Missouri House Republicans addressed reporters and fielded questions after the close of the veto session, today:
Birth Certificates language will help escapes from domestic violence
Escaping domestic violence in Missouri might have gotten a little easier, under legislation that became law August 28.
One of the greatest obstacles facing victims of domestic violence involves possession of the documents they need to start their lives over. A provision in Senate Bill 28 will provide free copies of birth certificates when those are requested by victims.
The idea came out of the Southeast Missouri Family Violence Council, who brought it to Representative Chris Dinkins (R-Lesterville), and she immediately saw its importance.
“When the SEMO Family Violence Council brought this to my attention, [I could see that This was a real-life issue that people were facing on a daily basis and it was a good thing to get done for the people,” said Dinkins. “We want to do everything we can, everything in our power, to help them move on and get out of these situations.”
Tracy Carroll is the Assistant Director and Case Manager for the Council. As a case manager she has seen, countless times, people trying to get out of abusive situations but struggling to do so because they needed documentation.
Often, victims escape from an abusive home in the middle of the night and even perhaps during a violent incident. They leave with little more than the clothes on their back and the backs of their children, only to later realize that they need documentation to do things like get a job or enroll children in school.
The $15 apiece fee to get a copy of a birth certificate often presents a huge obstacle for someone in a crisis situation. Shelters, then, have typically covered that fee, but Carroll said that adds up quickly and takes away from other things shelters aim to provide.
“I don’t think people realize those kinds of things are not in our grants. We have to come up with that money out of our general revenue or … we have been in here counting [one dollar bills] and stuff trying to get a birth certificate for somebody,” said Carroll. She said in one case, “A lady, she had seven children … and needed to all get enrolled in school. Well at $15 a pop times seven children plus herself, and then to top it off they came in at Christmas … that family, we just shelled out a large chunk of money that could be used for other resources for them, had we not had to purchase all those.”
The Council’s Executive Director, Stephanie Bennett, said after they met with Rep. Dinkins at an event in the capital city and brought up the issue, she recognized its importance and asked them to bring her some legislation.
Later, the Missouri Coalition for Domestic and Sexual Violence, the membership of which includes the Council and other shelters around the state, picked up the issue and advocated for it. Dinkins said that helped get the proposal the traction it needed.
While this could make an immeasurable difference for many victims, Bennett hopes the passage of this language in SB 28 is only the beginning.
Carroll said cost isn’t the only issue regarding certificates from other states. She said different lengths of delays in getting documents mean victims can be forced to sit idle, sometimes for months, before they can begin rebuilding their lives and the lives of their children.
“We did one in California, it took us ten weeks to get the birth certificate.”
The language in SB 28 authorizes a waiver of the fee for a Missouri birth certificate when a victim of domestic violence or abuse requests it, documentation signed by a victim advocate; attorney; or health or mental health care provider who has assisted that person accompanies that request.
Enhanced distracted driving law sends message: don’t text while driving
Missouri’s newly-enhanced distracted driving law takes effect on Monday, and House members say it’s a message to drivers in the state: put your phones down.
After years of the General Assembly considering and rejecting bans on texting while driving, the legislature this year agreed to a ban that covers holding a phone; the typing or sending of text-based messages; video calls or broadcasting or otherwise recording and sharing videos; and watching videos or movies. The language was part of Senate Bill 398, signed into law last month.
It’s called the “Siddens Bening Hands Free Law,” named for two Missourians who died in separate distracted driving incidents.
Representative Jeff Knight (R-Lebanon) handled that proposal in the House. He knew the history of the texting while driving issue was one of a long time lack of consensus. This was based, in part, on conservative lawmakers’ desire not to infringe on individual liberties. So, Knight had concerns when it was amended to another bill he was carrying and wanted to get passed. After talking to some of the opponents of the issue and others with a stake, he decided to let it stand.
He said as technology has evolved, any need to let people keep holding their phones has diminished.
Representative Lane Roberts (R-Joplin) has an extensive background in law enforcement, including as a former Joplin Police Chief and Director of the Department of Public Safety. He agreed that this year’s proposal included the right provisions at the right time.
“Finding that balance between individual liberty for one person when it begins to encroach on the safety or the liberty of another is not a bright line. It’s always a challenge to find the balance, and I think that’s what this bill does,” said Roberts. “It recognizes that we’ve grown to the point where the use of technology is so prevalent that misuse of it puts other people at risk, and then given the fact that there is the availability, so many alternatives for hands-free use of technology, it’s just time to think about how we go about limiting that.”
Also on the language’s list of bipartisan backers is Representative Steve Butz (D-St. Louis), whose background is in the insurance industry. He said distracted driving has long been a concern for that industry.
Knight and Roberts, like others in their caucus, said they still hold personal liberties as important, but said those concerns were tempered by the fact that the bill makes phone use a secondary offense. That means a traffic stop can’t be triggered just by phone use. A person has to be stopped for something else before they can be cited.
Butz agrees that the most important thing this bill does is send a message that legislators, on behalf of Missouri citizens, are telling drivers that they shouldn’t be on their phones and behind the wheel at the same time.
“At this point I don’t believe anybody believes that texting while you’re operating a vehicle, regardless of who you are or where you are, could possibly be considered safe,” said Roberts. “The important thing is that the law now acknowledges that [texting while driving] is problematic. There are now some parameters in place to exercise some level of control and hopefully it will lead to some prudence in the development of technology and people’s decision making. It’s like seatbelts. [The state’s seatbelt law creates a secondary offense] but the fact that you’re required to wear it, the fact that it gets a lot of attention, has most definitely increased the use of seatbelts, so this is very similar.”
As was the case with the seatbelt law when it passed, Roberts and his colleagues expect it will take some time to see wholesale change in drivers’ habits now that the updated distracted driving law has been passed.
The tougher law regarding phone use was long sought by road safety advocates, who are pleased with the passage. The Missouri Department of Transportation says in the ten years up to 2021 there were nearly 200,000 distracted driving related crashes in Missouri, which caused no fewer than 801 deaths. Some agencies think the real totals are far greater.
Michael Bening of Raymore was 46 and trying to clear debris from a highway when he was hit and killed by a driver believed to have been distracted, on Interstate 49 in Cass County in May, 2021. Randall Siddens was picking up traffic cones after a race in Columbia in May, 2019, when a woman who was driving while voice chatting swerved around a vehicle stopped at a red light and hit him.
The bill including the law bearing their names was passed out of the House 97-40. While the law takes effect on Monday, its penalty provisions won’t be enacted until January 1, 2025, to allow for a grace period while the public is educated on the new law.
Tax Credit Legislation Expected to Bring More Film Productions, Concerts to Missouri
More television, movie, and concert productions could be coming to Missouri after the legislature approved tax credits targeting the entertainment industry.
The “Show MO Act” created credits for up to 30 percent of qualifying expenses for live entertainment and tour expenses, if certain conditions are met. It created credits equaling 20 percent of qualifying film production expenses, with additional credits available if more conditions are met.
Senate Bill 94 had broad bipartisan support on its way through the House and Senate, and was signed into law by the governor last month.
Representative Michael O’Donnell (R-St. Louis) said with tax credits, the first consideration is always whether they are fiscally responsible.
“We really worked hard to try to make it as conservative as possible while at the same time leveling the playing field so Missouri can compete with other states,” said Cape Fair Republican Brad Hudson regarding the concert portion of SB 94. “These kinds of concerts could be held in numerous different places within our state, and we’ve seen when a big name entertainer comes to town, the kind of revenue that that generates for a community is definitely notable, and I expect that we will see more of that after this legislation takes effect.”
For an artist to qualify for the credits they must perform at least two concerts in the State of Missouri.
The only other state that offers tax credits to concert productions is Pennsylvania, which recently increased the cap on its credits due to their success. Hudson said due to geography alone, Missouri could fare even better.
O’Donnell said Missourians could also get more opportunities to see their favorite artists.
The state’s previous film tax credit program expired in 2013. Since then the state has hosted little in the way of television and motion picture filming, while some major projects – even ones set in Missouri – have gone elsewhere. The new law puts Missouri among 39 states that offer film incentives.
Representative Steve Butz (D-St. Louis) has a brother in the film and live theater industry, who this past spring moved to Georgia to film a movie that might otherwise have been filmed in Missouri.
“He, just as an actor, said hey, you know that Georgia has these film tax credits and the film industry has exploded in Georgia even to the point that Ozark, the show that was a huge success and was meant to be filmed, and it certainly is about, the Missouri Ozark region, was filmed in Georgia, as was this movie that my brother just filmed. He said it absolutely is attracting and creating a film industry,” said Butz. “He said Missouri is losing out on this. You don’t have hardly any TV shows filmed there, you don’t have movie sets coming there. They might use a few shots like to simulate something from the Midwest, or if it has to do with St. Louis or Lambert Airport or something, but they’re not actually moving the sets and the crews there.”
The benefits of having things filmed in Missouri aren’t just financial. There’s a boost to the very morale of communities, and that often spans generations.
The film tax credits are capped at $16-million dollars. In addition to the 20 percent credit for qualifying film productions, another 5 percent can be earned if at least 15 percent of production takes place in a rural or blighted area; another 5 percent can be earned if a certain number of Missourians are hired; and another 5 percent is available if the production depicts Missouri or the region in a positive light. The Department of Economic Development will decide which productions are approved.
As with all tax credits, these will be reviewed annually by the legislature to ensure that they are benefitting Missouri. As O’Donnell put it, “What’s the return on investment? The state’s taxpayers are making an investment. What are they getting back? I think in this case we’re going to find ourselves very positive.”
The legislation becomes effective August 28. The new tax credits would expire in 2030 unless a future legislature and governor agree to extend them.
Expired temp tags to phase out as vehicle dealers collect sales tax under new law
Many Missourians will be pleased to know that expired temporary license tags on vehicles could soon become a thing of the past, under one of the bills signed into law earlier this month.
Those tags have, for some, been a source of anger and fodder for jokes. Entire social media accounts have been dedicated to posting pictures of vehicles with tags that expired months or even years ago, and some openly ridicule law enforcement for not acting against drivers with outdated tags. For others the issue has been a source of anxiety as they felt the scrutiny of peers and law enforcement while driving with them.
“It’s embarrassing,” said Representative Michael O’Donnell (R-St. Louis) of the system now in place in Missouri – the system that would be changed as part of Senate Bill 398. “This [change] is long overdue … we’re only one of like three or four states that’s still doing it this way.”
The “way” to which O’Donnell refers is the collection of sales taxes on vehicle purchases by the Department of Revenue, after the sale.
“We had this weird situation in Missouri where people would go buy a car and unlike anything else you buy you don’t pay the sales tax when you buy it,” explained Representative Peter Merideth (D-St. Louis). “People get the best car they think they can afford. Next thing they know they go to get their plates for it, they find out they owe $4,000 or $5,000, or even $1,000 or $500 if they got a cheap, used car, it’s a lot of money at once in order to get their plates, and they go, ‘Well I can’t afford that.’”
O’Donnell was the House handler of the proposal that became part of SB 398 that will require auto dealers to collect sales tax at the time of a vehicle purchase.
While having dealers begin collecting taxes at the time of purchase sounds like a simple change, Merideth said it took several years for infrastructural changes that will allow it.
“We’ve been saying for a long time that that’s the solution,” said Merideth, “and then the Department of Revenue would tell us, ‘We don’t have a technical system that can do that.’ What they told us is their computer systems that they were using were designed in the ‘80s when we barely had computers and hadn’t been updated.”
A series of legislative and budgetary changes – some of which, notes Merideth, did not have the bipartisan support that this portion of SB 398 had – have allowed for this bill to advance and O’Donnell describes it as the last step in a long process. The new law becomes effective August 28but it allows several months for changes to Department of Revenue systems. O’Donnell said it could be 12 to 24 months before those buying vehicles experience the new system.
Many legislators in recent years have said that this issue was among those about which they most often heard complaints from constituents, but they often learned that increasing enforcement against those with expired tags was only going to hurt those who were already financially struggling and would not end the problem.
Merideth told House Communications, “This temp tag issue is the thing I have heard maybe second most from constituents about, second only to gun violence, of anything in my district. It shocked me how upset people are about it, but I get it. It feels like we have a situation where all these people are running around that aren’t paying their fair share of the taxes that the rest of us are paying.”
“I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘Well don’t buy the car if you can’t pay the taxes,’” said O’Donnell, but he, like Merideth and others, quickly learned that it wasn’t always that simple. He said a series of reports by a television reporter illustrated the depth of the problem. She talked to a number of Missourians who had expired temporary tags.
“A lot of people had hardship problems,” O’Donnell learned. “That was a lot of money to come up with, and she would ask the question, ‘If you were able to roll it into your financing and just pay $30 extra each month would that have been more doable,’ and people were like, ‘Oh my gosh, that would’ve been so much easier and so much less stressful.’”
O’Donnell also learned how anxious many of those drivers were because of their expired tags. “It wasn’t like it’s no big deal, nobody cares. They were always nervous that they were going to get pulled over and get questioned about it … [this legislation] will reduce that stress of thinking that the eyes of the world are upon you because you’ve got this temp tag.”
The end result was a much-needed change that lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle will be glad to talk about to their constituents.
Said Merideth, “I’m tired of seeing the expired temp tags and I’m tired of, honestly, hearing from so many people about the expired temp tags. It’s a frustrating problem and honestly I’m glad we’re finally going to collecting the revenue that we need to have and we’re going to do it in a way that people are going to know what they’re getting into when they buy their car.”
O’Donnell said four or five years from now there might still be some stragglers out there, but most expired tags should disappear over the next couple of years.
Production note: due to a technical issue, the audio from Rep. Merideth was not of good quality. Those who wish to access it may contact House Communications.
911 Dispatchers get ‘First Responder’ status, more mental health help options
Missouri 911 dispatchers will now be considered “first responders” in state statute under legislation that becomes effective next month. That will bring a lot of changes, including increased access to mental health resources.
Language in two bills signed into law by Governor Mike Parson (R) will add emergency telecommunicators to the definition of “first responders,” which previously included people like firefighters, police, and emergency medical personnel. The change in designation will mean, among other things, that dispatchers will have access to the same mental health supports as those in those other jobs.
Sarah Newell, Polk County 911 Director, says that’s something from which she and others in her field can definitely benefit.
“I hear it every day. I hear it happen. I hear overdoses, I hear suicides, I hear fatality accidents in children. It happens all the time,” Newell told House Communications.
She said a dispatcher’s emotions can be constantly in transition. “We don’t stay consistent. We drop to a one, and then we’re at a nine, and then okay we’re back to a two, and here we are, ten, ten, ten, and so it’s hard for your body to adjust to those heightened adrenaline changes so often throughout the day.”
“Sometimes it’s minute-by-minute,” said Jamie Taylor, President of the Missouri Chapter of the National Emergency Numbers Association (MO NENA). “[A dispatcher] could be on a really serious call with somebody that’s wanting to harm themselves and they’re having to try to talk them down, talk them through it … they could get right off of that call and deliver a baby on the next call.”
Taylor said the proposed re-designation has been considered for years while legislators and state agencies worked to consider what changings it would bring, and how to best implement it, but he said legislators always seemed to favor the change.
Representative Robert Sauls (D-Independence) has proposed such language for several years. In his time as a Jackson County Prosecutor and later as a public defender he listened to a lot of 911 calls.
“Having seen many of the videos and listened to many of these 911 calls, I know they’re stressful, and this is something that should have always been the case. Opening that door for mental health is so important,” said Sauls. “These people are the absolute first point of contact in most instances involving a crime and what could potentially be someone’s worst day of their life. The stress that they undergo, the amount of pressure that’s placed on them at that time, these people absolutely should be treated as first responders.”
Joplin Representative Lane Roberts (R) worked in public service for more than 40 years, including as Joplin’s Police Chief and the state’s Director of Public Safety. He said he even did some dispatching early in his career.
“Those people, in my mind at least, are the most underappreciated element of public safety there is,” said Roberts. “Everybody sort of takes them for granted. They’re in this windowless environment. Nobody sees them, they don’t get to see anybody, they deal with all the emotion, they deal with all the psychological trauma, but they don’t get to do anything except move on to the next calls. But, when you’re the guy in the field and you get yourself in trouble, that dispatcher’s your lifeline and suddenly they become the single most important person on the planet. There is just no way to express your appreciation for a good dispatcher.”
Taylor said like anyone who has done the job, he has experienced calls that he’ll never forget – the kinds of calls that take a toll.
He hopes this change will help to slow what has been a notably high turnover rate in his field.
He added that as much as anything, though, it will feel good for dispatchers simply to have this acknowledgement.
The change could also create access to grant dollars that could see local agencies expand the latest forms of 911 access in areas of Missouri that don’t have it. Newell and Taylor expressed their thanks to the legislators who worked for so many years on this issue.
That change in designation will take effect August 28.
Transitional ‘benefit cliff’ legislation would help more Missourians take raises, drop state assistance
A plan that would allow Missourians who are on certain state financial assistance programs to gradually get off of them without falling off a so-called “benefits cliff” is one of the things awaiting action from Governor Mike Parson (R).
That “cliff” is what policy makers call situations when a person accepts a salary increase that puts them over the income limits for programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and what that person then loses in benefits is more than the amount their pay would increase. The result is that often, Missourians on benefits programs are forced to reject promotions and raises, for their own good and that of their families.
The House passed last month a proposed transitional program that would let people get off of state programs incrementally as their income increases.
“Our social safety net system, our welfare system in the State of Missouri, isn’t working. It’s designed in such a way that it really does trap people in poverty and discourages people from trying to get out,” said Springfield Republican Alex Riley, the House sponsor of that legislation. “My goal with the benefits cliff bill was to create a pathway where our welfare system really does what its intended to do, and that’s to serve as a hand up to people to help pull them out of these tough situations that they’re in, and not to serve as an anchor that keeps them in poverty forever and then results in this generational cycle of poverty that unfortunately far too many in our state are in.”
The legislation would apply to SNAP and TANF, and expand and make permanent existing transitional benefits for the child care subsidy program. Benefits to a participant would be reduced relative to their increases in pay until they are making twice the federal poverty rate.
Representative Keri Ingle (D-Lee’s Summit), whose background is in social work, said most Missourians, even if they haven’t been on these programs, could understand having to make the decisions some have had to make, to turn down pay increases.
“I don’t think it’s hard for most people to imagine, in this economy, but, you absolutely wouldn’t want to be in a situation where you had to cut your income,” said Ingle. “One of the great things about this bill is that it allows people to slowly ween off the system. It allows them to be in situations where it doesn’t adversely affect their income to accept a higher paying job, or to have a higher income, to accept a raise, and still have some of those benefits until they can kind of slowly ween off of them and be self-sufficient. We’re really empowering working folks within our state with families to come off the system but to do it in a way that they’re still having all their needs met.”
Riley said there’s nothing in Missouri’s various policies and statutes that does what this would do.
“There are some minor benefits cliffs provisions in place for, I think, food stamps, but it hasn’t really worked, so this is a bigger bite at the apple that will, hopefully, do a better job of actually resolving that issue,” said Riley. “Once this has been implemented and is in effect for a few years I expect we’re going to start to see large numbers of people coming off the rolls over time and then once we get a really good opportunity to see how this has played out over time, we’ll have an opportunity to make adjustments if we need to, but hopefully we won’t have to.”
He said the legislation might have to be revisited over time for factors like inflation.
In the end, the legislation received broad bipartisan support. It is a proposal that had been around for several years, sponsored by members of both parties. Even so, Riley said such issues can present a narrow path to success.
He said giving people a way to get off of state benefits is good for them, good for state agencies, and good for the state’s budget.
Ingle said most people who are getting state help don’t want to do so for any longer than is necessary, and they will appreciate this program.
The language passed as part of Senate Bill 106 and Senate Bills 45 & 90, broad bills dealing with various public health issues. Governor Parson could sign either or both of those bills into law, veto them, or allow them to become law without his action. If this proposal becomes law it would become effective on August 28.
Legislature’s action could ease escapes from domestic violence, governor’s action awaited
One of the bills on the desk of Governor Mike Parson (R) would make it easier for people to escape domestic abuse, if it becomes law.
A provision in Senate Bill 28 would waive the fee for a copy of a birth certificate when it is requested by a victim of domestic violence.
It has been proposed for several years by Representative Chris Dinkins (R-Lesterville), who explained to her colleagues that when a person escapes domestic violence, they often have to leave things behind. That often includes vital documents.
Matthew Huffman is the Chief Public Affairs Officer with the Missouri Coalition against Domestic and Sexual Violence. He said making a decision to leave can be dangerous, frightening, and difficult, and this legislation would help to keep victims from having to go back.
“Birth certificates are crucial in the individual being able to start their life over again, be able to get out on their own, get away from the person who is abusing them, and often [abusers] hold [victims] captive by keeping their birth certificate and other important documents from them so that they can’t start over again,” said Dinkins. “If you want to get a job, if you want to open up a bank account, you’ve got to have forms of identification, and in order to get a new driver’s license you’re going to have to have a birth certificate. In order to get a new social security card, you’re going to have to have a birth certificate; enrolling kids in school, you’re going to have to have a birth certificate, so all these things are very important.”
She adds that victims escaping abuse often have little if any money and that’s why the fee that is normally charged for certificates is an issue.
After seeing this proposal fall short in several past legislative sessions, Huffman is hopeful that Governor Parson will sign it into law.
Dinkins agrees, and adds that just as this proposal was brought to her by a shelter in her district, she encourages advocates to bring her more ideas. She said in her time as a teacher she knew several individuals who were involved in domestic abuse situations, and that makes these issues personal.
The bill would allow a survivor to get one birth certificate free, one time. It requires a signed statement from an advocate, attorney, or provider of healthcare or mental healthcare.
Governor Parson could sign that bill into law, veto it, or allow it to become law without his action. If it becomes law, this provision would become effective on August 28.
Bills could help Missourians with disabilities advance their careers, get married
Missourians living with disabilities could no longer have to reject raises and promotions, or even choose not to get married, in order to keep receiving needed state assistance, under legislation now awaiting the governor’s action.
Among legislation that was approved by the House and Senate last month was a provision to change the state’s Ticket to Work health insurance program within MO HealthNet. It would increase the limit on how much a person can earn before they lose benefits under that program. It would also not count up to $50,000 of a spouse’s income toward that limit.
Such state benefits provide to some Missourians with disabilities things like personal care attendants, medication, services, and equipment that allow them to have a job in the first place. Those Missourians must sometimes reject raises or promotions because the changes in income would not offset the benefits they would lose.
Another provision would require state agencies to use an “employment first” policy, directing them to recruit and keep employees with disabilities and create competitive ways to integrate them into workforces.
This legislation received broad, bipartisan support in both chambers. In the House they were carried by Springfield Republican Melanie Stinnett. She said legislators have been growing more aware of how state assistance programs designed to help Missourians are sometimes holding them back.
Representative Bridget Walsh Moore (D-St. Louis) lives and works with a disability, and has long advocated for these changes. She said these will yield, “immediate, tangible results that are going to benefit so many people.”
Stinnett is particularly excited about the provision to ease the limit on a spouse’s income, “So we’re not disincentivizing marriage for individuals with disabilities, which I think is really important.”
About that provision Walsh Moore mentioned a childhood friend of hers who developed lupus.
“She is still living with her long-time boyfriend. She couldn’t get married because she would lose her benefits because her boyfriend makes too much money but he can’t solely support her. She could get married later this year. That’s huge,” said Walsh Moore. “You hear all the time of people divorcing so they can deal with medical issues – just divorcing on paper so that they can handle whatever disease has come into their life. It’s awful.”
Supporters of the employment first language said it was long overdue and would allow Missourians with disabilities to work to their fullest extent, which benefits the whole state.
Stinnett said it is, “showing that Missouri really values individuals with disabilities in our workforce and wants them to have options for competitive, integrated employment within their communities.”
Walsh Moore, who had advocated for this legislation since being elected in 2020 and said it has been proposed long before that, said, “It’s very exciting to finally see it done … it didn’t get a hearing every year but every year it did, no one has ever testified against it and no one has ever voted against it.”
Governor Mike Parson (R) has until July 14 to act on Senate Bill 106 and Senate Bill 45, both of which contain these provisions. He could sign them into law or veto them, or let them become law without his action. If they become law, the provisions would become effective on August 28.
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.
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.
Sharp is optimistic that the governor will sign Blair’s Law into law, partly based on conversations he’s had with Parson’s staff.
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.
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.
While waiting to see what Governor Parson will do, DeMoss is taking this latest, farthest progress as a victory.
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.
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.