State Rep. Hannah Kelly Archives

UPDATE: Missouri House gives final approval to budget; feral hog debate gets heated

May 8, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

The Missouri House voted Friday afternoon in Jefferson City to give final approval to a $35.2 billion state operating budget, after some heated discussion earlier in the day about feral hogs and other issues relating to the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, (right) and House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, discuss the state budget in Jefferson City on May 8, 2020 (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The budget is now in the Missouri Senate, which must approve it by 6 p.m. tonight.

House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, says the compromise budget between the House and Senate contains $20 million for Missouri meat processing facilities, impacted by COVID-19. Smith says it’s for plants with less than 200 employees, for support, workforce assistance, equipment and capital improvements.

The bipartisan funding for the plants is aimed at helping them address supply chain disruptions and to mitigate health and environmental impacts as a result of the pandemic.

The budget also contains $12 million for broadband expansion, relating to the pandemic. Budget Chairman Smith and ranking Democrat Kip Kendrick, D-Columbia, say that is critical.

It also includes $2 million for the Missouri Lottery to advertise. The original House budget cut it to $100,000, but the Senate allocated $3 million. Budget negotiators settled on the $2 million.

There was also heated discussion today on the Missouri House floor, after State Rep. Deb Lavender, D-Kirkwood, blasted the Senate, saying they took $100,000 out of the budget for hungry women/children. Lavender called that decision shameful.

State Rep. Hannah Kelly, R-Mountain Grove, and Representative Lavender then had a heated discussion about “setting the record straight”, but disagree on what that record is. They spoke over each other at times.

State Rep. Robert Ross, R-Yukon, described Lavender’s floor comments as “factually wrong”, saying the budget expands the “Share the Harvest” program to $300,000. Ross also blasted the Missouri Department of Conservation, saying they tried to put $100,000 in the budget for a new forest service employee.

Ross tells the House that employee would have “harassed” feral hog hunters at the Mark Twain National Forest.

Normally, the Missouri Capitol’s public fourth-floor galleries are packed with lobbyists and schoolchildren, during budget debate. However, due to COVID-19 concerns, there was just one person observing today.

Bill would keep registered sex offenders away from Missouri conservation areas

February 9, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

A southern Missouri lawmaker wants to keep sex offenders away from state Conservation areas, to protect children and families.

State Rep. Hannah Kelly, R-Mountain Grove, chairs the House Subcommittee on Appropriations for Conservation. Her bill will be heard Monday at noon by the House Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee in Jefferson City.

House Bill 2142 is a one-page bill. It would ban registered sex offenders from nature or education centers controlled by the Missouri Department of Conservation, and sex offenders would have to stay at least 500 feet away from those areas.

Under the bill, the first violation would be a class E felony, and any subsequent violations would be a class D felony.

Kelly tells Missourinet her intent is to keep children and residents safe in and near Conservation nature and education centers. The Missouri Department of Conservation has several of these facilities. They include the Runge Nature Center in Jefferson City, the Springfield Conservation Nature Center and the Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center in southeast Missouri.

Schoolchildren frequently visit Conservation nature and education centers.

State law currently bans registered sex offenders from being within 500 feet of public parks with playground equipment, public swimming pools and children’s museums.

Missouri lawmakers draw attention to feral hog issue during budget hearing (AUDIO)

January 28, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Two southern Missouri state lawmakers are unhappy with a letter the state Department of Agriculture (MDA) director has sent to the U.S. Forest Service, in support of their decision to close the Mark Twain National Forest to feral hog hunting.

State Rep. Robert Ross, R-Yukon, speaks at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City on August 22, 2019 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The issue came up during Monday afternoon’s Missouri House Budget Committee hearing in Jefferson City, when State Reps. Robert Ross, R-Yukon, and Scott Cupps, R-Shell Knob, mentioned the issue to MDA Director Chris Chinn, during her budget presentation.

Chinn testifies that Oklahoma has gone away from an approach Missouri was using, including hunting.

“One of the things that we learned from them (Oklahoma) is that, that above-all approach that we had been taking, they had tried as well and it didn’t work,” Chinn tells Representative Ross.

“Especially not when your (Missouri) Department of Conservation is actively working against the private landowners,” Ross responded.

The above-all approach that Director Chinn is referring to is a policy that some hunters and ranchers near the Mark Twain National Forest want to continue. It involved trapping by Conservation officials, but also hunting by residents.

Ross, who chairs the House Special Committee on Government Oversight, serves on the Budget Committee. He questions Chinn’s letter.

“That’s what really surprised me is that your agency (MDA) would take a position that was in directly in opposition of working with the private landowners, following along with the misguided approach the Missouri Department of Conservation is now pushing,” Ross tells Director Chinn.

Ross says his Texas County constituents support eradicating feral hogs, by hunting. He and Cupps say residents should be allowed to hunt for the hogs on public land.

The Missouri Department of Conservation says allowing residents to hunt feral hogs has increased the number of the animals, along with their range. Conservation agents say there have been illegal releases by people who wanted to hunt feral hogs for recreation.

The Conservation Department has launched a new plan, which aims to eliminate feral hog damage by trapping and killing the hogs themselves.

Director Chinn says feral hogs are a threat to Missouri livestock. She backs the Forest Service’s decision to close the Mark Twain National Forest to feral hog hunting.

Chinn testifies that MDA’s job, through its Animal Health division, is to protect Missouri from diseases. She says if African swine fever were to hit Missouri through the feral hog population, it would be a threat to livestock producers and agribusiness.

“A lot of these livestock eat the corn and the soybean that are raised on many of these farms, and if we should have a disease threat like that hit Missouri, it’s not only going to hurt the livestock industry, it’s going to hit our row crop as well as our grain elevators,” Chinn testifies.

Chinn emphasizes that what’s been done previously isn’t working.

After several minutes of questioning, State Rep. Hannah Kelly, R-Mountain Grove, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Appropriations for Agriculture, asked Ross and Cupps to save the feral hog discussion for another date, when both MDA and the Conservation Department can attend. Kelly wanted Chinn to have time to present her budget.

The issue has been a big one at the Missouri Capitol. Just last week, about 150 southern Missouri hunters and ranchers protested quietly outside the governor’s office, saying the MDC-federal approach won’t work.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s interview with Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA) Director Chris Chinn, which was recorded at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City on January 27, 2020:

Lone grocery store in southern Missouri town, struck by May tornado, reopens

October 20, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

A small southern Missouri town whose only grocery store was struck by a May tornado has good news.

The National Weather Service (NWS) in Springfield issued a tornado warning for Hartville on May 21, 2019. They issued seven other tornado warnings that day as well (file May 21, 2019 map courtesy of NWS Springfield Twitter}

Hartville’s Town and Country Supermarket re-opened on Thursday, almost five months after taking a direct hit from the May 21 tornado. The storm caused the grocery store’s ceiling to cave in and windows to blow out.

Hartville is about an hour east of Springfield. The National Weather Service (NWS) in Springfield issued eight tornado warnings that day.

State Rep. Hannah Kelly, R-Mountain Grove, whose district covers Wright and Webster counties, says the grocery store’s re-opening is crucial to her constituents in Hartville, especially elderly residents and those without transportation. Kelly tells Missourinet residents have had to drive 45 minutes to Lebanon or 40 minutes to Mountain Grove to get to another grocery store.

Hartville has about 600 residents. There were no fatalities nor serious injuries in the May tornado.

Kelly has credited the Town and Country Supermarket’s manager for saving lives during the tornado, by huddling everyone inside the freezer. Manager Josh Dugger told Missourinet Springfield television partner KOLR-10 in May that 25 employees and customers went inside the produce cooler to wait out the storm. He said the storm “popped all our ears.”

The May 21st tornado also caused damage outside the Wright County Courthouse, where people huddled inside the basement during the storm.