February 22, 2012

You are here: Home / Archives for Bob Priddy

Religious freedom or reproductive rights? (AUDIO)

February 21, 2012 By

A proposed law described as one protecting religious beliefs and moral convictions runs into critics who charge it’s dangerously vague and is more interested in this year’s elections than in protecting religions.

The bill would let employers refuse to provide health insurance coverage for sterilization, abortion, and contraception. He filed the bill in reaction to the Obama administration’s initiative a few weeks ago that Catholic hospitals complained would force them to provide coverage for those things for employees. The bill has been rushed to the floor for debate.

Senator Jolie Justus of Kansas City maintains the bill would talk about a lot more things if it really was about religious freedom. “There are a large group of people out there….who object to vaccines; they object to blood transfusions….And if we’re talking about true religious freedom, it should not be limited to reproductive health. But this isn’t about religious freedom. It’s about the national political debate as we head into the next presidential election,” she says

Other critics say the bill seems to allow employees to sue employers who don’t provide coverage those things under discrimination laws. Another suggests the lack of definition of “sterilization” could deny coverage for life-saving reproductive surgeries

Lamping has set the bill aside but could bring it back later.

AUDIO: Senate debate 1:39:00

Filed Under: News

State wants out from under NCLB (AUDIO)

February 21, 2012 By

The state education department wants to leave No Child Left Behind, behind.   The state board of education has voted to ask the United States Department of Education to exempt Missouri from provisions of the 2001 federal law setting proficiency goals for all of the nation’s schools. NCLB demands students be performing at grade level in reading and science by 2012.

For several years education officials in numerous states have argued the goals have been unreasonable and unattainable.  Earlier this, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced states could ask for waivers from accountability standards.  He approved waivers for the first eleven  states a few weeks ago.

State education officials say state goals are more realistic. 

Department spokesman  Michel (mi-shell) Clark says the waiver will give Missouri more flexibility in meeting its goals of having its schools rated among the nation’s ten best by 20-20.

                                             AUDIO: Clark   :21

If the waiver is granted, Missouri will have to pay special attention to improving test scores in schools scoring in the lowest five percent.  It also will have to work with districts having the widest achievement gaps among various categories and ethnicities of students. 

Clark thinks state officials will lay out Missouri’s plans with the federal education department officials late next month.  If the waiver comes through, changes could be seen in schools by the next school year.

 

Filed Under: Education, Featured, News

Sex abuse reporting law change hits hurdle (AUDIO)

February 21, 2012 By

A proposed law based on the Penn State child sex abuse scandal runs into suggestions it might be overkill.  Senator Eric Schmitt of Kirkwood thinks the witness to the child sex abuse at Penn State should have called police, not reported the incident to higher-ups at the school.  His bill makes anybody a mandated reporter. .

But critics say the issue more complicated than that—that a parent or guardian might not report because an offending child needs treatment more than prosecution, or because a parent reporting might lose custody of the child…

Smithville Senator LuAnn Ridgeway says the bill creates inconsistent law—putting someone in jail for a year for failing to report child sex abuse while not punishing someone who sees a child murdered and doesn’t report it..

Schmitt can’t get his bill to a vote. He’ll be able to try again later.

AUDIO: Floor debate 1;19:24

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Featured, Human Interest, Law Enforcement, News

Senate moves to solve dilemma zone (AUDIO)

February 20, 2012 By

Drivers nearing an intersection often run into a dilemma zone … when the light turns yellow and the motorist has to decide if there’s time to go through or whether to stop. The state senate has passed a proposed law making those dilemma zones uniform throughout Missouri.

St. Louis Senator Jim Lembke, a devoted opponent of red-light cameras, suspects some cities that use those cameras manipulate yellow light intervals to write more tickets at those intersections. He says studies show the dilemma zone can be addressed by adding less than a second on the yellow light time. Shortening those times makes the intersections more dangerous.

The solution is to have the state transportation department establish a minimum yellow-light time at all intersections with signals. He says a Texas Department of Transportation study shows that a one second reduction of yellow-light time increased red light camera violations issued by 110 percent. He says the same study also finds that using a uniform formula cuts intersection crashes by 40 percent. 

Lembke says the city of Arnold, which uses red-light cameras, reduced the number of tickets at those intersections by 90 percent by adopting the uniform yellow-light intervals. 

Lembke’s bill has been given the green light by the Senate, which has sent the bill to the House.

 AUDIO: Lembke in Senate (:43)

 

Filed Under: Featured, Law Enforcement, News, Transportation

New senate mapping panel plans fast track effort (AUDIO)

February 20, 2012 By

The second citizens senate redistricting commission is holding public hearings before meeting in Jefferson City Wednesday to start working on a map. The commission met for the first time Saturday at the Capitol, held a public hearing in Jefferson City yesterday, is holding one in Kansas City today, and will hold its required third hearing tomorrow in St. Louis.

The chairman, Springfield lawyer Doug Harpool, a former state representative who was on the first commission that deadlocked last year, wants the commission to stay on-task after finishing the public hearings tomorrow. “There are so many anxious people, I think for us to take a week off and not meet will raise anxiety levels. Let’s meet and see where we are,” he tells the commission. 

                                         AUDIO: Harpool  :16

He has posted his first proposal on the Office of Administration website and expects others to be posted during the process. 

The first citizens commission deadlocked, throwing the process into the hands of a panel of judges, who came up with a plan that has been thrown out by the state supreme court. That led to the appointment of a new commission of five Republicans and five Democrats. 

There’s no chance a new map can be in place before legislative candidate filing begins a week from tomorrow, February 28th. Legislation to push the filing date back by a month has cleared the senate and will be before a House committee this afternoon.

 

Filed Under: 2012 Campaign, Elections, Featured, Legislature, News, Politics & Government
« Older Posts