Mark Sharp – Page 2 – Missouri House of Representatives Newsroom

House bill would increase cap on popular food pantry tax credit

House members are being asked to increase the cap on a successful benevolent tax credit that supports organizations that help the state’s homeless population. The sponsor says donors who apply after that cap is reached are being penalized.

*Representative Phil Amato (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)*

Representative Phil Amato (R-Arnold) is the volunteer President of the Board for a food pantry in Arnold, and he said organizations like that one have benefitted greatly from the food pantry tax credit.

“It has worked so well it has exceeded its cap,” Amato told the Special Committee on Public Policy.

This tax credit has been in existence since 2013. It allows Missouri taxpayers who make donations to food pantries, soup kitchens, or homeless shelters to deduct an amount equal to half that donation from their state taxes.

The program is capped at $1.75 million. Amato said in the last few years Missourians have been donating enough to reach that cap. What happens to donors after that, he said, is alarming.

“The donor gets a letter from the Department of Revenue that says we’re disallowing some of your tax credit and you need to make a remittance for the amount of money that we’re disallowing, and you owe us penalty and interest, on a donation,” Amato said. “When I tell that to people around the House, they’re shocked.”

His House Bill 1730 would increase the cap to $3 million annually. It would also extend its expiration date from the end of 2026 to the end of 2030.

Committee member Mark Sharp (D-Kansas City) was one of those who expressed support for the expansion.

“We have a food pantry in my district called Community Assistance Council, and they provide food, clothes, really kind of a one-stop shop … it’s just really important that we try to support these organizations. They really are impactful to our communities,” Sharp said.

The committee voted in favor of the increase, 6-0.

House committee votes to save expiring diaper bank tax credit

A tax credit that legislators say has proven “vital” to the state’s diaper banks, and to the families that rely on those banks, is set to expire in August. A possible extension has been advanced by a House committee.

*Representative Mark Sharp (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)*

The diaper bank tax credit was passed in 2018. It allows Missouri taxpayers to claim up to half of their donations to a diaper bank against what they owe in state taxes, up to $50,000. 101 House members supported it in 2018.

Representative Mark Sharp (D-Kansas City) said the diaper banks that operate in Missouri have come to rely on the support this tax credit generates, and he urged his fellows to advance this extension “so that our diaper banks across the state can continue to do the great job they’re doing with getting millions of diapers to underserved communities.”

Representative Ashley Bland Manlove (D-Kansas City) is the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, who heard the bill.

“I, myself, have gone to buy boxes of diapers to donate … and these boxes are like 30, 40 bucks and up, and babies [need a lot of diapers],” said Bland Manlove. “While we have been on the trend of extending the benevolent tax credits and raising their caps, I hope we can do the same with this one, too.”

Legislators say access to diapers has many repercussions for a family. This includes being the difference between a baby being healthy or suffering serious and even life-threatening medical issues and between a parent or parents landing and maintaining employment or having to stay home due to lack of childcare.

“You don’t want to be that family or that parent that can’t have diapers available, and these diaper banks and these partners of diaper banks in these communities, places like Community Assistance Council in South Kansas City, make it possible for families that don’t have access,” Sharp said.

His bill, House Bill 2384, would extend that tax credit’s expiration date from August 28 of this year to August 2030. The committee advanced it 9-0.

Blair’s Law against ‘celebratory gunfire’ back for 2024 session

For the twelfth time, Missouri legislators will be asked by the mother of a little girl killed by a stray bullet to increase penalties for the careless firing of guns.

The legislature this past session sent “Blair’s Law” to the desk of Governor Mike Parson (R). It was the first time that proposal reached the desk of a governor. Parson expressed support for it calling it something he’d “like to sign into law,” but it was only one measure among several that were combined into one bill, Senate Bill 189. He had issues with some of the other measures, and so it was vetoed.

Blair’s Law is named for Blair Shanahan Lane, who was 11 when she was hit by a stray bullet while celebrating Independence Day, 2011, with her family. Someone more than half a mile away carelessly fired their gun into the air and one of those bullets struck Blair in the neck. She died the next day.

The man who fired that gun served 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter. No state law directly addresses what is often called, “celebratory gunfire.” Every legislative session Blair’s death, her mother has come to Jefferson City to change that.

Michele Shanahan DeMoss said since Blair’s Law was vetoed, after being passed for the first time after more than a decade of work, she has been, “thoughtful.

“Thoughtful that I know the processes. I knew that in July [when the governor vetoed that bill] the process had already started again. The conversations were happening. Just thoughtful that the wheels are turning and we’re headed in the right direction.”

The “processes” to which she refers are the renewed efforts to see Blair’s Law become part of Missouri law. That is a top priority for two state lawmakers, and that is why the proposal was again among those prefiled on December 1; the first day that bills could be filed for the 2024 session.

One of those legislators is Representative Mark Sharp (D), who will be carrying that proposal for the fifth straight year. He said even though it was vetoed, he and other supporters see its passage last year as a win.

“The House has vetted it as much as it can … I believe this is the second session in a row where the Senate has had debate on Blair’s Law on the Senate floor. That’s a long way away from where we were four or five years ago with Blair’s Law, so I do think that all indicators are pointing the right direction.”

Joining the list of legislators who over the years have sponsored Blair’s Law is Belton Republican Sherri Gallick, who is in her second year in the Missouri House. Gallick met DeMoss while campaigning in 2022 and that’s when she first heard Blair’s story.

“I was knocking on doors for campaigns … and happened to knock on Blair’s mother’s door and she told me all about it, and by the time we were leaving we were all in tears, so when Mark (Sharp) filed it last year I had told him … ‘I will do whatever I can to help you.’”

Gallick said of DeMoss, “She has been steadfast … there’s been other legislators throughout the years that have tried to help and she’s still very adamant. She wants to do this. She wants to get it across the finish line for her daughter.”

House Bills 1437 (Gallick) and 1477 (Sharp) would specify that a person is guilty of unlawful discharge of a firearm if they, with criminal negligence, discharge a firearm in or into the limits of a municipality. A first offense would be a class “A” misdemeanor which carries up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $2,000; a second time would be a class “E” felony carrying up to four years in prison; and third and any subsequent offense would be a class “D” felony, punishable by up to seven years in prison.

Even as efforts to pass Blair’s Law continue, incidents involving stray gunfire keep happening. Last month, while in her own bedroom in her south Kansas City home, 11 year-old Lauren Reddick was hit by two bullets. One of those left her paralyzed.

On New Year’s Eve, the Department’s SoundSpotter system identified more than 2,300 rounds fired between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. on January 1. That was more than double the total detected by that sound capturing technology one year prior.

“We’re all gearing up for New Year’s and Christmas and the holidays and … I just hope to God that we don’t have any more incidents of somebody being hit or injured or killed by celebratory gunfire,” Sharp said.

Over the years that Blair’s Law has been proposed, the attention it has gotten has created awareness of the dangers presented by careless gunfire, and its supporters hope that will continue to be a residual benefit of their efforts.

“It is absolutely unbelievable, the places I go, not even in Missouri, that either somebody will learn the story, recognize me, somebody else will tell them, and a conversation [will begin] with regards to celebratory gunfire, firing a gun recklessly, and unfortunately even other tragic situations, because of the conversation continuing and that really is the biggest thing that I share,” DeMoss said. “Year after year it would be nice to cross the finish line, have it signed into law and see the goodness that really transpires from it. Raising the awareness is one thing but being able to actually prosecute the crime would, I think, be the game changer.”

*Representative Sherri Gallick (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)*

Gallick, like other Republicans who have carried or spoken in support of the legislation through the years, says among other things it is an issue of responsible gun ownership.

“When you shoot a gun the bullet goes somewhere … you should be intentional. When you’re shooting a gun you should have some purpose, not just to shoot it in the air,” Gallick said.

Both representatives say they are optimistic about the legislation’s chances of passage in 2024, given its overwhelming bipartisan support and the Governor’s message. They also commend DeMoss, who they say is “inspiring” as she has remained consistent and undaunted.

“There are so many people that think I should be devastated that it didn’t pass and I’m not devastated,” said DeMoss. “There are so many disappointments that I could list but … the worst things that could happen to a human being happened to Blair and changed my life forever, and I will continue lobbying. I will continue educating, carrying on the conversation that celebratory gunfire, firing a gun recklessly is stupidity. To continue to persevere to change the law, to make the law what we’ve been working on absolutely needs to be done.”

The new session of the Missouri General Assembly begins January 3.

Twelve year push gets increased penalties for ‘celebratory gunfire’ to governor’s desk for first time

Nearly 12 years after the tragic death of an 11 year-old Independence girl, the Missouri legislature has voted for a bill bearing her name. “Blair’s Law” would increase the penalty for recklessly firing guns into the air and, backers hope, raise awareness about how dangerous that practice is.

*Blair Shanahan Lane (Photo courtesy: Michelle Shanahan DeMoss)*

The House had voted in two previous years to pass Blair’s law and this year the Senate concurred, sending it for the first time to the governor’s desk. The proposal was added to Senate Bill 189, which was passed out of the House 109-11 and now awaits the action of Governor Mike Parson (R).

It was news Michele Shanahan DeMoss, the mother of Blair Shanahan Lane, had been working toward and awaiting for more than a decade.

“It started as overwhelming,” DeMoss told House Communications. “Just really quietly thinking like, ‘wow, we’re not going to have to do this again.’”

What DeMoss was realizing she might not have to do again is come to Jefferson City and testify before legislators as she has done multiple times each year since her daughter’s death, each time recounting and reliving the events of July 4, 2011. That was when, while outside celebrating the holiday, Blair was truck in the neck by a bullet fired by someone more than half a mile away who had fired their gun into the air. She died the next day.

“[Testifying on Blair’s Law legislation] has become a pattern of living, and nothing, by any means, that I’m not going to be happy not having to do anymore,” said DeMoss, who quickly adds that a lot of good has come and continues to come out of that effort. “I was reminded by somebody [in the Capitol] when I went to tell them goodbye and they said, ‘No, no, no, you can come back and visit us. You don’t have to come back just because of that. With that being said, just because it’s done doesn’t mean the good things that have happened because of what we’ve been doing for the past 12 years can’t remain.”

Some of that good has come in the form of increased awareness.

“There’s no doubt our conversation and consistent work has definitely made a difference,” said DeMoss.

Police believe firearms are still being discharged into the air, however, especially around holidays like New Year’s Eve. The SoundSpotter system, sound capturing technology that the Kansas City Police Department uses to identify potential gunshots, identified more than 2,300 rounds fired between 6 p.m. December 31, 2022, and 6 a.m. the following morning. That was more than double the total from the previous year.

Representative Mark Sharp (D-Kansas City) said a desire to increase awareness that firing guns into the air is not safe was one of his biggest motivations for carrying Blair’s Law.

“The governor signing it, different legislators in their respective districts and cities creating an awareness about it will help, the media will play a real big role in this,” said Sharp.

Sharp is optimistic that the governor will sign Blair’s Law into law, partly based on conversations he’s had with Parson’s staff.

*Michele Shanahan DeMoss (Photo: Michael Lear, Missouri House Communications)*

This was Sharp’s fourth year sponsoring the legislation, joining several other current and former legislators who have carried that proposal since 2011. This year’s version would specify that a person is guilty of unlawful discharge of a firearm if they, with criminal negligence, discharge a firearm in or into the limits of a municipality. A first offense would be a class “A” misdemeanor which carries up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $2,000; a second time would be a class “E” felony carrying up to four years in prison; and third and any subsequent offense would be a class “D” felony, punishable by up to seven years in prison.

No state law directly addresses “celebratory gunfire.” In Kansas City it is a violation of city ordinance. The man who fired the bullet that killed Blair pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and served 18 months in prison. Had Blair’s Law been in effect, the above penalties could have been applied in addition to that sentence.

Penalties are one thing, but as Sharp and DeMoss said, as much as anything, Blair’s Law has been about awareness.

“Obviously we’ve done press conferences in the past and that’s on the local news too, but I think if it’s talked about on a more regular basis and not just once or twice a year we’ll start to see some more awareness with it,” said Sharp.

Blair’s Law has consistently had broad, bipartisan support, yet it still took 11 legislative sessions before it passed. In spite of that, DeMoss didn’t get frustrated and didn’t give up. She said in many of the past years when the bill didn’t pass, she wondered whether it was because of some oversight on her part, “[before] realizing it was a course of time and, as in a lot of things, it wasn’t for me to have control over. As the years turned, the education and the understanding and the relationships are what were supposed to happen, and it continues happening.”

Sharp said it is because DeMoss persevered that this legislation finally made it to the governor.

“She’s a joy. She is a real joy,” said Sharp, who notes that he knows what it’s like to be around a parent who has lost a daughter, as his own sister died in a domestic violence incident when he was eight.

“The grace that Blair’s mom carries herself with is just first class, top notch, and she could easily be coming to Jefferson City angry that it hasn’t been passed yet. She could easily have been that kind of person but she wasn’t. I think that speaks to her character.”

While waiting to see what Governor Parson will do, DeMoss is taking this latest, farthest progress as a victory.

“The list is very long of thanking people for their support and thanking everybody for continually raising awareness. I think people finally realize it is a tragedy that continues to happen,” she said.

The passage of a law bearing Blair’s name isn’t the only way she is being remembered. Blair has also been honored for being an organ donor, with six of her organs having gone to five people, and DeMoss still runs a charity in her daughter’s name: Blair’s Foster Socks gives socks and other items to children in need.

“We continue to grow and restructure but definitely socks are still coming in and good things are still happening. We just hosted a small group of boy scouts and look forward to distributing some socks. Earlier in the year we had a group that we got together with and made sock puppets … and deliver them to some nursing homes. The socks are just something simple that help us to empower, to uplift, and to give back.”

DeMoss has found it difficult when asked to sum up how she feels with this bill passage, but she recalls a message someone else sent to her, “‘I really wanna say congratulations but the gravity of the reason this law is needed keeps me from celebrating, but we can now be thankful that Missouri now is a safer place to be for future celebrations.’”

Governor Parson has until July 14 to either sign SB 189 into law, veto it, or allow it to become law without his signature. If it becomes law, Blair’s Law would become effective August 28.

House members push for lesser tax on feminine hygiene products, diapers

Nine bills filed in the Missouri House would reduce or eliminate the taxes paid on diapers, and most of those would also apply to feminine hygiene products. The bipartisan group of legislators backing them say such a change would help some among the Missourians who most need relief, especially during this period of increased inflation.

*Representative Maggie Nurrenbern (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)*

The rate at which these products are taxed is sometimes referred to as a “luxury tax.” That is the rate at which most products in Missouri are taxed. Food is taxed at a decreased rate, and some of the proposals would set the levy on those products to that rate. Others would make them exempt from the sales tax altogether.

Several of the bills’ sponsors said there is no reason to keep taxing these things at the greater rate.

“It’s ludicrous … these are not luxury items. These are items that you need to exist and function in society, period,” said Kansas City Democrat Maggie Nurrenbern.

Similar bills have been offered for several years but have fallen short of becoming law. Among their most fervent and consistent backers have been diaper banks. Data released last year by the National Diaper Bank Network placed the annual cost of diapers at nearly $1,000 per infant.

“Over time for the average family, the average parent that’s buying diapers for their child over the course of the first three or four years that will add up,” said Representative Mark Sharp (D-Kansas City) of the tax on those diaper purchases. “The least we can do at the state level is make sure that we’re taking care of the average person, the everyday person who’s just trying to make it and make sure that their child has adequate diapers [and we should] make sure that our older folks have the stuff they need as well.”

*Representative Phil Christofanelli (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)*

Republican Phil Christofanelli (R-St. Peters), sponsoring the proposal for the second straight year, said he thinks part of what has held it up in the past has been that it would significantly reduce revenue, particularly for local governments, “But I think this one’s important, particularly in our time of inflation, where the basic necessities for so many working families are incredibly high and we want to be a culture that encourages stable families and child rearing and a vibrant family culture and this is part of that, make sure that families can afford the necessities of raising kids.”

Representative Peter Merideth (D-St. Louis) has for years sat on the House Budget Committee. He said the state could afford this change.

“I do think that we can make it work with lowering the food tax and that the impact it will have on people is worth it, regardless. If it means we have to adjust revenue elsewhere to make up for it I would support that too.”

Merideth’s version of the bill would extend such changes to other necessities, such as, “Toothpaste, deodorant, soap, shampoo, but I do exempt sort of luxury cosmetic-type products. So I think, again, the basic necessities, people just shouldn’t be paying taxes on them.”

*Representative Peter Merideth (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)*

In addition to this issue, St. Louis Representative Jo Doll (D) also proposes in House Bill 408 that public charter, middle- and high schools provide feminine hygiene products free to students. She said that wouldn’t just be for students who can’t afford them, it’s about the mental health of young girls dealing with what might still be a new experience.

“You might have them in your bathroom at home and all of a sudden you’re at school and you need one and you don’t want to have to go ask your math teacher, or the nurse, even, for a tampon. There’s a huge mental health factor in just security that you always have those products available.”

Regarding those who struggle to afford those products, Doll said, “We know that girls who can’t afford feminine hygiene products don’t go to school during that time and so this would just give them access to products that they may not be able to afford.”

*Representative Jo Doll (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)*

She adds, “They’re not optional and the lack of being able to afford them causes all kinds of issues for, whether it’s working mothers or school age girls.”

The House sponsors and co-sponsors of those bills include a bipartisan group of 12 Democrats and four Republicans. None of those bills have been referred to a committee.

In the Senate three such measures have been filed. Two of those, filed by Republicans, have been approved by a committee in that chamber.

The bills that have been filed are:

HB 114 (Sharp), HB 126 (Nurrenburn), HB 145 (Doll), HB 290 (Patty Lewis), HB 351 (Christofanelli), HB 381 (Rasheen Aldridge, Jr.), HB 744 (Stephanie Hein), HB 1053 (Barbara Phifer), and HB 1136 (Merideth)

Rep. Doll’s legislation to require schools to provide feminine hygiene products to students at no cost is HB 408.

Extension of restitution to all wrongly convicted prefiled for 2023 session

People convicted of felonies in Missouri but proven innocent by DNA evidence can be paid $100 for every day they were incarcerated after their conviction. People proven innocent by any other means get nothing. At least one Missouri lawmaker will try to change that in the 2023 legislative session.

Kansas City Democrat Mark Sharp filed on Thursday House Bill 113 to extend restitution to anyone exonerated for a felony in Missouri.

Sharp said the idea continues to have bipartisan support.

“I think most folks would agree that if somebody was wrongfully convicted it shouldn’t matter if it was through DNA tests or through any evidentiary method.”

Similar legislation was approved by two House committees in the session that ended in May by a combined vote of 24-1, but it was never brought up on the House floor for debate.

Sharp said the amount of harm done to a person and their family by a wrongful conviction goes well beyond the inability to have a job during their incarceration. It can involve difficulty finding work and housing after release, lingering issues that could require medical treatment and counseling, and relationship issues.

“This can devastate an entire generation, or several generations in the family when the head of a household or a man or a husband or a wife or a father or a mother or a daughter or a son, for that matter, is put away wrongfully, and for them to walk away with nothing just isn’t right,” said Sharp. “If somebody wasn’t able to receive all the restitution payments, those payments need to be then deferred to someone else in that family. This needs to be a full payout.”

Sharp hopes the legislature would also look at some point into increasing the restitution amount from $100 for every day of imprisonment.

“It probably doesn’t go far enough, honestly. I would hope that at some point we could have a robust discussion about what that payment should look like,” Sharp said. “It’s not going to break the bank … this is something that happens very rarely and when it does we need to pay them accordingly.”

Missouri’s restitution statute has been under more scrutiny in recent years as more attention was paid to the case of Kevin Strickland. He was released from prison a year ago after serving 42 years of a life sentence for murder before being proven innocent, but because he was not exonerated based on DNA evidence he received no compensation from the State of Missouri.

Thursday was the first day legislators could prefile bills for the new session, which begins January 4.

House again endorses Blair’s Law penalizing ‘celebratory gunfire’

The House has taken a vote members hope will help stop a potentially deadly form of celebration before it claims more lives and damages more property.

*Representative Roger Reedy (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)*

Kansas City Police report that guns were fired into the air more than 1,100 times late on New Year’s Eve and early on New Year’s Day. This was a decrease of about 500 rounds, according to the Department’s tracking system, but it still left two people wounded and 11 properties with damage; one of those, a police vehicle.

Kansas City has been the center of attention for “celebratory gunfire” for years, particularly since 2011. It was on Independence Day of that year that Blair Shanahan Lane was struck in the neck by a bullet fired into the air by a partier more than half a mile away. She died the next day.

The man who fired the bullet that killed Blair pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and served 18 months in prison. House Bill 1696 would have allowed prosecutors to add time to his sentence; up to 7 years in prison if it was a third offense.

HB 1696 includes a change bearing her name, “Blair’s Law.” It is sponsored by Representative Roger Reedy (R-Windsor).

“This is a very important bill. The family of [Blair Shanahan Lane] has been here many years trying to get bill passed,” Reedy told his fellow representatives.

This was Reedy’s second year carrying the legislation. Last year it ran out of time in the Senate, in part, after a number of amendments were attached to it. This year’s version deals with only one other issue, and is therefore expected to have a much better chance at reaching the governor.

Another lawmaker who has worked on Blair’s Law is Kansas City Democrat Mark Sharp, who was glad to see the concerted effort to move it forward after previous attempts have ended in frustration.

“I just want to commend [Representative Reedy] for helping get this bill through cleanly. I want to commend the chairman of the committee this bill came through with the real intention of getting this bill through [without a lot of amendments],” said Sharp.

He noted that the language of Blair’s Law has been amended to two other bills that have also been sent to the Senate.

“I sure appreciate everyone’s support in sending another version, a clean version, to the Senate to help get Blair’s Law through and helping [Representative Reedy] to make sure we get this passed this year.”

Reedy joined Sharp and a handful of other lawmakers who have worked on Blair’s Law since 2011, each time seeing their efforts frustrated. Another of them is Rory Rowland (D-Kansas City), who worked for several years on the issue. He told Reedy, “You have done nothing but an absolutely stellar job and I cannot say enough good things on the floor today and I just want to wish you Godspeed with this.”

Last Thursday Rowland announced he was resigning his House seat, having just been elected mayor of Independence. He left with optimism that more legislators would continue working to get Blair’s Law passed. He ended his comments to Reedy with an emotional plea, “Please get it done.”

Reedy’s proposal specifies that a person is guilty of the unlawful use of a weapon if they fire it, with criminal negligence, within or into the limits of a municipality. The first offense would be a class-A misdemeanor, with third and subsequent offences being class-D felonies.

The bill would also allow a firearm to be discharged from a stationary vehicle as authorized under the Missouri Wildlife Code. This provision is intended to allow farm and ranch owners to shoot animals that would threaten their livestock without facing a felony charge.

The House voted 131-0 to send that proposal to the Senate.

House bill would require ignition interlocks after first DUI

Missourians would have to have their vehicles equipped with ignition interlock devices after their first drunk driving conviction, under a bill under consideration in the House.

Ignition interlock devices prevent a vehicle from starting if they register too great of an alcohol content in a breath test. Current law requires a person to have a previous conviction for driving while intoxicated before restricting them to driving only vehicles equipped with such a device. Under House Bill 1680 a court must prohibit anyone convicted of an intoxicated driving offense from driving unequipped vehicles for at least six months.

Kansas City representative Mark Sharp (D) sponsors it.

“It’s really about saving lives,” said Sharp. “If you’ve had too many drinks when you’re leaving the bar and you can’t pass the test, you can’t drive. That forces people to look at other options as far as Uber or having a friend come and pick them up, but it stops that person who is intoxicated from getting behind the wheel.”

Sharp believes his bill would be a deterrent, not just by keeping people from driving drunk but by making them want to avoid a situation in which they could.

“This should stop some folks from wanting to go out and getting drunk and driving too, because after your first offense you would be required to have [an ignition interlock device] instead of after your second or third,” said Sharp. “I do think this will stop some folks. If this gets promoted the right way hopefully we can get folks to not want to do it as much.”

Sharp’s bill has had a hearing before the House Committee on Crime Prevention, which is chaired by former Police Chief and Department of Public Safety Director Lane Roberts (R-Joplin). He expressed support for the idea.

“I began my police career in 1971. At that time the presumptive [blood alcohol content] level was .15 – nearly twice what it is today. Even then we were killing about 25,000 people a year, nationally, due to drunk driving,” said Roberts. “Anything that makes that activity more difficult certainly has my support and I appreciate [Representative Sharp] putting this forward.”

Mothers Against Drunk Driving told the Committee that between 2006 and 2020, interlocks stopped 128,196 attempts to drive drunk in Missouri, with more than 11,000 of those incidents in 2020. DUI deaths reportedly decreased by 15% in states that enacted laws such as HB 1680.

The committee has not voted on Sharp’s legislation.

House action leads to chance at parole for man facing sentence of more than 2 centuries

Missouri House legislation has led to a man securing a chance at parole from prison in the next year, about 69 years earlier than he expected.

Bobby Bostic was sentenced to 241 years in prison after an armed robbery and carjacking in 1995. Bostic, who was 16 at the time, was tried as an adult and would not have been eligible for parole until 2091, when he would be 112.

A House amendment that became law this year as part of Senate Bill 26 makes eligible to apply for parole anyone sentenced to 15 years or more while a juvenile. The change gave Bostic a chance at a parole hearing after more than 20 years in prison. That hearing was completed recently and Bostic was granted parole. He will be released late next year.

Bostic’s plight became an issue for the legislature in large part through the efforts of O’Fallon Republican Nick Schroer, who was glad to hear about the parole board’s decision.

“I’m incredibly satisfied. These are the types of things that kind of justify us being in [the Capitol]. We saw that there was this terrible issue where this minor who committed crimes that did not result in anybody being physically harmed, did not result in anyone being murdered, he’s locked away basically for the rest of his life and taxpayers are the ones paying for him to be there,” said Schroer.

Schroer took up Bostic’s case in 2019, and then last year with his support, Kansas City representative Mark Sharp (D) sponsored the amendment to Senate Bill 26 that led to Bostic getting a parole hearing.

“I’m just so happy, really on cloud nine that this decision came through the way it did. It just shows that we can have some positive impacts here in the legislature. Even if it only affects one person that’s good enough for me. You hope it affects more and helps more people but this legislation did exactly what it was intended to do, and that was help Mr. Bobby Bostic.”

Soon after hearing about Bostic’s case, Schroer met with him at Jefferson City Correctional Center. He learned that while imprisoned Bostic has earned a GED, an associate’s degree, has completed courses from Adams State University and Missouri State University, and completed more than 30 rehabilitation classes and programs. He has helped other inmates pursue their education, and has become a published author.

Representative Nick Schroer (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

It was after that meeting that Schroer began pressing for Bostic to have a chance at parole.

“I was amazed at all of the things that he had done, the rehabilitation that took place with him within our criminal justice system and it was one of my tasks to ensure that he was either granted clemency by the governor or that we could get a coalition together, get some sort of legislative fix to this issue,” said Schroer.

That began with a letter to Governor Mike Parson (R) asking him to take executive action on Bostic’s case. More than 100 legislators in both parties and both chambers signed that letter.

Bostic was sentenced to 241 years in prison on a series of charges stemming from a 1995 incident in which he, then 16, and an 18 year-old robbed a group of people delivering Christmas presents to the needy. One victim was shot and sustained a minor wound. The pair then carjacked and robbed a woman.

None of the victims of Bostic’s crimes opposed him being given a chance at parole. Some testified that he had little involvement in the crimes and that the 18 year-old was the instigator. While Bostic received more than two centuries in prison, the accomplice pleaded guilty in exchange for a 30-year sentence.

Retired Circuit Judge Evelyn Baker, who handed down Bostic’s sentence, has become one of the most ardent supporters of his parole and represented him at the hearing.

Bostic is not expected to be released until late next year. Sharp said he will spend much of the time until then preparing to return to freedom after 20 years behind bars.

“Now the hard work really begins for Bobby Bostic. How do we get him back into civilization? How do we get him a job? How do we get him back on his feet? Just being released really isn’t enough, so we have to make sure that he has all the tools so he can be successful upon his release,” said Sharp.

Roughly 100 others in Missouri’s prison system could have a chance at parole under the language that helped Bostic. Schroer said for those and others getting out of prison, there are people throughout the state who want to help them start over.

“If anybody is willing, and I know that there are several employers in St. Charles County and around the area that have taken an interest in [Bobby Bostic’s] case and many others like him, who are hiring people fresh out of the criminal justice system that want to turn their lives around, so any of the readers that are grouped in there, that do have opportunities for people with a criminal record, I urge them to reach out to [lawmakers] so we can at least put them in contact with people like Bobby.”

Other portions of Senate Bill 26 have led to a court challenge that could see everything in it struck down. Sharp and Schroer say they aren’t sure what it would mean for Bostic’s case should that happen, but say they will be watching developments and remain committed to helping Bostic get a chance at freedom.

House logs 372 proposals on first day of filing for 2022 session

Wednesday at the Missouri Capitol there was a sense of new energy in the air. Christmas decorations were going up, the weather was that of a spring day, and most of all, new bills were dropping everywhere. December 1 is a day when Missourians get a first look at what legislators will consider as the filing of bills for the 2022 legislative session began.

Representative Cyndi Buchheit-Courtway files a piece of legislation for the 2022 session. (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

“Prefiling day is basically a holiday if you’re an elected official down here in Jefferson City. It’s a good day to be back in the building, it’s exciting. You can kind of feel in the air that it’s almost time to get back into the swing of things,” said Representative Mark Sharp (D-Kansas City).

Farmington Republican Dale Wright said it’s often better for legislation to be filed early, as that can give it a better chance of gaining traction early in the session and a better chance at passage. That means a lot of proposals are brought in on day 1.

“It’s amazing how many bills get filed. I’m always amazed at all of the work that House Research and the analysts do. They don’t get enough credit,” said Wright.

Click here to view the bills filed in the House for the 2022 legislative session.

For some legislators there is some strategy involved in whether they want to put a proposal forward sooner or later.

“I’ve spoken to other members that believe if they prefile something it gives the opposition a month to work on attacking that bill,” said Representative Nick Schroer (R-O’Fallon). “I’m one that’s fully transparent. People know what I’m going to file, they know where I stand on issues, and give them an extra month, I don’t care. I just think that voters and the constituents need to know what work is being done in the interim, what work is going to be done in 2022.”

Wright said Missourians should know that it’s a hectic day in the Capitol.

“I truly believe that the people who are serving up here are serving for the right reasons, and that is to be advocates and be the voice of the people back home, and wo when we file these bills it’s usually for something that helps our constituents back home, but in general, also for the State of Missouri.”

Prefiling can feel very different for House Democrats, who face a supermajority of Republicans. Kansas City Democrat Ashley Aune said even when proposing legislation they know will be opposed, members of her caucus can be serving a purpose. She said one piece of advice she has held onto came from fellow Representative Tracy McCreery (D-St. Louis).

Legislators can begin filing legislation for the coming session on December 1 of the preceding year. (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

“She tells me that filing a piece of legislation as a member of the superminority is like starting a conversation, and that’s what this is for us, especially with the bills that we know aren’t going to go anywhere. It gives us a chance to start a conversation not only with our constituents to signal that we are working for them and doing the work that they sent us down here to do, it gives us an opportunity to have the conversation with our colleagues across the aisle and say, ‘Hey, this is a priority for me. Where can we meet in the middle?’”

Sharp said the enthusiasm of filing day is encouraging, but it’s also a reminder to be thoughtful in what is filed.

“A lot of times people swing for the fences and a lot of times that’s just not feasible in most cases, especially as a member of the superminority. Sometimes you have to just get some of the breadcrumbs that haven’t been picked up in the past,” said Sharp.

Joplin Representative Lane Roberts (R) said he believes it’s important for each legislator to give consideration to not only their own bills, but what others are filing, and that includes those in the opposing party.

“The fact is that that there’s an awful lot of people on that floor who are sincere. They want to do the right thing, and when they file bills it’s because they believe that it has some meaning. Some, maybe more than others, but none of it is meaningless, and whether you’re one side of the aisle or the other, I’ve found that people on the opposite side of the aisle from me sometimes say very smart things,” said Roberts. “Listening to folks who are presenting the bill, listening to what they have to say, it’s changed my mind a time or two. It has overcome some preconceived notions that while I may not intended to have it, it just happened.”

On Wednesday in the House, 372 measures were filed for the 2022 session. The session begins January 5.