Missouri's Senate gave first round approval to a measure that would boost the state's tax on gasoline by 5.9 cents per gallon.

The increase, approved Wednesday, March 30, would require statewide voter approval to take effect.

That Missouri voters would have the final say addressed the objections of Senate members who had fought a much smaller increase last year.

It was termed a "welcome development" by one of last year's leading critics -- Sen. Robb Schaaf, R-St. Joseph.

"The people will have an opportunity to weigh in and decide whether or not they want to pay more taxes," Schaaf said.

Schaaf, however, predicted voters would reject the increase.

But the measure's sponsor was more optimistic.

"When you pull and you buy 15 gallons of fuel which a lot of little cars have, 13 or 15 gallons, somebody looks there and says 'well it's going to cost about 18 cents (more) to fill up today, but gee whiz, we're going to have a nice, safe road to drive on." said Sen. Doug Libla, R-Poplar Bluff.

Under the measure, the gasoline tax would rise from among the nation's lowest of 17 cents per gallon to 22.9 cents.

The increase would raise $125 million additional funds per year for the state Transportation Department, based on department figures. Cities and counties would get $54 million more for local roads.

Unlike last year's measure, there would not be a higher  increase for diesel fuel -- an omission Schaaf criticized arguing trucks cause a disproportionate amount of damage to highways.

Last year's measure won first round approval in the Senate after a lengthy filibuster, but was blocked from getting a final Senate vote by the Senate's Governmental Accountability Committee that reviews the costs of legislation.

A similar measure was killed by the House Transportation Committee last year.

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It would be a crime to sell or even possess powdered alcohol under a measure given first-round approval by Missouri's House Wednesday, March 30.

Although intended to be mixed with liquid, such as water, supporters said the product was posing a danger when consumed my minors without being diluted.

"This is not a regular alcohol product. This is untested, it's heavily unregulated and it's dangerous for the people in our state," warned Rep. Jack Bondon, R-Belton.

But critics in the House disagreed.

"Powdered alcohol that when mixed water becomes alcohol that is already legal. Have you ever had powdered Gatorade", Rep. Tracy McCreery, D-St. Louis County, asked one of the bill's supporters. "I don't know about you, but I don't eat powdered Gatorade."

The House ultimately approved the measure 95-56.

Under the bill, violation would be a misdemeanor crime punishable by a fine of up to $750 or 15 days in jail.

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Tire replacement, dent removal, windshield fixing, and missing keys would be covered in all service contracts in Missouri under a House-approved bill.

Rep. Margo McNeil, D-St. Louis County, said the bill supports a contract outside of the typical, regulated car insurance industry.

"If they want to have this become a true insurance product, it ought to be something that is under the supervision of the Department of Insurance," McNeil said.

Rep. Bob Burns, D-St. Louis County, said he has had great personal experience with service contracts and believes the added protections make the agreements better for both the consumers and providers.

"Just yesterday, it saved me about 700 dollars on my vehicle."

The measure also allows drivers to call their own towing company in the event of a crash, rather than the local police department's preferred company.

The bill passed the House by a vote of 145-6 and will move to the Senate.

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A Missouri Constitution amendment would define life at conception, after legislative and voter approval.

About 80 people packed into the hearing room, the vast majority were pro-life activists, to share their views. With people standing on the walls around the room, combative testimony and figures of fetuses were displayed to make each side's point clear.

Opponents told the House Children and Families Committee said measure was unlikely to pass a judicial review. About 30 people were willing to speak in support of the measure, though time only allowed four people in opposition to testify.

Family physician Ed Weisbart, who now volunteers to treat disadvantaged people across the country, said outlawing abortion is putting religious belief into law.

"This law, as written, would impose the legislature's personal opinions onto the overwhelming majority of women, denying some of them access to basic women's health care," said Weisbart. 

Those for the amendment said all life must be protected, and the distinctive human characteristics of a fetus, from conception on, should be protected as a human life. They argued that, because murder charges exist to punish a killer of a pregnant woman for the unborn human, there is already legal precedent for defining life from conception on.

One pro-life lawyer who said she was conceived out of rape, Rebecca Kiessling, said a human life should be respected and appreciated for the possibilities of his or her final form.

"The beauty of personhood is that there are no exceptions," Kiessling said.

The contentiousness of the hearing came to a peak when Rep. Stacey Newman, D-St. Louis County, was cut off by committee chairwoman Diane Franklin, R-Camdenton, for bringing up gun rights during a discussion of life's sanctity. At one point Franklin seized control of the floor to require Newman stay on topic. The chairwoman eventually did not allow the woman testifying to respond to Newman's question.

Limiting the donation of fetal tissue and parts to scientific research was also heard in the House committee, with similarly fervent testimony.

Those in favor of the bill say life should be sacred and recognized from conception while using the body parts for research detracts from that empathy. Opponents say the measure will limit researchers' ability to improve treatments for all living people.

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Without a dissenting vote, Missouri's Senate passed and sent the governor a measure that would ban state elected officials from working as paid political consultants for other state officials.

The measure would cover sitting legislators and statewide elected officials.

The proposal to ban sitting officials from taking money from their colleagues initially was raised by legislators in 2006 in response to the payments that House Speaker Rod Jetton was getting from a few legislators for political consulting work.

Critics charged it was a conflict of interest because as speaker, Jetton had significant influence to advance measures sponsored legislators who were paying him for his political advice.

In 2008, Republican Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder called for the ban, citing Jetton had added more legislators to his list of clients.

This year, Republican legislative leaders promised swift action on ethics bills.

But except for the political consulting restriction, the other measures have stalled in the Senate.

That chamber rejected the House-passed provision to impose a one-year cooling off period after leaving office before a state elected official could register as a lobbyist.

Senate debate was suspended after Senate opponents attacked a House-passed bill to restrict lobbyist gifts to elected officials.

The bill for a cooling-off period before becoming a lobbyist has been sitting in a House-Senate conference since March 1. The lobbyist gift-ban bill has not been debated by the Senate since Feb. 23.

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In a decision that could have sweeping effects on states, the Cole County circuit court struck down key provisions of a law passed last year that limits how much of a city's budget can be financed by municipal court fines.

The court held unconstitutional a provision that imposed lower limits for cities in St. Louis than cities in other counties.

In a brief decision issued Monday, March 28, Circuit Judge Jon Beetem held the provision violates a the "special law" restriction of the state Constitution that restricts the legislature from passing a law that is limited to a specific local governments.

For years, Missouri lawmakers have gotten around the restriction by avoiding use of a local government's specific name.

Instead, a specific government is identified by limiting the law to conditions that only one local government can meet.

In the traffic-fine law, St. Louis County was identified as "any city, town, or village located in any county with a charter form of government and with more than nine hundred fifty thousand inhabitants."

Only St. Louis County meets that definition.

Dozens of laws have been enacted using that legislative wording trick that now is in question.

For example, in 2010 the legislature gave Jefferson City authority to impose a tax on hotel room rentals by referring to the city as " any home rule city with more than thirty-nine thousand six hundred but fewer than thirty-nine thousand seven hundred inhabitants and partially located in any county of the first classification with more than seventy-one thousand three hundred but fewer than seventy-one thousand four hundred inhabitants."

The court also struck down a provision adding reporting requirements on municipal courts as violating a constitutional prohibition imposing a obligation on local government without covering any additional costs the requirement would impose.

The legal challenge to the municipal court fines was filed by one dozen communities in St. Louis County.

Under the law, only 12.5 percent of the budget of a city in St. Louis County can be financed by minor traffic fines. For all other cities, the limit is 20 percent of the city's budget.

Attorney General Chris Koster said he would appeal the decision directly to the Missouri Supreme Court.

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Missouri's past winter was one of the warmest on record, with little snowfall leading to savings for the transportation department.

When asked to describe the state's winter, Climatologist Bryan Peake of the Midwestern Regional Climate Center said, "It was wet, and it was warm."

Peake also said the El Niño year led to lower heating costs, but had an uncertain effect on the state's agriculture yields.

Patrick Westhoff, director of the University of Missouri's Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, agreed that the winter's effect on Missouri's agriculture is unclear, and could pass no judgement on whether the year's crop yields would increase or decrease from last year.

Transporting crops, however, will improve. The Missouri Department of Transportation was able to save about $20 million on snow removal to date.

"Thus far, costs are running at about half for winter," Chief Financial Officer Roberta Broeker said.

Each transportation district will be able to move their allotted snow removal budget to the most important local maintenance projects once the likelihood of wintry precipitation is near zero. The department will not change its budget projection for future years' snowfall.

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