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The Week of April 3, 2023

On the Floor

This week, the Senate perfected Senate Bill 92, which establishes the “Missouri Rural Access to Capital Act,” which would provide a tax credit for certain investments made in businesses located in rural areas in the state.

The Senate also third read and passed the following bills:

•            House Bill 115 would allow physical therapists to examine and treat certain conditions or injuries without a prescription or referral.
• Senate Bill 143 establishes a tax credit for grocery stores in a food desert and provides a sales tax exemption for the purchase of diapers and feminine hygiene products.
• Senate Bill 131 would exempt all sales of firearms and ammunition sold in this state from state and local sales taxes.
• Senate Joint Resolution 21, would, if approved by voters, authorize counties to freeze the real property assessed values of certain senior citizens, protecting them from skyrocketing property taxes due to inflation.
• Senate Bill 157 modifies licensing and collaborative practice arrangements for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs).
• Senate Bill 199 would authorize a fifth adult high school to open in Jackson County, and transfers the oversight of these adult high schools from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to the Missouri Department of Social Services.

Bills and Committees

Senator May’s Legislation:

Senate Bill 35 was given first round approval by the Senate on Monday, April 3. This bill would give individuals who are behind on child support payments and lose their driver’s license or professional license as a result the opportunity to have an evidentiary hearing to determine if the suspension of the license should remain. This legislation needs another “yes” vote in the Senate before it can be sent to the Missouri House of Representatives for consideration.

Senate Bill 34, which would allow school districts to offer elective social studies courses relating to the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament of the Bible and the New Testament of the Bible, was heard by the House General Laws Committee on April 4. I am hopeful the committee votes for this legislation so that it has the opportunity to be discussed on the House floor.

Senate Bill 119 was heard by the House General Laws Committee this week. This legislation includes my Senate Bill 120 establishing post-traumatic stress disorder as an occupational disease for first responders, and Senate Bill 121,which adds firefighters as eligible first responder personnel to receive services from the Critical Incident Stress Management Program of the Missouri Department of Public Safety.

Additionally, Senate Bill 103 was heard by the House Judiciary Committee this week. This bill includes Senate Bill 372, my proposal to repeal the surcharge for petitions for expungement.

Judiciary Committee:

Senate Bill 276 repeals the Missouri Postconviction Drug Treatment Program. It was combined with Senate Bill 384, which establishes the “Missouri State Compact Fund” to pay for the cost of returning a person to Missouri under the Interstate Compact for Adult Offender Supervision. This compact provides the state the authority and details the process by which individuals under community supervision are transferred from such supervision in one state to another.

Senate Bill 502 modifies various provisions related to criminal law. Under current law, the court may sentence a person to an extended term of imprisonment if such person is a persistent offender. This act adds that a "persistent offender" shall also include a person who has been found guilty of a dangerous felony as defined in law. This act raises the penalty for the offense of unlawful possession of a firearm to a class C felony, unless a person has been convicted of a dangerous felony or the person has a prior conviction for unlawful possession of a firearm, then it is a class B felony. Under current law, certain offenses are excluded from minimum prison terms for offenders who also have prior felony convictions. This act repeals the exclusion of the offense of armed criminal action

House Bill 640 removes the age requirement of being under 60 years old for the Kansas City Police Department Chief and removes existing salary ceilings for the police chief.

Commerce Committee:

Senate Bill 414 would authorize a party other than the owner of a liquefied petroleum gas tank to fill the tank after a hearing before the director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture to determine if the container has been abandoned and whether another entity should be permitted to fill the container.

Senate Bill 450 would repeal the current civil penalty for violating federally mandated natural gas safety standards, and instead the penalty for such a violation cannot exceed an amount determined by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation.

Senate Bill 481 would require that the revenue from all mineral products extracted from national forest reserves be distributed for the benefit of public schools and roads, with 85% of that revenue being proportionally distributed to counties where mining occurs, based on the minerals extracted per year in that county.

Senate Bill 533 would reclassify stationary property used for transportation or storage of liquid and gaseous products, including, but not limited to, natural gas that is not propane or LP gas, water and sewage, from real property to tangible personal property.

Other News

Senate Minority Party push to oust human rights commissioner

Members of the Senate minority party are urging the governor to fire the chairman of the Missouri Commission on Human Rights for misleading a Senate committee during recent testimony while lobbying on behalf of a religious organization in opposition to legislation directly relating to the commission’s duties.

Ten senators signed the April 3 letter to the governor asking him to immediately remove Timothy Faber from the commission, which investigates complaints of illegal discrimination in housing, employment and places of public accommodation. The governor appointed Faber to the commission in 2021.

On March 29, Faber testified before the Senate General Laws Committee against a bill to amend the Missouri Human Rights Act to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The law currently is limited to barring discrimination because of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex or age. During his testimony, Faber identified himself only as a lobbyist for the Missouri Baptist Convention and didn’t disclose his role as commission chairman until pressed by committee members.

“His attempt to obfuscate his position erodes the trust legislators require from members of Missouri’s boards and commissions,” the senators said in their letter. “This is especially troubling considering Mr. Faber specifically referenced the commission without disclosing his role on it. While Mr. Faber has a right to express his personal views or the views of other organizations with which he may be affiliated, his decision to place these roles before his duties as chairman makes it clear he can no longer continue in this capacity.”

The commission has suffered for months due to the lack of a quorum. Although the commission is supposed to have 11 members, only four of those positions currently are filled since the governor hasn’t made appointments to the remaining seven spots.

Ruling against union-busting attempt will stand

The Missouri Supreme Court on April 4 declined to hear an appeal by the governor’s administration in a case involving its efforts to bust the labor union representing prison guards. A lower court declared these actions “unconstitutional, arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable.” The high court turned down the appeal in a one-sentence order. As a result, a prior ruling by the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District against the administration will stand.

The case originated in December 2019 when the Missouri Office of Administration (OA), which handles payroll for state agencies, informed the Missouri Corrections Officers Association it would no longer withhold dues from the paychecks of the organization’s roughly 1,300 members. The move was widely seen as an attempt to weaken the union by making it difficult to collect dues.

The governor’s administration originally argued it could no longer withhold the dues because the union’s contract with the Missouri Department of Corrections had expired, although negotiations on a new contract continued. However, since the state routinely withholds fees from other non-union employee organizations, OA soon shifted its rationale to claim the corrections officers group wasn’t an employee organization since it included retirees who aren’t active state workers.

Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem found this claim be a pretext since OA continued to withhold dues and fees at the behest of other employee groups that include non-employee members. Judge Beetem ordered OA to resume payroll deductions for unionized corrections workers. A three-judge appellate panel unanimously affirmed Judge Beetem’s decision in December. The case is Missouri Corrections Officers Association Inc. v. Missouri Office of Administration.

House GOP approves new limits on initiative petition process

On a straight party-line vote, the House of Representatives sent legislation to the Senate on April 6 imposing a wide range of procedural restrictions on the initiative petition process. However, I believe the changes appear to violate decades of Missouri Supreme Court precedent prohibiting laws that “interfere or impede” the constitutional right to the initiative or attempt to thwart it with “technical formalities.”

The initiative process, which has been enshrined in the Missouri Constitution for more than a century, allows Missourians to bypass the General Assembly to propose legislation and place it directly on the statewide ballot for voter approval.

House Bill 703 seeks to impose a number of new technical requirements, including dictating the font type and size on petitions, specifying the shade of ink used for signatures and limiting who can circulate petitions. The bill also purports to require signatures to be thrown out in the event a court rewrites a petition’s ballot title.

Effort to legalize sports betting again stalls in Senate

After several hours of debate, the Senate on April 5 set aside legislation seeking to legalize sports gambling in Missouri after failing to overcome the opposition of a few senators who want lawmakers to also address the proliferation of unregulated slot machines around the state. It is unclear if the chamber will return to the measure during the final weeks of the 2023 legislative session.

Senate Bill 30 would authorize Missouri’s 13 licensed casinos to operate sports books on their premises, as well as offer online wagering. It also would impose a 15% tax on sports bets. The House of Representatives recently approved similar legislation, but set the tax rate at only 10%.

The effort to legalize sports gambling in Missouri has failed for years as some lawmakers insist on tying the issue to the regulation of video lottery terminals, which are slot machine-style games that have become common in gas stations, bars and other locations.

The Missouri Gaming Commission and the State Highway Patrol, which respectively are responsible for regulating the state’s casinos and enforcing its gambling laws, consider VLTs illegal slot machines. Although some local prosecutors have successfully brought criminal cases involving VLTs, others have been reluctant, claiming the machines are legally ambiguous.

Federal judge rejects challenge to lobbyist waiting period

A federal judge on March 30 rejected a constitutional challenge to Missouri’s prohibition on former state lawmakers and legislative staffers working as paid lobbyists until two years after the end of the last General Assembly in which they served.

Missouri voters added the restriction to state constitution in 2018 as part of wide-ranging ballot initiative relating to legislative ethics and redistricting. Rocky Miller, a former state representative from Lake Ozark, filed a lawsuit challenging the restriction shortly after he termed out of the House of Representatives in January 2021, claiming it violated his First Amendment rights to free speech.

In ruling against Miller and a current House staffer who also was a plaintiff in the case, U.S. District Judge Doug Harpool said the lobbying blackout period is justified to preventcorruption or its appearance and, therefore, doesn’t violate the free speech rights of former lawmakers or staff.

“A former public official’s acceptance of a lobbying position months or even days after departing government, makes reasonable the belief that those officials may have exchanged political favors for their positions – and salaries – as lobbyists,” Harpool wrote. “The appearance of impropriety is a reasonable and natural conclusion in such a situation.”

Miller could appeal the decision to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The case is Rockne “Rocky” Miller, eta al., v. Elizabeth Ziegler, et al.

Highways commissioner resigns to avoid possible conflicts

Brian Treece unexpectedly resigned from the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission on March 28, a little over seven months after the governor appointed him to the post.

In an April 5 statement to the Missouri Independent, Treece said he stepped down from the commission, which oversees the Missouri Department of Transportation, due to concerns about possible conflicts of interest with his job as Vice President of Strategy and Development for EquipmentShare, a heavy equipment rental company.

“In the interests of good government, I felt I should resign to avoid any perception of bias that could undermine public confidence in the great work of the department and its employees,” Treece told the Independent.

House votes down expansion of business tax subsidies

The House of Representatives on April 6 rejected legislation to expand certain tax subsidies for businesses. The measure failed on a vote of 70-57, with 30 lawmakers voting “present.” The vote fell well short of the minimum 82 needed to advance the measure to the Senate.

House Bill 939 sought to expand the statutory cap on an existing tax credit program that assists businesses with job retention from $6 million to $10 million a year. It also would have created a new $10 million-a-year tax credit to help railroads finance track improvements.

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.