SB 110 - This act establishes an interstate interchange designation program, to be known as the "Heroes Way Interstate Interchange Designation Program", to honor the fallen Missouri heroes who have been killed in action while performing active military duty with the armed forces in Afghanistan or Iraq on or after September 11, 2001. Under the act, any person who is related by marriage, adoption, or consanguinity within the second degree to a member of the United States armed forces who was killed in action while performing active military duty with the armed forces in Afghanistan or Iraq on or after September 11, 2001, and who was a resident of this state at the time he or she was killed in action, may apply for an interstate interchange designation.
The family member may petition the Department of Transportation for an interstate interchange designation by submitting the following:
(1) An application in a form prescribed by the director, describing the interstate interchange for which the designation is sought and the proposed name of the interstate interchange. The application shall include the name of at least one current member of the General Assembly who will sponsor the interstate interchange designation.
(2) Proof that the family member killed in action was a member of the United States armed forces and proof that such family member was in fact killed in action while performing active military duty with the United States armed forces in Afghanistan or Iraq on or after September 11, 2001. Acceptable proof shall be a statement from the Missouri veterans commission or the United States Department of Veterans Affairs so certifying such facts;
(3) A fee to be determined by the commission to cover the costs of constructing and maintaining the proposed interstate interchange signs. The fee shall not exceed the cost of constructing and maintaining each sign.
Under the act, the Department of Transportation shall submit for approval or disapproval all applications for interstate interchange designations to the Joint Committee on Transportation Oversight. If satisfied with the application and all its contents, the joint committee shall approve the application. The committee shall notify the Department of Transportation upon the approval or denial of an application for an interstate interchange designation. If the memorial interstate interchange designation request is not approved by the Joint Committee on Transportation Oversight, ninety-seven percent of the application fee shall be refunded to the applicant.
The act requires two signs to be erected for each interstate interchange designation processed under the act.
No interstate interchange may be named or designated after more than one member of the United States armed forces killed in action. Such person shall only be eligible for one interstate interchange designation under the provisions of this section.
Any highway signs erected for any interstate interchange designation under the provisions of this section shall be erected and maintained for a twenty-year period. After such period, the signs shall be subject to removal by the Department of Transportation and the interstate interchange may be designated to honor persons other than the current designee. An existing interstate interchange designation processed under the provisions of this act may be retained for additional twenty-year increments if, at least one year before the designation's expiration, an application to the Department of Transportation is made to retain the designation along with the required documents and all applicable fees required under the act.
STEPHEN WITTE