Legislature Archives - Missourinet

What we’re watching next week in Missouri Legislature: budget, oversight hearings and MLB antitrust exemption pushback

April 17, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

The proposed state operating budget will be heading to the Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee in Jefferson City next week for daily hearings and for consideration. The state Constitution requires lawmakers to approve a balanced budget by early May.

House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith (R-Carthage) and State Rep. Brad Hudson (R-Cape Fair) have a discussion on the Missouri House floor on April 1, 2021 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The Missouri House approved a $34.1 billion state operating budget this month, a budget which does not contain funding for Medicaid expansion. It includes a $76 million increase for foster and adoptive children, including a 45 percent increase to the clothing allowance for foster teens.

Kids Win Missouri policy director Craig Stevenson says the House budget provides unprecedented support for the kinship and foster families who care for the thousands of children in Missouri foster care. The state Department of Social Services (DSS) notes there are currently
13,939 foster care children in Missouri.

“It increases everything from the maintenance, the monthly maintenance payments that foster guardian and adoptive parents get. But then also increases important things like the diaper allowance for people who are caring for infants,” Stevenson told Missourinet this month.

House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith (R-Carthage) tells Missourinet that he will not be testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee next week. He says Committee Chairman State Sen. Dan Hegeman (R-Cosby) will be the Senate handler.

The House has also approved a budget blueprint from Chairman Smith that directs dollars slated for Medicaid expansion for other programs. Smith says it’s a $342 million bill. That includes $88 million for long-term care in nursing facilities, $15.5 million for k-12 school transportation, $2 million for adult high schools, $11.6 million for the Department of Mental Health (DMH) for alcohol and drug abuse treatment, $53 million to DMH for adult community programs and $30 million for programs like respite care, adult day care and home-delivered meals.

House Special Committee on Government Oversight Chair Rep. Jered Taylor (R-Nixa) speaks on the Missouri House floor in April 2021 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Democrats in the Missouri Senate are expected to try to restore funding for Medicaid expansion, which was approved by 53 percent of Missouri voters in August.

The issue of oversight will also get more attention next week in the Missouri House.

The House Special Committee on Government Oversight plans Monday and Tuesday hearings about operations within the Department of Social Services (DSS) and the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DOLIR). The issues at faith-based boarding schools like the now-defunct Circle of Hope will likely be discussed again.

Prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) legislation will be heard by the Missouri House Veterans Committee on Tuesday afternoon. The committee will hear testimony from bill sponsor State Sen. Holly Rehder (R-Scott City). The Senate has given final approval to PDMP, which is an electronic database that collects data on controlled substance prescriptions within a state. Missouri is the only state in the nation without a PDMP.

Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz (R-Sullivan) supports PDMP, saying it provides a layer of protection against drug and dependency and dangerous drug interactions.

Meantime, the Missouri Senate Rules, Joint Rules, Resolutions and Ethics Committee meets Tuesday to hear testimony from State Sen. Rick Brattin (R-Harrisonville) about his resolution, which urges Congress to end Major League Baseball’s (MLB) federal antitrust exemption. Senator Brattin’s resolution is in response to MLB’s decision to move the All-Star game from Atlanta because of Georgia legislation requiring photo ID.

“This is yet another instance of corporate virtue signaling and sports stoking the culture wars in this country,” Brattin said last week. He also says MLB is undercutting the basis of its antitrust exemption. He notes the exemption has been in place since a 1922 U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Critics of the Georgia law say it will make it more difficult for minorities and the elderly to vote.

Missouri’s gasoline tax will also be discussed this week. The Missouri House Transportation Committee meets Wednesday afternoon at 5 to hear testimony from Pro Tem Schatz (R-Sullivan) about his bill, which increases the state’s gasoline tax by 2.5 cents each year, for a total of a 12.5 cent per gallon increase by 2025. The GOP-controlled Missouri Senate has already given final approval to the bill.

Missouri’s 17-cent per gallon gasoline tax has remained the same since 1996.

Missouri lawmaker and veteran referee says sports officials are being harassed and threatened by parents and fans (AUDIO)

April 17, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

Bipartisan legislation aimed at protecting sports referees, officials and umpires will be heard Monday afternoon by a Missouri House committee in Jefferson City.

State Rep. Jerome Barnes (D-Raytown) speaks on the Missouri House floor in Jefferson City on March 11, 2021 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The House General Laws Committee will hear testimony Monday at 5 p.m. from State Rep. Jerome Barnes (D-Raytown), who’s been a high school football and basketball referee for 27 years. Mr. Barnes has also served as a volleyball referee for ten years.

The issue is a personal one for Barnes, who tells Missourinet that officials are being threatened by parents and fans.

“Fans are yelling and hollering: ‘I’ll see you out in the parking lot. You know, my son didn’t do no wrong.’ And it’s like, you blow the whistle on one of them, and they can’t do no wrong,” Barnes says.

He notes a referee was attacked and knocked out in Raytown in 2018, during a JV girls basketball game. The fan came out of the stands, went down on the basketball court and knocked the referee out, according to Barnes.

His bill establishes the offense of harassment of a school or recreation athletic official. Under the two-page House Bill 78, harassment of a school or recreation athletic official is defined as “verbal or nonverbal behavior by a person that would cause a reasonable person to be placed in fear of receiving bodily harm.”

Under the bill, anyone who commits the offense of harassing a sports official would face up to 90 days in jail and a fine up to $500. They could also face 40 hours of court-approved community service work, anger management counseling and could also be ordered to participate in abusive behavior intervention groups.

Barnes thanks House Speaker Rob Vescovo (R-Arnold) for referring his bill, and he’s thankful to General Laws Committee Chairman Curtis Trent (R-Springfield) for holding Monday’s hearing. Barnes says he’s trying to raise awareness about the issue. He also says recruiting officials is a problem in Missouri, because of the threats and harassment they face.

“Young people 15 and 16-years-old, we used to be able to get them to come out and referee ballgames. They’re having a hard time doing that now, due to the harassment and the way the fans treat them,” says Barnes.

He says the average age of a sports official is in their mid-50s, and says kids are able to play a sport and display their talents because of those referees, officials and umpires.

“These are human beings out there, they are working people. They work in the communities. They go to church in the community, they are teachers,” Barnes says.

HB 78 also addresses fans who enter or remain on-site at a school or recreation athletic contest, after being forbidden.

Representative Barnes is also working with State Rep. Brad Pollitt (R-Sedalia) on a separate bill, which would expand the definition of special victim to include sports officials at sporting events.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and State Rep. Jerome Barnes (D-Raytown), who’s been a high school football and basketball referee for 27 years. The interview was recorded on April 16, 2021:

Missouri House gives green light to bill letting drivers turn left on red

April 17, 2021 By Alisa Nelson

The Missouri House of Representatives has passed a bill that would let drivers turn left after stopping at a red light on a one-way street.

State Rep. Chuck Basye speaks on the Missouri House floor in February 2018 (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

State Representative Chuck Basye’s bill would allow left turns during a red light when the vehicle is in the left-most lane on a one-way street turning onto another one-way street. Drivers would be required to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians and other vehicle traffic.

The measure would still let state and local authorities ban left on red turns for safety reasons.

Basye, R-Rocheport, has filed this legislation in previous years.

The measure moves to the Senate for consideration.

To view House Bill 570, click here.

Missouri House Oversight Committee chair announces DOLIR is suspending collection of unemployment overpayments (AUDIO)

April 16, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

Just two days after being grilled again by state lawmakers in both parties, the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DOLIR) is suspending all collection of unemployment overpayments, at this time.

Missouri House Special Committee on Government Oversight Chair Rep. Jered Taylor (R-Nixa) speaks on the House floor on March 4, 2021 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Missouri House Special Committee on Government Oversight Chairman State Rep. Jered Taylor (R-Nixa) made the announcement on the House floor Thursday in Jefferson City, to bipartisan applause.

“So I just want to let the members (state representatives) know that all collection efforts for all Missourians, 46,000 people who are having overpayment collection efforts being taken on them right now, are all on pause and again that’s due to the work that our (oversight) committee did so thank you, Mr. Speaker,” Chairman Taylor says.

DOLIR has posted a short message on its website, which confirms what Chairman Taylor said on the floor.

DOLIR has testified that the state overpaid more than $150 million in unemployment benefits last year and that 46,000 Missourians have been impacted by the unemployment overpayments.

Taylor says collections are being suspended “until we get the work done in this body.”

“And it’s due to the good work of the Government Oversight Committee, so I just wanted to thank the members for holding the Department (of Labor) accountable and holding them to what they agreed to to our body,” says Taylor.

State Rep. Raychel Proudie (D-Ferguson), the oversight committee’s ranking Democrat, has raised the same concerns that Taylor has.

The issue has been the subject of several bipartisan hearings by the Oversight Committee, which also learned about the COVID pandemic’s massive impact on Missouri’s economy and on the unemployment system.

DOLIR Director Anna Hui testified in February that Missouri paid out $236 million in unemployment benefits in 2019. That number increased to $5.1 billion in 2020, due to the pandemic.

During that February hearing, lawmakers in both parties said that Missourians who didn’t commit fraud should not have to repay money, because the state made the error.

State Rep. Richard Brown (D-Kansas City), the assistant minority floor leader, told Director Hui that a woman he knows received a letter in January, asking her to repay $23,000. Representative Brown has said the woman doesn’t have the money.

During the February hearing, State Rep. J. Eggleston (R-Maysville) read a letter from a northwest Missouri teacher who was told that she must repay $9,000, because of the state’s error. Representative Eggleston said that day that the teacher wishes she had been denied unemployment, to begin with.

Click here to listen to the short announcement from House Special Committee on Government Oversight Chairman State Rep. Jered Taylor (R-Nixa), which was made on the Missouri House floor on April 15, 2021:

Military installations have major presence in Missouri’s Fourth Congressional District

April 15, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

A Missouri House committee on congressional redistricting will hear public testimony Thursday morning in Jefferson City from residents who live in west-central Missouri’s Fourth Congressional District.

U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Harrisonville) is serving in her sixth term on Capitol Hill (file photo courtesy of the congresswoman’s website)

The 24-county district includes Columbia, Moberly, Sedalia, Warrensburg, Waynesville, Lebanon and Nevada. Fort Leonard Wood near Waynesville and Whiteman Air Force Base near Knob Noster are both located in the 4th District.

In-person and written testimony will be accepted Thursday morning at 8:30 at the Statehouse. The Missouri House Special Committee on Redistricting is looking for information from residents about the district’s characteristics, including the things that make it good and bad.

U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Harrisonville) has represented the district since 2011. She is serving in her sixth term on Capitol Hill, and is on the House Armed Services and Agriculture committees.

Congresswoman Hartzler defeated Democrat Lindsey Simmons in November, winning 67 percent of the vote. Hartzler received 245,247 votes, to Simmons’ 107,635.

The late U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Lexington) was the last Democrat to represent the sprawling district. He served 17 terms and 34 years in Congress, including a stint as chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

Skelton served in Congress from 1977 to 2011. Hartzler unseated him in November 2010.

Missouri Senate to hear bipartisan legislation on Wednesday on faith-based boarding schools; Householders remain jailed without bond

April 14, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

Bipartisan legislation aimed at regulating faith-based boarding schools like the now-defunct Circle of Hope Girls’ Ranch in southwest Missouri’s Humansville will be heard Wednesday by a Missouri Senate committee in Jefferson City.

State Reps. Keri Ingle (D-Lee’s Summit) and Rudy Veit (R-Wardsville) testify before a Missouri House committee in Jefferson City on February 10, 2021 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The Senate Seniors, Families, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee will hear the bill from State Reps. Rudy Veit (R-Wardsville) and Keri Ingle (D-Lee’s Summit). The Missouri House gave final approval to the Veit-Ingle bill in late March. That vote was 148-0.

Representative Ingle has said that the issue with faith-based boarding schools goes well beyond the Circle of Hope, and that this appears to be a systemic issue.

Current Missouri law doesn’t allow any regulation or oversight on residential care facilities for children, as long as the facilities declare themselves as religious.

“That meant that they had absolutely zero oversight at all,” Ingle told Missourinet in mid-February. “There were no regulations, no oversight. And that means no health and safety standards. No background checks, no criminal background checks.”

The owners of the Circle of Hope ranch remain jailed without bond, after being charged with 102 felonies between them. Boyd and Stephanie Householder are from southern Missouri’s Nevada, which is near Humansville.

Attorney General Eric Schmitt (R) announced the criminal charges in March in Jefferson City, telling Capitol reporters that the charges against the Householders are horrific.

“With 16 victims so far, we believe this to be one of the most widespread cases of sexual, physical and mental abuse patterns against young girls in Missouri history,” Schmitt announced in March.

Boyd Householder is charged with 80 felonies, including 56 counts of child abuse or neglect. Many of the charges are for alleged sex crimes.

Court documents allege that Boyd Householder punished one girl for drinking water, by forcing her to drink 220 ounces of water and then run until she vomited. In another case, duct tape was placed over a child’s mouth for several hours, before Boyd Householder allegedly “ripped the pieces off all at once,” according to court documents.

The 22 felony charges against Stephanie Householder include 12 counts of child abuse or neglect and ten counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

The next court appearance for the Householders is a preliminary hearing, which is set for May 20 in Stockton.

Ingle, the top Democrat on the Missouri House Children’s and Families Committee, was featured during a February episode of NBC’s “Dateline”, for her legislation.

Missouri shares virus aid spending suggestions with K-12 schools

April 14, 2021 By Alisa Nelson

The U.S. Department of Education says Missouri’s K-12 schools will get nearly $2 billion in total federal aid from the latest coronavirus plan. State Department of Elementary and Secondary Education spokeswoman Mallory McGowin said health experts suggest spending some of the virus funding on the basics.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson visits a St. Louis school on July 29, 2020 (file photo courtesy of the governor’s Flickr page)

“The experts shared that while good sanitation in schools is never something that you should omit, purchasing those UV cleaning systems that can be quite pricey or spending a lot of money to do these extraordinary cleaning measures may not be the place to invest your resources. The experts shared that continuing to purchase masks for students, continuing some of those other mitigation strategies would be a better place to drop their dollars into,” she said.

As schools consider what to use the money for, McGowin said many Missouri schools are not set up to have much social distancing.

“If you’re not able to utilize that layer of protection – keeping students and staff at least three feet apart now per the new CDC guidance – then you need to layer on the additional mitigation strategies. That’s when masks become prudent. That’s when the plexiglass barriers and things like that become something you really need to sink your energy into,” she said.

Some Missouri communities and local school boards have lifted coronavirus restrictions. McGowin said now is not the time to ease up school health rules.

“From our perspective and the perspective of the Department of Health and Senior Services, all are in alignment that those mitigation strategies that schools are using and that we’re seeing work must remain in place to ensure that we can continue to offer those in-person learning opportunities safety and with little to no interruption,” she said.

The state strongly encourages the use of face masks but McGowin said there are no financial penalties against schools that do not require masks.

Missouri gaining ground along broadband superhighway, but many more miles to go

April 14, 2021 By Alisa Nelson

A new report says Missouri ranks 32nd in the nation in broadband internet access – a positive step from 41st just a couple years ago. Federal and state aid have helped to boost access around Missouri.

The report says 23% of Missouri students still do not have access to high-speed internet. Plus, it says the state ranks in the bottom five for access to low-cost internet.

Missouri gaining ground along broadband superhighway, but many more miles to go (Photo courtesy of Alisa Nelson)

During a state Board of Education meeting Tuesday, Tim Arbeiter, state Director of Missouri’s Broadband Development Office, said there is still a lot of work to do.

“Within the next three years, I think we could probably cut our divide in half. But I still think we are going to have challenges ahead of us in the affordability space. As I listen to my colleagues across the state, when affordability programs are active and live, there is still some hesitancy from populations to hook on. We don’t know the aspects and the why to that. So, we need to understand that little piece a little bit better,” said Arbeiter.

Arbeiter said Missouri has 255 broadband internet providers, including cable, wireless, electric, and telecommunication companies.

Rob Dixon, the director of the state Department of Economic Development, said Missouri’s economy will not grow without continuing to boost broadband access.

“It’s a key plank in our overall economic development strategy,” says Dixon. “The big question of is it an affordability issue or is it an access issue or is it a device issue. The answer is yes on all of those things. And so, it is a pretty challenging issue all around.”

He said data shows Missouri is a mixed bag in its state of broadband.

“The bottom line message I think that we have is there is still very much a gap that we are trying to close, but we are moving in that right direction. We’re still on the wrong side of that list but we are moving forward. It’s a difficult issue to talk about kind of in a positive way because there is still such a big gap that we are trying to close. I think that’s why there’s so much urgency around this issue,” says Dixon.

Board member Pamela Westbrooks-Hodge of Pasadena Hills said some individuals in the corporate community want to help.

“Maybe where they plug in and play is with these short-term actions,” she said.

Members talked about broadband coverage being spotty from house to house. During the pandemic, some communities have set up portable wifi connections for students to access internet from a building or a parked bus, for instance.

“A lot of homework being done at the McDonalds,” said Board President Charlie Shields of St. Joseph.

To view the report, click here.

Missouri House Speaker and Ethics chair: legislator who resigned should be subject of thorough law enforcement investigation

April 13, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s GOP House Speaker and the GOP House Ethics Committee chair say a fellow Republican state lawmaker who resigned Tuesday is unfit for office and should be the subject of a thorough investigation by law enforcement.

State Rep. Rick Roeber (R-Lee’s Summit) resigned Tuesday (January 2021 photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

State Rep. Rick Roeber (R-Lee’s Summit), who resigned today, was elected to the House in November. His district includes Lee’s Summit and Greenwood. His now adult children have alleged that he abused them when they were young.

Here is the full statement from House Speaker Rob Vescovo (R-Arnold) and Ethics Chairman Travis Fitzwater (R-Holts Summit). It was issued Tuesday afternoon:

“Our caucus and our institution (the Missouri House) have a zero tolerance policy for anyone who would endanger the well-being of a child, and it’s clear that Rick Roeber’s heinous actions make him not only unfit for office, but should also make him the subject of a thorough investigation by law enforcement. To that end we have communicated with the appropriate law enforcement officials to share our concerns about the risk he may pose to other children. The House Ethics Committee did exemplary work in investigating the troubling allegations made by his children and found them to be credible. For far too long, his children were ignored and the abuses they suffered were swept under the rug. We are appalled by the disturbing details uncovered by the committee and ashamed of the way the system failed to protect them from harm. With his resignation today, we take an important step to protect the integrity of the House as an institution, but it’s far more important that we do all we can to seek justice for his children and to ensure he never again causes harm to another child. His resignation allows him to walk away from his duties as a representative, but we cannot allow him to once again walk away from the children he victimized. The committee will release its full report next week and we will continue to communicate with law enforcement on this matter,” the statement reads.

“The Independent” reported Tuesday that Missouri House legislative leaders have asked Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker to help ensure the safety of a minor child, with whom Roeber reportedly has regular contact. Representative Roeber has not been charged with a crime.

The Missouri House Ethics Committee has scheduled Wednesday, Thursday and Friday hearings in Jefferson City, but it’s unclear if they’re related to Roeber.

Roeber is a former project manager for Sprint, and also served as a chaplain for KC Rescue Mission.

Rehder’s bipartisan needle exchange legislation heads to Missouri House committee

April 13, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

Bipartisan legislation creating a hypodermic needle exchange program will be heard by a Missouri House committee Tuesday afternoon in Jefferson City.

State Sen. Holly Rehder (R-Scott City) speaks on the Missouri Senate floor in Jefferson City on March 9, 2021 (file photo courtesy of Harrison Sweazea at Senate Communications)

State Sen. Holly Rehder (R-Scott City), who has sponsored the bill for several years, will testify before the Missouri House Emerging Issues Committee. Her two-page Senate Bill 64 has already received final approval from the Missouri Senate.

Senator Rehder tells Missourinet that the needle exchange program would help prevent the spread of HIV and hepatitis. She has said that if addicts have access to clean needles, it would reduce the transmission of those diseases.

Under her bill, any entity that’s registered with the state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) that operates a syringe exchange program would be exempt from the offense of distribution or sale of drug paraphernalia, as long as the entity is not located within 500 feet of a school building.

Groups like St. Louis-based non-profit Criminal Justice Ministry have testified for the bill in previous years. They say it could save the state money in the long run.