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House sends hemp oil legislation to the Senate

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Missourians who suffer from treatment resistant epilepsy could be allowed to take an extract from cannabis under a law the House passed Thursday.

Representative Caleb Jones (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Representative Caleb Jones (R-Columbia) sponsored the hemp oil bill.  (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The bill would allow use of a hemp extract for treatment of epilepsy that a neurologist has determined is “intractable,” meaning it has resisted treatment by at least three known seizure inhibiting medications. Such extracts are low in THC, the chemical that makes marijuana users high, and larger amounts of cannabidiol, or CBD, that is said to be effective in preventing seizures.

The bill would allow growers who are not-for-profit and would be licensed by the Missouri Department of Agriculture. The state could also certify universities to grow cannabis for the extract and for research on industrial hemp.

Representative John McCaherty (R-High Ridge) said the legislation represents something Missouri can do that would truly help people.

“During one of our committee meetings we had a family there and they had a little child that was in an infant seat and within just the matter of the 20, 30, 40 minutes that it took for us to have that committee meeting that child never stopped having a seizure,” said McCaherty. “This was the one thing that they were asking.”

Representative Glen Kolkmeyer (R-Odessa) says he’s been convinced since the bill received initial passage that the proposal is a good idea.

“I’ve received two e-mails from constituents whose children have had epilepsy and they basically say, ‘Just help us,'” says Kolkmeyer. “I wasn’t sure where I was going to vote on this the other day, but today I will support it.”

The bill would allow the use of hemp extract oil with no more than 0.3 percent THC and a minimum of 5 percent CBD. Users or their parents would have to have a state-issued registration card.

The proposal was sent to the Senate 139-13 with a clause that would make it effective immediately upon being signed by the Governor.

House committee hears five takes on ethics reform

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The House Committee on General Laws spent an hour-and-a-half Tuesday afternoon hearing five different proposals that all take different approaches at ethics reform. Lawmakers left that hearing appearing to agree that ethics reform is needed. Governor Jay Nixon and Secretary of State Jason Kander have also called for ethics reform, and legislation on the issue was also heard in a Senate committee Tuesday afternoon.

Three of those bills include a limitation on how quickly after leaving office a former legislator can become a lobbyist. That was one provision that drew criticism from some lawmakers.

Representative Rocky Miller (R-Tuscumbia) questions the need for such a provision.

“Everybody wants to limit what somebody does for a living. I thought the whole point of being a free nation was that we could grow up and become adults and go to work and do what we want to do for a living.”

Representative Mike Colona (D-St. Louis County) says such provisions could cause the law to be thrown out by a judge.

“You’re telling me I can’t work in an industry that I’ve been in for the last 8 years, or 6 years, or 4 years, to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.”

Representative Kevin McManus (D-Kansas City) says one problem with lawmakers immediately becoming lobbyists is that those individuals would be allowed to convert campaign contributions to personal use for someone else.

He explains to one committee member, “If you employ me to work on your campaign and you pay me $10,000 and I don’t do one thing, you’ve just transferred your campaign funds to me and we’ve gotten around this whole issue of converting campaign funds to private use.”

Committee Chairman Caleb Jones (R-Columbia) suggests that rather than one, comprehensive proposal, the committee should consider sending out several bills that address different ethics issues.

“My concern is,” Jones says, “that this would go before a judge on one piece of [a large bill], the judge is going to throw the whole bill out and we’re stuck back where we are, where the public keeps having concerns about how we operate.”

McManus, whose proposal is the largest of the five heard Tuesday, told Jones he would be open to breaking its provisions up into a series of bills.

Policy Director John Scott with the Secretary of State’s Office commended the committee for taking on the ethics issue.

“I think it speaks well of the committee … I think Missourians around the state who have expressed support for ethics reform would really appreciate that.”

The committee has not voted on any of those bills.

The five proposals are:

HB 1340 (McManus)

HB 1440 (Randy Dunn)

HB 1258 (Caleb Rowden)

HB 1260 (Jones)

HB 1267 (Robert Cornejo)

House passes plan to resume taxing of out-of-state vehicle purchases

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The House has approved an attempt at resuming collection of taxes on vehicles purchased out-of-state, after a state Supreme Court ruling halted it earlier this year.

Representative Caleb Jones (Photo courtesy, Missouri House Communications)

The Court ruled that Missouri should not have been collecting sales tax on vehicles bought outside Missouri. An amendment offered by Representative Caleb Jones (R-California) would take a new approach by redefining a sale. “It simply states that the consummation of a sale of a motor vehicle out-of-state is deemed consummated whenever it is registered here by the owner at the Department of Revenue.”

Representative Craig Redmon (R-Canton) says cities and counties must be allowed to resume collection of those taxes.

“In my district (in northeast Missouri), on the low side if we don’t get this reenacted, in one year that district’s going to lose $420,000. On the high side, that’s going to be one million, three hundred thousand. That’s doing 80 cars a week at $10,000 a car. That’s a huge financial impact to our state if we don’t do something.”

Representatives Nick Marshall (R-Platte City) and Stanley Cox (R-Sedalia) say the proposal, by redefining when a sale is closed, is an innovative end-run around the Constitution, and say the tax should be put to a vote of the people.

The language was amended to SB 591, which was sent back to the Senate for consideration on a vote of 122-21.