State Rep. Jerome Barnes Archives

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 Special Committee on Redistricting wants to hear from 8th District constituents on Tuesday (AUDIO)

March 29, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

A Missouri House committee on congressional redistricting wants public input Tuesday morning from residents in the sprawling Eighth Congressional District, which covers 30 southern and southeast Missouri counties. The district has about 20,000 square miles.

Missouri House Special Committee on Redistricting Chair Dan Shaul (R-Imperial) speaks on the House floor in Jefferson City on March 25, 2021 (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

House Special Committee on Redistricting Chairman Rep. Dan Shaul (R-Imperial) says in-person and written testimony will be accepted tomorrow morning at 8.

“And what we’re looking for is just information on what makes the 8th District good, what makes it bad. Good things, you know, characteristics of the district, what’s worked for it being the district it is,” Shaul says.

The district goes from 20 miles south of St. Louis to ten miles east of Branson. The massive district includes Cape Girardeau, Sikeston, Poplar Bluff, Kennett, Farmington, West Plains, Rolla and Ava.

One of the biggest challenges the district has faced involves health care. The rural district has seen five hospital closing since 2016:

** Parkland Health Center in Farmington (2016)
** Southeast Health Center of Reynolds County in Ellington (2016)
** Southeast Health Center of Ripley County in Doniphan (2018)
** Twin Rivers Regional Medical Center in Kennett (2018)
** Black River Medical Center in Poplar Bluff (2019)

U.S. Rep. Jason Smith (R-Salem), who has represented the 8th District since 2013, calls the closings unacceptable, saying people die when hospitals close.

Transportation is another issue in the district, which includes both I-55 and I-44. Chairman Shaul says agriculture is another common denominator in the district.

“Agriculture is a huge part of the state of Missouri, huge part of that district,” says Shaul. “It’s just good people working hard, and that’s what I like so much about the 8th District.”

The district hasn’t sent a Democrat to Washington since the late Congressman Bill Burlison (D-Wardell), who served from 1969 to 1981. When U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson (R-Cape Girardeau) unseated Burlison in 1980, every state senator and all but one of the district’s state representatives were Democrats. Today, every state lawmaker in the 8th District is a Republican.

Congressman Smith faced Democratic challenger Kathy Ellis, a social worker, in November. Smith won with about 77 percent of the vote. Smith received 253,811 votes, while Ellis received 70,561 votes.

State Rep. Hannah Kelly (R-Mountain Grove) serves as vice chair of the House Special Committee on Redistricting. State Rep. Jerome Barnes (D-Raytown) is the ranking Democrat.

The Missouri Legislature won’t redraw the state’s congressional districts until later this year, when they receive numbers from the 2020 U.S. Census.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and House Special Committee on Redistricting Chairman Rep. Dan Shaul (R-Imperial), which was recorded on March 26, 2021:

Look for several late nights in Missouri Senate this week; House to begin discussion on congressional redistricting

March 8, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

The Missouri Senate will likely be in session for some late nights this week in Jefferson City, as lawmakers wrap up the first half of the 2021 legislative session.

Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz speaks to Missourinet in 2020 (January 2020 file photo from Missourinet’s Ashley Byrd)

Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, tells Missourinet Sullivan affiliate KTUI that senators will debate several key issues on the floor this week.

“I think education (school choice legislation), tax policy, motor fuel tax, and again I would anticipate that we will spend several long nights and when we break, people (state senators and staff) will probably be exhausted and ready for a break,” Schatz tells KTUI.

The Pro Tem reiterated that on Saturday to Missourinet. While education reform is a top priority for several GOP state senators, Democrats worry about the impact on public schools.

Increasing transportation funding has been a top priority for Schatz, who notes Missouri’s 17-cent per gallon gasoline tax has remained the same since 1996.

Schatz’s Senate Bill 262 would increase Missouri’s gasoline tax by 15 cents per gallon, by 2027. It also includes a provision for an exemption and refund.

The Missouri House will also be busy this week, both on the floor and in numerous committees.

The House is expected to debate a proposed constitutional amendment this week that involves initiative petitions.

HJR 22 is sponsored by State Rep. J. Eggleston, R-Maysville. If approved by lawmakers this year and if voters approve it, it would require sponsors of initiative petitions proposing constitutional amendments to collect signatures of 12 percent of registered voters in each of Missouri’s eight congressional districts and to submit those petitions to the Legislature for consideration, similar to a bill. The governor’s signature would not be required.

Supporters say the Missouri Constitution is about ten times larger than its federal counterpart, and that many states don’t allow use of initiatives to amend their constitutions. Supporters of Eggleston’s bill include Missouri Farm Bureau and the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association.

Opponents of the Eggleston bill say it would prevent the will of the people from becoming law. They also say the initiative process is difficult as it is. Opponents include the Missouri AFL-CIO and the Missouri Coalition for the Environment.

State Rep. Dan Shaul (R-Imperial), who chairs the Missouri House Special Committee on Redistricting, speaks on the House floor in Jefferson City on May 15, 2020 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Congressional redistricting will also be discussed this week in Jefferson City.

The Missouri House Special Committee on Redistricting will hold its organizational meeting Tuesday morning at 9. Congressional redistricting is done every ten years, after the U.S. Census is completed. State Rep. Dan Shaul, R-Imperial, chairs the committee, and State Rep. Jerome Barnes, D-Raytown, is the ranking Democrat.

Chairman Shaul tells Missourinet that Tuesday’s meeting is to let committee members know what expectations are for themselves and for the committee, to help them understand the process. The committee won’t meet again until after the legislative spring break.

Legislation involving the Missouri Lottery will also be heard this week, in committee.

The House General Laws Committee meets Monday evening to hear a bill from State Rep. Jay Mosley, D-Florissant, which would give Missouri Lottery winners the option of not having their names published by the Lottery.

Representative Mosley has filed this bill several times, telling Missourinet last year it’s a safety issue.

“I want people to feel safe when they win. I want them to experience their winnings in the best possible fashion,” Mosley said last February.

Mosley worries Missouri Lottery winners could be targeted by people who read about their win, or approached by family members who want money.

Missouri legislator: Local sports referees need more protection from being threatened or attacked

December 31, 2019 By Ashley Byrd

Barnes, D-Raytown (Tim Bommel, House Communications)

Sports officials acknowledge that their task is challenging on the field and from the sidelines, where disgruntled coaches and fans yell and jeer about calls they do not like.

But lately, says former referee and now state Representative Jerome Barnes, game environments are getting more violent.

He says in his own town of Raytown, outside Kansas City, a basketball official was hit and knocked out by someone coming out on the court. The victim had to get medical care and miss work.

“Referees are getting attacked, yelled at, cursed at, threatened before during and after the game and nothing is really being done about it,” says Barnes.

So Barnes has been repeatedly tackling the topic in the Legislature, and this year is sponsoring two bills this session:

H.B. 1570 which expands the definition of “special victim” under Section 565.002, RSMo, to include sports officials at a sporting event while performing their duties as sports officials, and

H.B. 1803, which creates a penalty for verbally harassing officials and defines “recreation athletic contest official.”

Barnes says emergency workers are legally protected as “special victims,” which also includes MoDOT workers and utility or cable service technicians.

“When the guy comes out to cut your utilities or cable off, it’s not because they want to do that, he’s following the company rules. If you hit him or do something to him, he’s in that special victims group. Same thing with the officials, they are not out there enforcing the rules because they like them, they are out there enforcing the rules of the basketball or football game and should be protected as well,” Barnes tells Missourinet.

Barnes says college and pro sports officials have escorts and protection before, during and after the games. Not so for high school and youth sports. He hopes adding a layer of legal protection will help.

He says most officiating is a “thankless job” and now there is a shortage because of the increasing stress.

Barnes cites a recent study by the National Association of Sports Officials that shows the median age of officials in all sports is more than 50 years old. Almost half of the male officials feel unsafe on the job because of spectators. Most say they stick with it because of the love of the game itself. The survey also shows that 57 percent of officials say that sportsmanship is getting worse, mostly at the youth competitive level.

Barnes said he heard from an active referee about how to solve the problem:

“He says that if you assault a referee, then after you serve your sentence, it should be mandatory that you become a referee for three years–as punishment,” Barnes laughs.

More seriously, he says he is worried about the rise of violent crime among youth in general and what it may mean for sports.

“The way things are happening, you can see it coming,” Barnes says. “Once the word gets out about stiffer prosecutions, this will slow things down.”