after this year's election that people who sign up to avoid unwanted solicitations should also not be subjected to automated political phone calls, and he asked legislators to expand the law.

Another bill, by Rep. Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield, would expand on last year's eminent domain law. Her proposal would require that people who lose their property to eminent domain that benefits a private business get a share of that business' income.

Separately, she also proposed changing property tax assessment laws, scaling back assessors from doing a reassessment every two years to every five years and limiting the allowed increase in property value and hence the taxes paid on it.