by State Rep. J. Eggleston
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The next legislative session in Jefferson City does not begin until Jan. 9, but work has already begun to prepare for the session. And a big part of that preparation is educating the new freshmen members of the House.
This year, between term limits, resignations, and re-election defeats, there will be 59 new members to the Missouri House of Representatives — 43 Republicans and 16 Democrats. This accounts for over one-third of the chamber.
Only two came in by beating an incumbent. Most new members came in because term limits ousted a former member, and most of those former members were good people who had figured out how to be effective, and who cared and worked to improve Missouri.
In most jobs, if you do well for eight years you might get a promotion. In the legislature, you get fired.
The freshmen education process began Nov. 28-30 when they came to the capitol for a crash course on everything from ethics training to active shooter procedures to committee rules to how a bill actually becomes a law. Four of us existing members were on hand to help mentor the group.
I came to the capitol two years ago to help with this education and enjoyed showing the ropes to the new group again this year. I guess I inherited my joy of teaching from my mom who taught school for nearly 30 years.
The funniest moment of the week was during introductions. On the first day, the new members were asked to go around the room and say a little something about themselves. Most mentioned their home town or occupation or family.
But one member shared a thought from his wife, who was a school teacher. She said this experience for him would be just like the first day of school for a kindergartener, and the same advice applies — try to learn something, play nice with others, and don’t wet your pants. Sound advice.
For the next two weeks, the freshmen will embark on a road trip around the state visiting sites important to Missouri. The visits will likely include stops at schools and universities, power plants, big businesses, hospitals, and military bases.
The importance of this trip is not just learning about our vital facilities, but also to bond with other new members and to realize that every district in our state has its own strengths, weaknesses, and issues, and we all need to work together to make our great state even better.