MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
Last Week
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night could keep Missouri lawmakers from passing their bills this week.
Last week Missouri experienced a major winter storm with heavy snowfall, sleet and freezing rain with some areas in the state getting as much as a foot of snow on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
In 2011, Rep. Wanda Brown, R-Lincoln, was hospitalized after getting in a car accident in Camden County during that year's blizzard. Brown injured her neck and back during the accident.
She has since recovered and is still a member of the House. But chamber leaders are much more cautious now about working through snowstorms when members have to get home.
Both the House and Senate adjourned early last week so legislators could return home to their districts before the storm hit. The Senate ended last week on Wednesday at noon and the House was also adjourned a day early.
A similar bill has been vetoed for the past two years by Gov. Jay Nixon, but House Republicans said Missouri would remain unattractive to business owners if it didn't address its amount of workplace discrimination lawsuits.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Kevin Elmer, R-Nixa, would make it more difficult for workers to file lawsuits.
Elmer said that discrimination should be a "motivating" factor in any wrongful action taken against an employee, instead of a "contributing" factor.
"We are changing this to keep employers from simply being held in on years of discrimination because someone has alleged discrimination," Elmer said. "We're requiring now that it needs to be proven in a court of law."
The state House voted to the Senate a bill that would allow energy companies to count electricity made from water towards their quotas for renewable energy investments.
PJ Wilson, Director of Renew Missouri, said the measure contradicts the purpose of Proposition C, the voter initiative passed in 2008 for development of additional renewable energy supplies in the state. He said this will give an advantage to companies like Ameren, who already own hydroelectric power plants.
But House Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, said hydroelectric power should have been included in the first place.
"I think that just flies in the face of fact," Jones said. "I mean, water is our most basic renewable resource."
The state House gave its approval Thursday to a bill that would exempt some public schools from "prevailing wage" laws.
Those laws mandate that construction workers be paid a certain rate for government projects. Republicans said the change would allow schools to hire more workers and contribute to local economies.
Rep. Mike Colona, D-St. Louis City, said it would result in pay cuts for middle-class workers.
"Doing away with the prevailing wage puts us on a state path to a race to the bottom," Colona said.
Missouri lawmakers are attempting to make the St. Louis airport an international trade hub, and the sponsoring senator said this is vital to the city's economy. The Senate passed the bill with a 27-7 vote Tuesday.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-St. Louis County, said having St. Louis as a hub for trade with Chinese companies would make it a gateway to the rest of the world.
The bill would provide statewide tax breaks for any business that facilitates an international shipment. Originally, the tax breaks equaled $360 million but have been slashed to $60 million.
Opponents of the bill said increasing tax credits takes money out of an already strapped state budget. Legislators have been working on this contentious issue for several years. Missouri legislators went into special session in 2011 over the so-called "China Hub" debates, spending an entire summer working toward a solution that was never reached.
The Senate's top leader Tom Dempsey, R-St.Charles, said he supports the measure.
"This is a bill that we very much hope the House will consider," Dempsey said. "The sooner the better."
With Tuesday's added 13 amendments, the bill will now make its way to the House.
"Part of the process and the importance of getting this thing done is that I do think it allows us to move forward and not in ominous way all the time, Schmitt said.
Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon also signaled his support for the Senate bill in a rare public statement.
"This bill contains long-overdue reforms to our state’s largest tax credit expenditures, which would yield significant savings for taxpayers in years to come," Nixon said in a statement Thursday. "The overwhelming bipartisan support shown today for reining in these tax credits represents an important step toward getting fiscally responsible tax credit reform to my desk this year."
The debate over tax credit reform is heating up in the state Capitol, and a House committee laid out that chamber's position in a hearing Thursday.
After an all-night debate earlier in the week, the Senate has given approval to a measure that would make deep cuts in tax credit programs and put more than $40 million per year back in the state's coffers. But House members said Thursday that they want to trim those credits, not slash them.
One area where the House and Senate differ: tax credits for low-income housing. The Senate wants to make deep cuts and the House doesn't. Sam Licklider, the lobbyist for the Missouri Association of Realtors said those credits help poor neighborhoods in the state.
"I want to thank the representative for taking a much more reasoned and measured approach than the people at the other end of the building, who kept me up far too late a few nights ago," he said, referring to the earlier Senate debate.
The chairwoman of the House Economic Development Committee, Rep. Anne Zerr said she wants to move fast on the issue. Zerr, R-St. Charles said she wants her tax bill on the House floor within two weeks.
The House Health Committee voted 7-3 to pass a bill that would place a $350,000 cap on non-economic medical malpractice damages, although similar legislation was struck down by the Missouri Supreme Court last year.
The non-economic damages are defined as damages to quality of life, pain and suffering, among other injuries. In the past, these damages have amounted to millions of dollars.
Rep. Jeanne Kirkton, D-Webster Groves, argued against the cap.
"The one thing that has not been implemented is giving the Department of Insurance some regulatory teeth...in my opinion that's a better answer to this issue than the caps," Kirkton said.
The bill now moves to the House chamber.
Discrimination lawsuits would have to meet a higher standard for evidence to go before a jury under a bill given first round approval by the Missouri House Wednesday.
Bill sponsor Rep. Kevin Elmer, R-Nixa, said it would bring the standard of evidence more in line with the federal standard.
Currently, the standard of evidence in Missouri is that the discrimination based on factors such as race, age, religion or gender, has to be a contributing factor to the firing of an employee. This bill would raise the standard to a motivating factor.
Democratic representatives argued that the higher standard would make it easier for businesses to discriminate. Rep. Rory Ellinger, D-St. Louis County, said Missouri should not try to attract businesses that discriminate.
“We are in the forefront of the fed government in being against discrimination,” Ellinger said.
The bill would also limit non-economic damages and restrict protections for whistleblowers. The non-economic damages would be tethered to the economic damages awarded.
Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed a similar bill last year. When asked by Rep. Kevin McManus, D-Kansas City, whether he had communicated with the governor’s office, Elmer said he had looked at the governor’s veto letter and addressed the issues there.
After a final vote in the House, the bill will go to the Senate.
The Senate Accountability Committee heard a bill that would shorten the legislative session from 18 weeks to 12.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. John Lamping, R-St. Louis County, would allow legislators to have more time for their jobs back home in their respective districts.
Lamping said the bill would cut down on "wasted time" that exists in the senate.
Sen. Ryan Silvey, R-Kansas City, said the bill would give too much power to the executive branch.
"I like my governors like I like my coffee, very very weak." Silvey said.
Silvey said that the shortened session would not allow enough time for lawmakers to come up with a comprehensive budget.
The committee took no action on the bill.
In a Senate Education Committee hearing Wednesday, Chris Nicastro, Commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, called a measure supporting early education the most significant legislation she has ever seen.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Joe Keaveny, D-St. Louis, gives state aid to pre-kindergarten programs in Missouri schools.
"We believe that this may be the most important legislation before this body this year, or any other year," Nicastro said.
The legislation is split into two bills, each with the same wording, but one applies to children receiving free and reduced lunch and the other applies to all children. While Keaveny said he hopes that the law would eventually apply to all children, he thinks his bill will have a better chance when divided by socioeconomic status.
The committee also passed two bills that now head to the Senate floor. One bill would create a council to oversee Missouri gifted education and the other would allow incompetent teachers in the St. Louis School District to be fired despite tenured status.
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a nearly $1 billion bonding bill Wednesday to address billions worth of capital needs around the state.
Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, proposed the bill as a way to fund needed projects at the state's college campuses, state parks, mental health facilities and other state facilities.
Wally Pfeffer, chairman of the Mizzou Legislative Network, testified in favor of the bill. Pfeffer said a bond issue could fund improvements at MU's College of Engineering, which was built in 1892 and serves over 2,000 students working toward degrees in high-demand science and technology fields.
"We can't generate enough revenue through tuition or private donations or grants to do everything that needs to be done," Pfeffer said. "The state has been unable to address capital improvement needs from general revenue for over a decade."
Schaefer said the bill can now move on to the floor, where the Senate can discuss the merits of bonding to fund state projects. Schaefer has endorsed bonding, since interest rates would be lower on new debt than they were when the state issued nearly $600 million worth of bonds in 1982.
The House gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a measure that would forever guarantee the right to farm and ranch using modern practices and technology.
If approved by voters, the measure would amend the state Constitution to protect farmers and ranchers. Sponsor of the measure Rep. Bill Reiboldt, R-Neosho, said outside groups and people who don’t understand farming might try to restrict agricultural practices, which he said is very important to the state’s economy.
“This is just to have a broad piece of legislation that protects what you and what I have done traditionally all of our lives in agriculture as well as the more modern practices,” Reiboldt said.
Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, spoke in favor of an amendment to the proposal that would have excluded pets from the definition of livestock and breeders of pets from the definition of farmers and ranchers. He said that without the amendment, the issue of puppy mills would again trouble lawmakers.
“This amendment is the only thing between us and a return to puppy land,” Kelly said.
The amendment failed to pass. The bill passed by a voice vote. The joint resolution will now go to the Senate and, if passed, would appear on the ballot.
Teachers, principals and superintendents from throughout Missouri showed support Wednesday for a bill to change the evaluation process for teachers to obtain and keep their tenure.
According to the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Kevin Elmer, R-Nixa, teachers would have performance evaluations and they must complete certain levels of evaluations to obtain tenure.
Rep. Michael Butler, D- St. Louis, asked what his district was supposed to do if a large amount of ineffective teachers were to be let go.
“We have the lowest teacher salary in the entire state and we can’t compete with any other school districts,” Butler said.
Multiple supporters of the bill said it would eliminate mediocrity among teachers and would hold teachers to a higher standard.
Officials from three of Missouri's largest electric companies spoke in favor of a bill Wednesday, which would give them the power to charge more for utilities to fund infrastructure.
The bill would allow the companies to recover infrastructure replacement costs with the Missouri Public Service Commission. They would do so by adding an “infrastructure system replacement surcharge,” also known as ISRS, to customers’ utility bills. The surcharge would fund electrical plant repairs as well as projects to comply with environmental and safety regulations.
Supporters, including leaders from Kansas City Power & Light, Ameren Missouri and Empire District Electric Co., spoke in front of the House Utilities Committee Wednesday. They said the bill would create jobs and improve services and reliability for consumers. They also said it will improve their bond ratings and thus make it cheaper to borrow money, which could lower utility bills for customers in the long run.
Rep. Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, said he thinks the companies already do a good job of providing reliable service and he would need to see a stronger justification for a the new funding.
“In the absence of a problem I’m not sure why we’re looking for a solution,” Richardson said.
Opponents to the bill are slated to speak when the hearing reconvenes at 1 p.m.
The week’s winter weather stranded many who wanted to testify on the bill, so Committee chairman Rep. Doug Funderburk, R-St. Peters, said he plans on hearing the bill further next week and hopes to go into executive session on the bill next Wednesday.
The House Transportation Committee endorsed a proposed constitutional amendment on Tuesday, Feb. 26, that would raise the sales tax to generate more money for state and local transportation projects.
Under the measure, the sales tax would be one percent for a ten-year period. The tax is expected to generate as much as $800 million per year in additional revenue, which would go to transportation projects. If it clears the legislature, it would require statewide voter approval to take effect.
The committee backed the measure in a unanimous vote.
"Republicans have a lot of rural legislators, that's a great concern of them, that their rural roads are upgraded and maintained and that's what this bill does," said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Dave Hinson, R-St. Clair.
While nobody on the committee voted against the bill, the director of one welfare-advocacy group expressed opposition.
"Regressive means that those who have the least amount of money bear a higher burden in terms of how much taxes are being paid, as opposed to progressive which means that those of us who make more pay a higher percentage of our incomes in taxes," said Jeanette Oxford, director of the Missouri Association for Social Welfare.
Oxford said she supported increasing funding for transportation, but through other revenue increases rather than a sales tax increase.
The proposed constitutional amendment now goes to the full House.
The Senate Ways and Means Committee passed a bill containing a series of tax cuts Monday that would lead to a nearly $1.1 billion loss in revenue if the cuts took effect as prescribed by the proposal in 2014.
Sen. Will Kraus, R-Lee's Summit, sponsored the measure as a Kansas City area lawmaker looking to keep Missouri on a level economic playing field with Kansas. Under the leadership of a Republican legislature and Gov. Sam Brownback, Kansas cut tax rates for individuals and small businesses in May. Some businesses have fled from Missouri to Kansas in the Kansas City area to take advantage of the lower rates and other tax breaks flaunted from Topeka.
Kraus said his bill will probably be tweaked more, but he hopes to accomplish this major GOP legislative priority to keep the Kansas City area on solid economic footing.
"I know we're committed to getting a vote on the floor. So will this be the bill, exactly the way it is today, obviously not. We're willing to work across the aisle to take amendments and understand where they want to be," Kraus said.
The bill would reduce Missouri's top individual income tax rate to 4.5 percent from 6 percent. It would also reduce the corporate tax rate and the create a phased-in tax deduction for business income that would allow filers to deduct 50 percent of business income in 2017.
Sen. Paul LeVota, D-Independence, said he does not like the idea of cutting taxes and straining services. LeVota said Missouri should set an example as the Show-Me State instead of following Kansas as a "Me-Too" state.
A bill loosening the registration requirements for sex offenders found support among Missouri lawmakers Monday.
The bill would separate offenders into three tiers: the first tier holding offenders with the least severe offenses, to the most severe offenders in the third tier.
"It allows an opportunity for offenders to get off the registry after a designated period of time," said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Don Phillips, R- Kimberling City.
The House Crime Committee heard opposition only from Dr. Brian Oliver who says he said he had a Ph.D. in criminal justice.
"The bill is not concerned with public safety," Oliver said.
Oliver is currently registered on the Mo. sex offender registry for multiple offenses against males under the age of 10.
Rep. Jacob Hummel, D-St. Louis, argues for Medicaid expansion in committee Monday
Lawmakers defeated a Democratic-backed measure to expand the state's Medicaid program in a House committee Monday.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Jacob Hummel, D-St. Louis, said the expansion would bring back federal tax dollars that would be lost otherwise."These are our dollars that we're sending to Washington, that we need to bring back to the states," Hummel said.
Opponents argued that giving more funding to the state's Medicaid program would worsen the program's efficiency.
"Medicaid is a system that right now doesn't work...why are we going to take an additional 300,000 Missourians, and put them into a system that nobody believes works very efficiently to begin?" said Rep. Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff.
The buildings at Fulton State Mental Hospital make it easy to see why state lawmakers and the hospital's own staff are clamoring for renovation.
There are several buildings that were constructed in the 1930s -- and those are the ones being used to treat the hospital's patients. Staff members said that many other buildings are simply unusable. The hospital still contains buildings from the 19th century. There are bricks falling off of staircases, boarded up windows and a sizable chunk missing from the roof of the old laundry building.
The hospital's website champions the fact that it is the oldest public mental health facility west of the Mississippi River, but that doesn't mean that the staff wants the oldest facilities west of the Mississippi.
"It's a shame we are using these buildings," said Ken Lyle, the hospital's chief financial officer. "It is the right thing to do to replace this facility because of the safety risk it poses for everyone in the building, let alone to provide space for people to receive adequate treatment."
Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency Thursday morning in response to a winter storm churning across Missouri.
“A severe winter storm continues to bear down on communities across the state,” Nixon said in a statement released mid-morning. “Missouri stands ready to help communities in need and to deploy the resources to keep folks safe. I urge all Missourians to keep a close eye on the weather and avoid unnecessary travel.”
The National Weather Service has said on its website that the storm will bring ice, sleet and snow to Missouri, with up to 11 inches of total accumulation in the mid-Missouri area.
Both the state House and Senate adjourned and sent members home Wednesday afternoon as the storm rolled east from Kansas. According to their websites, both chambers are to reconvene Monday afternoon.
Classes and exams at the University of Missouri's Columbia campus have also been cancelled for the rest of the week, according to an email sent out the campus police department.
In a news release, Lambert-St. Louis International Airport said that 230 flights had been canceled there by early afternoon. Multiple airlines had canceled all of their service at the airport for the remainder of the day.
The Missouri Senate gave first-round approval Wednesday to a bill that features the names of two men, not just "the Man."
Sen. Gary Romine, R-Farmington, amended a bill to name a new Interstate 70 bridge after Stan "the Man" Musial, adding Andy Gammon, a carpenter who fell to his death while working on the bridge last March.
Romine's amendment was approved by the Senate Wednesday, and would name the roadway from Mile Marker 248 to the Illinois state line after Gammon. The bridge, pending Illinois' approval, would be named after Musial.
Sen. Gina Walsh, D-St.Louis County, thanked Romine for offering the amendment to remember Gammon.
"I've been on jobs where folks have been killed and there's never anything left to show," Walsh said.
Missouri lawmakers left the state Capitol early this week after the House and Senate leadership dismissed the legislators to prepare for an incoming winter storm.
Rep. Delus Johnson, R-St. Joseph, said lawmakers wanted to avoid being stuck in the Capitol, which happened during the 2011 snowstorm.
"What we saw happen here two years ago -- we had 18 and a half inches of snow -- shut the Capitol down, (we) had people in a mess everywhere, so we're definitely shutting down early," Johnson said.
State lawmakers managed to complete some legislative work before adjourning for the week.
The House gave first-round approval to a bill that would allow voters in University of Missouri System extension districts to approve taxes dedicated to funding the system's extension program. The House also endorsed a measure that would help fund tax increment financing districts for disaster areas around the state, such as Joplin.
The Senate gave first-round approval to a bill that would name a new Interstate 70 bridge over the Mississippi River after Stan "The Man" Musial and Andy Gammon, a worker who was killed while working on the bridge. Senators passed a bill that would require the Division of Workers' Compensation to maintain a public searchable database of workers' compensation claims.
Students and employees at health care facilities would be subject to a targeted testing program to determine if they are at high risk for contracting tuberculosis.
A targeted testing program would be created under the legislation, that would screen all students enrolled in a college or university in Missouri to identify those at high risk for latent tuberculosis infection and persons at high risk for developing tuberculosis disease. The program would test persons identified as high risk. Screening would require completion of a tuberculosis risk assessment questionnaire form recommended by the American College of Health Association. Any entering student of a college or university who does not comply with the targeted testing program would not be permitted to maintain enrollment in the following semester.
The bill would grant local public health authorities or departments the power to require individuals suspected of TB infection to obtain treatment. The recommended course of therapy, is a regimen of anti tuberculosis chemotherapy or isolation. Persons with suspected or confirmed infectious TB disease would be separated in a single-occupancy room that should provide negative pressure in the room, an airflow rate of six to twelve air changes per hour, and direct exhaust of air from the room to the outside of the building or recirculation of the air through a high efficiency particulate air filter.
If a person with active tuberculosis violates the rules and is acting in a reckless manner that would result in others infections, they person would be guilty of a class D felony unless the victim contracts TB, in which case it would be a class C felony. The bill would allow local health authorities to petition for directly-observed therapy (DOT) when a person with TB violates the state rules and regulations. DOT is a strategy in which a health care provider watches a patient swallow each dose of the prescribed anti tuberculosis medication.
Currently, Eastman said, individuals with active TB who are not taking medication can be court ordered by the local health department or local prosecuting attorney to a facility that is designated by the department, which is currently a contract the state has in South Carolina.
All employees and volunteers of a health care facility would also be required to receive a tuberculin skin test or interferon gamma release assay test upon employment.
Sen. David Sater, R-Cassville, sponsored a similar bill in the Senate which passed out of the chamber last week.
No one testified in opposition to the bill and no action has been taken on the bill.
A tax credit for businesses hiring convicted felons and people with disabilities received support at a House committee hearing Wednesday.
“Hiring workers who know they can’t afford to slip up often pays off for small businesses,” said bill sponsor Rep. Michele Kratky, D-St. Louis.
The bill would provide a $500 tax credit for businesses that hire recently released felons and people with disabilities. The business would have to employ the individual for at least one year before being eligible for the credit.
Jane Quartel, a business owner from St. Louis, said her company employs three convicted felons.
“It is the ability to land a job right out of prison that is this state’s best chance to avoid recidivism,” Quartel said. “It is our intention to have every dollar we spend have double or triple social impact.”
No one testified against it and the committee took no action.
A Missouri lawmaker defended his legislation before a House committee Wednesday which would encourage public elementary and secondary school teachers to teach differing theories of evolution.
While the bill doesn’t mandate teaching creationism, it does call on educators to examine the "strengths and weaknesses" of evolutionary theory and prohibits schools from barring them to do so.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester, said most textbooks are one-sided when it comes to teaching evolution. His bill, he said, would empower teachers and allow for greater academic freedom in the classroom.
“Many teachers are afraid to teach criticisms of scientific theories out of fear of losing their jobs,” Koenig said.
Rep. Jeff Roorda, R-Barnhart, expressed concerned that the bill was legislating curriculum.
"We ought to let this issue evolve slowly," Roorda said.
Spokespersons from the Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based think tank which advocates for intelligent design, argued that the bill would encourage students to think critically in the classroom. They pointed to similiar laws in Louisiana and Tennessee, which they say have not faced legal challenges.
No one testified in opposition to the bill.
After a House committee heard their version of a bill that would increase the state’s sales tax Tuesday, a Senate committee took up a similar one Wednesday.
If passed, the bill would put a proposal for a one cent sales tax increase for the next 10 years before Missouri voters in 2014. The revenue would go toward transportation.
Sen. Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, said the the tax increase would create nearly $8 billion in revenue and 250,000 jobs. He also said the jobs created would stimulate spending, and thus, the economy.
Some argue the tax would unfairly hurt those who don’t drive on highways often.
"Even if you don't leave your home you benefit from transportation, because somehow the food on your shelves had to get there, when you order through Amazon, the product still has to be delivered to your home,” said Pete Rahn, former director of the Missouri Department of Transportation and a transportation leader at an engineering consulting firm in Kansas City.
But opponent Scott Ogilvie, alderman of the 24th ward of St. Louis city, said he wants legislators to create a concrete list of the projects the revenue would go toward. He also spoke at a Missouri House hearing on the same issue Tuesday.
“I talked to somebody and they said ‘well we'll find a way to spend the money,’” Ogilvie said. “And to me that’s not a great answer.”
He said to sell to the metropolitan St. Louis area, legislators are going to have to guarantee expenditures on public transportation projects.
A Republican senator sponsors the bill that would require health insurance companies to cover treatment for eating disorders.
The Senate Small Business Committee heard testimony Tuesday afternoon.
Some witnesses say they oppose the measure.
Health insurance companies say they oppose the measure. They say state mandates could affect their companies by raising premium cost.
Sen. Dan Brown, R-Rolla, agreed to an amendment that changed his bill that would have required gun education for first-graders and active-shooter training for teachers.
Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-St. Louis County, said her amendment is better for more districts.
"I think this is a good compromise, and I know that every community is different, and we have different concerns," Chappelle-Nadal said.
Brown said he disagrees with the changes, but allowed them in order to give the bill a chance of passing.
"I guess they don't think the safety of children requires a mandate," Brown said.
The Senate gave first round approval, but the bill requires another vote before it can be moved to the House.
As Congress considers tightening federal gun laws in response to last year's school shooting in Connecticut, Republicans in the Missouri Legislature moved Tuesday to limit the power of any new federal measures within the state's borders.
Senate Republicans initiated debate on a bill that would require students and teachers to get training every year about guns and about how to respond to a school shooting. Sponsoring Sen. Dan Brown, R-Rolla, said the instruction could help save childrens' lives if a school shooting happened here.
But Democratic Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, of St. Louis County, said Tuesday morning that guns already cause too much violence in urban areas like St. Louis. She said the legislature should instead be focused on bills that promote gun control.
"They're people who don't care about a black life," she said. "And they have legislation such as this that puts our citizens and our communities at risk, more than they already are."
The Senate has tabled debate on the school training issue for now.
Both House and Senate General Laws Committees heard gun-related bills on Tuesday and the Senate panel even heard a proposed amendment to the Missouri constitution that would state citizens have the right to bear arms to defend their family as well as their home, property, and their self.
Rep. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, sponsor of the amendment proposal, said all rights under the Missouri Constitution are equal including the right to bear arms.
“Some of them because they may currently be less popular are no less important,” Schaefer said in reference to his proposed amendment.
The amendment would also remove language from Missouri's Constitution that the right to bear arms does not justify a person wearing a concealed weapon. If approved by the legislature, it would go to the state's voters in 2014.
Businesses and consumers could be facing some relief as Missouri lawmakers push to make a simplified tax system.
A Republican lawmaker said Tuesday that he is sponsoring legislation that would have the director of the Department of Revenue enter the multistate Streamlined sales and use tax agreement in order to substantially reduce the tax compliance for all sellers and all types of commerce.
Sponsoring Rep. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, said he wants eliminate tax credits while introducing a flat income tax rate.
The provisions of the bill regarding the streamlined sales tax would become effective Jan. 1, 2015.
A Missouri senator said Tuesday that she wants repeal of several Missouri anti-immigration measures.
Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-St. Louis County, is sponsoring a bill that would remove laws passed in 2008 that heightened the illegal status of undocumented immigrants and increased penalties on those who knowingly employed or harbored illegal aliens.
Chappelle-Nadal told the Senate Seniors, Families and Committee that immigrants make valuable contributions to society, regardless of their legal status.
Sen. Gary Romine, R-Farmington, said he would be opposed to Chappelle-Nadal’s bill, but that it highlights several problems in the state’s immigration laws.
“We’ve got to come up with a system that will help immigrants coming in to have proper documentation so they can be here and be effective citizens of our state,” Romine said.
Several Missouri lawmakers have said the state needs more money for road projects. And a Republican in the state House has proposed changing the state Constitution to finance those repairs.
Rep. Dave Hinson, R-St. Clair, is sponsoring a measure that would increase the state sales tax by one percent for 10 years, with all of the money going to transportation projects. Ten percent of the funds raised from that extra tax would go to cities and counties for road projects and the state would keep the other 90 percent to fix up highways and interstates.
The House Transportation Committee heard testimony on the measure Tuesday afternoon. If it passes the legislature, the measure would go before voters in 2014.
Kevin Keith, Director of the Missouri Department of Transportation, said the measure would create 270,000 jobs over the next decade.
Another similar but slightly different measure has been filed in the Senate. In that chamber, Sen. Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, has said he wants to add an addition one cent to the state sales tax, which would be distributed in a similar manner to cities and counties. He has also filed a constitutional amendment, which is to be heard by Senate transportation committee on Wednesday.
The Missouri Senate Judiciary Committee heard a measure that would let some medical care providers refuse to provide services to whch they had moral objections.
Some witnesses testifying in opposition expressed concern that giving health care professionals these options would limit patients' access to medical resources.
However, Joe Ortwerth, Executive Director of Missouri Family Policy Council said it would just give the patient's health a higher priority.
"This legislation is not intended to stop anything from happening," Ortwerth said.
The University of Missouri Extension system would be able to get additional funding from voter-approved local taxes under a bill given final approval by the Senate Monday.
Districts consisting of one or more counties would be able to collect taxes to fund the activities of the UM System Extension in the area. Voters in each county would have to approve the tax, and a county could withdraw from the district if the voters did not approve the tax.
“It would have to have a majority vote in that whole district,” said bill sponsor Sen. David Pearce, R-Warrensburg.
The bill passed by a vote of 23-7. It will now go to the House.
Local sales taxes would be imposed on vehicles purchased outside of Missouri under a bill passed by the Missouri Senate Monday.
The Senate gave final approval to a measure allowing localities to collect a sales tax on cars, boats and trailers based on the residency of the person who purchases the vehicle.
Last year, Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed a similar bill because it contained a retroactive provision that would apply to people who had already bought vehicles before the passage of the bill. This version does not include that provision.
House Speaker Tim Jones, R-St. Louis County, said the exclusion of the retroactive clause made the bill more attractive.
“I like it a lot better than last year’s proposal,” Jones said.
The bill passed by a vote of 28-0 and will now go to the House.
The sales tax would also cover in-state car purchases from friends and neighbors who are not state automobile dealers.
At the Senate Appropriations committee hearing Monday chairman Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, right off the bat questioned the Office of the Director of Public Safety on the purchase of a $5.6 million dollar plane.
Schaefer asked the Jerry Lee, director of the Department of Public Safety when he found out about the purchase and why he didn’t think to talk to the legislature about it. His office oversees the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
“I felt like it was a capital improvement and it was within their budget,” Lee said.
When reviewing budget requests for the patrol itself, Schaefer grilled Ron Replogle, superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, on a request for a salary increase to match water patrollers and a request to buy vehicles out of the general revenue fund rather than the $9 million fund the new airplane came out of.
Schaefer voiced his frustration with the patrol.
“I think this whole process has put a serious dent in the discretion and trust we put in the patrol,” Schaefer said.
One Kansas City civil rights activist testified in favor of a bill that would change the amount of time that can pass before someone can be prosecuted for sexual abuse.
Alvin Sykes, who's known for his influence on Missouri Legislators, testified in favor of the bill that would eliminate the 10 year statute of limitations on third degree sexual assault against a minor.
Sykes is most known for his advocacy for desegregating Kansas City schools and for the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, which funds investigations of unsolved homicides predating 1970.
Though on Monday, Sykes spoke of his own past in what he said to be the most important testimony of his life.
“I have engaged in this activity both in the state of Missouri and in the state of Kansas and been successful in the United States Congress,” Sykes said. “But before all that, I was an 11-year-old child of sexual abuse.”
Sykes recalled his experience with sexual abuse as he testified in favor of the bill. He said the experience started with his neighbors across the street offering him candy.
“One day the candy stopped, and I was wondering why they weren’t giving me candy anymore,” Sykes said. “One day I found out why, when both a man and a woman sexually assaulted me in their home.”
The committee did not hear testimony in opposition to the bill, but legislators said their primary concern is handling people who have already reached their 10-year statutory limit.
The bill has not yet been placed on the House calendar.
Lawmakers heard opposition to a bill that would make three revisions to definitions in the current Missouri prevailing wage law.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Lyndall Fraker, R- Marshfield, is a follow-up of a similar bill proposed last year.
According to the Missouri Department of Labor, the state's prevailing wage law establishes a minimum wage rate that must be paid to construction workers for all public works projects for the state and public bodies.
“If you’re coming into an existing facility and you want to have a room painted, we are clarifying that the statute is defined as maintenance and not new construction,” Fraker said.
“Please use caution and concern when you are considering this,” said Bruce W. Holt, a lobbyist from the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades.
Holt said they had a few issues with the revisions, and said they have a lot of problems with how painting was or will be defined.
One lobbyist said the bill's language will be litigated over and over if the bill passes.
After Gov. Jay Nixon labeled Medicaid expansion the "right thing to do," in his State of the State address, some members of his party introduced the legislation that would act on the issue on Monday.
House Minority Leader Jake Hummel, D-St.Louis, is sponsoring legislation that will expand eligibility requirements for MO HealthNet, the state's Medicaid program, up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level.
Hummel said the expansion will help rural hospitals like Pemiscot Memorial Hospital in Hayti, where 30 percent of the area's population lives below the federal poverty line.
Kerry Noble, the hospital's CEO, said the hospital will not be able to shoulder the costs of uncompensated care in the long-term.
"We will jeopardize our facilities, we will no longer be in existence if passage of this expansion does not occur," Noble said.
Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, said Medicaid expansion will not receive much support from the House Republican caucus. Instead, Barnes said "stay tuned" for his legislation that will enact changes to the state's Medicaid program to deliver better care.
"I think there is interest in transforming Missouri's Medicaid system into what would be the most free-market based Medicaid system in the entire country," Barnes said. "I think there's no interest in simply expanding Medicaid as envisioned under Obamacare."