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The Week of April 15, 2024

On the Floor

This week, the Senate began discussion on Senate Bill 782, which would require a water exportation permit issued by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to withdraw water from any water source for export outside the state of Missouri. 

The Senate granted first round approval to Senate Bill 735, which would allow gold and silver to be accepted as payment for public debts. Additionally, the Senate third read and passed the following bills:

Bills and Committees

Senator May’s Legislation:

I presented Senate Bill 1412 to the Senate Transportation, Infrastructure and Public Safety Committee this week. This legislation creates the Ebony Alert System to aid in the identification and location of abducted or missing Black youth who are reasonable believed to be the victim of a kidnapping or trafficking offense. I believe this alert system will be a valuable resource for law enforcement and address the disparity when it comes to finding missing Black Missourians. Often, missing persons cases for Black youth are brushed aside as runaway situations, when in reality they could be in serious danger. I hope this alert system helps shed more light on this issue and gives our state departments and law enforcement officers the tools they need to ensure members of this vulnerable population return home safe and sound.

Senator May presents Senate Bill 1412 to the Senate 

Transportation, Infrastructure and Public Safety Committee.

Additionally, the Missouri House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 727, creating and modifying provisions relating to elementary and secondary education. Provisions from

three of my bills are included in this legislation. 

Senate Bill 727 is now considered truly agreed to and finally passed. This legislation originated in the Senate, so after holding a public committee hearing and discussing it on the floor, it was passed by the Senate and sent to the House. The bill goes through a similar process in the lower chamber, and since the House passed the legislation without making changes, it can now be sent to the governor’s desk for his consideration.

Senate Bill 727 started as a 12-page measure limited to expanding Missouri’s voucher program, which the Legislature first created in 2021. The bill would increase the annual cap on the tax credits used to fund the program from $50 million to $75 million and open participation to all Missouri students, instead of just those living in more populous cities or counties as is currently allowed. It also would expand eligibility to kids from families earning up to 300% of what it takes to qualify for the free and reduced lunch program.

The bill ultimately ballooned to dozens of provisions spanning 167 pages in order to get it through the Senate, which approved it March 14 on a vote of 19-10. Key additions call for significantly increasing basic state funding for local public school districts and boosting minimum starting teacher pay from $25,000 to $40,000 a year.

It also would financially reward districts that continue to hold classes five days a week and require local voter approval for districts in more populous cities and counties to switch to a four-day schedule. Another provision would authorize charter schools in Boone County. Charter schools currently can operate only in Kansas City, St. Louis or in unaccredited districts.

Although many of the new provisions received widespread support, opponents of the bill noted there is no guarantee future lawmakers will provide the necessary funding, which the state likely won’t even have given expected downturns in revenue collections in the coming years. By contrast, the tax revenue to be redirected for private school vouchers is essentially secured.

Judiciary Committee:

This week, the committee held hearings for four bills:

Commerce Committee:

The committee heard Senate Bill 1471, which creates procedures for landlords to bill tenants for their water and sewer usage if the residence or structure does not have a separate meter. Under this act, a public utility may not interrupt or stop water or sewer service if the tenant has paid the landlord for these services but the landlord has not paid the water or sewer bill.

The committee also passed House Bill 1746, which modifies various provisions relating to utilities, including removing the expiration date for the Small Wireless Facility Deployment Act. I filed Senate Bill 1411 to extend this expiration date to Dec. 31, 2029.

Rules, Joint Rules, Resolutions and Ethics Committee:

Senate Bill 1134 modifies provisions relating to campaign finance and ethics. Under this bill, the Missouri Ethics Commission is required to charge late fees of $100 per day for all committees, not only candidate committees as it is in current law, for campaign finance report required to be filed eight days prior to an election. This act also raises the threshold to $200 or less for expenditures that must be itemized on a disclosure report filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission, and it raises the fine for filing late disclosure reports from $10 to $20. Additionally, under this act a foreign limited liability company is not considered to be transacting business in the state by making a campaign contribution to any political committee.

Other News

Senior Property Tax Freeze Credit

The application for the City of St. Louis Senior Property Tax Credit is now open. This tax credit was passed as a part of Senate Bill 190 during last year’s legislative session and signed into law by the governor. It allows the city to provide senior citizens with fixed city property tax rates while protecting other tax rates such as public schools, the public library, the St. Louis Zoo, museums, etc., from revenue reductions. Eligible seniors can apply for this credit online, via paper form or in-person at the assessor's office. Applications are due by June 30, and individuals can learn more about eligibility and necessary documents at the link above.

Sitting senator among dozens of late-session appointments

On April 12, the governor announced nearly two dozen nominations for state boards and commissions, including several involving some of the most sought after state government posts. However, as of April 18 the Senate had yet to move toward confirming any of his picks.

The timing of the appointments is unusual given that only a few weeks remain before the legislative session ends on May 17. With limited time left for the Senate confirmation process, nominees are even more susceptible than normal to senators using them as bargaining chips in legislative negotiations.

As a result, governors at this point typically wait until the Senate adjourns for the year and then make recess appointments that allow their picks to begin serving immediately, though temporarily, without confirmation. However, since the governor’s term ends in January, any recess appointments he were to make likely would be withdrawn by the new governor before the Senate could confirm them. 

One of the picks that could have an impact on both the session’s final weeks and subsequent legislative campaigns is the governor’s selection of a sitting state senator for the State Tax Commission. If this senator is confirmed and resigns, it could have a big impact on negotiations in the final weeks as party balance numbers could shift in both chambers.

Draft report alleges obstruction of investigation into speaker

A draft report made public on April 15 alleges the Missouri House Speaker’s office engaged in obstruction of an investigation into an ethics complaint filed against him. The report said the speaker refused to issue subpoenas sought by the House Ethics Committee to compel witness testimony and also noted possible witness intimidation, with “multiple potential witnesses who refused to voluntarily appear before the committee or speak with the committee’s investigator.”

That investigator, attorney Beth Boggs of St. Louis, said in a letter to the committee included in the report that during the roughly 800 investigations she has conducted in her career, the lack of cooperation in this case was the worst she has ever encountered. “The level of fear expressed by a number of the potential witnesses is a daunting factor in completing this investigation,” Boggs wrote.

The committee voted 2-6 against adopting the report, with only the committee’s chair and vice chair voting “yes.” Although two subsequent committee hearings were cancelled, the speaker’s general counsel issued a statement on April 17 saying that because the committee has taken no final vote to dispose of the complaint, it remains open. As a result, it is possible the committee returns to the issue later.

A fellow House member filed the ethics complaint last fall in the wake of news reports regarding a series of controversies involving the House speaker. One allegation involved documentation that he engaged in potentially illegal double-dipping by receiving taxpayer reimbursements on multiple occasions over several years for about $4,509 in travel expenses already paid for by his campaign committee. The speaker later repaid the money. 

Another allegation involved his ultimately unsuccessful efforts to pressure House staff into entering into a lucrative no-bid contract for a constituent management service the chamber’s non-partisan administrator said was unnecessary, duplicative and cost prohibitive.

The rejected report found “no direct evidence” of wrongdoing by the speaker regarding the contract and recommended a letter of reproval admonishing him over the improper reimbursements. It also recommended the speaker refrain from retaliating against any employees who cooperated during the investigation.

House approves hike for driver, vehicle licensing fees

The House of Representatives voted 115-32 in favor of imposing a 50% increase in the service fees the private contractors running the state’s license offices charge Missourians for obtaining or renewing driver’s licenses or vehicle plates. The legislation now advances to the Senate.

Under House Bill 1775, the service fee for two-year license plates or a six-year driver’s license would go from $12 to $18. The service fee is in addition to the actual cost of the plates or license, the revenue from which goes to the state and would not increase under the bill.

Lawmakers last doubled the fee to its current rate just five years ago. Supporters of another increase say it’s necessary to offset the increased costs of running the license offices. Opponents say imposing another large fee hike on Missouri motorists isn’t justified.

The bill also includes 14 other provisions loosely relating to the Missouri Department of Revenue, which oversees the license offices. One would shield from disclosure personal information contained in the vehicle or driver registration records of current or former judges, law enforcement officers or their families. Another would waive fees for homeless children to obtain a non-driver state identification card.

House endorses mandatory life sentence for child sex traffickers 

The House of Representatives on an April 16 voice-vote approved legislation that would lock into the Missouri Constitution a mandatory life sentence without eligibility for probation and parole for those found guilty of child sex trafficking. A second, recorded vote is necessary to advance the measure, House Joint Resolution 132, to the Senate.

Setting mandatory sentencing requirements in the Constitution is highly unusual, as the only way to subsequently make changes is with another voter-approved constitutional amendment. If endorsed by both legislative chambers, HJR 132 automatically would go on the Nov. 5 statewide ballot for voter approval.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Thank you for your interest in the legislative process. I look forward to hearing from you on the issues that are important to you this legislative session. If there is anything my office can do for you, please do not hesitate to contact my office at 573-751-3599.