Nick Schroer – Page 2 – Missouri House of Representatives Newsroom

House plan would ease late payment penalties, interest, in response to surprise tax bills

The House has given preliminary approval to giving Missourians a break on late payment of taxes, because many Missourians might have been surprised this year with a higher-than-anticipated tax debt.

Representative Dean Dohrman (photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

“I’m also frustrated with the situation that brought us here, but today we can’t do anything about that,” said La Monte representative Dean Dohrman (R), the sponsor of House Bill 1094. “But today, as Winston Churchill once said, ‘We can do the best we can with what we got.’”

HB 1094 would block late payment penalties on tax debt owed to the state by individual taxpayers through the end of this year. It would also waive any interest owed on such debt until May 15. For those who might pay penalties before the bill would become law, it would require that those Missourians receive refunds.

The bill is a bipartisan response to an issue with the Department of Revenue’s tax tables that resulted in many Missourians being faced with greater debt than expected. Lawmakers heard stories of individuals who anticipated a tax refund from the state instead getting hit with bills for hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars.

Representative Nick Schroer (R-St. Charles) is the vice-chairman of the House oversight committee that’s been investigating that situation. He said the Department’s explanations have changed, and he blames its former director, who resigned last month amid the crisis.

Representative Crystal Quade (photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

“We still don’t really know the true cause of what is happening. We’re still digging and trying to figure that out, but I think this is one way that we can lessen this tax burden on these people who … dollars count to these people, whether it’s diapers, groceries,” said Schroer.

That oversight committee has continued to schedule hearings to investigate what caused the problems and how the Department responded.

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade (D-Springfield) also sits on that oversight committee, and pre-filed similar legislation in December. She said the Department knew about the tax issue as early as September yet didn’t act for months to notify taxpayers. She said she’s frustrated the House is only now taking action.

“Tax day’s in five days. If folks in this body … I mean I hate to say it; if we were really concerned about these surprise tax bills and what was happening to citizens, we would’ve dealt with this much, much sooner,” said Quade.

“I heard time and time again from the director of revenue as well as the liaison that this isn’t a lot of money – that we’re talking an average of $85 or it could be upwards of several hundred dollars, and as I said before we have [legislative assistants] in this building who are seeing swings of $3500,” said Quade.

Lawmakers including Columbia Democrat Kip Kendrick, another oversight committee member, want Missourians to understand that their issues with tax debt might not be over after this year.

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

“If they’re concerned with their bill this year then they need to go back and look at their W-4 because next year, 2019, their current year, it’s going to be a full four quarters of potential under-withholding and not just three quarters,” said Kendrick.

Republicans, including Noel representative and oversight committee member Dirk Deaton, maintain that while some Missourians could see greater tax bills this year, changes in the federal tax code mean their overall debt is down.

“Missourians are keeping more money in their pockets, so we’ve got to fix this withholding thing but at the end of the day Missourians, as they should, are keeping more of their hard-earned money,” said Deaton. “That’s what I think people need to realize.”

Another favorable vote would send HB 1094 to the Senate.

House endorses adding fentanyl, ‘date rape’ drugs to trafficking laws

The Missouri House has proposed strengthening the state’s trafficking laws to include the potent pain reliever fentanyl and its derivatives, as well as Rohypnol or GHB – both commonly known as “date rape” drugs.

House Bill 239 would make possession or trafficking of those drugs a felony. Penalties range from three years to life in prison, depending on the amount of the drug involved. Missouri laws against trafficking do not include any of those substances.

Lawmakers heard that the abuse of fentanyl steadily increased between 2013 and 2017, and doctors said many people are being treated in emergency rooms because they took heroin mixed with fentanyl.

Bill sponsor Nick Schroer (R-O’Fallon) said there is a hole in Missouri’s trafficking law, so prosecutors often must charge for whatever drug fentanyl is laced with. He said more and more it’s being trafficked by itself, as it’s becoming more popular to abuse.

“I have two beautiful, amazing daughters that I kind of want to ensure … that they are not going to be exposed to these things such as fentanyl and carfentanyl and these other drugs of choice that are so dangerous that being prescribed in a micro-milligram fashion can actually kill you,” said Schroer.

Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and is legally used to manage pain, especially after surgery.

“We saw right before the hearing [on HB 239] that there was a record bust in the United States – 260 pounds was busted at the [U.S.] border … but in years past we’ve had many different seizures on Highway 44, Highway 70, where it was 30, 40 pounds, which was enough to kill not only everybody who’s in this Capitol right now, and this Capitol is full, it could kill many Missourians,” said Schroer.

As a criminal defense attorney Schroer represented a number of people who had battled heroin addiction. That’s how he became aware of the rise of fentanyl.

“The majority of those people said, ‘Once fentanyl came into the picture a lot of my friends either died or a lot of my friends became so hooked that we thought it was a lost cause,’” said Schroer.

Representative Gina Mitten (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Representative Gina Mitten (D-St. Louis) sponsored the amendment that would make possessing or trafficking Rohypnol or GHB punishable by the same penalties as those for other controlled substances.

“If you’ve got somebody at a party that’s got 37 grams of marijuana, why would they have received a greater sentence than somebody that has less than a gram of Rohypnol or GHB?” asked Mitten. “My amendment … ensured that there was parity between those substances, because personally I believe that the ‘date rape’ drugs are apt to do a heck of a lot more damage than a large amount of marijuana or even heroin.”

Schroer and Mitten both acknowledged that Rohypnol and GHB are also used extensively in sex trafficking.

“If we’re going to take a hard stance on human trafficking it needs to include these substances,” said Mitten.

Schroer anticipates some in the Senate might try to make additions to HB 239 and then send the bill back to the House. He is optimistic that Governor Mike Parson (R) would sign the bill if it gets to him.

House approves ethics reforms for local officials, open records exemption changes

The Missouri House has voted to enact a number of ethics reforms for local officials, but support for the bill was tempered by an amendment that creates exemptions to the state’s open records, or “Sunshine,” law.

Representatives Nick Schroer (left) offered an amendment adding exemptions to Missouri’s open records law to a bill sponsored by Representative Shamed Dogan that dealt with ethics reform for local officials. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

House Bill 445 extends to local officials the ethics policies that state lawmakers and statewide officials are now subject to. It would bar lobbyists from making expenditures for local government officials, superintendents, or members of school boards or charter school governing boards. Such expenditures could also not be made for those officials’ staffs or specific members of their families.

The bill would also keep elected or appointed local officials from becoming lobbyists for two years after leaving office. It would limit to $5 per day the amount a gift to such officials can cost, and cap at $2000 any campaign contributions for municipal, political subdivision, and special district office races.

Bill sponsor Shamed Dogan (R-Ballwin) has proposed that language for several years, based on how he saw local officials being lobbied while he was a city councilman in Ballwin.

“This is simply making sure that that same ethical standard to which we hold ourselves is also going to apply to our local elected officials, who have the same level of public trust, who are also trusted with taxpayer dollars, and who we also expect not to profit from their public service,” said Dogan.

A previous year’s version of Dogan’s bill received 149 votes when the House sent it to the Senate. This year’s version passed out of the House on Thursday, 103-47. Democrats said the lessening of support was due to an amendment to Dogan’s bill that they say “guts” Missouri’s open records law that has been in place since 1973.

“I appreciate [Representative Dogan] and his quest to make Missouri a better place and also improve the perception that people have and the confidence that folks have in their elected officials,” said Kansas City Democrat Jon Carpenter.

“But at the same time I’m going to vote against House Bill 445 today because unfortunately it doesn’t just do those things. It also upends almost five decades of open records and transparency law in this state. In fact almost unquestionably, when this bill passes it’s going to be the most radical undermining of open records and transparency law in state history,” said Carpenter.

The amendment, offered by Representative Nick Schroer (R-O’Fallon), would add to exemptions from the Sunshine law any personal cell phone numbers, social security numbers or home addresses; records of constituent case files including any correspondence between an elected official and a constituent; and any document or record “received or prepared by or on behalf of” an elected or appointed official “consisting of advice, opinions, and recommendations in connection with the deliberative decision-making process of said body.”

“I took a massive interest in trying to protect the integrity of our positions,” said Schroer.

Schroer discussed with Representative Steve Helms (R-Springfield) incidents in the news that he said are the types of things he wants to prevent.

Representative Jon Carpenter and other Democrats said the changes HB 445 would make to Missouri’s open records law go too far. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications

“The Huffington Post ruined an entire family for one person’s tweets, doxing them,” said Schroer.

“So you mean the Huffington Post printed private, personal information out on social media because they disagreed with a tweet that one of the family members made?” asked Helms.

“Correct,” said Schroer. “They accessed personal information just like I am trying to protect here.”

Democrats were largely unmoved by the concerns Schroer cited.

“I believe [Representative Schroer] protests way too much,” said Representative Deb Lavender (D-Kirkwood). “I don’t think the statute we have currently in place allows half of what he’s just told us is sunshineable … I don’t hand out people’s social security numbers. I won’t give addresses. I’m covered in the law that we have today.”

Dogan said he felt the provisions offered by Schroer regarding constituent information were necessary.

“I am concerned about people’s e-mail addresses, phone numbers, other personal information being a part of the public disclosure and us not being able to redact that information really is concerning,” said Dogan. “With that said I’m not sure about the portion that has been the most controversial where it’s talking about all communications. I think that might have been an unintentional kind of overreach, so I’m a little bit concerned about that section and I would be willing to work on toning that language down somewhat.”

Several Republicans voted against HB 445. Dogan said most or all of those were likely opposed to campaign finance limits, which many Republicans believe limit free speech.

Today’s vote sends the legislation to the Senate, where several lawmakers in both parties said they expect it will undergo further revisions.

State lawmakers to ask governor for clemency for man sentenced as teen to 241 years

A growing body of Missouri legislators wants to ask Governor Mike Parson (R) to act on behalf of a man in state prison with a sentence that they feel far exceeds his crimes.

Bobby Bostic is currently in the Jefferson City Correctional Center serving a 214 sentence for crimes he committed in one night in 1995. (photo supplied by Representative Nick Schroer)

Bobby Bostic is serving a sentence of 241 years in prison. Now 40, he would be eligible for parole at the age of 112. Appeals filed on his behalf have been denied, even one on the grounds that the Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that people under 18 who didn’t kill anyone couldn’t be sentenced to life without parole. That didn’t apply to Bostic because he wasn’t sentenced to life; he was sentenced for 18 crimes.

Bostic was 16 in 1995 when he and an 18-year-old accomplice robbed a group of people delivering Christmas presents for the needy. Each man shot a victim, leaving one slightly injured. The pair carjacked another woman and put a gun to her head. The accomplice robbed and groped her before she was let go.

“When you look at the cases from around that time – the late ‘90s – there are murderers that are already back out on our streets that were sent [to prison],” said Representative Nick Schroer.

Schroer, an O’Fallon Republican, says he happened upon the case when someone posted an old story about Bostic on Twitter. He sent Bostic a letter and the two began talking, and shortly thereafter Schroer and other representatives met with Bostic at the Jefferson City Correctional Center. It was then that Schroer decided he wanted to see the man given a chance at freedom.

Representative Nick Schroer (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communciations)

“I think he should do time for the mistakes that he made and the choices that he’s made, but to put him there on a taxpayer dime for 241 years I think is unjust,” said Schroer.

One of the lawmakers that joined Schroer in that visit to JCCC is Representative Barbara Washington (D-Kansas City). She came to the same conclusion – that the sentence was too harsh. She and Schroer agreed to work with their respective parties to get as many lawmakers as possible to sign a letter to Governor Parson asking for clemency for Bostic.

“That’s all he has. That’s the only thing he has. The Supreme Court did deny his brief. They denied to hear the case on the U.S. Supreme Court level. I believe he’s had some appeals that have been denied on the state court level, and so at this point this is the only opportunity that this young man has had,” said Washington. “He’s lost his whole life for 24 years. Had he not been tried in adult court he probably would’ve been out at 25.”

Schroer and Washington say Bostic has worked to better himself during his time in prison.

“I’m not saying he’s a model prisoner – I don’t know his whole record – but what I do know is that he’s tried to take advantage of the opportunities that you can take in prison,” said Washington. “He didn’t even have a high school diploma or GED when he went in. He has received a GED and he’s soon to be completing his associate degree.”

Representative Barbara Washington (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Schroer said Bostic’s efforts to get an education show he’s on the right path, and said some of his actions on the night of his crimes showed at least some of his thoughts were on the right path.

“The female victim indicated that while Bobby was driving, the 18-year-old, while he was trying to find her money, groped her and then threatened to rape her, but it was the 16-year-old Bobby Bostic … that stopped any rape from occurring and got her out of the car,” said Schroer.

“It’s interesting to note,” Washington adds, “that he was 16, his co-defendant was 18, and his co-defendant will be up for parole next year.”

The judge who handed Bostic his sentence has said publicly that she now regrets, “deeply,” that decision, and wants to meet with Bostic. Schroer believes something another judge – Missouri’s Supreme Court Chief Justice Zel Fischer – said in his State of the Judiciary Address this week also applies.

“He indicated that we should be using our prisons to house the most serious – the criminals that we, as a society, are afraid of, not the ones that we’re mad at,” said Schroer. “I think listening to our chief justice it’s time that we give this man a second chance.”

By Thursday afternoon around 15 lawmakers had signed on to the letter started by Representatives Schroer and Washington – lawmakers from both parties and from both the House and Senate, with more having agreed to sign it.

House bill could mean less in lawsuit damage awards for failing to wear seat belts

People who sue makers of cars and their components after sustaining injuries related to those products could be awarded less money if they weren’t properly using a seat belt, under a bill being considered in the Missouri House.

Right now a person filing such a suit could see damages reduced up to 1-percent, but only if expert evidence is presented showing that failing to properly use a seat belt could have contributed to his or her injuries. Representative Nick Schroer (R-O’Fallon), the sponsor of House Bill 1264, said such evidence is almost never presented if only because experts typically cost more to hire than the 1-percent mitigation would amount to.

HB 1264 would remove that 1-percent limit and the requirement for expert evidence, and leave to a jury the decision of whether the seat belt could have made a difference. The jury would also have the option of whether to adjust damages by any amount. The bill is going to be amended so that it will deal only with products liability cases.

“Now the manufacturer – whether it’s tires, auto manufacturer, seat belt, the tempered glass that’s put in there – they’re all making their product assuming, and making it safe in conjunction with, somebody wearing a properly fastened seat belt,” said Schroer. “So this evidence would help – in certain situations – show, should somebody be made whole? Is somebody actually negligent here?”

Schroer presented his bill to the House Special Committee on Litigation Reform. Liberty Democrat Mark Ellebracht, who sits on that committee, said the legislation “speaks to fairness.”

Representative Mark Ellebracht (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

“There’s nobody that doesn’t know that every car comes with a seat belt and doesn’t know how to use that seat belt, and I don’t think that it’s unreasonable for the jury to be able to consider the use or misuse of that seat belt, or non-use of that seat belt, when it comes to a person’s injuries in the context of a products liability claim,” said Ellebracht. “I think that fairness should include the ability for the jury to take into account some of those facts and say, ‘Well maybe you should have been wearing your seat belt at the time of that accident and maybe it’s not entirely the fault of that product.’”

Ellebracht favors an earlier version of the bill that would increase the cap on the mitigation of damages from 1-percent to 25-percent rather than remove it entirely. Schroer plans to amend that version of the bill to match language the Senate is considering, which removes the cap entirely.

Both representatives hope the legislation will have the added effect of compelling more Missourians to wear their seat belts.

The Committee on Litigation Reform is expected to vote on HB 1264 next week.

Additional audio:

Schroer: “Now we have so many different safety mechanisms that are built in conjunction with one another, and if one of those cogs is not properly in the wheel or in the situation something may fail, and that’s why we think that during these times we need to update our statutes.”

Bill would push 17-year-olds to juvenile court system

A House Republican will again this year propose that Missouri increase the age at which young offenders can be tried in Missouri’s adult courts.

17-year-olds can be prosecuted in adult courts. O’Fallon Representative Nick Schroer wants to “raise the age” to 18. He said the bill has broad, bipartisan support.

“In the state of Missouri you have to be 18 to enter into a contract without parental consent. You have to be 18 to buy cigarettes, you have to be 18 to join the military, buy a lottery ticket, or even vote. You even have to be 21 to purchase or consume alcohol in our state,” said Schroer, “but there is one place where juveniles are still treated as adults – in our courtrooms.”

Schroer on Friday pre-filed House Bill 1255, which mirrors House Bill 274 from the 2017 session. He said by passing it and increasing that age to 18, Missouri would save money by reducing recidivism; would allow more offenders to use the resources of the juvenile justice system to hold them accountable and rehabilitate them; and would strengthen Missouri’s workforce and economy by keeping 17 year-olds from having criminal records.

Schroer said his bill would also protect the rights of Missouri parents.

“When a 17-year-old is arrested currently, parents are excluded from being informed of what is going on. They do not have a right to be involved in the interrogation, they do not have a right to be involved in the court process,” said Schroer.

One of the hang-ups of past “raise the age” legislation has been the projected cost to Missouri. Schroer said those estimates have been inaccurate. He said in the 45 states that have passed similar laws, their projections of cost were also high but once the laws were in place, the actual costs were far lower and some states saved money.

“That is why I am happy to announce that with the many different fiscal notes that were associated with this bill in 2017, I am reaching out to Missouri State University to take a look at what the true economic impact of this legislation would be,” said Schroer. “I am confident that once this report is done that it will show what the 45 other states have shown – that raise the age legislation reduces crime, saves taxpayer dollars, and keeps Missourians safe.”

Schroer said it should be a goal to keep young people out of Missouri’s adult court and prison system.

“When you put a young person, with their brain still developing, you put them in a system where they’re going to learn the traits in the adult system … they’re going to learn how to scheme, the ways of the criminal, so-to-speak,” said Schroer. “When they come out with a criminal record, it’s hard for them to get a job; it’s hard for them to make ends meet. When their back’s against the wall they’re going to go to what they know. In these situations a lot of these kids that have been put through the adult system what they know is how to commit crime.”

Schroer said his legislation would allow minors who have committed heinous or repeated offenses to be certified as an adult.

HB 1255 is one of 13 bills Schroer filed today, and one of hundreds pre-filed for the 2018 legislative session which begins January 3.