Brian Hauswirth, Author at Missourinet

Look for several late nights in Missouri Senate this week; House to begin discussion on congressional redistricting

March 8, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

The Missouri Senate will likely be in session for some late nights this week in Jefferson City, as lawmakers wrap up the first half of the 2021 legislative session.

Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz speaks to Missourinet in 2020 (January 2020 file photo from Missourinet’s Ashley Byrd)

Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, tells Missourinet Sullivan affiliate KTUI that senators will debate several key issues on the floor this week.

“I think education (school choice legislation), tax policy, motor fuel tax, and again I would anticipate that we will spend several long nights and when we break, people (state senators and staff) will probably be exhausted and ready for a break,” Schatz tells KTUI.

The Pro Tem reiterated that on Saturday to Missourinet. While education reform is a top priority for several GOP state senators, Democrats worry about the impact on public schools.

Increasing transportation funding has been a top priority for Schatz, who notes Missouri’s 17-cent per gallon gasoline tax has remained the same since 1996.

Schatz’s Senate Bill 262 would increase Missouri’s gasoline tax by 15 cents per gallon, by 2027. It also includes a provision for an exemption and refund.

The Missouri House will also be busy this week, both on the floor and in numerous committees.

The House is expected to debate a proposed constitutional amendment this week that involves initiative petitions.

HJR 22 is sponsored by State Rep. J. Eggleston, R-Maysville. If approved by lawmakers this year and if voters approve it, it would require sponsors of initiative petitions proposing constitutional amendments to collect signatures of 12 percent of registered voters in each of Missouri’s eight congressional districts and to submit those petitions to the Legislature for consideration, similar to a bill. The governor’s signature would not be required.

Supporters say the Missouri Constitution is about ten times larger than its federal counterpart, and that many states don’t allow use of initiatives to amend their constitutions. Supporters of Eggleston’s bill include Missouri Farm Bureau and the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association.

Opponents of the Eggleston bill say it would prevent the will of the people from becoming law. They also say the initiative process is difficult as it is. Opponents include the Missouri AFL-CIO and the Missouri Coalition for the Environment.

State Rep. Dan Shaul (R-Imperial), who chairs the Missouri House Special Committee on Redistricting, speaks on the House floor in Jefferson City on May 15, 2020 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Congressional redistricting will also be discussed this week in Jefferson City.

The Missouri House Special Committee on Redistricting will hold its organizational meeting Tuesday morning at 9. Congressional redistricting is done every ten years, after the U.S. Census is completed. State Rep. Dan Shaul, R-Imperial, chairs the committee, and State Rep. Jerome Barnes, D-Raytown, is the ranking Democrat.

Chairman Shaul tells Missourinet that Tuesday’s meeting is to let committee members know what expectations are for themselves and for the committee, to help them understand the process. The committee won’t meet again until after the legislative spring break.

Legislation involving the Missouri Lottery will also be heard this week, in committee.

The House General Laws Committee meets Monday evening to hear a bill from State Rep. Jay Mosley, D-Florissant, which would give Missouri Lottery winners the option of not having their names published by the Lottery.

Representative Mosley has filed this bill several times, telling Missourinet last year it’s a safety issue.

“I want people to feel safe when they win. I want them to experience their winnings in the best possible fashion,” Mosley said last February.

Mosley worries Missouri Lottery winners could be targeted by people who read about their win, or approached by family members who want money.

Parson: Distributing COVID vaccines to as many Missouri pharmacies as possible will expand accessibility

March 5, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s governor announced on Thursday that pharmacies across the state will soon be receiving prioritized shipments of the COVID vaccine. Governor Mike Parson tells Capitol reporters in Jefferson City that it’s part of a new partnership with the Missouri Pharmacy Association.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson visits a vaccination clinic at Christian Hospital Northeast near Florissant on March 4, 2021 (photo courtesy of the governor’s Flickr page)

“Starting next week, 15 percent of our weekly state allocation will be distributed to selected pharmacies across the state,” Parson says.

The governor describes local pharmacies as a trusted health care resource for many Missourians.

“161 pharmacies have been identified in 84 counties and were selected based on ability, location and population,” says Parson.

Missouri has 114 counties, as well as St. Louis City. Pharmacy locations include St. Louis, Kansas City, Columbia and Jefferson City, as well as numerous rural Missouri towns. They include Sedalia, Clinton, Warrensburg, Warrenton, Sullivan, Moberly, Mexico, Sikeston, Portageville, Malden, Kennett, Chillicothe, St. Joseph, Nevada and Joplin. You can find the entire nine-page pharmacy list here.

Governor Parson says the pharmacies have the ability to administer 200 initial doses of COVID vaccines per week.

Meantime, the governor says mass vaccination teams will soon start transitioning operations to include a larger presence in both St. Louis and Kansas City.

“Vaccine interest is often highest in the urban populations,” Parson says. “So starting next week, we will begin transitioning mass vaccination teams to accommodate more events in Region A, which is the Kansas City region, and Region C, in the St. Louis region.”

The governor envisions having the Missouri National Guard in the St. Louis and Kansas City metro areas for future two-day vaccination events, where the Guard would administer about 6,000 doses per day and 12,000 doses in two days.

Governor Parson says the St. Louis and Kansas City regions have been receiving the same share of the COVID vaccine as rural areas have. He also continues to praise the work of the Missouri National Guard at targeted vaccination clinics in the two metro areas.

The governor visited a targeted vaccination clinic Thursday at Cambridge Senior Living in St. Louis. The targeted vaccination teams serve vulnerable populations in communities with limited access to health care. He also visited a vaccination clinic held at Christian Hospital Northeast, near the St. Louis suburb of Florissant.

Governor Parson says COVID activity in the state has declined for the seventh straight week, adding that the Show-Me State is second in the nation for average daily cases. Missouri vaccinators have now administered about 1.4 million COVID vaccinations, which includes the first and second shot.

15 percent of Missouri’s population has now received at least one shot, according to the state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) COVID-19 dashboard.

Lamar Johnson’s appeal rejected by Missouri Supreme Court; Missouri AG and Gardner on opposite sides in case

March 2, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

The Missouri Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from convicted murderer Lamar Johnson of St. Louis, a case that has received national media attention. It’s also a case that has attracted attention from elected prosecutors from across the nation and Missouri.

47-year-old Lamar Johnson is serving a life sentence for first degree murder at the Jefferson City Correctional Center (2019 file photo courtesy of the Missouri Department of Corrections)

The 47-year-old Johnson has been incarcerated since 1995, serving a life sentence without parole for first degree murder for killing Marcus Boyd in 1994 in St. Louis. Since then, Johnson’s co-defendant, Phillip Campbell, signed an affidavit saying that Johnson wasn’t involved in the murder. An eyewitness recanted his identification of Johnson, and signed an affidavit that he received monetary payments from the state.

In 2019, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner filed a motion for a new trial in Johnson’s case, saying that Johnson was convicted based on police and prosecutorial misconduct. The circuit court ultimately concluded it had no authority to decide the motion, and Johnson appealed.

The Supreme Court of Missouri heard remote oral arguments in the case in April 2020, and issued its decision Tuesday.

“In conclusion, this case is not about whether Johnson is innocent or whether there exists a remedy for someone who is innocent and did not receive a constitutionally fair trial. This case presents only the issue of whether there is any authority to appeal the dismissal of a motion for a new trial filed decades after a criminal conviction became final. No such authority exists; therefore, this court dismisses the appeal,” the Supreme Court writes. All seven judges agreed Johnson’s appeal should be dismissed.

In a separate opinion, Missouri Chief Justice George Draper III said he believes a prosecutor may seek to overturn a wrongful conviction through a court rule allowing a party to file a motion to seek relief from a final judgment in certain circumstances.

Supreme Court Judge Laura Denvir Stith has also written a separate opinion, and says she believes a petition for a writ of habeas corpus could provide a mechanism for Johnson to seek relief.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gardner are on different sides in the Johnson case. The chief counsel for criminal appeals for the attorney general’s office, Shaun Mackelsprang, argued the case last April before the Missouri Supreme Court.

“A jury found him (Johnson) guilty, found him guilty of murder in the first degree and armed criminal action. To this day, there has not been a hearing with any evidence presented showing that he is, in fact, innocent,” Mackelsprang told the court in April 2020.

What we’re watching this week in the Missouri Legislature

March 1, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri legislative committees will hear several bills this week involving education, elections, and celebrations with gunfire.

The Missouri Senate Education Committee meets Tuesday at noon to hear a bill from committee chairwoman State Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina. It requires the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to annually publish a list of schools on its website that perform in the bottom five percent of schools for more than three years. Under O’Laughlin’s bill, districts with any school falling in the bottom five percent of schools for three years over a five-year period that started in 2018 would close the school and transfer those students to a higher-performing school in the district.

State Rep. Chuck Basye, R-Rocheport (photo A Byrd/Missourinet)

The Missouri House Emerging Issues Committee meets Wednesday at 4:30 to hold a hearing on legislation from State Rep. Chuck Basye, R-Rocheport, which involves transgender athletes in high school. Basye’s House Joint Resolution 53 is a proposed constitutional amendment that would go to Missouri voters in 2022. It would require that students who participate in sex-separated athletic contests only be allowed to participate in those events for the biological sex found on the student’s birth certificate.

The Missouri House Elections and Elected Officials committee meets Wednesday at noon to hear key election-related bills from State Reps. Justin Hill, R-Lake St. Louis, and Don Rone, R-Portageville.

Hill’s legislation requires the use of paper ballots marked by hand, starting in January 2022. Ballot marking devices could be used to assist disabled voters at any time, under the bill.

Rep. Don Rone (R), Portageville on House floor (photo Tim Bommel/MO House Communications)

The Rone measure repeals the 2020 legislation that allowed mail-in ballots during the COVID pandemic. Mail-in ballots were allowed during the August and November elections.

And the Missouri House General Laws Committee meets Monday at 5 p.m.to hold three public hearings on bipartisan legislation known as Blair’s Law, which is aimed at celebratory gunfire in Missouri.

The bills are sponsored by State Reps. Nick Schroer, R-O’Fallon, Rory Rowland, D-Independence, and Mark Sharp, D-Kansas City. The bills are named for Blair Shanahan Lake, an 11-year-old Kansas City child who was struck and killed by a stray bullet in 2011.

While the three bills are very similar, there is language differences in them. Schroer’s bill would add the discharging of a firearm within or into city limits with criminal negligence to the felony offense of unlawful use of a weapon. The Rowland bill makes it a class A misdemeanor.

The Sharp bill has graduated penalties. Under his bill, the first offense would be a class A misdemeanor while a second offense would be a class E felony. A third or subsequent offense would be a class D felony.

Two high-profile bills are expected to be debated this week on the Senate floor. Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, tells our Sullivan affiliate KTUI that he expects Senator O’Laughlin’s school choice legislation to come up again this week. He also expects the Senate to debate his proposal to increase Missouri’s gasoline tax by 15 cents per gallon by 2027.

Mass vaccination clinics are scheduled for Monday in four Missouri towns

February 28, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

Four mass vaccination clinics are planned across Missouri on Monday.

The Missouri National Guard directs traffic at a mass vaccination clinic in northern Missouri’s Unionville on February 27, 2021 (photo courtesy of the State Emergency Management Agency’s Twitter page)

The Missouri National Guard, state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), the state Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and local health agencies are conducting the clinics.

Monday’s mass vaccination clinics are taking place in eastern Missouri’s Arnold, which is south of St. Louis. They’re also taking place in southeast Missouri’s Cape Girardeau, mid-Missouri’s Boonville and in southern Missouri’s Cuba, which is northeast of Rolla.

Locations are the First Baptist Church of Arnold, Cape Girardeau’s Show Me Center, the Isle of Capri casino in Boonville and Cuba’s Knights of Columbus hall.

Governor Mike Parson announced Thursday afternoon that more than 66,500 Missourians have received an initial COVID vaccine dose at a mass vaccination event. More than 70 of these clinics have been completed across the state, including an event Saturday in northern Missouri’s Unionville.

Missouri vaccinators have now administered more than 1.2 million doses of the COVID vaccine, which includes first and second doses. DHSS says 13.7 percent of Missourians have received at least one dose.

Missouri has now completed 68 mass vaccination clinics

February 25, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

The governor says more than 66,000 Missourians have received an initial COVID vaccine at a mass vaccination clinic.

The Missouri National Guard, the state Department of Health and Senior Services and Pettis County health officials assist residents at a mass vaccination clinic in west-central Missouri’s Sedalia on February 23, 2021 (photo courtesy of the State Emergency Management Agency)

Governor Mike Parson tells Capitol reporters that 68 mass vaccination clinics have been completed around the state. Another eight are scheduled for Friday. They will take place in Jefferson City, Springfield, in northern Missouri’s Chillicothe and Hannibal, in west-central Missouri’s Clinton, in southern Missouri’s Rolla and West Plains and in the Bootheel town of Caruthersville.

The mass vaccination clinics are operated by the Missouri National Guard, the state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and by local health officials.

The governor has also announced that targeted teams in St. Louis and Kansas City have completed another 24 vaccine clinics, with more planned in the coming weeks. The targeted teams serve vulnerable populations in areas with limited access to health care.

During Thursday’s briefing in Jefferson City, Governor Parson also touted improving numbers for COVID. He says CDC data shows Missouri now ranks second lowest in the nation for average daily COVID cases per 100,000 residents, over the past week.

The state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) says Missouri vaccinators have now administered more than 1.1 million COVID shots, which includes first and second doses. That’s about 12 percent of Missouri’s population. DHSS says 373,082 have received both shots.

Proposed Missouri constitutional amendment is aimed at helping disabled veterans

February 25, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

A proposed constitutional amendment aimed at preventing the approximately 13,000 Missouri veterans who are 100-percent disabled from paying real property taxes is backed by a St. Charles County veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

State Rep. Dave Griffith, R-Jefferson City, speaks on the Missouri House floor in Jefferson City on February 11, 2020 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

O’Fallon resident Charles Frederickson served six tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He traveled to Jefferson City on Wednesday afternoon to testify for legislation sponsored by State Rep. Dave Griffith, R-Jefferson City. Mr. Frederickson has a total service-connected disability, and testifies he cannot find a job and made only $400 last year.

“If my (property) taxes can double in just four years, or I’m sorry ten years, you can imagine my income is not doubling in ten years,” Frederickson testifies.

Frederickson also has a daughter, who’s been battling a brain tumor. He testified for House Veterans Committee Chairman Griffith’s proposed constitutional amendment, which would exempt from taxation all real property used as a homestead for any veteran with a total service-connected disability.

Representative Griffith also testified before the House Ways and Means Committee, telling Chairman Rep. Wayne Wallingford, R-Cape Girardeau, that there are 13,153 Missouri veterans who have a total service-connected disability. Griffith praises Frederickson and Missouri’s other disabled veterans.

“These men and women that are 100 percent disabled, they got that way for a reason,” Griffith testifies. “We need to honor them, we need to show them the appreciation that we have for the sacrifice they made and the disability they live with everyday.”

Griffith has filed House Joint Resolution 32, which is three pages. If Missouri lawmakers approve Griffith’s measure, it would go to the statewide ballot in 2022.

Missouri lawmaker wants to see statewide mass vaccination event for teachers (AUDIO)

February 24, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

A freshman Missouri lawmaker is calling on the Parson administration to prioritize teachers for COVID vaccinations. State Rep. Michael Burton, D-Lakeshire, wants to see teachers moved from tier three to tier two.

State Rep. Michael Burton, D-Lakeshire, speaks on the Missouri House floor in Jefferson City on February 23, 2021, as State Rep. Neil Smith (D-St. Louis County) listens (photo: Tim Bommel at House Communications)

“Right now, there’s a potential that they could not get the first vaccination shot for possibly months. Could be possibly two to three months, there’s no guarantee,” Burton says.

State Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) director Dr. Randall Williams told Capitol reporters last week that the Parson administration’s main focus continues to be the most vulnerable and elderly residents.

“Our north star is our most vulnerable, and I think I’ve told you (Capitol reporters) the second thing I look at every morning after I look at the case rate is the percentage of our senior citizens who’ve been vaccinated,” says Dr. Williams.

That percentage is now 38 percent for those 85 and older, and 26 percent for those ages 75-84.

As for Representative Burton, he’s also asking the Parson administration to consider a statewide mass vaccination event for teachers.

“It will make the parents of those students safer, it will make the grandparents of those students safer. And I think that we need to prioritize the teachers,” Burton says.

An online petition is circulating in support of Burton’s call.

“We do have a petition going around right now, it has over 2,000 signatures. It’s been signed from people all across the state,” says Burton.

Burton tells Missourinet he’s had good conversations with Dr. Williams, adding that they both understand where the other is coming from and will keep the conversation going.

Missouri vaccinators have now administered more than one-million total doses of the COVID vaccine. About 709,000 Missourians have now received at least one dose of the vaccine, which is about 11.5 percent of the population.

The Missouri National Guard, DHSS and local health partners are planning multiple mass vaccination events on Wednesday. Events will be taking place in northern Missouri’s Moberly, northwest Missouri’s Princeton, southwest Missouri’s Anderson, west-central Missouri’s Warsaw and in southeast Missouri’s Bollinger County.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full five-minute interview with State Rep. Michael Burton, D-Lakeshire, which was recorded on February 22, 2021:

Conservation officials: proposal to expand Conservation Commission threatens future of conservation in Missouri

February 23, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

The Missouri Department of Conservation director testified Monday night in Jefferson City against a proposal to increase the size of the Conservation Commission from four to nine, saying it could lead to regional favoritism.

State Rep. Chris Dinkins, R-Annapolis, testifies before a Missouri House committee in Jefferson City on January 28, 2020 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The hearing was delayed for about an hour, when a fire alarm began sounding at the Capitol. Lawmakers had to be evacuated, until firefighters checked the building.

Conservation director Sara Parker Pauley testified during the lengthy committee hearing.

“The Conservation Commission believes that House Joint Resolution 55, which proposes to amend the Missouri Constitution, is unnecessary and in fact, threatens the future of conservation in Missouri as we know it,” Pauley testifies.

State Rep. Chris Dinkins, R-Annapolis, has filed the joint resolution to increase the commission’s membership to nine nonpartisan members: one appointed by the governor and eight elected from each Conservation region.

Pauley testifies that Missourians approved a constitutional amendment in 1936, creating a four-person Conservation Commission to manage, conserve and restore Missouri forest, fish and wildlife. She says the 1936 constitutional amendment was in direct response to a fish and game agency that had become ineffective due to undue influence of local and state politics.

“My greatest concern is that expanding the commission will dilute and politicize the department’s ability to take care our state’s fish, forest and wildlife resources and connect our citizens to those resources,” says Pauley.

Pauley says the mandate of each of the four Conservation Commissioners is to represent the entire state and to work together. She also worries that expanding the commission could lead to commissioners competing for activities in their region.

The Conservation Federation of Missouri also testified against the bill, at the hearing.

As for Representative Dinkins, she’s filed HJR 55 to elect Conservation commissioners and expand the commission to nine. She says the commission needs more rural representation.

Dinkins testifies that the current four-person commission is too small, saying the commission’s current size limits their ability to perform their duties.

“In June of 2019, there were only two (Conservation) commissioners because the other two’s terms had ended. So one had to nominate one for chair, and the other one had to nominate the other one for vice chair and secretary, and then they had to second each other’s motions,” Dinkins testifies.

Dinkins received pushback Monday evening from a fellow Republican when she testified that the commission needs more rural representation.

State Rep. Don Rone, R-Portageville, noted that the Conservation Commission’s current chair is Don Bedell of Sikeston. But Dinkins says she and her constituents in small towns like Annapolis do not consider Sikeston rural.

Southeast Missouri’s Sikeston has about 16,000 residents.

Dinkins says her proposal would ensure that everyone has representation.

“It seems like (the Department of) Conservation has a lot to do with our rural communities, yet we don’t really have a voice,” she told Missourinet on Friday.

Missouri’s Conservation Commission currently has four members, appointed by the governor or previous governors. The Conservation Commission’s four current members are Mr. Bedell of Sikeston, Columbia’s Barry Orscheln, Mark McHenry of Kansas City and Steven Harrison of Rolla.

Bedell serves as the chair, and Orscheln is the vice chair. McHenry is the secretary, and Harrison is a member. Commissioners are responsible for appointing the Conservation director, and serve as policy makers and approve wildlife code regulations. They’re also involved with strategic planning.

If lawmakers approve Dinkins’ resolution this session, it would go to the statewide ballot in 2022. Based on comments from committee members in both parties on Monday, Dinkins’ bill is unlikely to pass in committee without some revisions.

The eight elected members would be elected in November 2024, under Representative Dinkins’ proposal.

State Rep. Paula Brown, D-Hazelwood, the House Conservation and Natural Resources Committee’s ranking Democrat, tells Dinkins she’s worried the November 2024 ballot could be 25 pages long.

Proposal to designate Missouri National Guard Armory for fallen veteran killed in Afghanistan to get hearing Tuesday

February 23, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

Legislation to honor a Missouri veteran who was killed in Afghanistan will be heard by a House committee in Jefferson City on Tuesday.

State Rep. Bill Hardwick, R-Waynesville, speaks at a Missouri House committee hearing on January 26, 2021 in Jefferson City (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The House Veterans Committee will hear testimony on a bill from State Rep. Bill Hardwick, R-Waynesville, that would designate the Missouri National Guard Armory in southwest Missouri’s Joplin as the Sergeant Robert Wayne Crow Memorial Armory.

Sergeant Crow was killed in 2010 in Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his vehicle with an IED.

He was assigned to the 203rd Engineer Battalion of the Missouri National Guard in Joplin.

Click here to read Representative Hardwick’s one-page bill, which is House Bill 167.