When Missouri Task Force 1 was deployed to Louisiana last August in response to Hurricane Ida and in December after tornadoes hit Kentucky team members knew that when they came home they would be able to return to their jobs. When they were deployed to Joplin after an EF-5 tornado devastated that community, they couldn’t be as certain. The Missouri House has voted to change that.
Representative Cheri Toalson Reisch (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
When Task Force 1 is deployed out-of-state its members are protected by the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). Deployments in-state aren’t covered by such a law. House Bill 2193 would change Missouri law to mirror USERRA. This would mean the Task Force’s more than 200 volunteers’ jobs would be protected no matter where they go.
A proposed new tax credit would give a boost to community-based drug treatment programs throughout the state. The plan’s sponsor says these programs do a lot of good and give back to their communities but some are facing financial challenges and she wants to see them get more support.
Representative Cheri Toalson Reisch (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
Under House Bill 2527 a taxpayer who makes a donation to a faith-based organization, peer- or community-based organization, or recovery or community center or outreach that offers addiction recovery services could claim a tax credit for an amount equal to half of that donation. Up to $2.5-million in tax credits could be awarded in one year, subject to the legislature appropriating the money for them.
Sponsor Cheri Toalson Reisch (R-Hallsville) says she has such rehab organizations in her district and she’s seen how they benefit individuals and the overall community.
Toalson Reisch said some of these programs are struggling, and others are looking to expand. She said in either case, this legislation could give them the help they need and thereby help more Missourians.
Mission Gate Prison Ministry works with more than 300 men, women, and families each hear. Program Director Stephen Hunt told the House Committee on Ways and Means this bill would encourage more contributions to his organization.
Stan Archie, the Clinical Director of Footprints, Inc. in Kansas City said this bill would also give every Missourian the chance to be a part of someone’s recovery.
Toalson Reisch filed this proposal last year but late in the session, so it only cleared one committee. With it getting traction earlier this year she is optimistic it can become law. The Ways and Means committee approved HB 2527, sending it on to another committee.
She proposes that these tax credits be offered for six years, at which time they would expire unless renewed by the legislature.
Missourians with felony convictions are no longer blocked from working in places that sell lottery tickets, and face less restriction in working where alcohol is sold, under a law that took effect over the summer. Advocates say the change is a “game changer” for people who get out of prison and want to get their lives back on track.
Henry Mikel and Representative Cheri Toalson Reisch, recently had the chance to meet and talk about her legislation, which allowed him to have his current job.
Mikel is open about his past, which includes a 2nd degree assault charge, and that he is recovering from drug addiction. He is staying at in2Action, a program that helps those released from prison transition back into life and stay out of prison. He recently began working at a convenience store close to the facility. It’s a job he couldn’t have gotten just a few months ago because the store sells lottery tickets.
He thinks the new law is making a big difference for him, and will do so for others in similar circumstances.
He became emotional in expressing gratitude that the law passed. He said with the holidays approaching it will allow him to do something for his two young adult children.
Mikel expressed thanks not only to Representative Toalson Reisch, but to all the legislators who voted for her proposal, and to Governor Mike Parson (R) for signing it into law.
Some would dismiss or even look down on a job such as working at a convenience store, but advocates agree it is a big deal for someone in a position like Mikel’s. He adds that he genuinely enjoys working there, and even as a child he thought it could be a fun job.
An advocate says a new law that began as a Missouri House bill is a “game changer” for people trying to establish new lives after felony convictions.
Representative Cheri Toalson Reisch (photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
The legislation eliminated a prohibition on those with felony convictions working in places which sell lottery tickets. It also lifted the requirement that businesses who sell alcohol report to the state when they hire someone with a felony. The changes have been sponsored for several years by Hallsville Republican Cheri Toalson Reisch, and was signed into law this summer and took effect August 28.
Dan Hanneken is the Executive Director of In2Action, a program that helps people transition out of prison. He says the most important factor in a convicted felon not returning to prison is their ability to find employment.
The proposal, filed by Toalson Reisch as House Bill 316, was amended to Senate Bill 26, which was passed and signed by Governor Mike Parson (R).
She said this bill benefit not only her home county of Boone, which she said consistently has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state, but the entire state.
The legislation had broad support, and was viewed as helping fight recidivism and unemployment while supporting criminal justice reform and helping the economy by boosting the eligible workforce. The House voted 148-1 for the 2020 version of the bill.
Hanneken said the law before this change was very frustrating for the people he works with, who often want to rebuild their lives, provide for their families, and simply have a path forward after prison.
Toalson Reisch said the reporting requirement for businesses that sell liquor was, in practice, a pointless exercise for those employers, who had to fill out a form that wasn’t used for anything.
A House Bill that would remove the restriction on felons working in businesses that sell alcohol and lottery tickets was sent Thursday to the Senate. House Bill 1468 would also lift the requirement that employers with liquor licenses notify the state of any employees with felony convictions.
Representative Cheri Toalson Reisch (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
Bill sponsor Cheri Toalson Reisch (R-Hallsville) said the bill will not only make it easier for felons to find jobs, thus reducing recidivism; it will also make more workers available. She said her county, Boone, has the lowest unemployment rate in the state and more potential workers are needed.
Ballwin Republican Shamed Dogan said the bill includes a provision that would prevent an individual from selling lottery tickets if convicted of a past crime that involved those.
The legislation cleared the House 148-1. Last year several amendments were added to the proposal and it failed to pass out of the House, but this version of the bill has no amendments.
Its supporters include the Missouri Petroleum Marketers Association, the American Civil Liberties Union, Empower Missouri, and the Missouri Catholic Conference.
A House committee has voted to allow felons in Missouri to work in businesses that sell alcohol and lottery tickets.
Representative Cheri Toalson Reisch (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
House Bill 1468 would bar the state from prohibiting felons from selling alcohol only because they have been guilty of a felony, and from keeping someone convicted of a crime from selling lottery tickets. It would also lift the requirement that employers with liquor licenses notify the state of any employees with felony convictions.
Toalson Reisch told the House Special Committee on Criminal Justice her county, Boone, has the lowest unemployment rate in the state at less than two percent, and employers struggle to find enough workers.
“The biggest predictor of recidivism is if you can get a job or not when you’re out from incarceration, and so the more we can do to lower barriers to getting back to employment, the better chance we have for true criminal justice reform in this state,” said Baker.
Last year the proposal advanced well through the legislative process but became bogged down when it was attached to other legislation. Toalson Reisch is optimistic about its chances of becoming law this year because it is being debated early in the session and because it continues to have broad, bipartisan support. She hopes to keep the bill free of other language so it can stand on its own.
The committee voted unanimously to advance the bill. If approved by a second committee it will be considered by the full House.
The House Speaker has said criminal justice reform is a priority in the remaining weeks of the session, and a bill containing several proposed reforms has just been compiled. It has the backing of a man made famous by President Donald Trump earlier this year.
Representative Shamed Dogan (left, in red tie) listens as Matthew Charles talks about his release under the federal First Step Act, and his support for HCB 2, the Missouri First Step Act. (photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
House Committee Bill 2, also being called the Missouri First Step Act, was assembled by the House Special Committee on Criminal Justice. It is a compilation of several individual bills, some of which have already been passed by the House.
Trump featured Matthew Charles during his State of the Union Address. Charles is the first person released from prison under the federal First Step Act, a federal reform bill signed into law by Trump in December.
In 1996 Charles was sentenced to 35 years in prison for selling crack cocaine. In prison he turned his life around and earned an early release in 2016. Though he was living a productive life, a court decision overturned his release and sent him back to prison until he was released under the First Step Act.
He’s excited about a provision in HCB 2 that would let judges ignore mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent crimes in Missouri.
HCB 2 will be carried by the committee’s chairman, Representative Shamed Dogan (R-Ballwin), who has been a proponent of criminal justice reform during his five years in the House.
Representative Cheri Toalson Reisch (at podium) speaks about her portion of HCB 2, the Missouri First Step Act (photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
Another piece of HCB 2 coming from a bill sponsored by Coleman (House Bill 920) would require that feminine hygiene products are available to women being held in the state’s prisons or on state charges in county and city jails.
Two of the other pieces of HCB 2 would restrict the use of drug and alcohol testing by privately operated probation supervisors (House Bill 80 – Justin Hill, R-Lake St. Louis); and would keep courts from putting people in jail for failing to pay the costs associated with prior jail time (House Bill 192 – Bruce DeGroot, R-Chesterfield). Both of those stand-alone bills have been sent to the Senate for its consideration.
HCB 2 includes language to allow for the early parole of certain inmates over the age of 65 (House Bill 352, Tom Hannegan, R-St. Charles); to stop the confiscation of assets from a person who hasn’t been convicted of a crime (House Bill 444, Dogan); and to prohibit discriminatory policing (House Bill 484, Dogan).
HCB 2 awaits a hearing by a House committee before it can be sent to the full chamber for debate.
Earlier stories on two of the bills that are part of HCB 2:
The state legislature has voted to memorialize two law enforcement officers fatally shot in 1933 by naming sections of Interstate 70 for them.
Missouri Highway Patrol Sergeant Ben Booth (left) and Boone County Sheriff Roger Isaac Wilson
Highway Patrol Sergeant Benjamin Booth was the first member of the Missouri State Highway Patrol to be killed in the line of duty. He and Boone County Sheriff Roger Isaac Wilson were killed by two men they had stopped at the intersection of Highways 40 and 63.
On June 14, 1933, Booth was on a day off when Wilson called him in to help set up a roadblock as part of an effort to catch two men who robbed a bank in Mexico earlier that day. The two men they stopped were not the robbers but were armed, and when their vehicle was stopped they shot the two law enforcement officers. Wilson, 43, died at the scene. Booth, 37, died on the way to a hospital.
Senate Bill 999 would designate I-70 in Columbia from Rangeline Street to Business Loop 70 the “Sergeant Benjamin Booth Memorial Highway,” and would make I-70 from Highway 63 to Rangeline the “Sheriff Roger I. Wilson Memorial Highway.” The House finalized passage of that bill last week, ahead of National Police Week.
The Missouri State Capitol’s dome is illuminated in blue through the month of May to honor Missouri law enforcement officers who gave their lives in the line of duty.
Wilson is the grandfather of former Missouri Governor Roger Wilson, whose father was 15 when Sheriff Wilson was killed. He told House Communications the recognition will mean a lot to the Wilson and Booth families.
Kelly Allen of Springfield, Illinois, is the granddaughter of Ben Booth’s widow. She says her grandmother and others often talked about the kind of man he was.
SB 999 has been sent to the governor to await his attention.
The murders of Sheriff Wilson and Sergeant Booth triggered a massive manhunt including the use of roadblocks and airplanes. Authorities eventually caught up to the two men responsible. One of them was later hung in one of the last state executions by hanging in Missouri. The other man, who testified against his partner, spent 12 years in state prison before being paroled. He moved to Iowa, married and had four children, and his sentence was eventually commuted.
The Missouri House has proposed repealing the state’s prevailing wage law. Backers say the bill will allow more public works projects to move forward. Opponents say it will lower wages and drive more people onto public assistance programs.
Representative Jeffery Justus (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
Missouri’s prevailing wage law sets a minimum salary that must be paid to individuals working on public projects, such as the construction or repair of bridges, school buildings, and fire stations. If House Bills 1729, 1621, and 1436 pass, bidders on such projects would pay the state or federal minimum wage, whichever is higher.
The bills are being carried on the House Floor by Representative Jeffery Justus (R-Branson). He is one of those who say eliminating the prevailing wage would allow public tax dollars to accomplish more in any given project because the law artificially inflates the wages paid to workers.
Democrats argued that repealing prevailing wage would cause workers to receive less in wages and benefits. St. Louis representative Karla May, a member of the Communication Workers of America (CWA) and of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU), said that law exists for a reason.
Representative Doug Beck (D-St. Louis), a pipefitter for the UA Local 562, told lawmakers that voting to repeal the prevailing wage law would be “foolish.”
Representative Karla May (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)