Jason Taylor

Scare from presence of unknown substance delays Missouri Senate session

April 19, 2018 By Jason Taylor

The Missouri Senate started business almost an hour behind schedule Thursday morning after an unknown substance was delivered in an envelope to a senator’s office.

Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, announced on the floor that the substance had been delivered to her office, noting that suspicious packages had been delivered to her before. She said the substance came packaged in an envelope through the U.S. mail.

Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard, R-Joplin, indicated that Senate members and their staffers had been meeting prior to the chamber’s session with local law enforcement personnel and that there was a delay in gaveling in because of safety concerns.

He said Capitol Police didn’t believe the substance posed a threat to the public but noted the agency was taking extreme caution to ensure safety.

Richard and Senate Majority Floor Leader Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, issued a statement thanking first responders and law enforcement personnel for their quick response to the issue.

During the Senate floor session, Kehoe said the substance had been removed from the capitol by a hazmat team and that several Senate staff members that had been quarantined were being released.

The Senate Administration Committee held hold an emergency meeting upon adjournment of Thursday’s floor session to get a briefing on the status of an investigation into the incident.

Missouri Senate Administrator Patrick Baker said Capitol Police are investigating the case while the Cole County Hazmat team and Missouri National Guard are testing the envelope.

He said that although the substance hasn’t been identified, it has been seen. “There were particulates falling out of the envelope,” said Baker. “With the particulates being unknown, we contacted Capitol Police who then dispatched the Cole County Hazmat team.”

Baker said a determination had been made that the substance was not water soluble, which he called the best case scenario.

The Senate completed its end of the week Thursday session without incident, although two offices and a portion of the Senate Post Office remained close

Missouri Senators speculate on Governor Geitens’ use of veto to intimidate opponents

April 19, 2018 By Jason Taylor

Missouri state Senators speculated about events surrounding a rift between Governor Eric Greitens and Attorney General Josh Hawley on Wednesday.

Shortly after Greitens filed a restraining order against fellow Republican Hawley, Democratic Senator Jamilah Nasheed of St. Louis spoke on the Senate floor about a rumor she heard. After mentioning that Hawley supports moving the date of a Right-to-Work ballot measure, Nasheed said Greitens is planning to respond.

“Now he’s saying that if it hits his desk, if a bill hits his desk for the August (election), which would benefit Hawley, he’s going to veto it,” said Nasheed.

A bill from Rep. Holly Rehder, R-Sikeston, would move the ballot measure, which is supported by business interests, from the November election to an August ballot.

Sen. Gina Walsh, D-Bellefontaine Neighbors, said if the rumor is true, then Greitens is disrupting the legislative process for personal reasons.

“People are threatening and leveraging the power of the pen against legislators who work diligently in these chambers to accomplish what they think is right for their constituents,” said Walsh.

Organized labor opposes the Right-to-Work measure which does away with the requirement for workers to join unions in shops where the organizations negotiate employee pay and benefits.

Nasheed issued a statement Wednesday calling on the St. Louis circuit attorney to file charges against Greitens after Hawley said the governor could have committed a felony. Hawley announced Tuesday that he’d turned over evidence to St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner after an investigation by his office determined that Greitens might have committed a felony by taking and using a charity donor list for campaign fundraising without proper permission.

An attorney for Governor Greitens filed a court document asking for a temporary restraining order Wednesday that aims to remove Hawley’s office from investigating Greitens and his administration. The request filed in Cole County also asked for a special prosecutor to be assigned for any further investigation into Greitens’s activity.

Nasheed characterized Hawley’s physical stature while she chastised Greitens’ move for a restraining order as a strongarm tactic.

“I’m just taken aback,” Nasheed said. “I mean here you have this tough, you know, Navy SEAL guy that’s looking for a restraining order on little old Josh Hawley. He’s so small.”

Nasheed also suggested in a Tuesday tweet that Greitens might not be in a stable mental state after numerous investigations and a felony charge surrounding his activity.

Her tweet read: “I fear for my life and his because he’s a psychopath. He’s a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.”

A judge in St. Louis today declined to grant a motion to dismiss a felony charge against Greitens over his alleged blackmail attempt of a woman he was having an affair with in 2015. Judge Rex Burlison is allowing witnesses to be deposed for a second time after Greitens’ defense complained the prosecution was withholding crucial evidence. A state House committee is investigating accusations he took a sexually-explicit photo of his ex-mistress without her permission and threatened to blackmail her with it, physically abused, sexually coerced her.

The state Ethics Commission is also investigating Greitens’ illegal use of a donor list from his former charity organization for campaign purposes.

Missourinet 7 a.m. News 4-19-2018

April 19, 2018 By Jason Taylor

Top Stories: Police in Webster Groves near St. Louis are asking for help finding a missing teenager. 17-year-old Taylor Stevenson is currently under the state’s custody and hasn’t made contact with her friends, biological mother or caseworker since March 20. And the Kansas City Health Department says two new confirmed cases of the measles have been reported, bringing its total to four. The Liberty School District, Clay County Health Center and Warren Hills Elementary School have sent notices to parents.

Contentious bill over disposal of coal ash from power plants heads to House floor

April 19, 2018 By Jason Taylor

A proposal described as legislation that would allow the state to regulate one of the largest types of industrial waste in the country is moving through the Missouri House.

The bill, which has already cleared the Senate would give the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) the authority to establish rules and approve target levels for the management of “coal ash”.

Coal ash is produced from the burning of coal in coal-fired power plants. It can be recycled for use in materials such as concrete, but large quantities of coal ash from power plants are disposed of in disposal units known as landfills and ash ponds.

Utilities create ash ponds by digging holes in the ground next to their coal-burning power plants. They transport the coal ash to those holes with water.

Coal power plants are most often located next to bodies of water in order to use that water as a cooling agent in their creation of energy. Since the water is readily available, it’s also used to deliver the coal ash to the ash ponds.

The proposal, which was heard Wednesday in the House Utilities Committee, was changed after leaving the Senate to beef up some of the regulations.

Missouri has long provided supervision over coal ash landfill sights. Water discharged from ash ponds into lakes and rivers has also been regulated under permits granted by DNR. The bill in the House deleted the Senate language that would have precluded the permitting process for ash pond disposal.

Disposal of coal ash is sensitive because it contains toxins that are harmful to humans, including arsenic, mercury, cadmium, and lead. Exposure to those elements, which are heavy metals, can cause cancer, brain damage, and liver damage.

The need to regulate coal ash disposal became apparent after the devastation left from two spills. The spills in Kingston, Tennessee in 2008 and Eden, North Carolina in 2014 caused widespread environmental and economic damage to nearby waterways and properties.

To address the risks resulting from improper disposal and discharge of coal ash, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established national rules in 2015 for its management and disposal. In 2016, Congress passed the Water Infrastructure for Improvements to the Nation (WIIN) Act, which gave states a window to customize the rules to fit their needs.

Republican Senator Sandy Crawford of Buffalo, who is sponsoring the measure, says it would let the state DNR tailor regulations for Missouri that would still comply with EPA guidelines.

“This bill will allow DNR to manage a program that’s more state-specific, more than the one-size-fits-all approach that we would have if we go with the EPA program,” said Crawford.

The House bill also does away with a provision Crawford included in the Senate plan that would’ve prevented the state from enacting more robust regulations than the EPA does.

Regulated utilities would finance the state’s program through fees they would pay. Crawford says the Natural Resources Department and the utilities collaborated to craft the legislation together. She also notes that the EPA still has to approve the state’s plan to manage coal ash and can reject it if the regulations are deemed to be too weak.

The utilities that operate coal-fired powered plants – investor-owned power companies such as Ameren Missouri, customer-owned cooperatives, and city-run municipal power companies – plan to close down and discard many of their coal ash ponds in the upcoming years.

Trey Davis, President of the Missouri Energy Development Association, thinks Crawford’s legislation will serve to streamline the process.

“Through the WIIN Act and through this state-specific program, you have DNR right there at the forefront managing with the utilities the closure of these sights,” said Davis.

Patricia Schuba with the Labadie Environmental Organization has a much more critical view of the utilities’ plans. She contends they want the coal ash bill passed quickly in order to skirt EPA closure requirements set to go take effect in October.

“One of the requirements for closure under the federal rule is that the ash cannot be in contact with groundwater,” Schuba said. “None of these sights meet that criteria.”

Should the bill become law, it would go into effect in late August 28^th. Labadie Environmental Organization is a non-profit group that was formed out of concerns over plans for waste disposal at Ameren Missouri’s Labadie power plant west of St. Louis.

One of the most contentious components of the bill allows for “risk-based” based management of coal ash ponds, meaning if a utility can prove there is no immediate risk to the drinking water of the local population, a pond can be closed down and capped with no further action.

Schuba says it would free utilities from responsibility if toxins such as arsenic spread around in the future. “The utilities in the room know that,” said Schuba. “They know that’ll provide an opportunity for them to close these sights in place, with contamination at the sight, and not have to clean it up for closure requirement.”

The coal ash proposal passed through the Utilities Committee by an 8-3 margin during the same hearing. The committee’s three Democrats provided the no votes. The measure will now be scrutinized by another committee before heading to the House floor.

If it’s cleared by the full chamber, it’ll still have to go back to the Senate for approval because of the changes made in the House. The bill will have roughly a month to progress through the entire process before the legislature ends its current session May 18^th.

Missouri House gives initial approval to beef up the state’s open records law

April 18, 2018 By Jason Taylor

The Missouri House has given first-round approval to a bill Attorney General Josh Hawley says would give him authority to adequately investigate open records violations.

Photo courtesy of Tim Bommel, House Communications

The measure would give the attorney general subpoena power to question those accused of violating the state’s Sunshine Law which requires transparency in the conduct of public business.

Hawley exonerated the office of Governor Eric Greitens of wrongdoing in its use of an app that erases text messages after they’re received.

When investigating accusations that Greitens and executive branch personnel had conducted state business using the app, Hawley said he was stymied in efforts to gather evidence.

Democrats slammed Hawley for not even trying to interview Greitens during his investigation of the governor’s use of the app, known as Confide.

The probe was handled by Deputy Counsel Darrell Moore in the attorney general’s office. He said that Greitens’ staff indicated they could use executive privilege to block any discussion about the Confide app with the attorney general’s office.

Hawley contends that having subpoena power would go a long way in dashing claims of executive privilege, and would enhance his ability to prosecute violations of the Sunshine Law.

“We have subpoena power under Chapter 407 of Missouri statute, something that we did not have, and do not have in the sunshine context,” Hawley said. “We need subpoena power in the sunshine context, which gives us the power to actually compel people to cooperate, even if they don’t want to.”

Under the proposal, a state agency or department that knowingly violated the Sunshine Law would be subject to a fine of up to $10,000, plus attorney’s fees. If the court found that there was a violation, but it was not made knowingly, a civil penalty of up to $1,000 could be imposed. Knowing violations of the Sunshine Law would be classified as a Class B misdemeanor.

Two identical proposals were filed to give the attorney general subpoena power while investigating alleged Sunshine Law violations, one from Representative David Gregory, R-St. Louis, and the other from Representative Jean Evans, R-Manchester.

Gregory’s measure received initial approval in the House Tuesday. One more vote will have to be taken before the measure can move to the Senate in the final month of the legislative session.

The proposal has received vocal support from Hawley as well groups including the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, Missouri Press Association, Missouri Broadcasters Association and the Missouri Sunshine Coalition.

Flurry of accusations and charges fuel political and legal upheaval in Missouri

April 18, 2018 By Jason Taylor

Attorney General Josh Hawley’s announcement of a potential felony crime by Governor Eric Greitens has further entangled legal matters within politics in Missouri.

Hawley slammed together a Tuesday news conference roughly thirty minutes after notifying the press of the event. There, he let on that fellow Republican Greitens might have committed a felony by taking and using a charity donor list for campaign fundraising.

Hawley’s announcement came roughly 24 hours after Greitens’ attorney called on Hawley to recuse himself from the very investigation that led to his press conference.

Attorney Edward Dowd Jr. contended Hawley’s act of requesting that Greitens resign had clearly compromised Hawley’s investigation. Hawley had joined a growing list of elected officeholders calling for Greitens to step down after a House panel released a report in which a woman claimed Greitens had physically abused and sexually coerced her.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, a Democrat, is prosecuting Greitens on felony charges related to his alleged misconduct. Gardner would also have jurisdiction to bring additional felony charges against Greitens based on the evidence announced by Hawley Thursday.

But another one of Greitens lawyers, James Martin, has accused Gardner of misconduct and “gross incompetence”.

All of the activity just described took place during the last week. (A couple of more up to the minute announcements are included below.)

Meanwhile, it doesn’t seem as though the political and legal wrangling will subside anytime soon. Greitens trial is set to start May 14th, although the proceedings of almost daily pre-trial hearings have dominated recent news cycles.

The judge in his criminal case, will issue a decision Thursday on whether to dismiss the case after the defense claimed the prosecution improperly withheld evidence, namely the video recording in question along with accompanying notes, for months.

Judge Rex Burlison was said to be angry at Circuit Attorney Gardner for her level of performance in the existing case against Greitens.

Her office has failed to produce a photo which is key to the felony charges. She’s also accused of persuading a person to commit perjury by the defense for knowingly allowing her prosecution’s hired private investigator, William Don Tisaby, to lie under oath about not taking notes that were later turned over to the defense.

If Gardner’s not feeling stressed over the current case against Greitens, she’s about to feel the pressure to beat the clock in filing new charges against the governor.

Hawley said Tuesday that Gardner must decide soon whether to pursue charges because of a law limiting how long legal action can be taken after a potential crime is committed. Hawley would not elaborate on the deadline for the statute of limitations but says it’s quickly approaching.

Greitens’ legal team didn’t waste time responding to Hawley’s accusation against the governor. Attorney Martin issued a statement to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which reads: “We’ve done a thorough review of this matter, and we know that there’s no wrongdoing here. The Attorney General held a completely frivolous and inappropriate press conference on a non-issue.”

Still, Greitens faces the possibility of two cases with felony charges against him. The Republican majority leadership in the legislature is organizing for the possibility of calling a special session to consider impeaching Greitens, while Democratic minority leaders are pushing for immediate impeachment proceedings.

According to Missourinet’s former news director and resident historian Bob Priddy, the only governor removed from office in Missouri was Claiborne Fox Jackson in 1861.

“Jackson lied during his campaign by pretending to be against secession when actually he was plotting to take Missouri South,” said Priddy. “When he was sworn in, he immediately asserted that Missouri’s lot was tied to the fate of the seceding states.”

Both Greitens and Attorney General Hawley were elected to statewide seats in 2016 as first time elected officials.

Hawley is now the front-runner to face incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill this November. How the present course of events will play out for him remains to be seen.

Hawley has increasingly distanced himself from Greitens since the fellow GOP member was first accused of sexual misconduct and coercion with the woman. However, recent polling shows Greitens has continuing support among core voters.

A survey released last week by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research showed that a plurality of voters in the heavily Republican-leaning regions outside Kansas City and St. Louis still approve of Greiten’s job performance and don’t think he should resign.

Then again, political fallout continues at a furious pace in Missouri.

Republican House Speaker Todd Richardson, House Speaker Pro Tem Elijah Haahr, and House Majority Floor Leader Rob Vescovo issued a statement Tuesday night calling for Governor Greitens to resign. Going a step further, GOP Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard said in a statement that it’s his wish to “immediately start impeachment proceedings”. The potential process must begin in the House.

Some evidence of push back in the Missouri House against punishment of Governor Greitens

April 17, 2018 By Jason Taylor

There’s some evidence of pushback in the Missouri House against quick punishment of Republican Governor Eric Greitens for alleged conduct.

A House committee investigating Greitens released a report last week which contained testimony by a woman detailing how he physically abused and sexual coerced her. The two were involved in an extramarital affair at the time in 2015.

Since the release of the House report, Greitens defense team in a criminal case dealing with the same subject matter has acquired a video in which it says the woman portrays a much more positive picture of the relationship.

Republican Representative Lindell Shumake of Hannibal says he finds the governor’s alleged behavior unacceptable but thinks it’s too early to pass judgment on disciplinary action.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to do that yet,” said Shumate. “I’ve encouraged my constituents to wait and watch the events. And when all the information is in, then decide. Then make a judgment about the situation.”

Shumake says it’s important to get Greitens’ side of the story. The governor has declined to appear before the House committee and says he will only do so after his criminal trial is wrapped up.

Greitens faces felony invasion of privacy charges in St. Louis Circuit Court for allegedly taking a photo of the woman in a state of partial or full nudity and then threatening to distribute the photo if she mentioned their relationship to others.

Representative Shumake says he understands why Greitens has declined to testify before the House committee. “Probably any attorney that’s out there would not have advised the governor to speak to the committee with a criminal case pending,” Shumate said. “So, therefore that’s why we have just one half of a story.”

Shumake says he’s reserving judgment until Greitens speaks out and says he’s also waiting to see what happens with the criminal case.

Fellow Republican Representative Cheri Toalson Reisch of Hallsville also wants to hear what Greitens has to say before passing judgment on his activity. “I still think this is America and you’re innocent until you’re proven guilty,” said Toalson Reisch. “There’s two sides to the story. And right now the House has heard one side.”

Like Shumake, Toalson Reisch is putting stock in what happens with the court case and wants to hear about any conclusions the House committee might come to. “It’s an ongoing investigation and it’s a process. So I’m waiting for the process to play itself out. And the trial will be here in a few weeks.”

Greitens trial is set to start May 14th, although the proceedings of almost daily pre-trial hearings have dominated recent news cycles.

The judge will issues a decision Thursday on whether to dismiss the case after the defense claimed the prosecution improperly withheld evidence, namely the video recording in question along with accompanying notes, for months.

Meanwhile, many of Shumake and Toalson Reisch’s Democratic and Republican colleagues have dismissed the criminal case from their consideration of Greitens’ fate.

GOP leadership in the Republican-dominated legislature is making arrangements for a possible special session of lawmakers following the current scheduled session which ends May 18^th.

Members of both parties have focused on a phrase in the Missouri Constitution, “moral turpitude”, which is included in a section that specifies the various grounds for impeachment. Moral turpitude is defined by legaldictionary.net as a legal concept that refers to any conduct that is believed to be contrary to the community standards of honesty, justice, or good moral values.

For his part, Representative Shumate is not a fan of constitutional arguments to impeach Greitens. “I’ve read the constitution again and again and thought and looked over the impeachment aspect and tried to determine whether this fits in with that,” said Shumake. “And not neatly I don’t think.”

Support in general for Greitens has slipped as the governor is the subject of several investigations.

In addition to probes into his conduct with the woman is an Ethics Commission examination into a complaint by a Democratic operative about his use of donor and email lists from his former charity. Attorney General Josh Hawley is investigating the same subject matter. Hawley separately has called on Greitens to resign.

Those House Republicans who are withholding judgment on Greiten may have an eye on recent polling. A survey released last week by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research showed that a plurality of voters in the heavily Republican-leaning regions outside Kansas City and St. Louis still approve of Greiten’s job performance and don’t think he should resign.

There may be more unity among Republicans in the Senate to call a special session for the purpose of considering impeachment proceedings.

Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard of Joplin says his office is collecting signatures from Senators in anticipation of a recommendation by the House committee investigating Greitens.

Senate Majority Floor Leader Mike Kehoe of Jefferson City says the prospect of disciplining Greitens in not a partisan issue. Kehoe called for the governor to resign last week after Greitens accused the House committee of conducting a witch hunt against him.

Senator Denny Hoskins of Warrensburg, who along with others tangled with Governor Greitens over a proposed legislative pay raise, has been a lead Republican is calling for outright impeachment if Greitens.

After passing the Missouri House, state Senators consider bill to fund broadband expansion

April 17, 2018 By Jason Taylor

A bill to expand rural high-speed internet access is making a run through the Missouri Senate after having cleared the House.

The proposal from Republican Representative Delus Johnson of St. Joseph would establish a grant program within the Department of Economic Development to expand broadband to unserved and under-served parts of Missouri.

The grants would provide 50% funding to build infrastructure that would offer internet download speeds of at least 10 megabits per second and an upload pace of no less that one megabit per second. The grants could work with matching federal funding of 50%.

According to Representative Johnson, the legislation would work to achieve 90% coverage in the state and then seek to improve broadband speeds to underserved areas.

An unserved area is anyplace in Missouri where broadband access isn’t available. Johnson says geographically 61% of the state is unserved right now, which impacts about a million people.

He says the 10-megabit download/1-megabit upload requirement is set to meet the standards set forth in two Federal Communications Commission (FCC) broadband grants that are available.

At a Senate committee hearing on his bill, Johnson projected that $2 billion in FCC broadband grants would be available soon. He said the state grants would be based on money the legislature chose to appropriate for them.

A major stumbling block for delivery of broadband to unserved areas is the cost of getting it to those consumers, who are typically in rural locations. Unserved areas lie in geographic spots that are often referred to as the “last mile” of internet infrastructure.

Johnson says he’s received estimates showing the cost of installing fiber-optic lines that provide at least the 10-megabit download/1-megabit upload times is $8,000 per mile. But he said delivery of faster speeds could cost up to $22,000 per mile.

Richard Telthorst, President of the Missouri Telecommunications Industry Association (MTIA) spoke at the Senate’s panel hearing which went before the chamber’s Commerce, Consumer Protection, Energy and the Environment Committee.

Telthorst thinks it’s important that any broadband grant program does not exclude any provider or any available technology from being funded. “It really ought to be open to everyone who’s got the capability to provide service, whether that be a telecom carrier, a cable company or an electric co-op, or whoever else might be eligible,” said Telthorst.

He warned that focusing on faster speeds in the grant program will cost more money and ultimately end up covering fewer unserved areas.

Telthorst said a possible solution to that issue would be to install a system that guarantees 10-megabit download/1-megabit upload times which could then be upgraded to produce faster speeds in the future.

He further said it would be important to avoid directing any state grant money to any of the numerous broadband expansion programs already in place that are receiving federal dollars, contending it would be a poor use of state funds.

Representatives for several other organizations who weighed in at the Senate committee hearing also said grant money should be reserved for projects that aren’t already subsidized.

The $1.3 trillion congressional omnibus bill to fund the government this year includes an additional $600 million for broadband expansion. Telthorst thinks the state grant program that would be established by Johnson’s proposal would be in a perfect position to tap into the influx of those federal dollars.

“If we have this grant program already in place, that’s a wonderful way to attract those dollars to Missouri,” Telthorst said. “Without the program in place, perhaps those dollars will go elsewhere.”

The FCC uses census blocks, the smallest geographic unit by which the FCC organizes data it collects from households, to establish the availability of broadband.

A problem with misrepresentation arises because a census block is determined to be served if any residents inside have access to broadband. Telthorst suggested the problem can be dealt with by adding language to Johnson’s proposal that designates unserved areas within a census block.

Johnson has said his proposal is nearly identical to a program currently operating in Minnesota to expand broadband access. BJ Tanksley, a representative from the Missouri Farm Bureau, says the state will have put a priority on faster speeds if it wants to keep up with download/upload goals set by Minnesota.

“We’ve been talking about 10/1 and 25/3 (in Missouri),” said Tanksley. “Their state broadband goal (in Minnesota) is for everyone to have access to 100/100 by 2025, which isn’t that far out if you really think about it. So, when we talk about speeds, we’re talking on a pretty low end compared to what other states are setting as goals.”

Daryl Dewey with the Missouri Cable Telecommunications Association echoed the sentiment that higher speeds need to be a focus of any broadband expansion program.

“To talk about the digital divide between urban and rural, well if you subsidize the build-out of 10/1 and everybody else is on a gigabit, you still have that same divide, said Dewey. “You can’t operate a business on 10/1.”

Doug Galloway representing internet service provider CenturyLink said flexibility in broadband speeds should be written into the legislation.

“We can craft this so that it says if the federal government increases the speeds and provides funding, then this would automatically match that,” said Galloway. “So, you’re not going to have a situation where you’re going to fund 10/1 and two years from the FCC wants to fund 25/3. Then you come back and have to change this law.”

According to BroadbandNow, Missouri ranks 42nd in the United States for broadband access.

Justin Arnold, General Counsel of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said his organization supports the broadband expansion proposal, contending it would provide widespread benefits across rural Missouri.

“From our perspective, you’d see a broad impact on all sectors of the economy, not just small businesses and households, but health care and agriculture,” Arnold said.

No one spoke against Johnson’s bill to establish a broadband grant program in the Senate hearing. The measure has time to make it through the legislature, depending on the attention it’s given by Senators during the final month of the current session.

Missourinet 7 a.m. News 4-17-2018

April 17, 2018 By Jason Taylor

Top Stories: A 7-years-old Joplin boy is recovering in a hospital after taking a hard hit to the eye at a Missouri Southern State University baseball game Friday night. Doctors say the boy will live and they don’t anticipate any mental impairments after he underwent brain surgery in Kansas City. And the special committee investigating allegations against Gov. Eric Greitens is meeting for the first time today since it released its initial findings. It’s not known what committee will discuss, but House Speaker Todd Richardson says the panel will be able to come back to the General Assembly with recommendations.

Group wants to block Missouri lawmakers from involvement in the state Conservation Dept.

April 16, 2018 By Jason Taylor

The Conservation Federation of Missouri held its annual meeting in Jefferson City earlier this month.

Roughly 500 members attended the event which was sponsored by Bass Pro Shops, one of the non-profit’s five platinum level business partners that contribute at least $10,000 to help fund its operations.

Among the other high-level donors to the organization are the Missouri Corn Merchandising Council and Associated Missouri Electric Cooperatives, which is essentially the power company for a wide swath of the rural part of the state.

The Conservation Federation is a 501(c)(3) that is funded by members, corporate donations, affiliate fees, grants and major contributions.

Executive Director Brandon Butler says, contrary to what some members of the state legislature mistakenly believe, the Conservation Federation receives no money from the Department of Conservation.

In fact, it was formed in 1935 for the purpose of keeping politics out conservation. Through a successful bid to place a measure before voters, the Federation was instrumental in creating the department itself.

The conservation state agency receives its funding through an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax along with licensing and permit fees and federal reimbursements. It comprises less than one percent of the state’s overall $28.8 billion budget and gets no funding from the general revenue, which is the money the legislature is in charge of.

Butler says lawmakers, who have no control over the department’s budget, try to exert more power every year through various proposals. He thinks the efforts pose a danger to an agency with a reputation for serving the public.

“Citizens of other states dream of having the Missouri model of conservation implemented in their state, where scientists are free from political control to make the decisions based on what is best for the entire state,” said Butler.

At least three bills are in the legislature this session that could impact how the Conservation Department functions. All of them are known as joint resolutions which require voter approval.

Two are from Republican Senator Brian Munzlinger, a lifelong farmer from northeast Missouri’s Williamstown. One of them would call on voters to reapprove the eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that funds the department every 10 years. It’s the Senator’s second attempt with the measure in as many years and it has yet to receive a hearing in a committee.

Munzlinger’s other proposal would double the size of the Conservation Commission, which sets the department’s policies and regulations, from four to eight members. It also has failed to move in committee although the Senator has sponsored similar legislation for several years.

But members of the Conservation Federation are more concerned about a proposal from Republican Representative Justin Hill of Lake St. Louis.

It would expand the Conservation Commission from 4-to-10 members and call on both the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tem of the Senate to appoint two members, one from each political party.

The Federation’s Butler contends that the bill’s provision for four lawmakers to sit on the commission would burden a fully functional Conservation Department with politics.

“We have many problems in this state,” said Butler. “We rely on our elected officials to represent us on many issues that we have serious problems with in Missouri. Conservation is simply not one of them.”

Federation member Steve Jones is troubled by a legislature he perceives to be unfriendly toward the Conservation Department.

“The hostility in that chamber towards Conservation is evidenced by the bills that come every year, the flood of bills that would either damage the Conservation Commission or threaten the design for the conservation sales tax that was passed by the people,” said Jones. “If they have all this concern about the people, why do keep attacking the things that the people voted for.”

Federation member Mark Zurbrick of south-central Missouri’s Newburg thinks Republicans in the legislature have shown a partisan opposition toward the Conservation Department.

“We can point at people that do not wish good things for the Conservation Department on both sides of the (aisle),” said Zurbrick. “But you can go and look at the votes and they appear to be party-line votes.”

There was recent drama in a legislative committee between its Republican members and the Federation. Republican Representative Chuck Basye of Rocheport had introduced a measure that would do away with hunting license fees for property owners who live out of state.

Federation Executive Director Butler spoke against the proposal. He noted Basye’s out of state brother would benefit if the measure passed and said the arrangement would amount to nepotism.

At the following committee hearing the next week, Butler was harshly criticized by numerous Republican members, including GOP chairperson Sonya Anderson of Springfield who said she was offended and appalled by his nature of the testimony. The committee subsequently passed Basye’s proposal on party lines.

Federation member Jones accuses Republicans of blatantly disregarding the organization’s concerns about the legislation. “It doesn’t pass the smell test for them to claim that they’re looking out for the public interest, but they don’t want to anything from the number one organization that represents the public interest in this topic, in this arena,” Jones said.

The Conservation Department stands to lose $500,000 in revenues if Basye’s proposal becomes law.

The Conservation Federation is the largest conservation group in the state and is the Missouri affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation.