Mike Lear – Page 58 – Missouri House of Representatives Newsroom

MO House subcommittee will investigate harassment in Corrections Department

A Missouri House subcommittee that will investigate reports of harassment within the Department of Corrections has been formed.

Representative Jim Hansen will chair a House subcommittee that will investigate reports of employee-on-employee harassment within the Department of Corrections. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

An article on Pitch.com outlined multiple cases in which, it said, court documents showed some Corrections employees were the victims of harassment by other employees. Some were retaliated against after reporting incidents. Some cases led to lawsuits that have cost Missouri millions of dollars in legal settlements, with more pending.

Earlier story: Missouri House to investigate reports of harassment within Department of Corrections

The new House Subcommittee on Corrections Workforce Environment and Conduct will be chaired by Frankford Republican Jim Hansen.

“It’s a challenge but I hope we can come out on the other side with some answers, some solutions, so this does not happen in the future,” said Hansen.

He said the committee’s greatest focus will be on the Department’s procedures and how it follows up on complaints.

“I have taken several complaints to different levels of the Corrections Department and always got an answer but it was always in favor of the Department, basically. I’m not saying it was wrong or right,” said Hansen. “I think we just need to review who are making these decisions when it comes to policy, when it comes to harassment, when it comes to workplace environment.”

The House’s investigation comes as the administration of new Governor, Eric Greitens, is taking over from the administration of former Governor Jay Nixon. Hansen says that means some of the people who bore responsibility for continued harassment, or who had knowledge of it, could have already left the Department or be on the way out.

“From what I’ve looked into, some of my information, I think we still have people employed in our Corrections Department, in our system, that are still employed after a lot of these things have happened, and those are people that we need to interview,” said Hansen. “I think it’s good that we’ve got a new director. Clean slate, no opinions one way or another, a background in corrections. Could be good timing, too.”

Hansen said the committees’ recommendations could include actions against employees connected to the harassment, if its members feel that is necessary. Hansen said supervisors of those employees could also be called in front of the committee.

Entry-level corrections officers in Missouri are paid less than their counterparts in any other state. Hansen said that makes it more difficult to keep the best people. That could also be reflected in to the committee’s investigation and recommendations.

“We need to create the work environment to attract the good employee with the right compensation for the type of job that needs to be done,” said Hansen. “You can’t brush everybody with the same brush in this deal. I don’t want people out there working in our institutions thinking they all fall under the category of some of the things we’re dealing with. There’s good people in there doing good work.”

Hansen’s district includes the state prison at Bowling Green. Prior to the Pitch article he had been looking into unrelated complaints at the Corrections Department.

The committee will prepare recommendations for House Speaker Todd Richardson (R-Poplar Bluff).

Missouri House gives initial approval to ridesharing company regulations

The Missouri House has given initial approval to a bill that would allow rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft to expand services in the state.

Representative Kirk Mathews (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

House Bill 130 would require background checks on national and local drivers, inspections of vehicles, an annual registration fee of $5,000, and would exempt such companies from local or municipal taxes.

It would allow such companies to expand beyond municipalities that have passed their own ordinances governing rideshare companies – so far that’s Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbia, and Springfield.

The bill is sponsored by Representative Kirk Mathews (R-Pacific). He said the benefits of allowing transportation network companies to expand in Missouri include the creation of jobs and businesses, and a reduction in the number of drunk driving arrests in the state.

“At its core this bill is a free-market solution that produces jobs through innovation and technology,” said Mathews. “Add Missouri to the list of 38 other states who have passed similar legislation and provided their citizens with the opportunities provided by transportation network companies.”

Mathews said the bill addresses concerns raised last year that Kansas City authorities would struggle to monitor the compliance of companies with the new regulations.

“We added an amendment that provides Kansas City the right twice each year to conduct a random audit on TNC drivers, with a fine for violation as well as other notification provisions,” said Mathews.

“The bill now also provides for TNCs to provide all necessary information to investigate and resolve any criminal complaints,” Mathews adds.

Representative Lauren Arthur (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The House also voted to require companies to have policies on protecting the personal information of riders. That was proposed by Kansas City Democrat Lauren Arthur.

She said users of Uber and Lyft often submit a great deal of personal information, “like your home address, your credit card information, and the TNC has the ability to collect records on your travel patterns – where you’re going, where you are at the moment.”

House Speaker Todd Richardson (R-Poplar Bluff) on the opening day of the session named the bill as a priority.

Another favorable vote would send HB 130 to the state Senate.

HB 127 could let Missouri schools avoid making up snow days

Missouri School Districts could have new ways to deal with interruptions in students’ education caused by snow days, under a bill being offered in the Missouri House.

Representative Mike Kelley (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications) — Representative Mike Kelley filed HB 127 dealing with school make-up days; his district number also happens to be 127. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The proposal by Lamar Republican Mike Kelley would allow districts to create plans for students to do schoolwork from home on up to 10 days on which school is out of session for inclement weather. These “alternative instruction plans,” could include the use of online work or some other form of activity.

On the days districts utilize those plans, the state would give those districts credit for being in session.

“Inclement weather is very disruptive to the educational process,” said Kelley. “During harsh winters, especially, with normal school routine disrupted over and over while they’re trying to educate students, this is a way to help make sure that they can continue to educate students and make sure they’re prepared for spring testing.”

Kelley said the idea was brought to him by the superintendent of the Everton School District, Doctor Karl Janson.

Janson said closures for inclement weather, interruptions in utility service, illness, or any other reasons cause disruptions to students’ education.

“It’s hard to get students back on track, and so it takes another day to get them on track on top of the day you lost and then catch up and keep on going from there. So every time you lose a day you’re actually losing about two days,” said Janson.

Janson admits the idea is not his.

“I actually was at a rural conference in Kentucky last year where they missed on average 25 days a year out in Appalachia, and that’s where this plan started,” said Janson. “It’s called the ‘Kentucky Snow Plan.’”

Kelley said the concept could help districts with issues that Janson and other superintendents have raised about the problems with making up excessive missed days at the end of a school year.

“In many cases if you’re bringing them at the end of the school year, you’ve got families that have already made trips and they’re just not going to show up, you’ve got seniors who have already graduated and they’re not going to come in, so you truly are losing educational opportunity as well just students in general because you’re trying to tack things on at the end of the year,” said Kelley.

The bill would require the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to develop rules regarding these alternative instruction plans. It would allow districts to begin using them in the 2018-19 school year.

The proposal is House Bill 127.

Missouri House sends fast-tracked right-to-work bill to the Senate

The Missouri House has advanced another priority of its Republican supermajority, sending a right-to-work bill to the State Senate.

Representative Holly Rehder carried HB 91, the right-to-work bill passed to the Senate by the House. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

HB 91 would bar union membership or the paying of union dues from being a condition of employment. It would make violators of that prohibition guilty of a Class “C” misdemeanor and would require county prosecutors and the state Attorney General to investigate complaints of violations. It would also negate existing agreements between unions and companies that require the paying of union dues or fees.

Many Republicans, like Representative Rick Brattin (Harrisonville), say right-to-work is an issue of worker freedom.

“This bill will empower the worker. We hear the left say, ‘empowering the individual.’ That’s exactly what this bill does,” said Brattin.

Democrats like Karla May (St. Louis) say a right-to-work law will let workers who aren’t paying union dues enjoy the salaries and other benefits that unions fight for.

“You can’t walk into a company under the umbrella of freedom where we’ve been on strike 170 days with no pay. You can’t walk in where we fought for the health benefits of somebody else without pay and you come in and get those benefits and expect not to pay dues. The audacity of you!” said May.

Republican backers say right-to-work will bring more jobs to Missouri, and argue there are many companies that would have come to the state already if it had a right-to-work law.

Representative Charlie Davis (R-Webb City) said, “just 12 years ago we had the opportunity that one of the world’s largest automobile manufacturers was going to come to my little town of Webb City, population of 10,000. Representative [Ron] Richard at the time, now the pro-tem of the Senate, could not guarantee that Missouri would be a right-to-work state. Since then they’ve built two facilities in the United States, both of them in right-to-work states.”

Representative Clem Smith and other Democrats argue right-to-work will result in lower wages for Missouri workers. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Democrats said the idea that a right-to-work law would result in more companies bringing jobs to Missouri is, “preposterous.”

“When this passes, and unfortunately it will pass, some of your counties will still be without jobs,” said Representative Clem Smith (D-Velda Village Hills). “If you were knocking doors and you told your residents, ‘Oh, we’re gonna get good, high-paying jobs,’ I’m not talking about minimum wage – good, high-paying jobs and those jobs never come, you can’t blame it on the Democrats.”

The House voted 100-59 to send the bill to the Senate.

Sponsor Holly Rehder (R-Sikeston) said she will work next week on more labor reform issues when the Economic Development Committee she chairs holds a hearing on a bill supporters call “paycheck protection,” and opponents call, “paycheck deception.” It would bar the automatic deduction of union fees or dues from a public employee’s pay except with that employee’s annual permission. It would also bar the use of union dues or fees for political campaign donations except with permission from the union members paying them.

Missouri House advances right-to-work bill, rejects sending it to voters

The state House has advanced a right-to-work proposal but rejected Democrats’ attempt to have Missourians vote on it.

Representative Doug Beck offered an amendment that would have had a right-to-work proposal go to a vote of the people, if passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Eric Greitens. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Right-to-work is a priority for the Republican super majorities in both chambers and of Governor Eric Greitens (R). The plan the House voted on would bar union membership or the paying of union dues from being a condition of employment. It would make violators of that prohibition guilty of a Class “C” misdemeanor and would require county prosecutors and the state Attorney General to investigate complaints of violations.

Most Republican House members say the bill would make Missouri more competitive against neighboring states, would increase wages, and argue that requiring union membership violates employees’ rights.

Democrats say right-to-work will lower wages and would be a government overreach into contracts between unions and employers.

St. Louis Democrat Doug Beck proposed an amendment that would put right-to-work before voters if it is passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Greitens.

“A bill of this magnitude which will affect every working person in Missouri – everybody who makes a paycheck like I do, union and non-union alike – deserves to go to a vote of the people,” said Beck.

Representative Holly Rehder (R-Sikeston) is sponsoring right-to-work legislation in the Missouri House. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Republicans like Paul Curtman (R-Union) say voters spoke on the issue when they elected a Republican governor to go with Republican supermajorities.

He said Democrats are calling for a vote on the bill now that there is a Republican governor who won’t veto it, but years ago they opposed a Republican bill that would have put the issue to voters at a time when Democratic Governor Jay Nixon would have vetoed it.

“They’re only using this amendment strictly for political exploitation of the rights of the people,” said Curtman. “When it’s convenient to special interests you let the people vote. When it’s not convenient to special interests you don’t let them vote, or you let them vote – whatever the case may be.”

Representative Clem Smith (D-Velda Village Hills) said the argument that the election of a Republican governor means the people want right-to-work doesn’t hold up.

“I didn’t hear anybody use that argument when we had a Democratic governor and he was vetoing bills,” said Smith. “Some of the same individuals were saying, ‘Oh, that’s not what the people want.’ But the people elected him, so we can’t use that logic.”

Ballwin Republican Shamed Dogan said to put the issue to voters would defeat the purpose of having elected representatives.

“If you’re going to put a referendum clause on this piece of legislation it could also be put on every piece of legislation that this body takes up,” said Dogan. “The purpose of a representative government, which we have here, is that we represent the will of our districts, the will of our people, collectively the will of the State of Missouri, and if we’re going to put referendum clauses on every piece of legislation that comes across here we might as well just get up and leave.”

Republican-led opposition carried a vote defeating Beck’s amendment, and the House then voted to advance the right-to-work bill 101-58. Another vote for the bill would send it to the state Senate.

House makes good on Speaker’s promise: gift ban proposal first out of gate

The Missouri House made good on its speaker’s promise that the first bill it would send to the Senate this year is a proposal to ban gifts from lobbyists to legislators.

Representative Justin Alferman's gift ban proposal garnered more votes than its 2016 version. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications) — Representative Justin Alferman’s gift ban proposal garnered more votes than its 2016 version. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

House Bill 60 is sponsored by Hermann Republican Justin Alferman. He said its goal is to ban the giving of, “individually, personally consumable gifts,” to legislators.

“What we are limiting is legislators’ ability to take free things,” said Alferman.

Under the bill, meals to which all members of the General Assembly and all statewide elected officials are invited to and that are held in Missouri with 72-hours’ notice would be allowed.

The bill was amended from its initial version to remove language regarding legislators accepting meals at events at which they speak. Alferman said a review of other state law and the Ethics Commission’s interpretation, that language was found to be unnecessary.

“What we were trying to do was make sure that individuals can still speak to their local chambers or local business organizations and do so as part of a public presentation. We quickly realized that the language that we included was unnecessary and probably was actually a loophole that could have been exploited,” said Alferman.

Other changes in the bill clarify that flowers and plants may be given to legislators as “expressions of condolence or congratulation,” and plaques given by organizations to recognize a lawmaker would be exempted from the ban as well.

The bill goes to the Senate which last year failed to advance a similar proposal. Alferman thinks HB 60 is as likely as it can be to reach Governor Eric Greitens, who he notes has been supportive of a gift ban.

“I think with the added push from [Governor Greitens] and with the dedication of [Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard] and [Senate Majority Floor Leader Mike Kehoe] and Senator [Bob] Onder, I am confident that it has the best opportunity of passage that it ever has,” said Alferman.

The bill cleared the House with overwhelming bipartisan support, 149-5. Some Democrats did say they hope it will not be the last action the House takes to address ethics, and Alferman said he agrees.

“I think the next one on the plate absolutely should be Representative [Shamed] Dogan’s (R-Ballwin) bill to basically address the lobbyist concern that we have on local governments, that being cities, counties, school boards, school administrators,” said Alferman. “I think that’s probably one of the most under understood and underutilized lobbyist restrictions that we have currently in the state.”

House Speaker Todd Richardson (R-Poplar Bluff) said on the opening day of the session that he wanted a gift ban to be the first bill the House sent the Senate.

Missouri House asked to reject pay hike for legislators, statewide office holders

Missouri House members are being asked to reject a pay increase for themselves, the governor, and other statewide officials.

Representative Mike Bernskoetter (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The Missouri Citizens’ Commission on Compensation for Elected Officials recommended in its December 1 report an increase in pay over the next two years of five-percent for Representatives and Senators, and of eight-percent for the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Treasurer, Secretary of State, and Auditor.

House Concurrent Resolution 4, filed by Representative Mike Bernskoetter (R-Jefferson City), would reject the Commission’s recommendation and thereby block those pay raises. To pass, it must be approved by two-thirds votes in each chamber and would go then to Governor Eric Greitens (R). If no action is taken before February 1, the Commission’s recommendations would be enacted.

Bernskoetter, who recently spoke with House Communications about the chances the state will be able to increase the pay of its workers in the Fiscal Year 2018 budget, said this is not the time for legislators and other elected officials to get a raise.

“According to the budget chair it’s possible we’re going to have to cut $500-million out of the budget and I don’t know where we’re going to get the money from to do that and then give us a raise,” said Bernskoetter. “Doesn’t really seem to compute.”

House Democrat Leader Gail McCann Beatty (D-Kansas City) agrees that the proposed increases should be rejected.

“We already see that we are having some budget challenges,” said McCann Beatty. “I don’t believe that increases to the legislature or to the executive branch should be our priorities right now, and we also have to consider that our state employees are some of the lowest-paid state employees and if we’ve got dollars to increase salaries that is probably where that priority should be.”

Bernskoetter’s resolution is scheduled to be considered by the House General Laws Committee Tuesday at 2:30. The Committee will likely vote on it during a hearing on the following day.

The Citizens’ Commission was created so that the power to control how much elected officials are paid lies with citizens. It generally makes salary recommendations for elected officials and judges every two years.

House budget committee warned of impending fiscal challenges

The Missouri House Budget Committee was given a wake-up call in its first hearing. First-year chairman Scott Fitzpatrick (R-Shell Knob) explained to its members the challenges they will face in crafting the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

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

Fitzpatrick has said that budget could need to be trimmed by $500-million. Former Governor Jay Nixon (D) already restricted $201-million from the current budget, and Governor Eric Greitens (R) is expected to make further restrictions in it. Fitzpatrick said the items for which funding in the current budget is blocked likely won’t be appropriated in the Fiscal Year 2018 plan.

Fitzpatrick said some are describing the current budget situation as the worst since 1981.

In explaining how the state got here, Fitzpatrick said it began with a June marked by a drop in state revenue collections coupled with increased tax refunds to Missourians.

“We literally went from tracking at 3.2% growth for fiscal year 2016 on June 15 to being at .9% at June 30,” said Fitzpatrick. “I mean that’s a $200-million swing comparing one year to the next, in two weeks.”

Fitzpatrick said that is combined with continuing growth in Medicaid and costs in the Department of Corrections, including a growing likelihood that Missouri will need a new prison. He said those and other factors lead him to believe Missouri’s problem is with growing expenses more than it is with a lack of revenue.

“Since I’ve been here we’ve had, my first year we grew ten percent. The second year … we contracted one percent. The third year we grew almost nine percent and then this last year we grew one percent. If you average that across the four years that’s not horrible revenue growth,” said Fitzpatrick. “But the mandatories – the things that are in statute that people are eligible for like Medicaid have grown faster and that’s the challenge.”

The message, then, to members of the legislature – especially those on the budget committee – has been that there will be very little if any new spending in the Fiscal Year ’18 budget.

Another challenge is that the legislature will be starting the budget process differently than it has in recent years, in large part because Governor Greitens will not deliver his proposed spending plan as part of his State of the State Address next week. Unlike recent history, when governors have delivered their budget proposals with that address, Greitens’ plan will be released closer to February 1.

Fitzpatrick believes the fact that Greitens is building his administration from scratch combined with the gravity and complexity of the budget situation is behind the delay.

House and Senate budget makers base their proposed spending plans on that of the governor. Fitzpatrick said the delay could cause the House to change how it does some things, but he remains confident the legislature will pass a balanced budget by the Constitutional deadline of May 5.

“If we have to mess with our hearing schedule a little bit, start a little bit before [Greitens’] budget release on some of these departments that have fewer decision items and some of the ones that are commission-appointed directors and so forth, then we may have to do that. I’m going to try not to do that but we’ll do whatever we have to do.”

The House’s appropriations subcommittees will begin holding hearings next week.

Legislator exploring ways to improve state employee benefits even if pay hike not possible for FY ’18

The Missouri legislature could have a difficult time building a pay increase for state employees into the Fiscal Year 2018 budget, but there are other things it could consider to improve those employees’ benefits.

Representative Mike Bernskoetter chairs the Joint Interim Committee on State Employee Wages (photo; Tim Bommel)

The Joint Interim Committee on State Employee Wages has heard a follow-up report from St. Louis-based CBIZ Human capital Services. CBIZ studied nearly 38,000 of Missouri’s 50,000 employees. It’s already reported to the legislature that those employees are the least paid in the nation, with compensation more than 10-percent below what is recommended to compete in the job market.

The study said it would cost the state $13.69-million to bring more than 5,000 of those state workers’ pay up to the minimum CBIZ recommended to be competitive in the market. That would be a one-percent increase in the state’s payroll.

Committee Chairman Mike Bernskoetter (R-Jefferson City) said building that into the budget that legislators will propose over the next couple of months could be difficult based on what he’s heard from the House’s Budget Committee Chairman, Scott Fitzpatrick (R-Shell Knob).

“I’ve heard reports where he thinks we’ll have to cut $500-million out of the budget,” said Bernskoetter. “Hopefully it won’t be that bad but I guess we’ll see as they go through the process.”

Bernskoetter said he does believe that if there is enough money to increase state employee pay, it is among Fitzpatrick’s priorities.

“If the budget is the way he thinks it is it’s going to be tough this year, but he’s led me to believe he’s interested in improving state employee pay,” said Bernskoetter.

He said even if the state can’t begin increasing state employees’ pay this year, the study makes clear a path toward improving that pay.

“We have a blueprint for the future, so there is something in that,” said Bernskoetter. “We have a plan that hopefully we can implement in the future. If not this year, next year.”

Some of CBIZ’s other recommendations could be worked on this year, however. One is that Missouri replace its step-based system for awarding salary increases. A CBIZ representative called it “archaic,” and expensive to administer. Bernskoetter said he is reviewing proposed legislation to make that change.

Another recommendation is that Missouri return to requiring that an employee work five years to be vested rather than ten years. Bernskoetter liked that idea as well.

“Say we have Governor Greitens and he wants to bring in the best and the brightest … even if he was here for two terms – eight years – they would not get anything out of it other than their salary. They wouldn’t be vested,” said Bernskoetter. “That’s one way of compensating the best and the brightest. If we can’t at least give them a great salary, we’ve got a good benefit package.”

Bernskoetter would also like to see state employees given more flexibility, where possible.

“Obviously you have some places – the Department of Corrections – where you have to be staffed 24-hours a day and you can’t really be flexible. But if we can be flexible in certain departments – if people want to work 6 to 2, or if they can work from home, I think I need to sit down and talk to different departments and be more flexible with employees,” said Bernskoetter. “If we can’t give them a pay raise, then be more flexible with their schedule.”

CBIZ won a bid of up to $300,000 to conduct the pay study.

Our earlier stories:

House Members optimistic about taking first step in improving state employee pay

Legislators to learn more about state employee pay study at meeting next week

House proposal to ban lobbyist gifts advances through first committee

A state House proposal aimed at banning gifts from lobbyists to elected officials has taken its first step toward debate by the full chamber.

Representative Justin Alferman said HB 60 is nearly identical to a gift ban proposal he filed in 2016, which was passed out of the House with 147 votes in favor. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

House Bill 60 is sponsored by Hermann Republican Justin Alferman, who presented the legislation to the House Committee on General Laws.

“We are trying to eliminate the undue influence of lobbyists on legislators in the building. That is the individually, personally consumable gifts from lobbyists to legislators,” Alferman told the committee. “These are the one-on-one dinners, these are the press boxes at sporting events in the state. That’s what we’re trying to limit.”

In addition to the prohibitions on expenditures by lobbyists for elected officials, the bill would remove reporting requirements that would not be necessary with a ban in place. It would exempt from those prohibitions flowers and plants, items such as plaques given to lawmakers recognized by an organization, speaking fees, and items that are returned.

The bill would allow lobbyists to provide meals that are offered to all members of the House and Senate as well as all statewide elected officials. Omitted was a requirement that an invite to those elected officials be made in writing at least 72 hours before the event. Alferman said that will be amended into the bill because it is “vital” that it be included.

“What we’re trying to do is alleviate any possibility that you would have, say, ‘Hey guess what, me and six other people in the General Assembly, we’re going out right now and we’ve got a lobbyist who’s paying for it,’ and you send out an email blast and say you know what, ‘We’ll give you five minutes to show up. Well, no one showed up except us. We’re going to report it to the entire General Assembly.’ That’s wrong and I know for a fact that has happened in the past and you’ve had group expenditures for a meal of ten, or five, or less,” said Alferman.

“Giving the 72-hours written notice … to all members of the General Assembly including, but not limited to the attorney general and the auditor, I don’t think any lobbyist is crazy enough to try to circumvent this statute, if enacted, having to send a copy to the attorney general, the chief law enforcement officer of the state,” said Alferman.

Democratic Representatives Tracy McCreery, Lauren Arthur, and Peter Meredith were critical of HB 60 saying it falls short of being an all-out ban of gifts from lobbyists to elected officials. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

House Democrats said the proposal falls short of being an absolute ban on lobbyist gifts to elected officials, and called for it to be more restrictive.

“What people campaigned on, what our governor-elect campaigned on, and what has been promised to voters is an outright, complete ban and that’s not what this is,” said Representative Lauren Arthur (D-Kansas City). “This has loopholes that you could drive a truck full of swag through.”

Democrats focused their criticism of House Bill 60 on its exemptions.

Arthur asked whether the exemption for flowers could include a lobbyist paying for flowers for a lawmaker’s wedding.

“Flowers are expensive for a wedding and if a legislator decided, ‘I’m really close friends with this lobbyist. They’re attending my wedding and I’d like to ask them to pay for my flowers,’ that no longer becomes a small expense,” said Arthur.

Alferman said in looking at bans in other states, most have an exemption for flowers and plants, “and I don’t think a single legislator told me that they had a problem or that this was a, ‘exemption you could drive a truck through.’”

St. Louis Democrat Tracy McCreery thinks the bill should include a definition of “speaking engagement,” as it allows lobbyists to continue to provide meals to lawmakers at those. She said a definition would tighten up that exemption.

“I have been at a conference before where the host of the conference set aside time for every elected official in the room to speak for a minute or two so it could qualify,” said McCreery.

Alferman said he took offense at the use of the word, “loophole,” in describing the exemptions in his legislation.

“By implying that it’s a loophole you’re implying that it was done in a devious nature and deliberately and it certainly was not,” said Alferman. “I’m very open to tightening down any of this language to make it better so long as we are actually moving for progress on this and not just trying to hinder the bill’s success.”

Alferman expects the legislation to have a greater chance of passage this year than in 2016 when it cleared the House but not the Senate. That is due in part to support from Governor Eric Greitens, who after being sworn in today signed an executive order aiming to ban lobbyist gifts to members of his staff.

The General Laws Committee voted to pass HB 60 and it next goes to a hearing by the House Rules Committee, Tuesday afternoon at 1:30.

House Speaker Todd Richardson (R-Poplar Bluff) has said he wants a gift ban bill to be the first thing the House sends the Missouri Senate this session.