Early legislation receiving a great deal of attention this session includes Senate Bill 5, which would reform municipal courts and fines by limiting the amount of income a municipality may receive from fines and court costs to 20 or 10 percent of their total budget, depending on the cities’ classification. This legislation states that any funds derived in this manner, over these caps, will be designated for local school districts. This law will be enforced by the Department of Revenue.
Missourians have seen municipal court abuse after witnessing local municipalities use speed traps and other citations as a means for substantial funding and income from local residents and travelers passing through. Current laws limit revenue derived from traffic fines to 30 percent of a municipality’s total general revenue, yet this law has not been followed by many towns. The purpose of this measure is to alleviate this issue by changing the caps and to create new penalty provisions for violation of the policies.
It is important to reform municipal court abuse. However, it is also important this legislation is not punishing rural communities in Missouri, through which a major highway is running. This was the reason for a change to the bill that sets the two different caps. Senate Bill 5 has received approval in the Senate and is being sent to the House.
This week, Senate Bill 35 has also received final approval from the Senate and was sent to the House. This measure would ensure that MO HealthNet benefits remain in Missouri by requiring the Department of Social Services to terminate MO HealthNet services when it receives information a recipient resides out of state.
In addition, the bill would include safeguards to protect children in foster care or from separated families with split addresses. If the child’s parent or guardian with custody is a resident of Missouri, the child would remain covered.
The major issue we are seeing is previous residents of Missouri receiving benefits from the state while claiming an out-of-state address. Even though some enrollees, no longer Missouri citizens, have informed the departments’ manage centers that they are no longer living in Missouri, nothing is being done to remove these individuals from the program.
It is important that we keep Missouri’s dollars in our state, as well as provide benefits for only Missouri residents and not individuals residing in another state. This legislation would hold the Department of Social Services responsible for ensuring out-of-state residents do not receive services intended for Missourians.
It is an honor to be your State Senator and my door is always open to your concerns, questions or comments. Please feel free to contact me at (573) 751-2757 or visit my web page at www.senate.mo.gov/riddle. |
