Photo Courtesy of Representative of the 39th District-Peggy McGaugh
The 101st General Assembly Underway
Wednesday, January 6, 2021 marked the official beginning of the 101st General Assembly. Representative for the 39th District, Peggy McGaugh took the oath of office alongside 162 others at the Capitol in Jefferson City.
“I experienced a wave of emotion while I thought about the many family, friends and constituents who put their faith in me to be their voice in Jefferson City and represent the people and issues of the 39th District,” Representative McGaugh said. “Thank you from my heart for this opportunity of a lifetime.”
Due to the Coronavirus pandemic numerous traditional processes were changed for the day. In order to accommodate family and guests who were in attendance for the swearing in ceremony, adequate physical distance was achieved by holding three separate sessions and entering the House floor by class; Seniors and Juniors first, Sophomores second and lastly the new Freshman class. Normally many receptions and traditional events occur including the Inaugural Ball that evening.
According to Representative McGaugh, this event has been pushed back until later this year and is expected to be held in conjunction with Missouri’s bicentennial celebrations this summer as August 21, 2021 marks the 200th anniversary of Missouri’s statehood.
On Monday, January 11th, the Bicentennial Inauguration Ceremony will be held when members of the executive branch including the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, State Treasurer, Attorney General, and Secretary of State will take their oath of office. This event will be held on a stage on the south lawn of the Capitol. In order for many Missourians to take part, a livestream will be available on the Governor’s Facebook page, the State of Missouri Facebook page as well as the inauguration website movingmoforward.com.
New year, new leadership, and new ideas
Representative Rob Vescovo of Jefferson County was elected as the new Speaker of the House. Speaker Vescovo outlined his legislative priorities to the members of the House that include education reform, reduction of regulations for businesses, COVID liability, tax code reform, law enforcement training reform and election integrity legislation. Representative McGaugh says, “I look forward to working with the Speaker and the new leadership to execute the priorities for the benefit of the 39th District.”
Covid-19 Vaccine
The beginning of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout has begun and is being provided to individuals in Phase 1A of the vaccination plan. These individuals include patient facing healthcare workers and residents/ staff of Long Term Care Facilities who will be the first vaccinated before moving to other portions of the population. There is an exceptionally limited supply available in Missouri at this time causing some in our area still in need of the vaccination. The exceptionally limited supply has far exceeded the demand. Supplies are dictated by the federal government and the state is only given one week advanced notice of the amount in terms of shipments. Once approved, those allocations are shipped directly to those who have enrolled to be a vaccinator with no allocations being shipped directly to the State Department of Health. As the supply of the vaccine allocations to Missouri continue to grow, more communication will be occurring through local public health agencies, media and other avenues. CDC has provided a data tracker at https//covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations. In addition, the Department of Health is developing a statewide dashboard soon to track the progress. “I appreciate all the frontline healthcare workers who have stepped up to protect our most vulnerable citizens. God bless you all,” said Representative McGaugh.