Legislative Black Caucus Archives

Missouri Representative on special session: “Tough on crime approach does not actually reduce crime”

August 24, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

The Missouri House is in session today and is expected to take a preliminary vote on six crime bills. Gov. Mike Parson cites the state’s rising crime rate for calling the current special session.

Rep. Ashley Bland Manlove

Kansas City Democrat Ashley Bland Manlove, the Vice Chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, tells Missourinet she has met with the governor about a handful of times over the past year to discuss ways to reduce crime.

“When we asked him to hold a special session last year, he said a special session isn’t enough time to address a heavy issue like violence. And then literally the next year, which unfortunately happens to be an election year, he holds a session on violence. Interesting,” she says.

She says holistic approaches like additional counseling services, surveillance cameras, education funding and social services would help to root out violence – not the bills up for debate today.

“We learned from the 80s that tough on crime does not actually reduce crime,” she says. “You actually have to treat the person and invest in the human capital.”

One of the most contentious bills being considered today would let judges decide whether 16 to 18-year-olds should be prosecuted as adults and possibly go to prison for certain weapons crimes. Another controversial measure would remove a requirement for St. Louis police officers to live within the city. One measure Bland Manlove supports would create a witness protection fund to keep witnesses and their families safe before trial.

A bill absent from today’s lineup is one that would let the Missouri Attorney General get involved in some St. Louis murder cases. Parson expanded his special session call to urge lawmakers to pass the measure.

The Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, with many being Republican members, is strongly opposed to the proposal. The group of 115 prosecutors says it has consistently fought for decades against proposals that would give the state attorney general jurisdiction in local cases.

Other legislators also oppose the plan and accuse the governor of playing political games for going after St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner. The governor has publicly condemned Gardner for charging an affluent St. Louis couple with felonies after they pulled out their guns on protesters walking along their private street.

Green: COVID-19 outbreak in Missouri is disproportionately impacting African-American communities (AUDIO)

April 17, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

The top Democrat on the Missouri House Special Committee on Small Business is calling on the Parson administration to utilize more minority-owned businesses to manufacture personal protective equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

State Rep. Alan Green, D-Florissant, represents north St. Louis County, which has been hit hard by the outbreak.

State Rep. Alan Green, D-Florissant, speaks on the Missouri House floor in Jefferson City on February 19, 2020 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

“I’ve received phone calls from those that again have provided, they can provide masks and also even testing, some of them have their companies up and running, been established for many, many, many years,” Green says.

Green, a former Legislative Black Caucus Chairman, is asking Governor Mike Parson (R) to use the spending authority and discretion granted to him under the $6 billion supplemental budget to utilize more minority, female and disadvantaged business enterprise companies to make PPE. That includes masks, gloves and gowns.

The Legislature voted last week to approve the largest supplemental budget in state history, a $6.2 billion emergency relief package aimed at battling the pandemic, which has cost thousands of jobs around the state.

Representative Green also says the COVID-19 outbreak is disproportionately impacting African-American communities, especially in pockets of north St. Louis County. He says black residents are feeling a disproportionate impact of the disease, especially in north county.

“I look at other areas, of course when we look at all of St. Louis County and also St. Louis City, I’m not trying to just say zero in, but I am saying we are the hardest hit,” says Green.

In nearby St. Louis City, news reports this week say that 19 of the 24 people who have died were African-Americans.

State health officials say there are now 5,111 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Missouri, along with 152 deaths. The state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) announced the latest numbers Thursday afternoon.

Governor Parson recently announced that the state is proceeding with its first alternate care site to assist hospitals in the St. Louis region, treating an increased number of COVID-19 patients.

The governor says a hotel in Florissant is currently being converted into the care facility. That’s near Green’s district.

If necessary, the Florissant site could accommodate more than 100 people and be used to house those who test positive for COVID-19 with mild or no symptoms, as well as those exposed to it and referred by health care professionals as requiring treatment but not hospitalization.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and State Rep. Alan Green, D-Florissant, which was recorded on April 14, 2020: