General Column

Week of May 11, 2009

Part 1 of 3*

As Session Winds Down, Debate Ramps Up

Large Transportation Bill, REAL ID Prohibition Sent to Governor

JEFFERSON CITY—On the day before the end-of-session deadline, the fate of many of the year’s biggest bills is still undecided.

Lawmakers may have already completed their constitutional obligation to pass a budget by the deadline (a $23.1 billion FY 2010 budget was passed on 5/7, one day before the 6 p.m., 5/8 deadline), but the last swing of the gavel tomorrow at 6 p.m. will determine which legislation will receive passage to the governor. In the meantime, the General Assembly gave final approval this week to several bills well before the deadline. All of the legislation highlighted below has been “truly agreed and finally passed” and awaits the governor’s signature.

HB 683 is an omnibus transportation bill handled in the Senate by Sen. Bill Stouffer (R-Napton). Most notably it statutorily requires that the awarding of fee office contracts be done through a competitive bidding process. Until recently, the contracts were awarded on a subjective basis.

Another part of the bill establishes a drunken driving risk reduction awareness program (the language comes from a bill originally sponsored by Sen. Tim Green, D-St. Louis). Called David’s Law, this program allows for the placement of MoDOT memorial signs at the scene of alcohol-related accidents. Family members of a victim may request to sponsor a sign on the victim’s behalf.

Other parts of HB 683 include requiring that shippers of radioactive waste in or through Missouri be subject to fees; creating an interstate interchange designation program to honor fallen Missouri military members who have been killed in action in Afghanistan or Iraq on or after September 11, 2001; exempting vehicles from the state motor vehicle safety inspection for the five-year period (currently two years) following their model year of manufacture; and allowing motor vehicle dealers, acting as agents of the state, to title and register vehicles and collect and submit sales tax.

House Bill 381 , handled by Sen. Tim Green (D-St. Louis), also requires that fee office contracts be awarded through a competitive bidding process, but adds the provision that priority must be given to non-profit organizations and entities and local governments.

HB 395 , also handled by Sen. Stouffer, addresses issues relating to long-term care facilities in Missouri. It requires these facilities to meet certain fire safety standards; allows them to request criminal background checks on a resident; prohibits the state from assigning an individual to inspect or survey a long-term care facility in which the surveyor was an employee within the preceding two years; and increases the personal needs allowance for residents gradually from the current $30 per month to $50 per month.

Also passed was House Bill 154 , handled by Senate President Pro Tem Charlie Shields (R-St. Joseph) in the Senate. The bill requires the state to make diligent efforts to locate the grandparents of a child needing emergency placement and requires the grandparents to be given first consideration for foster care placement. It also adopts language in a bill sponsored by Sen. Jolie Justus (D-Kansas City), which establishes a Foster Care Education Bill of Rights. This involves designating a school staff person to be an educational liaison for foster care children and requiring child-placing agencies to promote educational stability when making placement decisions.

Currently, the penalty for forcible rape or sodomy of a child under the age of 12 is life imprisonment without eligibility for probation or parole until the person has served at least 30 years of the sentence. Under Senate Bill 36 , sponsored by Sen. Jack Goodman (R-Mt. Vernon), the penalty for these crimes is life imprisonment without ever being eligible for probation, parole or conditional release.

Legislation sponsored by Sen. Scott T. Rupp (R-Wentzville), Senate Bill 126 , prohibits life insurance companies from denying or refusing to accept an application for life insurance, refusing to renew, cancel, restrict or otherwise terminate a policy of life insurance, or charging a different rate for the same life insurance coverage, based upon the applicant's or insured's past or future lawful travel destinations.

House Bill 152 , handled by Sen. Matt Bartle (R-Lee’s Summit), expands the DNA profiling system by requiring any person 17 years of age or older who is arrested for first degree burglary, second degree burglary or certain felonies to submit a DNA sample (currently a sample is collected at the point of conviction). However, if the state highway patrol crime laboratory receives notice that the charges have been withdrawn, the case has been dismissed or there is a finding that the necessary probable cause does not exist, the lab must expunge the DNA sample and DNA profile of the arrestee within 30 days.

House Bill 116 , handled by Sen. Jane Cunningham (R-Chesterfield), expands the crime of assault of a law enforcement officer, emergency personnel, or probation and parole officer to include a transit operator or an employee of a mass transit system while on duty.

Juvenile officers, deputy juvenile officers, drug court commissioner-judges, family court commissioner-judges and administrative law judges are added to the list of individuals

who are considered a judicial officer as it relates to the crime of tampering with a judicial officer.

Lawmakers passed a bill that prohibits Missouri from complying with the federal REAL ID Act of 2005. House Bill 361 , handled by Sen. Chuck Purgason (R-Caulfield), bars the Department of Revenue from amending procedures for applying for a driver's license or identification card in order to comply with the standards of REAL ID and from selling any data derived from a person's license or permit application for commercial purposes. The bill also specifies that an applicant for a driver's license, non-driver's license or instruction permit cannot have his or her privacy rights violated in order to obtain or renew a license.

Legislation handled by Sen. Tom Dempsey (R-St. Charles), House Bill 580 , provides additional workers’ compensation benefits in the amount of $25,000 for firefighters, law enforcement officers, air ambulance pilots, air ambulance registered professional nurses and emergency medical technicians who are killed in the line of duty.

House Joint Resolution 15 , handled by Sen. Kurt Schaefer (R-Columbia), is a proposed constitutional amendment that would, upon voter approval, exempt all real property used as a homestead by a former prisoner of war who has a total service-related disability from property taxation.

Under current law, co-op's are provided an exception to the prohibition on milk processors and distributors giving monetary incentives for the purchase of their milk products. Senate Bill 153 , sponsored by Sen. Dan Clemens (R-Marshfield), re-words this exception by expressly stating that any return on savings, or any economic benefit or service given by a co-op to its members for the purchase of milk products will not be considered a violation.

The bill also gives the state veterinarian similar authority to address toxins in animals as it currently has for addressing diseases in livestock. The state veterinarian may restrict the movement of any animal or bird under investigation for the presence of a toxin or disease.

SB 296 , sponsored by Sen. Delbert Scott (R-Lowry City), makes changes to many of the state’s professional registration laws relating to certain medical and dental providers.

Listen to the Senate Minute’s report on SB 296.  

A measure containing several provisions relating to military members, veterans and their families is HB 427 , handled by Sen. David Pearce (R-Warrensburg). It includes allowing a dependent of a service member who resides in the state and whose parent is assigned to permanent duty in Missouri to be eligible for in-state tuition at public colleges and universities. It also adds four members to the Missouri Veterans Commission, two from the Senate and two from the House. In each chamber, one member would be chosen by majority leadership and one would be chosen by minority leadership.

At the time of this column writing (2 p.m. on 5/14), bills addressing the major issues of the session—economic development, health care, education and crime—are still being debated by lawmakers. The First Regular Session of the 95th Missouri General Assembly comes to a close tomorrow (5/15) at 6 p.m.

*Part two of the General Column will be released tomorrow (5/15) and part three will be released Monday, May 18.

The Missouri Senate General Column is written on a weekly basis. To follow these and other issues being addressed by the Missouri Senate, visit www.senate.mo.gov . Visitors can track legislation as it passes through the General Assembly, learn more about their Senate district, and listen to streaming audio of legislative debate as it happens. For more legislative news, please visit Senate Communications online. There you will find various audio and video programs, such as:

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