Mike Lear – Page 55 – Missouri House of Representatives Newsroom

Number 2 Corrections official faces committee investigating sexual harassment, retaliation in department

A top Department of Corrections official has told a House subcommittee poor training, bureaucracy, and the Department’s growth have contributed to problems with harassment and retaliation among Missouri prison employees.

Dave Dormire is the Director of Adult Institutions in the Missouri Department of Corrections. After more than 40 years with the Department, he will retire April 1, amid allegations his department's culture was rife with sexual harassment and retaliation against those who complained. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications) — Dave Dormire is the Director of Adult Institutions in the Missouri Department of Corrections. After more than 40 years with the Department, he will retire April 1, amid allegations his department’s culture was rife with sexual harassment and retaliation against those who complained. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Dave Dormire is the Department’s Director of Adult Institutions and has been in the Department more than 40 years. He has announced he will retire April 1.

He talked to the House Subcommittee on Corrections Workforce Environment and Conduct after it had heard testimony from several other department officials, employees, and former employees.

The subcommittee was formed after news articles shed light on cases in which Department employees alleged they’d been harassed and, in some cases, retaliated against. Several of those cases have gone to court, and several of those resulted in settlements costing the state millions of dollars.

Since September, 2011, Dormire has been responsible for some staff appointments, overseeing the safety of staff and inmates, and for disciplinary decisions.

Dormire was asked why some of the people who had been involved in those incidents still work for the Department. He told lawmakers some allegations go unsustained, and some efforts are made to correct employees rather than fire them after a first incident.

“I’ll blame the culture a little bit. As you know, correction officer is a tough job,” Dormire said. “We train them specifically to continue to watch and address behaviors. Then they become supervisors, and that’s the behavior they’ve learned – to address behaviors. They’re not well trained – I acknowledge that – not well trained on being a good supervisor.”

Representatives Bruce Franks, Junior (left), and John McCaherty (right) (photo, Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Dormire told subcommittee member John McCaherty (R-High Ridge) the Department has not tolerated its employees committing harassment or unprofessional behavior repeatedly.

“I know that’s your feeling, but we do tolerate it,” McCaherty responded. “It’s going on in the Department, it’s going on now, and that’s why we have a committee because we’ve been tolerating it, so I know your hope is that we don’t tolerate it but as a department we do tolerate it.”

“I understand your opinion, sir. Obviously when I have my records to show what we’ve done and how we’ve addressed things,” Dormire said.

“And we have court cases to show the other side of it,” said McCaherty.

Dormire said the Corrections Department has grown to eight times the size it was when he started there, to more than 32-thousand inmates and roughly 8,000 staff throughout the prison system.

“That’s created all kinds of bureaucracy and things like that, and management issues. I’m not here to make excuses but other departments have not faced that type of growth,” said Dormire.

Subcommittee members told Dormire it has been reviewing reports of harassment and retaliation that date back as much as 20 years.

“It looked like our employees would’ve been better off behind bars,” said Chairman Jim Hansen (R-Frankford). “They would’ve been safer there than they would from some of their supervisors, and it’s disturbing.”

Committee members also asked Dormire about reports they’ve heard of nepotism in the Department’s hiring and promotion practices. At an earlier hearing, they heard from a former employee that wardens often ignore the recommendations of panels assigned to recommend employees for promotion. The system was described as one of “good ol’boys” hiring and promoting friends and relatives.

Dormire told lawmakers the Department used the state’s Merit system, created in state law to prevent favoritism, political influence, or arbitrary decisions in hiring and other employment decisions.

Representative Kathie Conway (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Representative Kathie Conway (R-St. Charles), who said she has heard of, “so much nepotism,” in the department, challenged Dormire on that claim.

“We have to use the Merit system,” said Dormire.

“You have to not sexually harass people, too, but that didn’t seem to be the case,” said Conway.

Committee members asked Dormire about allegations raised by recent articles by Pitch.com suggesting that he had been involved in retaliation against employees, and had been deceptive in his answers in some investigations. Dormire denied those allegations.

Asked specifically whether he testified that disciplining two guards accused of harassing two nurses would have been “moot” because the nurses had quit, Dormire said, “I don’t remember making that statement in particular. I don’t normally use that word. It’s possible. I don’t remember that.”

Committee members again indicated they are looking to those at or near the top of the Corrections Department’s hierarchy – wardens and administrative officials – as being largely at fault.

Hansen said of the cases of harassment he’s read about wardens seemed to be involved in some, and “totally incompetent,” in others.

“I think you’ve got good wardens,” Dormire told Hansen. “Some of them need some help.”

“They need help? We don’t have time. This is costing the state taxpayers millions of dollars,” Hansen responded. “We got people who are supposed to be head of the parade that are playing out of tune and out of step with the marching band.”

Representative Bruce Franks (D-St. Louis City) said he feels the committee still isn’t being told who it must talk to, to get to the nucleus of issues in the Department.

“We talked about the culture, we passed the buck today two or three times, we said we can blame the culture, we can blame the growth, we can blame all of these different things, except for blaming ourselves – the people who are actually in charge,” said Franks. “We have a lot of people up top who aren’t held accountable and who aren’t holding those right up under them accountable, who make 90-thousand, 50-thousand, 100-thousand, 85-thousand, so maybe we need to take about seven or eight of these particular jobs out and distribute their salaries to those who are making nothing to do most of the work.”

House passes bills meant to halt ‘venue shopping’

The Missouri House has passed a trio of bills meant to put an end to “venue shopping” in lawsuits, particularly in the St. Louis area.

Representative Glen Kolkmeyer (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Proponents said House Bills 460, 461, and 462 would stop the practice of attorneys to seek to have cases involving people not from Missouri, alleging injuries that didn’t happen in Missouri, and against companies not from Missouri, heard in St. Louis based on the belief they’d have a better chance of winning there.

“St. Louis has become the nation’s courtroom,” said the bills’ sponsor, Representative Glen Kolkmeyer (R-Odessa).

Kolkmeyer said there are more than 8,400 plaintiffs from outside of Missouri involved in 140 cases pending in St. Louis.

“That’s overcrowding our dockets, we have judges coming from all over the state to fill in the St. Louis Courts, and it’s time that we pull back a little bit,” said Kolkmeyer.

He said the bills aim to make sure more such cases are heard in venues more appropriate to their circumstances.

Each of the bills passed with 97 or more votes, but they faced bipartisan opposition. Parkville Republican Nick Marshall said it would hurt Missourians’ ability come together across county lines in cases against large companies.

“We have swept up into this bill someone that we didn’t meant to sweep up into this bill, and that’s the small plaintiffs throughout rural Missouri that have a common, large-pocketed defendant – either corporation or deep-pocketed insurance company,” said Marshall. “We have these little Davids out there that cannot fight Goliath by themselves.”

The bills are the latest in a series of courtroom reforms passed out of the House this session, including new standards for who would be considered an expert witness in a trial.

Those bills have been sent to the state Senate.

Republicans move quickly to give state final say on minimum wage

House Republicans are fast-tracking bills meant to assert that only the state can set a minimum wage, while Democrats say the bills are a rushed effort that goes back on a promise legislators made two years ago to the people of St. Louis.

The state Supreme Court last week threw out 1998 language that prevented local governments from setting a minimum wage exceeding that set by the state. In response, Representatives Dan Shaul (R-Imperial) and Jason Chipman (R-Steelville) introduced on March 1 House Bills 1193 and 1194, respectively, both of which would bar political subdivisions from requiring a minimum wage exceeding that of the state.

“What I’m trying to do is ensure that a community doesn’t become fragmented and businesses don’t continue to move out of the State of Missouri or the City of St. Louis due to fragmentation,” said Shaul, who said having the minimum wage vary in different parts of the state would hurt businesses and cause confusion.

“The state minimum wage is called ‘the state minimum wage’ because it is the state minimum wage,” said Shaul.

Gladstone Democrat Jon Carpenter said the bills ask the legislature to reverse a decision it made two years ago.

House Bill 722, passed in 2015, also had language barring the setting of a higher minimum wage by local governments. It included a “grandfather clause,” allowing previous wage agreements between private vendors and the City of St. Louis to stand if they were enacted prior to August 28 of that year.

St. Louis enacted an ordinance on August 28, 2015, increasing its minimum wage first to $10 per hour this year and then to $11 per hour next year. Lawsuits delayed implementation of that ordinance, which is now set to take effect later this month.

Carpenter said lawmakers in 2015 agreed the grandfather clause would also allow to stand the new St. Louis minimum wage ordinance, and argued that pending pay hike is why the bills are being moved so quickly. Normally legislation goes through two committees before reaching the floor for debate, but these will go through only one. They also include “emergency clauses,” which would make them effective immediately upon being signed by the governor.

“The reason for not waiting is so that we can pass the bill before people get their raises,” said Carpenter. “If we do nothing, in a few weeks people in St. Louis are going to get a raise. It’s the only reason to pass the bill this week. It’s the only reason to attach an emergency clause to the bill.”

St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay (D), who traveled to the Capitol to testify against the bills, called it “unbelievable,” that the proposals were offered.

“This legislative body just two years ago gave St. Louis the okay to raise the minimum wage. Something happened in between. There was a lawsuit that, of course, we won, and within a couple of days a bill is introduced in this board and it’s on the fast track,” said Slay.

Republicans acknowledge the bill is being fast-tracked, but say that is to protect businesses from disruption.

“I think you have to ask the business owners are they prepared to have their labor costs increase overnight without adding value to what they’re producing,” said Chipman. “That’s a hard thing for a business to do, especially if you’re a business that’s wondering about, ‘Should I renew my lease in my building because I don’t know if I’m going to be able to afford the cost increase of labor? Am I going to have to inflate my prices and then watch my competitors, who may be bigger than I am, not have to do it, and then I lose market share and they gain market share, then I end up having to lay people off?’”

The House Committee on Rules – Administrative Oversight heard, too, from some St. Louis restaurant owners who said the minimum wage hike would force them to chair their business models and let go of some staff, as well as from some St. Louis workers who said they struggle to survive on their current salaries and said the wage increase is needed for many people to pay for basic needs.

The committee, after more than three hours of testimony and debate, voted 10-4 along party lines to advance the bills.

Republican plan would allow pharmacists to prescribe birth control pills

The sponsor of legislation that would allow pharmacists to prescribe birth control pills says his bill is both pro-choice and pro-life.

Representative Shamed Dogan (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

“It’s pro-choice in the sense that we are trying to give women more control over their reproductive health and over their family planning, and it’s pro-life in the sense that the bill is intended to reduce unintended pregnancies and abortions,” said Ballwin Republican Shamed Dogan.

He said House Bill 233 could help reduce Missouri’s unplanned pregnancy rate by as much as 25-percent.

HB 233 would let pharmacists prescribe oral contraceptives to those 18 or older regardless of whether that person has a previous prescription. Those younger than 18 who have evidence of a previous prescription could also be prescribed the pill by a pharmacist.

The legislation is projected to save Missouri money, and Dogan said it would save women money and time by negating the need for some visits to their doctor.

Several groups testified in favor of the bill, including the Teen Pregnancy and Prevention Partnership. Its Executive Director Meg Boyko said HB 233, “would just be one step in the right direction to lowering barriers to access to care to those teens so they can take responsibility of their health and their health outcomes and prevent teen pregnancy.”

Representative Cora Faith Walker (D-Ferguson) said a similar plan in California didn’t have the results backers hoped it would.

“This is just a different barrier. By making it behind the counter, making it a requirement for pharmacists to write the prescription, it just kind of shifts the barrier,” said Walker.

“We’re a different state than California,” Dogan responded. “I think one of the issues that we might have that they don’t face nearly as much is rural folks … I think the fact that many people in rural areas don’t have access to a doctor in the same way that they have a lot more pharmacists in their areas … Yeah there’s still somewhat of a barrier, but it’s not nearly what the barrier is right now.”

Dogan said he favors making birth control over-the-counter, but noted such proposals have not been adopted in states that are more politically progressive than Missouri, and he doesn’t feel such a bill would be likely to pass in the Missouri legislature.

Shannon Cooper testified against HB 233 on behalf of Blue Cross/Blue Shield and the Missouri Coalition. He said their primary concern was that without the need for a prescription, women would make fewer visits to their doctors.

“Under the [Affordable Care Act] and insurance policies, we provide a free exam once a year and we feel like for a lot of the invincibles that we talk about who don’t think they’re ever going to be ill or have any problems, when they receive these birth control pills and the prescriptions that does drive them back to the physician to get that exam,” said Cooper. “I think we all know that early detection of any type of disease is one of the best cures for that disease.”

Cooper also expressed concern that HB 233 would allow up to a 12-month supply of birth control pills to be prescribed under certain circumstances.

“We feel like there will be certain individuals who could take advantage, get that supply and then drop off our policies with that 12-month supply,” said Cooper. “Obviously there’s a cost concern there.”

Others expressed concern that allowing a 12-month supply could lead to wasted pills, such as in cases in which a woman only uses them for a while and then stops for some reason.

Representative Mike Stephens (R-Bolivar), himself a pharmacist, said he hopes the proposal represents a larger effort to expand the availability of medical services.

“If there is a saving grace to the health care system it must include a greatly expanded role in health care delivery and health care access by a wide variety of health care professionals,” said Stephens.

The committee has not voted on HB 233.

Last year similar legislation was passed by the House 97-50, but stalled in the state Senate.

House members again asked to consider legalizing medical marijuana in Missouri

The Missouri House is again being asked to consider legalizing marijuana for some medical purposes.

Representative Jim Neely (right) listens as Jackson County Sheriff Mike Sharp (left) testifies in favor of Neely's medical marijuana legislation, HB 437. Jackson said he has a nephew that could benefit from medical marijuana. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications) — Representative Jim Neely (right) listens as Jackson County Sheriff Mike Sharp (left) testifies in favor of Neely’s medical marijuana legislation, HB 437. Jackson said he has a nephew that could benefit from medical marijuana. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

House Bill 437 would allow the use of marijuana to treat irreversible debilitating diseases or conditions. Its sponsor, Cameron Republican Jim Neely, said it would expand on two Missouri laws. One allows the use of a cannabis extract, cannabidiol (CBD) oil, for treating intractable epilepsy. The other is the “right to try” law that lets doctors and patients use drugs that haven’t completed the approval process through the federal Food and Drug Administration.

The bill would have the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services create a list of conditions for which patients could be allowed to use medical marijuana. That list would have to include any conditions or diseases for which a clinical trial of medical marijuana has completed its first phase.

The bill would allow the Department to issue medical cannabis registration cards to Missourians 18 and older for whom a doctor has signed a statement saying the individual suffers from epilepsy or an irreversibly debilitating disease, could benefit from medical cannabis, and has considered all other treatment options. Parents would be allowed to obtain registration cards for their children.

The House Committee on Health and Mental Health Policy heard from Doctor Adrianne Poe, who told the committee cannabis-based pain treatments would be safer than commonly used opioid-based medications. She cited a report from the National Academy of Sciences, which said that cannabis is safe and effective in treating pain.

“That is in direct opposition to all of the literature that we have that shows there is not a shred of evidence for the safe and effective use of chronic opioids for chronic pain,” said Poe. “According to the CDC guidelines which tell us that the very first thing that physicians need to do is find an alternative therapy to opioids for the treatment of chronic pain. The National Academies has given us an answer on that and the answer is cannabis.”

Heidi Rayl told lawmakers Missouri should not stop with the passage of the law that has allowed her to treat her son’s seizures with CBD oil.

“This is where our state is lacking. One type of medication does not treat everyone. I, as Zaden’s mother, should have the right to choose what is best for him,” said Rayl.

Legislators were also told the passage of medical marijuana legislation would put Missouri’s laws in conflict with federal laws.

Jason Grellner with the Missouri, and National, Narcotics Officers' Association testifies against medical marijuana legislation. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications) — Jason Grellner with the Missouri, and National, Narcotics Officers’ Association testifies against medical marijuana legislation. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Jason Grellner with the Missouri, and National, Narcotics Officers’ Associations, told the committee, “If you pass legislation that is in violation of the Supremacy Act of the United States regarding scheduled drugs, I don’t think you want me choosing which laws I enforce and which ones I do not.”

He also said passing a medical marijuana law would mean bypassing the FDA and its consumer protections.

“If I go to a Wallgreen’s in L.A. and buy a Tylenol and I go to a Wallgreen’s in New York City and buy a Tylenol, I am assured under FDA regulations that that is the same drug. If I walk into a medical marijuana shop and buy purple Kush on Wednesday, there is really no assurance in any state that has medical marijuana that if I go back on another day or to another medical marijuana shop that I am getting the same drug, because there is no standardization of dose,” said Grellner.

Last year the House came the closest it’s ever been to passing medical marijuana legislation, but finally rejected a bill that would have allowed medical marijuana use only by terminal cancer patients in hospice care.

The committee’s chairman, Representative Keith Frederick (R-Rolla), said he is “contemplating” whether to have the committee vote on HB 437.

With Senate prescription monitoring plan close to passage, House remains focused on its member’s version

The Missouri Senate appears prepared to endorse a prescription drug monitoring program. The House, however, remains focused on a plan proposed by one of its members who said the Senate bill won’t do the job.

Representative Holly Rehder has proposed for several years the creation of a prescription drug monitoring program in Missouri. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Backers of PDMPs say they help fight prescription drug abuse. They are intended to catch people in the act of “doctor shopping;” visiting multiple doctors in an attempt to get their hands on as much as they can of prescriptions commonly abused.

The Senate has given initial approval to a Senate Bill 74 sponsored by Senator Rob Schaaf (R-St. Joseph), meaning another vote could send it to the House for consideration. Schaaf has blocked advancement of earlier PDMP bills saying they would invade Missourians’ privacy by creating a database of their prescriptions.

His plan would let doctors submit a patient’s name to the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. It would then give that doctor access to the patient’s medical records only if the Bureau determined the patient is a potential abuser.

Sikeston Representative Holly Rehder (R) has sponsored PDMP legislation in the House for several years. She said neither her nor Schaaf are willing to budge on their approaches to a plan.

“He would allow physicians to see what their patient is doing if a red light comes back. Well, you know, that’s after a problem has already been discovered and we’re already down that road,” said Rehder. “Physicians need to be able to have full understanding of what their patients are on and what they’re doing so that they can make those best clinical decisions. I’m not able to give on that point because to me that’s the most important part to help this epidemic that we are in. That’s the way to decrease overdoses. That’s the cornerstone of this legislation.”

Missouri is the only state without a PDMP. Other states allow doctors to access their patients’ prescription information through a secured database. Rehder said such a database gives doctors quick access to information they are already authorized to view.

“They just have to call around and get it from kind of doing the phone tree – calling the pharmacies and other doctors,” said Rehder. “This just allows a one spot place that the physicians can go, that pharmacists can go to make sure that they’re not prescribing something that’s harmful, that’s going to counteract with other medications … this a huge opportunity for physicians to be able to spot the signs of addiction early and to help get that person on a manageable path back to a healthy lifestyle.”

As for Schaaf’s concerns about privacy, Rehder said the prescription drug database would be encrypted.

“If somebody were to get this information they wouldn’t be able to read it,” said Rehder. “[Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act] laws – our federal laws – really cover this area very well, which is why we have electronic medical records, and this is just another portion of that.”

Rehder says Schaaf’s bill is also so expensive it might never be implemented. Legislative researchers estimate that if passed, SB 74 would cost more than $1-million dollars in Fiscal Year ’18 – similar to the projected year one cost of Rehder’s legislation – but in Fiscal Years ’19 and ’20, Schaaf’s bill’s projected cost each year is greater than $6.5-million.

Rehder believes the actual cost of her bill would be less than $1-million dollars, and said with grants and other funding sources it would pose less of a challenge to fund.

Rehder took up the PDMP issue in response to her own family’s issues with prescription drug abuse. Her daughter, Raychel, became addicted to an opioid pain reliever after an emergency room visit when she was 17. She went on to abuse other substances including methamphetamine, but has been clean for going on two years. Other members of Rehder’s family have also struggled with abuse issues.

Rehder’s PDMP legislation in past sessions has passed out of the House with overwhelming support only to be stalled in the Senate, where opposition was largely led by Schaaf. House Speaker Todd Richardson (R-Poplar Bluff) said even with Schaaf’s bill close to coming to his chamber, the focus of the House is going to remain on Rehder’s efforts.

“Representative Rehder has been the thought leader on prescription drug monitoring here in the House for some time and for good reason,” said Richardson. “We’ll continue to allow Representative Rehder to stay in the driver’s seat on that bill and we’ll see if we can work through the differences with the Senate.”

Rehder’s legislation, House Bill 90, is nearly ready for debate by the full House.

House budget chairman on search for savings in FY ’18 budget; wariness about tobacco settlement money

The House took another step in drafting a budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, when the bills that make up that spending plan were filed.

House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Meanwhile, House appropriations committees continue taking testimony from state agencies and elected officials about how much they want or hope to receive in state money if Fiscal Year ’18.

House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick (R-Shell Knob) said those committees are looking for places the state can save money to offset a $500-million shortfall.

He said lawmakers are looking at renegotiating managed care contracts to reschedule some expenses as the state switches to managed care in FY 18, and examining the funding request from the state employee retirement system to make sure it isn’t unnecessarily great.

Governor Eric Greitens (R) last week recommended changes to his own budget proposal that would see greater spending on public school transportation and on in-home services for low-income residents with disabilities.

Fitzpatrick said the problem is Greitens proposes funding those restorations with money from Missouri’s settlement with tobacco companies. Greitens based his latest proposal on a Missouri Supreme Court ruling that would let Missouri get $52-million in settlement money.

“I think we will see that money but I think there’s a potential for another negative decision on the tobacco lawsuit front for the next year that is basically a new lawsuit that could offset any gains we’re making from that,” said Fitzpatrick. “I’m not 100-percent convinced that we’re going to spend the extra money that the governor recommended. I think if we can get comfortable with the likelihood that we’re actually going to have it available in the fiscal year that we may go ahead and spend that, but we’ll look at the best way to spend it.”

The appropriations committees will begin this week preparing their recommendations for spending in the areas they respectively deal with. In two weeks the main budget committee will prepare its spending proposal with Fitzpatrick’s input, creating a spending plan that will be debated by the full House.

Recent news articles have questioned whether the legislature, in this tight budget year, will fund Missouri’s new voter photo ID law, approved by voters in November. Fitzpatrick said it would be supported.

“We’re not going to play games with that,” said Fitzpatrick. “We’ve talked with Secretary of State [John] Ashcroft multiple times about it, and we’re going to make sure that he has what he feels is necessary, whether it be from general revenue or a federal fund that the Secretary of State has access to, we’re going to make sure that he has ample authority to implement that law the way that the statute requires.”

The bills Fitzpatrick filed last week don’t represent his budget recommendation, but that of Governor Greitens. He said he took that action with a mind for history.

“It is basically the only historical record of a governor’s budget. If you go back and try to find governor’s budgets from previous years, if the budget chairman does not file the governor’s recommendation then that is not documented … there is no permanent record of that,” said Fitzpatrick. “The bills themselves are the exact everything that the governor sent. There are even typos in there that staff found and I said, ‘Nope, leave them the same.’”

Panel on Corrections Department environment hears of ‘vague’ harassment policies, working in ‘hell’

A week after being frustrated by two Department of Corrections officials’ responses to questions about harassment, members of a Missouri House subcommittee heard from two Department employees who described an environment of nepotism, harassment, and retaliation in the state’s prison system.

Members of the House Subcommittee on Corrections Workforce Environment and Conduct listen to testimony (file). (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Travis Case, who is three years away from retiring from the Department, told lawmakers, “You come in every day and the negativity, it’s like you’re walking into hell.”

Case works in the Northeast Correctional Center in Bowling Green, in its canteen – a store where inmates can purchase items including snacks, drinks, and tobacco products.

He told legislators that prison has seen a high rate of turnover with many veteran staff members leaving – an issue he believes likely exists department-wide. He said morale is low and complained that he believed prison wardens have too much power.

“This came out of a deputy warden’s mouth and I agree with him wholeheartedly,” said Case. “’We give these wardens the keys to the kingdom and we let them run it however they see fit, and that’s a big problem.’”

Case was talking to a panel formed to look into the environment in the Corrections system after reports came to light of employee-on-employee harassment and retaliation against those who reported problems. Some cases resulted in lawsuits, some of which the state has settled resulting in millions of dollars in payouts. Other cases are still pending.

Case said the Department’s policies, including its policy regarding harassment, are too vague.

“Missouri supposedly has a zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment and discrimination, but the policies don’t reflect that. The policies are so vague that if you want to fire somebody for sexual harassment or discrimination or retaliation – whatever the case may be – you can do it if you want to, but if you don’t want to you also don’t have to,” said Case. “That’s where the favoritism comes in.”

The subcommittee also heard from Lieutenant Jason Horn, a corrections officer at the Farmington Correctional Center. Horn read off a litany of suggestions for improvements in the Department, including its handling of harassment.

“Send all claims of … discrimination, harassment, retaliation, to Human Resources. There should not be a choice. No passing the buck,” Horn recommended. “If we can have somebody with a nonbiased opinion come in and look at these problems and these issues in a way that they need to be looked at with no choice – with no choice of the warden or anyone else, then I think things would get dealt with a little more appropriately than they do.”

Subcommittee members expressed gratitude at the two men for coming to testify. After its previous hearing one panel member said it seemed as though department officials were, “passing the buck,” shuffling harassment claims back and forth between departments. Members expressed frustration at the answers they received from the Department’s Inspector General and its Division of Human Resources Director.

Chairman Jim Hansen (R-Frankford) said he wants to hear from more Department employees before the committee prepares its recommendations for changes in Corrections.

Other related stories:

Bill seeks better oversight of state settlements, after harassment in Corrections Department

Subcommittee on harassment in Corrections Department frustrated by Department’s structure, process

New prison system director talks to House committee about harassment, more

MO House subcommittee will investigate harassment in Corrections Department

Missouri House proposes bigger fines for illegally applying herbicides, after Bootheel farmers’ losses

The state House has proposed tougher penalties for farmers who intentionally misapply herbicides. Such applications have cost some farmers crops and the money invested in them, as highlighted by incidents in Southeast Missouri last year.

Representative Don Rone said fines had to be great enough to hurt some farmers' bottom line before they would stop illegal application of herbicides. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications) — Representative Don Rone said fines had to be great enough to hurt some farmers’ bottom line before they would stop illegal application of herbicides. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The University of Missouri said 150 or more farmers lost an average of 35-percent of their crops when neighboring operations illegally used an outdated dicamba product. When that product spread onto nearby fields planted with seeds not resistant to dicamba, they were damaged.

Farmers can now be fined $1,000 for applying herbicide to a crop for which it is not labeled. House Bill 662 would let the Department of Agriculture fine a farmer up to $1,000 for every acre herbicide is applied to, off-label. The fine could be doubled for repeat violators.

The bill is sponsored by Portageville Republican Don Rone, who said the current, flat $1,000 fine is not enough to discourage some farmers from using products they think will better serve them.

“What this does is just basically give the state the ability go after the people that misuse herbicides in the state,” said Rone.

The money collected in fines would go to the school district local to the affected fields. Rone explained the state’s statutes prevent it from giving that money to farmers who suffered damage.

“The state cannot make farmers whole. They can issue fines but they can’t make the farmer whole,” said Rone. “That takes the action of a court, or in the old days when I first started farming, if I hurt you, I’d come to you and say, ‘Gentleman how much do you think that I hurt you?’ and I’d write you a check.”

The House voted to add an emergency clause to the bill, which would make it effective immediately upon being signed into law by the governor. Rone hopes the bill can clear the Senate and be signed into law by mid-March so that it will be in effect for the new planting season.

Earlier stories:

House Asked to consider tougher penalties for illegal herbicide use that cost farmers crops

Lawmaker plans to propose tougher penalties for illegal use of herbicides after Bootheel farmers’ losses

House committee hearing to focus on farmers’ losses due to illegal use of herbicide

Missouri House again endorses less time for unemployment benefits

The Missouri House has again voted to reduce the length of time people can claim unemployment benefits.

House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick again carried unemployment fund reform legislation as he did in 2015. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

House Bill 288, sent to the Senate Thursday, would cut that time period from 20 to 13 weeks if the state’s unemployment rate is less than 6-percent. It could increase if the jobless rate increases, reaching a maximum of 20 weeks if that rate exceeds 9-percent.

Republicans said the measure is meant to keep the state’s unemployment fund solvent when the economy takes a downturn. Missouri has had to borrow money from the federal government to cover benefits in past economic slowdowns, and business owners have had to pay millions of dollars in interest on those loans.

“Missouri’s the only state that’s had to borrow in the last five recessions, so we’re trying to fix that,” said bill sponsor Scott Fitzpatrick (R-Shell Knob).

Democrats including Gladstone representative Jon Carpenter called the bill unnecessary. He pointed to other states with Republican leadership that offer 26-weeks of benefits and pay more each month.

“Don’t vote yes on this bill because we’ve got to keep the fund solvent. Don’t let that be the argument unless somebody proves to you why that is – why that’s necessary when all these other states can do it,” said Carpenter.

Fitzpatrick said many of those states likely make getting benefits more difficult than does Missouri, allowing them to do more with fewer funds.

Representative Jon Carpenter urged his colleagues to vote against changes to Missouri unemployment benefits. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Representative Rick Brattin (R-Harrisonville) and other Republicans said 20 weeks is plenty of time for a person to find another job.

“Everyone here can do their due diligence and walk, and go through your districts and you will find ‘help wanted’ signs everywhere,” said Brattin. “We don’t have a ‘jobs’ problem. We have a ‘people willing to work problem’ within our districts.”

Representative Bruce Franks, Junior, (D-St. Louis City) said that isn’t true in his district, and said it can often take more than three months for a person to learn the skills or earn the certification needed to take on a new job.

“When we’re talking about bills – especially unemployment compensation, that affects every single Missourian – only thing I ask is the thing that I’ll continue to ask every time I stand up here and talk about any bill, is that we take all communities into consideration,” said Franks.

The measure mirrors one the legislature endorsed over the veto of former Governor Jay Nixon in 2015 that the state Supreme Court threw out on a procedural issue.