Local lawmakers Carter, Loy hold legislative brunch

The first ever Carthage Stakeholder Legislative Review took place Friday.

Carthage-Joplin state Representative Cathy Jo Loy, and Jasper-Newton County state Senator Jill Carter hosted the event in  to discuss issues important to the local community.

Childcare, housing, workforce retention and immigration were just a few topics the group talked about.

Carter says she has filed legislation related to securing the border. “If people want to come over here, we want them and want to welcome them. They should. They have a right to assimilate into our country and not live in the shadows of it,” but she says there is another issue that goes hand in hand with the border.

“We’re dealing with opioids and fentanyl that’s killing our kids. And so I’m just hoping to breathe enough space into that conversation where we can deal with those issues where people are being harmed and hurt.”

But both her and Loy are against a bill that would put a bounty on reporting illegal immigrants to authorities.

The two lawmakers are also big proponents of improving education opportunities but say that regulation does get in the way of giving kids the specialized education each of them deserves.

Both Carter and Loy say they look forward to hearing more from local residents and plan to have more public meetings like this in the future.