The bill would change the statute of limitations for filing a malpractice suit against a veterinarian to two years from the current seven years — a common-sense change, Brown argued, given the limited life spans of most animals. “If I treat a dog that’s eight years old, and they’re going out to seven years (with the statute of limitations for filing a malpractice suit), most dogs aren’t going to live that long.”

Still, he said, he’s hoping an identical bill in the House — sponsored by someone who is not a veterinarian — will work out instead of his. “I think it’s wise to let someone else” carry it, he said. “I truly am not trying to do anything nefarious here.”

Last week, Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard had to field questions about whether his legislation to put new limits on use of the state’s consumer-protection law is designed to help out one of his largest campaign contributors: the Humphreys family of Joplin, which has given Richard almost $300,000.

David Humphreys is CEO of TAMKO Building Products Inc., which is facing a class-action lawsuit over allegedly defective roofing shingles it sold. The company is being sued under Missouri’s Merchandising Practices Act, the consumer-protection law that Richard seeks to change with his bill.