Representative John Hewkin represents Dent and Crawford Counties in the Missouri House of Representatives, District 120. He was elected to his first term in November 2024. As the legislative session for the year begins, The Salem News reached out to Hewkin to assess his top priorities for this year and where he wants to focus his efforts for the people of Dent and Crawford county.
Here are the questions and his answers.
Q. What will your primary focus be this legislative session?
A. First of all, to learn all I can about being an effective legislator. There is so much to learn when you are a freshman, and I am learning every day. (Of course, we have only been here for two days.) I believe there have been 771 bills filed so far. I am very interested in getting IP Reform completed. IP Reform passed through the House three times last year and finally stalled in the Senate. I feel this is imperative for Missouri and rural areas like ours to have a say in constitutional amendments, and I also feel it should be harder to amend the Missouri constitution.
It is my prayer that we can do what we can to limit or eliminate abortion in Missouri, this is not only my priority but also that of the House of Representatives. I hope to help small businesses with Proposition A and the burden it places on small business. It will be my priority to monitor all legislation that is to be considered and vote on that legislation with my conservative Christian values.
Q. Where do you feel Dent and Crawford county could improve this year?
A. Representative Ron Copeland and I visited with the Governor’s staff to try and secure appropriations for the Crawford County 911 Center, which I believe has flooded three times in the past 10 years, and to help with rebuilding or relocation of the Sheltered Workshop in Salem.
I will work with Crawford and Dent Counties to secure funding to improve our roads and develop strategies to bring business and industry to our area. I believe MODOT has plans to improve roads and replace or repair nine bridges in our two counties over the next three years.
Q. At the end of the year, what do you hope to have accomplished?
A. I am very much looking forward to the legislative year. I believe we have a good team in place, and I hope as a body that we accomplish a great many things. I feel we have a spirit of unity and cohesiveness that will allow this to happen. I hope to see the protection of life, IP reform, and that all legislation passed follows our constitution.
Q. How do you feel nearly 40 years of experience in pharmacy has prepared you for this position?
A. Being a small business owner for many of those 40 years I know what it is like to have employees and have to make payroll. I feel Amendment A is unfair to small businesses, and we must address this issue. I have been involved in my community and with the public for 40 years—this experience has proved to be invaluable.
Obviously, being a pharmacist and, now working in a hospital, I see a lot of aspects of healthcare. I hope to be assigned to healthcare and possibly insurance committees to be able to give front line insight to legislation affecting these areas. Our healthcare system is broken and there are no quick fixes, but I hope to be able to offer insight.
Q. Jan. 8 you introduced H.B. 771, which relates to the duration of unemployment benefits of Missourians depending on the current unemployment rate. Could you speak a little about this bill and why it was your first priority?
A. Right now in Missouri if you become unemployed you are given 20 weeks of unemployment. This bill is a mirror of Senator Mike Bernskoetter’s bill which indexes the weeks of unemployment to the current unemployment rate. Basically, if unemployment is low and there are many jobs available then the time you get unemployment benefits goes down. As I was looking at bills from the previous session that did not get acted on, this one seemed to make a lot of sense.
Q. What policies do you see yourself supporting to ensure rural communities remain viable places to live and work?
A. I think rural areas are great places to live and work. As I mentioned before, IP reform gives rural areas more of a say in constitutional amendments. This must be a priority. Continuing to offer great educational opportunities to our children. Continuing to improve our infrastructure and develop our workforce to draw potential business and industry to our area.
Q. Do you see yourself advocating for increased funding to expand broadband access to underserved rural communities?
A. Yes, I will advocate for this as I feel the educational opportunities cannot be overstated. Our areas are underserved, and we must try to do all we can to increase availability.
