Legislature

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.

Missouri political scientist doubtful Trump intervenes in Greitens’ fate

April 19, 2018 By Alisa Nelson

A political scientist is skeptical of President Donald Trump getting involved in Governor Eric Greitens’ future. Robynn Kuhlmann with the University of Central Missouri is responding to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch story about Trump’s administration gauging the level of support for the troubled CEO of the state by calling Missouri legislators.

Missouri Governor Eric Greitens (Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI)

“At this point, in terms of the Trump administration, they’ve been I’d say fairly cautious about getting involved in things at the state level,” she says.

The president faces sexual and bribery allegations by other women. Greitens has been accused of sexual manipulation, violence and blackmail by his ex-mistress.
Would Trump go as far as defending Greitens?

Kuhlmann is unsure but says the president has been “consistently inconsistent” in his messaging about different political issues at the national level.

The newspaper report also says some legislators have reached out to the White House and others have been contacted by the Trump administration about the subject matter. Last week, State Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, sent a letter to Trump urging the president to call on the governor to resign.

Greitens has admitted to infidelity but denies any criminal allegations.

A St. Louis Circuit Court judge is expected to decide today about a request to dismiss Greitens’ case. His legal team is accusing the prosecutor of withholding evidence. A technical glitch was originally blamed for a videotaped interview with the alleged victim not being submitted for evidence. The videotape resurfaced shortly after a House committee investigating Greitens released a report detailing the woman’s testimony.

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 political scientist weighs in on Trump getting involved in Greitens controversy

April 18, 2018 By Alisa Nelson

Three members of the Legislature tell the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that President Trump’s administration is “actively gauging” the mood in Missouri about the way to handle Governor Greitens’ fate. The newspaper report also says some legislators have reached out to the White House and others have been contacted by the Trump administration about the subject matter.

Peverill Squire (Photos courtesy of the University of Missouri)

Mizzou political scientist Peverill Squire thinks Trump is trying figure out how much his reputation is damaged by what people think of Greitens’ situation.

“I know there are a number of Republicans that would probably like to have the administration help pressure Governor Greitens to leave and the administration will have to decide whether that’s a step that they would really be willing to take,” Squire says.

Greitens is being investigated for allegedly using violence and manipulating his ex-mistress into performing sexual acts in 2015. Squire tells Missourinet Trump has his own controversies – some similar to Greitens.

“I think they would (Trump officials) prefer to stay out of it and not have the two too closely linked by having the administration come in and try to push out Greitens at the same time they’re resisting any attempts along those lines in terms of keeping Trump in office,” Squire says.

If Trump calls on the governor, a Navy SEAL, to resign, would Greitens listen?

Gov. Eric Greitens

“It’s not clear that the governor would be willing to listen. He has, to this point, ignored a lot of prominent members here of the Republican party in the state who have asked him to resign. It certainly would be hard to resist pressure from Trump and Vice President Pence, who has a relationship with Greitens. But, he (Greitens) has dug in his heels to this point and it may take something even beyond the president to remove him,” says Squire.

On Tuesday, Senate President Ron Richard of Joplin, House Speaker Todd Richardson of Poplar Bluff, Speaker Pro Tem Elijah Haahr of Springfield and Majority Floor Leader Rob Vescovo of Arnold all called on Greitens to step down. Richard went a step further and said he thinks impeachment proceedings should begin immediately. Minutes later, the governor jumped on Twitter to say he’s not giving up.

“Given the situation where the Republicans are the overwhelming majority in the General Assembly and to have their leaders come out against a Republican governor is extraordinary,” Squire says. “I think the important thing to note is that there are very few, if any, voices that are really rallying around the governor.”

Officials from the Missouri Republican Party seem to be staying out of the fight.

“The party is kind of an awkward position. They don’t really want to have to step in to a battle between two of their more prominent candidates if they want to get between Hawley and Greitens right now,” says Squire. “I think they are laying low but they are probably looking to legislative leaders to carry the burden.”

Attorney General Josh Hawley

On Tuesday, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley said evidence shows fellow Greitens might have committed a felony by taking and using a charity donor list for campaign fundraising. Hawley says the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s office holds the power to decide whether to file charges against Greitens for allegedly getting the list without permission of officials from Greitens’ former charity.

An attorney for Greitens has filed a temporary restraining order that aims to remove the Attorney General’s office from investigating Greitens and his administration. The request filed this afternoon in Cole County Circuit Court also asks to assign a special prosecutor for any further investigative work.

Legislative aide arrested at Missouri Capitol for child sex crime allegations

April 18, 2018 By Alisa Nelson

Carter Ballman

A Missouri House legislative aide faces child sex crime allegations. A press release from the Boone County Sheriff’s Office says 24-year-old Carter Ballmann of Jefferson City has been arrested for responding to an online post by an undercover officer posing as a 14-year-old female. Ballmann allegedly persuaded the decoy to sneak out of her home and requested nude photos of her.

Ballman works for Republican State Rep. Mark Matthiesen of eastern Missouri’s Maryland Heights.

Law enforcement officials cannot confirm whether state resources, such as a computer, have been confiscated as possible evidence.

The suspect’s bond has been set at $100,000. At the time of this story being published, Ballman has not been charged.

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.

The Process, guest commentary by Bob Priddy

April 18, 2018 By Missourinet Contributor

This is a time of strong opinions, strong statements, and strong actions. In such times it is important to recognize there is The Process.

The Process often is ugly. The Process often is painful. The Process often seems to take longer than it should.

But The Process is what assures us that there is order. And without order, there is no justice.

This is one of those times when The Process emerges from its normal daily work to become a prominent factor in our state political system.

This observer has seen two Speakers of the House and one Attorney General sent to prison. He has seen a Secretary of State impeached and removed from office. He has seen a State Treasurer exonerated after being charged with profiting from state funds. He has covered criminal proceedings against at least 17 members of the House and three members of the Senate that resulted in convictions or guilty pleas to misdemeanors and to felonies.

In forty years of front-line reporting in state government, he watched 1,032 people serve in the General Assembly, interviewed or covered (in one form or another) eleven governors, nine lieutenant governors, eleven Secretaries of State, eleven state auditors, ten state treasurers, and eight attorneys general. Now he is watching something new and wondering how, in the end, this circumstance will fit into the list of those mentioned in the earlier paragraph.

For the first time in state history, a sitting governor faces both criminal proceedings and the potential for removal efforts. People from both sides are calling for him to resign.

The Process has become his greatest protection as well as his greatest threat. It diminishes emotion. It provides a structure for a balanced determination of justice. It is not perfect but The Process gives balance in times of fierce attacks and equally fierce denials.

A special House committee has presented its first report of the legitimacy of allegations against the governor, who has called its work a “witch hunt.” The committee was led by an honorable chairman, wisely picked by a Speaker who has chosen to respect The Process despite the difficulties the committee’s hearings might cause for several people whose lives have been altered by events. The committee has not judged the governor but it has concluded the key witness against him is credible.

The governor says the report was drafted without any testimony in his own defense. The committee reports the governor refused invitations to testify. The governor says he will testify after his criminal trial ends and that is within his rights. Simply put, the stakes are higher in his criminal trial than they are in the committee’s study. The potential loss of office is serious but not nearly as serious as a potential conviction and possible loss of freedom in the criminal case. The governor’s decision is not really that hard to make under those circumstances. It is a legitimate part of The Process.

While the committee’s first report seems to be devastating news for the governor, it also is valuable news to the governor because it provides him and his defenders with a strong preview of the kind of testimony they will have to attack in the criminal proceeding next month. It also provides them with a challenge. They must determine how to undermine the credibility of that testimony without antagonizing a jury. The governor says he is confident a jury of his peers will exonerate him. His lawyers gain through this report an understanding of a fine line they will have to walk in disputing the validity of the testimony without making the witness so sympathetic in the eyes of the jury that the jury of peers tilts the wrong way for their client.

It’s The Process at work.

The committee report strengthens and increases the resolve of those who demand the governor resign. But it also strengthens his position that he should stay because a report is not a jury nor are those demanding his resignation jurors. As long as The Process considers a person innocent until proven guilty within The System, he is innocent.

He still retains the powers of governor although his ability to govern remains badly weakened. But if he resigns the office he was elected to hold and then is found not guilty of criminal charges, he has no way of returning to the office in which the voters chose him to serve.

The Speaker and the President Pro Tem have said the legislature will start its process of convening a special session to consider penalties for the behavior described by the committee’s witness. Voters in 1988 approved a constitutional amendment letting the legislature convene itself in special session for as many as thirty days without a call of the governor. Article III, Section 20(b) says the session can be called by three-fourths of the members of the House and three-fourths of the members of the Senate, a big requirement but a possibility given the committee report and the existing poor relations between the governor and the legislature.

The House does not have the power to remove the governor. It can only file charges. The Senate, in the case of a sitting governor, does not have the power of removal either. Its authority rests in appointing seven “eminent jurists” to conduct a legal proceeding. Again, The Process brings the matter into The System where justice is determined, we should all hope, in a non-partisan and less emotional setting. Only those jurists can determine if he should forfeit his office.

This also is a time for firm hands on the reins in the legislature. While the committee continues investigating the governor—-and there is no indication when it might drop the other shoe—the legislature still has about five weeks to focus on its lawmaking responsibilities. The legislature must provide a budget that will keep government services going to the people who need them. It also must determine the fates of several issues that will affect the hourly lives of Missouri citizens. That is its responsibility until 6 p.m., May 18.

It is not precluded, with three-fourths of the members agreeing, during that time from setting a date for the House to begin impeachment proceedings in a special session. It might choose—out of respect for The Process—to set dates that do not conflict with the governor’s right as a citizen to obtain a fair trial. That’s The System, maintaining order in the legislative process.

The governor, as is his prerogative, is entitled to his office until he is removed or disqualified from holding it. While retaining his position is not popular with many people, it is his prerogative.

The Process is in place and it is moving. It is protecting the governor while at the same time threatening him, as it would do with you and me if we were facing serious accusations. The result might not be what you or I would prefer. But The Process is, in the end, our best hope for justice for you and me.

And for the governor.

Appears on Bob’s Blog at bobpriddy.net.

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.

Munzlinger, Houghton hopeful Missouri working animal bill will pass (AUDIO)

April 18, 2018 By Brian Hauswirth

Compromise legislation that would prohibit Missouri cities and towns from banning the use of a working animal was heard Tuesday afternoon by a House committee in Jefferson City.

State Sen. Brian Munzlinger (R-Williamstown)

Missouri Senate Agriculture, Food Production and Outdoor Resources Committee Chairman Brian Munzlinger, R-Williamstown, testifies efforts to ban carriage rides in St. Louis prompted this bill.

Munzlinger emphasizes he’s worked with all parties on the bill’s language.

“This bill does not take away local control and the ability of the cities to make rules about working animals on public streets, especially when it comes to the health and welfare of the animals or the citizens,” Munzlinger testifies.

Munzlinger’s bill defines “working animal” as the use of any animal for the purpose of performing a specific duty in entertainment, transportation or educational exhibits.

Munzlinger notes the bill creates a definition that lawmakers have never had before. Livestock animals are not included in the definition.

During his testimony, Munzlinger emphasized multiple times that his legislation to prohibit cities and towns from banning the use of working animals still protects local control.

“So if the city of St. Louis feels that they need to say there should not be any horse-drawn carriages out in rush-hour traffic, that’s okay, as long as the rules and regulations are not intended to ban the whole industry,” says Munzlinger.

Munzlinger testified before the Missouri House Agriculture Policy Committee, which is chaired by veteran State Rep. Jay Houghton, R-Martinsburg.

Chairman Houghton hopes the compromise legislation will be approved by the end of session, which is May 18.

Houghton’s committee heard about 45 minutes of testimony Tuesday, including Missouri Farm Bureau’s testimony expressing concern with some of the bill’s language.

“The concerns that I’ve heard deals with a city or municipality imposing fees upon these folks that own working animals that could possibly keep them from doing business in a town,” Houghton says.

Munzlinger responded to Farm Bureau’s language concerns during the hearing, saying that the bill has been “out there” for four months.

Houghton tells Missourinet his policy is for the committee to hear a bill one week and vote on it the following week, indicating the committee will likely vote next week.

The Senate has already passed the bill, and Munzlinger and Houghton are both hopeful the House can pass the same version by the end of session.

Houghton admits time is a factor, with the session’s end one month away.

This is the eighth version of Munzlinger’s bill.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and House Ag Policy Committee Chairman Jay Houghton, R-Martinsburg, which was recorded on April 17, 2018 at the Statehouse in Jefferson City: