Legislature Archives - Missourinet

Illegal gambling complaints in Missouri have almost quadrupled in one year

October 11, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

The Missouri State Highway Patrol testified Thursday in Jefferson City that the number of complaints it’s received about illegal gambling has increased from 39 in 2018 to 145 so far this year.

Missouri House Special Interim Committee on Gaming Chairman Dan Shaul, R-Imperial, speaks during a hearing on August 22, 2019 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Most of those complaints are about alleged illegal slot machines. Highway Patrol Lieutenant Roger Phillips tells state lawmakers the Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control (DDCC) only has two full-time investigators to handle these complaints.

“In recent months, we’ve had such a volume of complaints that we’ve had to pull investigators from other assigned duties to come and help investigate these complaints,” Phillips testifies.

The Patrol’s DDCC is the Patrol’s criminal investigation bureau’s investigative branch. Phillips testified Thursday before the House Special Interim Committee on Gaming.

Alleged illegal slots can be found in bars, restaurants, gas stations and convenience stores.

The Missouri Prosecutors Association also testified at Thursday’s hearing. Prosecutors Association legal counsel Steve Sokoloff says the first criminal case in the state involving alleged illegal slots will go to trial in December in western Missouri’s Platte County.

“I think everybody is waiting to see once there’s a definitive statement I think you’ll find that there will be a lot more willingness to prosecute those cases,” says Sokoloff.

House Special Interim Committee on Gaming Chairman Dan Shaul, R-Imperial, predicts the alleged illegal slot machine issue will end up at the Missouri Supreme Court. Representative Shaul tells Mr. Sokoloff that whichever side loses the Platte County case will appeal.

“It’s a good chance it’s going to end up over here (across the street at the Missouri Supreme Court in Jefferson City). There’s enough money on each side of this argument,” Shaul tells Sokoloff.

“They’re going to try anyway, let’s put it that way,” Sokoloff responds.

“Either side, win or lose, they’re both,” Shaul says. “Right,” Sokoloff responds.

Sokoloff tells lawmakers that all gambling is illegal in Missouri by the Constitution, unless specifically provided for.

State Rep. Jeff Shawan, R-Poplar Bluff, says prosecutors in his southeast Missouri district are dealing with more important violent crime issues than slot machines.

The Missouri Gaming Association describes the slot machines in gas stations and truck stops as illegal, adding that they bypass Missouri voters. The Gaming Association opposes legalizing the video lottery terminals, saying Missouri casinos generated $370 million in state tax revenue in 2018.

The Missouri Gaming Commission has testified that any illegal gaming machines used in Missouri negatively impact casinos and the state Lottery, reducing taxes and funding for education and veterans.

The House committee’s next hearing will be its fourth, and is scheduled for October 24 at the Statehouse. It will be on sports betting.

Thursday’s Missouri House hearing on alleged illegal slots expected to draw crowd

October 9, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

The Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Missouri Prosecutors Association will testify Thursday in Jefferson City before a House gaming committee investigating the issue of alleged illegal slot machines.

State Rep. Dirk Deaton, R-Noel, speaks at the August 22, 2019 Missouri House Special Interim Committee on Gaming hearing. State Rep. Robert Ross, R-Yukon, is behind him. (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

A large crowd is expected to attend the House Special Interim Committee on Gaming hearing, which begins at noon at the Statehouse.

The committee will hear testimony from Missouri State Highway Patrol Lieutenant Justin McCullough and from Missouri Prosecutors Association legal counsel Steve Sokoloff.

During the committee’s last hearing in September, Missouri Lottery Executive Director May Scheve Reardon testified that illegal slot machines are hurting public education in the Show-Me State. She says the I-44 corridor has many of them, and told lawmakers about one Lottery sales representative whose territory goes from St. James to Lebanon.

“Down that I-44 corridor in six months, her route alone was down $800,000. That’s an estimated $3.2 million sales lost for six months,” Scheve Reardon testified on September 5.

Alleged illegal slot machines can be found in bars, restaurants, gas stations and convenience stores.

Committee Chairman Dan Shaul, R-Imperial, tells Missourinet that illegal slot machines cost Missouri education at least $50 million last year. He says the illegal machines “are everywhere” in the state and in his district in eastern Missouri’s Jefferson County.

“But I think what we have to worry about is not what happened last year, it’s what’s going to happen next year because this is not a plateau. We are going to continue to see the loss,” Chairman Shaul told Missourinet after the September hearing.

Missouri Gaming Commission Executive Director David Grothaus testified in August that any illegal gaming machines used in Missouri negatively impact casinos and the state Lottery, reducing taxes and funding for education and veterans. Grothaus has called for the state to develop a coordinated effort to stop illegal slot machines.

Grothaus notes there’s one pending criminal case in western Missouri’s Platte County, in the Kansas City area.

Thursday is also your first opportunity to testify before the committee, and House officials have encouraged those who want to testify to call ahead. The hearing is expected to last for two to three hours.

Anyone who wants to testify Thursday should call E.J. Fleischmann in Chairman Shaul’s office. That number is (573) 751-2504.

Libla: a user tax for Missouri transportation is still a conservative position (AUDIO)

October 8, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

The chairman of the Missouri Senate Transportation Committee supports a gasoline tax increase, saying that our roads and bridges must be funded adequately.

State Sen. Doug Libla, R-Poplar Bluff, speaks on the Missouri Senate floor on January 10, 2019 (file photo courtesy of Senate photographer Harrison Sweazea)

State Sen. Doug Libla, R-Poplar Bluff, chairs the Senate Transportation, Infrastructure and Public Safety committee. He tells Missourinet we’ve funded roads and bridges for 95 years in Missouri with a gas tax.

“Back in the day when I first became a Republican, a user tax was a conservative Republican position,” Libla says. “And I still believe so today. I think those who use the roads should help pay for them.”

Missouri’s 17-cent per gallon gas tax has remained the same since 1996. Voters rejected a proposed ten-cent gas tax increase in November.

Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe (R) notes Missouri has the seventh-largest infrastructure system, but ranks 49th in funding.

Libla, who represents eight southeast Missouri counties, emphasizes that local officials help to decide key projects.

“We have planning commissions all over this state, so it’s not just a few people deciding where a new road or a new intersection goes in or a new four-lane or whatever,” says Libla.

He says transportation is critical for both urban and rural residents, noting Missouri’s $88 billion agricultural industry is the state’s top industry.

Meantime, Chairman Libla says the heavily-traveled stretch of Highway 50 between California and Sedalia in mid-Missouri needs to be four-laned. He says it’s similar to some highways in his sprawling district.

“It’s two-lane, you have some people wanting to drive the speed limit, you have some who want to drive 15 mile (per hour) under it. And you get a lot of backup, people get impatient, so on and so forth,” Libla says.

The state Department of Transportation (MoDOT) included the Highway 50 project from California to Sedalia in the August 2014 ballot measure known as Amendment 7, which was defeated at the polls. At that time, MoDOT estimated it would cost $122 million to four-lane that stretch.

MoDOT also notes that the central district planning partners have identified the next segment of Highway 50 as an unfunded priority. The segment, which is from California to Tipton, would cost about $44 million.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Doug Libla, R-Poplar Bluff, which was recorded at the State Fair in Sedalia on August 15, 2019:

Missouri lawmakers to tackle Medicaid expansion issue on Tuesday

October 7, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

A Missouri House subcommittee will hear testimony on the issue of Medicaid expansion Tuesday at the Statehouse in Jefferson City.

State Rep. Steve Helms, R-Springfield

The House Subcommittee on Health Care Reform will hold Tuesday’s hearing at 12:30.

Subcommittee chairman Steve Helms, R-Springfield, tells Missourinet his committee aim is to improve access to health care and make it more affordable for Missourians. Helms says the subcommittee is looking at ways to reduce costs for individuals.

Helms also tells Missourinet the subcommittee will issue a report to the full committee.

Medicaid expansion has primarily been a party-line issue in the Legislature, and Republicans currently control the House 113-43.

House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, opposes Medicaid expansion, saying it would take dollars out of the classroom. He notes it would require a ten percent match for the 90 percent draw down.

Speaker Haahr says Medicaid expansion “would blow a sizable hole in our general revenue budget,” because of the match.

Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, briefs Capitol reporters on September 11, 2019, along with Assistant Minority Leader Tommie Pierson, D-St. Louis, and Minority Whip Keri Ingle, D-Lee’s Summit (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, shares Speaker Haahr’s position, because of the impact on the state budget.

House Democratic Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, supports Medicaid expansion, saying 100,000 children have lost their Medicaid health care coverage. She says it’s an emergency.

Statistics provided by the state Department of Social Services (DSS) show the number of Missourians on Medicaid has decreased from 953,000 in August 2018 to 850,000 now.

State Rep. Deb Lavender, D-Kirkwood, predicts state revenue will increase, if Medicaid expansion happens. Lavender is the ranking Democrat on the House Subcommittee on Appropriations for Health, Mental Health and Social Services.

Lavender notes eight rural Missouri hospitals have closed in recent years.

Missouri’s Medicaid budget is now about one-third of the state’s approximately $29 billion operating budget.

Denial takes effect for daycare that wanted to open next to rural Missouri nursing home with sex offenders

October 6, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

The state has rejected an application from a proposed daycare in west-central Missouri’s Sedalia that would have been 12 feet from a nursing home with numerous sex offenders.

State Rep. Ron Hicks, R-Dardenne Prairie (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communication}

A daycare facility called Lil Mouse wanted to open next to the nursing home. State Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) spokeswoman Lisa Cox told Missourinet on Friday that DHSS has denied the application, and Lil Mouse did not appeal. Because of that, the denial has become effective.

The controversy drew the attention of state lawmakers at the Missouri Capitol in April, when Four Seasons Living Center lobbyist Jack Dalton testified before the House Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee. Dalton noted the daycare wanted to open next to his nursing home, which has 17 registered sex offenders.

“Our response was ‘you got to be kidding me,’ Dalton testified in April. “That’s where you want to put children that you’re charged with taking care of?”

Dalton told stunned lawmakers in April that the daycare would have been 12 feet from his nursing home.

“And you’re going to build a swing set and a playground next door to this? And we’re not talking about across the street, we’re talking about across the sidewalk,” Dalton said in April.

Dalton testified that day that some of the 17 sex offenders who live at the Sedalia facility “may be more aggressive.”

During the April hearing, Dalton also called on state lawmakers to approve a bill that would give DHSS the clear authority to deny an application for a daycare license if it would be located within 1,000 feet of where registered sex offenders live or receive treatment.

State Rep. Ron Hicks, R-Dardenne Prairie, sponsored the 2019 bill. Dalton testified for Representative Hicks’ bill, which did not pass.

Troubled St. Louis area daycare calls it quits

October 4, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

Troubled St. Louis area daycare calls it quits

Brighter Day Care in the St. Louis suburb of Pine Lawn has rescinded its appeal and has instead accepted the state’s decision to strip its license. In March, the state took steps to close the business after security video showed a worker throwing a three-year-old against a piece of furniture. The girl had to have seven stitches on her head. The employee was fired.

During the police investigation, authorities learned a second worker allegedly harmed another child last month. Video reportedly showed the employee squeezing a four-year-old girl’s arm and carrying the child by her foot.

Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services spokesperson Lisa Cox tells Missourinet the business’s license was officially revoked on July 27. The day care was originally scheduled to have a hearing this month about its appeal.

Previous stories:

Controversial Missouri daycare files appeal in attempt to remain open

https://wp.me/p16gMv-uSk

Troubled St. Louis County daycare faces possible closure

https://wp.me/p16gMv-uOa

Missouri Supreme Court ponders whether voter ID law’s sworn statement should stay or go

October 4, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

The State Supreme Court is deciding whether voters without a photo ID must sign a statement at the polls swearing they are who they say they are.

The Missouri Supreme Court

Last year, Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan called the statement language contradictory and misleading and ruled to get rid of it in Missouri’s controversial 2016 voter ID law. The state appealed the ruling, leading to Thursday’s hearing before Missouri’s high court.

Missouri Solicitor General D. John Sauer said the court should let the Secretary of State change the writing, instead of scrapping the affidavit altogether.

“There was no evidence at trial of any individual voter who claimed that they were confused by the option 2 affidavit or found it contradictory,” said Sauer.

During the trial, two voters testified that they would not have signed the affidavit again because the language was confusing. Sauer said they still voted.

Attorney Mark Elias, for the left-leaning voter advocacy organization called Priorities USA, said expert testimony in the trial confirmed that voters would need a graduate level degree to understand the language.

“The Secretary of State promulgated this affidavit because this is what’s in the statute,” he says. “There is no affidavit the Secretary of State would be able to write under its limited grant authority that would not suffer the same problems.”

Sauer said if the court rules in favor of having the language rewritten, the issue will probably face another lawsuit anyways.

Under state law, Missourians can vote if they show a photo ID at their polling place. They can show another form of identification, including a utility bill, but must sign the affidavit. They can also cast a provisional ballot. Their vote would only count if they return to show ID or if poll workers can match their signatures on a past ballot.

The court could rule at any time.

Kehoe: “We’ll see what Missourians think is the appropriate response” on transportation (AUDIO)

October 3, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

The state’s lieutenant governor says Missourians will have to decide whether a gasoline tax increase is needed.

Missouri Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe (left) and Governor Mike Parson wave to supporters at Jefferson City’s Memorial Park on September 23, 2019 (photo courtesy of Kehoe campaign)

Missouri’s 17-cent gasoline tax has remained the same since 1996. Last November, voters rejected a proposed ten-cent gas tax increase.

At his campaign announcement last week at Jefferson City’s Memorial Park, Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe (R) told the audience that a long-term solution is needed for transportation. Missourinet asked him that night if a gas tax increase is on the table. Kehoe says Missourians will have to decide that.

“As you know, our Hancock Amendment prohibits the Legislature from coming up with that solution, that’s probably a good thing most days,” Kehoe says. “So we’ll see what Missourians think is the appropriate response.”

Missourians approved the Hancock Amendment in 1980. It’s named after the late Springfield businessman Mel Hancock, who was elected to Congress several years later. The Hancock Amendment essentially requires voter approval before taxes can be increased by lawmakers, beyond a certain annual limit.

Kehoe says a long-term solution is needed, for the safety of Missouri families and for the reliability of our businesses.

“When you have the (nation’s) seventh-largest infrastructure system and you’re 49th in funding, it doesn’t take long to figure out you need a long-term solution. We’re all willing to listen to what Missourians think is the most reasonable approach to that, and then we’ll figure it out,” says Kehoe.

Lieutenant Governor Kehoe campaigned for Proposition D, the proposed gas tax increase, last fall. He spoke in September 2018 at the 84th annual Missouri Municipal League (MML) conference in Branson.

“What the mayors here (at the Branson conference) understand is they couldn’t run their city budgets and Missourians couldn’t run their household budgets if they didn’t have any extra income for 22 years straight,” Kehoe said that day.

The state Department of Transportation (MoDOT) has said that if voters had approved Proposition D, it would have generated about $288 million annually in new road and bridge funding.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe, which was recorded on September 23, 2019 at Jefferson City’s Memorial Park:

Hawley weighs in on Missouri life expectancy declining for sixth straight year

October 1, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

A new state report shows Missouri’s death rate reached a record high for the sixth consecutive year. According to the report, the leading cause of death continues to be heart disease, followed by cancer and chronic lung disease.

Then-Attorney General Josh Hawley speaks in Winchester, Missouri on October 23, 2018 (file photo courtesy of Bill Greenblatt/UPI)

During a U.S. Senate floor speech, Missouri Republican Josh Hawley says the trend is from drug overdoses, suicides and crime.

“Here are the facts. Opioid-related deaths in Missouri have more than doubled in the past decade. The number of suicides is up by over 50%. And there’s no end in sight. And it’s not just Missouri,” says Hawley.

Hawley says the explosion of overdoses, crime and suicides is leading to the decline of the middle class.

“All Americans suffer from deaths of despair, but it is working people and working families who have been hit hardest. And so now the working middle of this nation is fighting to survive,” he says. “These numbers are tragic, but they are more than that. They are the signs of a crisis,” he says.

Hawley says the struggle brings Missourians together.

“And in my state, it is a struggle shared by white and black alike, and those of every race. Because the breakdown of family — and neighborhood — the loss of good work — and the epidemic of addictive drugs — these things know no racial boundaries. This is a struggle we are in together,” he says.

Hawley says the future of America will be defined by how the challenge is met.

To view the full report, click here.

Death penalty opponents want governor to block Missouri inmate’s execution

September 27, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

Several groups are trying to halt next week’s scheduled execution of Missouri inmate Russell Bucklew. He’s serving a death sentence for the 1996 murder of Michael Sanders of southeast Missouri’s Cape Girardeau.

The Missouri Supreme Court has scheduled an October 1 execution date for convicted killer Russell Bucklew, who’s incarcerated in Potosi (May 2018 file photo courtesy of the Missouri Department of Corrections)

Bucklew also severely attacked his ex-girlfriend, Stephanie Ray, and beat her mother and mother’s fiance over the heads with a hammer. They managed to survive Bucklew’s wrath. During the crime spree, he also got into a gun battle with law enforcement and survived a gunshot to the chest and head.

Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, the NAACP, Empower Missouri, the American Civil Liberties Union and others want Gov. Mike Parson to stop Bucklew’s execution. They argue that Bucklew’s rare brain condition could cause him to suffer a cruel death.

On Wednesday, they delivered some 57,000 petitions to Parson’s office making the request and resoundingly stating that the death penalty is not what Missouri stands for. According to ACLU volunteer Danielle Spradley, the petition signing has been circulated online for the past couple of months.

During Wednesday’s press conference at the state Capitol in Jefferson City, Jeff Stack with the Mid-Missouri Fellowship of Reconciliation says Bucklew would be the 89th person executed in the state since 1989.

“That’s a horrible number to think about. Missouri has been, sadly, a serial killer and we should be getting out of the business,” says Stack. “Mr. Bucklew committed some horrible crimes – no doubt. But we need to get out of this business of defining a human being by an action – a horrible action in their lives. We have no right to do that.”

Nimrod Chapel with the Missouri NAACP says the state’s high murder rate shows the death penalty does not prevent people from killing others.

“It’s almost as if murder has become passe,” says Chapel. “Well how does it get that way? We normalize it, right? The only other thing we could do with a state-sanctioned execution such as Mr. Bucklew’s, or any other for that matter, would be to show it on tv. Why not livestream it – if it has that effect? The truth is it doesn’t. Everybody recognizes that this is gross, that we as human beings shouldn’t be killing each other.”

If Missouri carries out Bucklew’s execution, Chapel says the state could likely face a higher level of scrutiny. The American Bar Association recommended that Missouri freezes the use of the death penalty.

“As I understand it, there will be an international inquiry as to whether Missouri has violated human rights laws by executing a man in Mr. Bucklew’s condition. So that’s what I think is next,” he says.

Chapel says there have been meetings with the governor and his staff about the case. He goes as far to say that Bucklew’s health warrants the man getting released from prison because Chapel says Bucklew is beyond the capacity to harm others.

Conner Kerrigan of Empower Missouri says the system is broken.

“We are not here because of a single bad decision by the Supreme Court. We are here because we have become dependent on a criminal justice system that was not built to consider any solution other than righteous punishment. We are here because of failure after failure after failure after failure of the system,” says Kerrigan. “Russell received no mitigation investigation for 20 years following his trial. This is a failure of the system. His family history of abuse, lead poisoning and opioid addiction were not mentioned at all during his trial, despite documentation that showed the effect that they had on him. This is a failure of the system. A secret payoff of a post-conviction lawyer muddied the waters of his investigation. This is a failure of the system.”

Parson spokesperson Kelli Jones says the governor takes seriously both his duty and responsibility to see that lawfully entered capital sentences are carried out in accordance with state law. Jones says each case of capital punishment will be thoroughly reviewed before any decision for pardon or clemency is made. She says Parson has consistently supported capital punishment when merited by the circumstances and all other legal remedies have been exhausted and when due process has been satisfied.

The Missouri Supreme Court has scheduled Bucklew’s execution to occur during a 24-hour window beginning Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the state prison in southeast Missouri’s Bonne Terre.