Two state House committees are preparing to dive into the state’s framework of regulations and licensing requirements in an effort to make it easier to own and operate a business in Missouri.
House Speaker Todd Richardson (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
House Speaker Todd Richardson (R-Poplar Bluff) announced in his opening day address that he’s instructed the House Committee on Government Efficiency and the House Committee on Professional Registration & Licensing to review those requirements.
Richardson said Missouri regulations have slowed the success in Missouri of ridesharing companies Uber and Lyft and lodging companies HomeAway and AirBnB, and he said there are other examples.
Representative Robert Ross (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
The Committee on Professional Registration & Licensing is chaired by Yukon Republican Robert Ross, who said tempering business regulations is a balancing act.
Representative Delus Johnson (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
St. Joseph Republican Delus Johnson chairs the Committee on Government Efficiency, who said it could be a multi-year process to vet all the regulations and requirements that are in place.
A freshman state representative has filed another effort to make Missouri less attractive to sex traffickers.
Representative Jean Evans (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
Manchester Republican Jean Evans’ prefiled legislation would increase from 15 to 17 the minimum age at which a person can receive a marriage license. Missouri law allows teens as young as 15 to get a license when extenuating circumstances exist, as long as one of the teen’s parents gives consent.
Evans said traffickers have been taking advantage of Missouri’s law, bringing trafficking victims to the state to marry their abusers. That makes prosecuting the abuser difficult or impossible.
Evans said such marriages are able to take place because parents are sometimes involved in trafficking their own children. She said she learned about the issue from a report by KMOV reporter Lauren Trager.
Evans’ bill is not based on a recommendation from the Task Force on Sex Trafficking, but she has discussed the issue with its chairman, Springfield Representative Elijah Haahr (R). She sees her bill as part of a broader effort to fight trafficking – an effort based largely on the work of that Task Force.
House members will be asked to consider other legislation related to trafficking – much of it based on the work of the Task Force. HB 261 would require employers to display posters with the national trafficking hotline and related information. Other recommendations by the Task Force deal with creating a position in state government to oversee anti-trafficking efforts, and supporting groups that offer victims treatment and assistance to transition out of trafficking.
The legislature will be asked in 2017 to expand screenings of newborns in Missouri to look for two more life-threatening diseases.
Representative Becky Ruth (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
Festus Republican Becky Ruth is proposing that infants be screened for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and mucopolysaccharidosis II (MPS II), otherwise known as Hunter syndrome. Both are genetic diseases that can be fatal, but Ruth says the earlier they are caught, the better outcomes can be.
“It gives families hope and it gives us a chance to save the lives of even more babies here in Missouri,” said Ruth.
SMA results in a loss of physical strength that can include a lessened ability to walk, eat, or breathe. It is the leading genetic cause of death for infants.
Hunter syndrome is caused by an enzyme deficiency that results in the buildup of harmful molecules that can affect a person’s appearance, mental development, organ function, and physical abilities. An estimated 2,000 people have Hunter syndrome worldwide, with about 500 of those living in the U.S.
No drugs have been approved for SMA, but Ruth says one, nusinersen, could be approved by April.
There is no cure for Hunter syndrome, but Ruth says with it too, earlier detection could improve the lives or increase the lifespan of those children who have it.
In 2009 the legislature passed and the governor signed HB 716, The Brady Alan Cunningham Newborn Screening Act, named for Ruth’s grandson. Ruth, not yet a legislator, testified for that bill. She said Brady’s diagnosis was her introduction to certain rare diseases.
Ruth said that “piggybacking” means there should be little or no additional cost to screen for SMA, and she believes screening for Hunter syndrome can be done “very reasonably.”
The bill would make the additional screenings subject to annual funding by the state, and would allow the Department of Health and Senior Services to increase its newborn screening fees to pay for the additional tests.
Ruth said with the occurrence rate of SMA, it is something that should be tested for. She said Missouri already tests for MPS I, so testing for MPS II is a “natural next step.”
Ruth’s bill is HB 66. The 2017 session begins January 4.
Labor, tort, education, ethics, and regulatory reforms will be among the focuses of the Missouri House Republican supermajority in the 2017 legislative session.
House Speaker Todd Richardson discussed his caucus’ priorities for the 2017 session (watch the video at the bottom of this story or click on this photo to view).
Labor reform efforts will include work to pass legislation supporters call “right-to-work,” and “paycheck protection,” as well as reforms to project labor agreements. Tort reforms will include resumption of efforts to pass legislation changing how expert witnesses are evaluated, and Missouri’s collateral source rule.
In education reform, Richardson says expansion of charter schools will be considered, and the caucus will look for ways to improve student achievement “across the board.”
“We’ve identified a task force of members in the House that’s going to start digging into those issues specifically,” said Richardson.
Richardson also wants to pick up where the legislature left off last year with ethics reform. With that, his first goal in the House will be to again pass a bill banning gifts from lobbyists to legislators.
Republicans will also study Missouri’s regulations of businesses.
“We want to take this notion of cutting red tape and removing the regulatory barriers for business out of the campaign space and into the practical legislative space,” said Richardson.
He said the legislature will continue the work it began last year on a statewide regulatory framework for ride sharing companies like Uber and Lyft. The House will also push legislation being called, “The Sunshine Act,” which would require an analysis of proposed regulations before they are enacted.
Richardson said the House will also take a more comprehensive look at what licensing requirements exist in Missouri, to see if it presents “unnecessary barriers” to employment.
He said such regulations affect a broad section of Missourians. One example that has come up in legislation in recent years has been people who want to get paid to braid hair.
The state House of Representatives will investigate reports of harassment within the state Department of Corrections, which has reportedly victimized numerous employees and cost the state millions in legal settlements.
House Speaker Todd Richardson (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
A recent article on Pitch.com outlined multiple cases in which, it said, court documents showed some Corrections employees were the victims of harassment, retaliation, and threats based on sex, age, religion, or physical ability.
In several of those cases, the employees or former employees making the allegations agreed to a settlement with the state. Between 2012 and 2016 those settlements totaled more than $7.5-million.
“They’re doubly concerning here in Missouri because it’s leading to a huge budget impact. The cost to the state to have to settle these claims has been significant,” said Richardson.
He said the House would take up a “very thorough review,” of what’s been happening at the Department.
Representative Kathie Conway (R-St. Charles) chairs the House committee that deals with the Department of Corrections’ budget. She said the reports of harassment never came up in her committee, even though they were resulting in sizable settlements.
The line in the state budget from which money for settlements with the state comes does not have a finite dollar amount in it. Rather, it has an “E” at the end of that line, meaning it includes an estimated amount. That allows for additional money to be used for that purpose, as needed. Conway said that is one reason the settlements never came to the attention of a legislative committee.
Richardson said details on how the House investigation will proceed will be released in coming weeks.
The Missouri House’s Budget Committee Chairman said he doesn’t, “have a lot of optimism,” about putting together a budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Representative Scott Fitzpatrick (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
State revenue continues to come in more slowly than legislators and the governor projected when working on the current fiscal year’s budget. Shell Knob Republican Scott Fitzpatrick said that means when Governor-Elect Eric Greitens (R) delivers his budget proposal next month, it could call for little more than covering things the state is mandated to pay.
State General Revenue growth in Missouri spiked briefly, earlier this week, at more than 4-percent, but again fell off to well below the roughly 5-percent said to be needed to fund the current fiscal year’s budget. Governor Jay Nixon (D) has, since that budget went into effect, withheld $150-million to keep it balanced. Fitzpatrick said without a major improvement in revenue growth, more restrictions will be needed. He called on Nixon to make them.
All this means that Fitzpatrick, as he enters his first year chairing the House Budget Committee, does not expect to make many people happy while playing his role in preparing the Fiscal Year 2018 budget.
Fitzpatrick said it will also be difficult to take care of his personal priorities: fully funding the foundation formula for K-12 education; boosting state employee pay; and accelerating the repayment of state debt.
As early as next week, members of Nixon’s administration will join members of the governor-elect’s staff in meeting with House and Senate budget planners to prepare a Consensus Revenue Estimate – a projection of how much revenue the state will bring in during Fiscal Year 2018 that they will base a budget plan on.
The Chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee for Public Safety and Corrections has filed three bills for the 2017 session dealing with public safety issues. She said one would, in part, help prevent incidents such as the drowning of an Iowa Man while in patrol custody in 2014.
Representative Kathie Conway (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
That bill would increase by $1-million the amount collected from boat title and registration fees that would go to the Water Patrol Division of the State Highway Patrol.
St. Charles Republican Kathie Conway said that division does more than put boats and troopers on Missouri’s waterways.
Conway believes additional funding for the Water Patrol division will also lead to continued improvements in training of its troopers, and that will help prevent incidents such as the drowning of an Iowa man, Brandon Ellingson, while in patrol custody on the Lake of the Ozarks in 2014.
The state recently agreed to pay $9-million to Ellingson’s family as part of a settlement agreement.
Another bill would extend to the state’s community colleges the ability that colleges and universities have for their police departments to control traffic on streets maintained by those institutions.
Conway says community colleges were left out when colleges and universities were granted that power under a bill that became law several years ago.
She said such authority would also make community colleges eligible to apply for federal money for training – money they are not eligible to apply for now.
A third bill filed today by Conway would close what she called a “loophole,” in how money in the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control Fund can be used. Conway said Governor Nixon’s Administration has used money in that fund to pay for the core expenses of the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco.
The sponsor of a key ethics reform proposal that the House passed in 2016 believes it has a stronger chance of becoming law in 2017.
Representative Justin Alferman (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
Hermann Republican Justin Alferman filed in 2016 legislation that would ban gifts from lobbyists to state legislators. It passed the Missouri House but did not reach the governor.
Alferman has filed that legislation for the 2017 session and said he expects it to have more vigorous support from the administration of Governor-Elect Eric Greitens.
Alferman said the incoming governor’s staff is pleased with the position the House took last year of an all-out ban on gifts, rather than setting a limit.
The legislature passed and Governor Nixon signed into law three ethics reforms in 2016 – bills that bar elected officials from hiring one another as paid political consultants; bar statewide elected officials, members of the General Assembly, or appointees subject to Senate confirmation from registering as lobbyists until six months after the end of their terms; and limit how long campaign funds can be invested and how they can be used.
Alferman said between those and policies enacted by House leadership to govern how House members and staff behave both in and out of the Capitol, and similar policies in the Senate, the public perception of the legislature should be better than it was four years ago.
A state House Republican plans to propose tougher Missouri gun laws for those with a history of domestic violence.
Representative Donna Lichtenegger (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
Representative Donna Lichtenegger (R-Cape Girardeau) will propose mirroring Missouri law to a 1997 federal restriction on the ownership, possession, purchase, or sale of firearms by those convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors or who have orders of protection against them. Missouri remains one of the states that have not adopted the same law, meaning only federal agents and courts can pursue cases regarding the federal law.
Missourians who were found guilty of a domestic violence misdemeanor or were the subject of an order of protection were to be denied concealed carry permits under the state’s original CCW law. That prohibition was nullified after the legislature overturned the veto of SB 656, allowing anyone who can legally carry a gun to carry one concealed without getting a permit.
Lichtenegger expects her proposal will have support among her fellow Republicans’ supermajority.
“Under the circumstances of what I’m talking about and the fact that NRA is willing to help me … I’m not changing the gun bill at all,” said Lichtenegger. “All I’m doing is taking the state law and matching it with the federal law as far as domestic violence goes just to give the people who are being hurt more coverage.”
Lichtenegger is pursuing the issue in part because of her own experience with domestic violence committed by her father when she was a child.
“My father was a violent alcoholic,” said Lichtenegger. “Believe it or not, in his lawyer’s office he threatened to throw acid in my face and my brother’s face … when I was four years old I vividly remember my father abusing my mother.”
“I wanna make sure that these women and men who are hurt get their day in court without the fear that they’re going to be hurt more,” said Lichtenegger.
Lichtenegger said she is still developing language for a bill for the session that begins January 4, and said it could also deal in some way with those suffering from mental health issues.
A legislative task force on Human Trafficking has held its final hearing, though its members could continue its work in some form.
Representative Elijah Haahr (photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
The group was created in 2015 with the goal of making recommendations to the legislature on how to fight trafficking in Missouri. A report with those recommendations is due by the end of the year, and is being developed now.
The body already helped pass legislation adding to the crime of trafficking the advertising of a victim for sex or pornography, and letting a victim keep his or her address confidential, making it harder for traffickers to find them.
The group has been chaired by Springfield Republican Elijah Haahr.
“It’s been a good experience and I think it’s one of those things that everybody in the state can appreciate the work we’re doing here today,” said Haahr. “Probably the biggest thing is opening people’s eyes to how bad the issue is in the Midwest, but then hopefully giving them some of the tools that we can to move forward.”
One of the task force’s recommendations will be the creation of a position in the state’s government that oversees anti-trafficking efforts. That would require the legislature to propose where the money for such a person’s salary would come from in the state budget. Discussion also continues of where in state government that position would be housed, or whether it should be a non-profit position outside of the government.
Representative Cloria Brown (R-St. Louis) also sits on the Task Force on Human Trafficking (photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
Other recommendations could include using state money to help support groups that offer victims treatment and assistance transitioning out of trafficking, and requiring that employers post the national trafficking hotline in break rooms. Haahr expects six to ten recommendations will be included in the report.
Another possible recommendation that Haahr said could face some resistance is that of decriminalization in cases in which a person working as a prostitute was coerced. He expects legislators to be more supportive of proposing tougher legal penalties for those who solicit prostitutes, and of options for trafficking victims to have prostitution convictions expunged from their records.
“Nobody wants to be perceived as Missouri going soft on crime,” said Haahr. “You also don’t want traffickers to declare open season and think, ‘We can bring women to this state where they’re not going to get arrested for prostitution,’ and have an influx of new trafficking in the state.”
Several members of the task force expressed an interest in seeing it continue to meet, though it is set to expire at the end of this year. The legislature could consider a resolution that would continue the group or create a new one, or it could continue to meet as a working group. Members also learned that Attorney General-Elect Josh Hawley and the state courts are also discussing efforts to fight trafficking in Missouri, so lawmakers could wait to see what develops there before deciding how a legislative effort might proceed.
Haahr expects the task force’s report and included recommendations to be released in a matter of weeks.
