Rep. Richard West enters first term in Missouri House

By: Adam Rollins, Staff Writer
Posted 2/2/21

Richard West, the newly elected state representative for the district that straddles Warren and St. Charles counties, swore his oath of office Jan. 6 for his first term in the Missouri House of …

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Rep. Richard West enters first term in Missouri House

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Richard West, the newly elected state representative for the district that straddles Warren and St. Charles counties, swore his oath of office Jan. 6 for his first term in the Missouri House of Representatives.

West, representing District 63, brings his experience as mayor of New Melle, a retired law enforcement officer and a small business owner to Jefferson City. He said he felt a sense of awe to become part of the government at the Capitol.

“What an honor it was just to be there, to sit in the House and see the history, to walk down the halls and see the pictures of people there before you, and know that your photo could forever be on that wall,” West described. “It was absolutely awe inspiring.”

West’s first days took an abrupt pause when the second week of the 2021 session was canceled due to COVID cases. Even before that, West said a lot of the fanfare for new representatives was skipped this year.

“To me that was OK. We’re there to work,” West commented. However, he lamented that COVID guidelines have hampered some relation building opportunities with other representatives.

Legislative work

West said he’s been introduced to the legislative process, and is now looking for opportunities to serve his constituents’ needs in the legislature.

West has been assigned to the House Committees for Budget, Crime Prevention, Insurance, and Local Government. He said he requested all but one of those assignments, seeing where his experience in law enforcement and local government could be most useful.

So far West has filed one proposed piece of legislation, the Working Animals Protection Act. This initiative, first introduced by West’s predecessor Bryan Spencer, would protect businesses with working animals from over-regulation by local governments.

“If you have a businesses involving the use of animals, typically your business has already gone through different state agencies to provide that you take care of your animals,” West explained. He doesn’t want additional local regulations to stifle such businesses, but also said state laws protecting animal safety would not be changed by the bill.

In the coming weeks, West said he is planning to introduce an education bill that would ensure college course credits from accredited schools are 100-percent transferable to other accredited schools in the state. West said he wants to protect young people from having their time and money wasted by schools that won’t accept their college credit.

And in one other initiative, inspired by his law enforcement experience and a constituent’s plea, West plans to file a bill to allow license plate markings for hearing-impaired drivers. This marking would signal to police officers that the vehicle’s driver has a hearing challenge.

“As a law enforcement officer, I had it happen many times that someone was hearing impaired and they wouldn’t pull over, and I would be irritated,” West commented. “If I had known they were hearing impaired, I would have tried a different tactic or not been irritated.”

West said he began planning the bill after a constituent with hearing issues shared their own frustrating experience of being pulled over.

Other than his own proposals, West said he needs to spend time researching the facts behind bills from other representatives.

“I’m spending a lot of time getting my feet wet,” he said. “There’s a lot of reading to do on these bills, and there are new ones coming every day.”

Missouri House, Richard West

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