House Republicans and Democrats addressed reporters and fielded media questions after the close of business for the week:
House votes to increase state efforts against veteran suicide
The House has voted to improve the state’s efforts to prevent suicide among its veteran population.
Representatives voted 156-0 for House Bill 132, which directs the Missouri Veterans Commission to work with the Department of Mental Health to come up with recommendations on how Missouri can prevent veteran suicide. It would require the Commission to report annually, beginning June 30, 2024, on new recommendations and on the implementation and effectiveness of the state’s efforts.
The bill is sponsored by Jefferson City Republican Dave Griffith, a U.S. Army Veteran who served with the 8th Special Forces Group as a Green Beret. He has spent much of his career in the House dealing with veterans’ issues, and with ways to stem suicide not only among current and former service members but in the population in general.
Griffith speaks often of the social media campaign #22, and his personal goal of decreasing or eliminating what that number represents.
Though he and others in the legislature and state government have been talking about these issues for years and developing related programs, Griffith said Missouri has a long way to go. Representative Ashley Bland Manlove (D-Kansas City), who has served in the Missouri National Guard, agreed.
“I think the biggest population that we should be talking about is the one percent of American population that raises their right hand for this country,” continued Bland Manlove. “The best way that we can thank our veterans for their dedication and work to this country is by taking care of them.”
Rogersville Republican Darin Chappell (R) has a great deal of experience with the issues faced by military members and their families, as he is a veteran of the Navy and the Army Reserves and has many service members in his family.
Before casting their votes for the measure, legislators reflected about their own personal experiences. St. Clair Republican Brad Banderman solemnly told his colleagues, “About two years ago my little sister laid down on the grave of my older brother that shot himself in 1990 and killed herself. Anything that we can do as a legislature, as a body, as individuals, to help prevent the suicide of our veterans, I’m in full support of.”
Missouri as of 2020 had the 14th highest suicide rate in the U.S., with about 1,125 people having died by suicide in that year. The rate among veterans is approximately 1.5 higher than in the rest of the population, and experts are telling legislators they fear that suicide rates are going to increase.
“I think we need to do better and I think this is a good start,” said Representative Robert Sauls (D-Independence).
The same bill passed out of the House last year but did not come to a final vote in the Senate.
Anyone in need of help for themselves or someone else for a mental health, substance abuse, or suicide crisis is encouraged to call 988.
House bill would keep high schoolers’ personal finance curriculum up to date
Missouri high school students’ education in personal finance would be regularly updated, to keep up with changes in the world of finance, under a bill being considered in the state House.
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) already requires that high schools teach personal finance. House Bill 809 would ensure that this continues by putting it in state statute. It would also add the stipulation that a work group review the mandated curriculum every seven years to make sure it’s keeping with the times.
The bill is sponsored by Representative Michael O’Donnell (R-St. Louis), who among other things is a fixed income securities trader for an investment firm.
He said the working group proposed in HB 809 would include people with backgrounds in both education and finance. They would work, “to make sure that we’re building a curriculum that’s age appropriate – the course would be for [high school-aged students] – and then make sure that we’re covering the important topics in the industry that folks are going to need to know once they’re out in the real world.”
He said a lot of aspects of personal finance aren’t intuitive, and Missouri needs to make sure students understand what they’ll be getting into.
O’Donnell said updating the curriculum periodically is an obvious necessity, as changes in financial industries are coming faster and faster.
“So much of banking … ten years ago the number of folks that did the bulk of their banking online was pretty small and I would say probably the majority of folks are now doing 90-plus percent of their banking online,” said O’Donnell. “The other thing that we probably wouldn’t have talked about ten years ago is floating rate mortgages. Interest rates have been so low for so long that we’ve been talking about fixed rate mortgages for a long time. Now we’re in this higher interest rate environment where folks should know that to get that lower interest rate on that adjustable mortgage, it means something and that there are some pitfalls.”
The legislation would require a half-credit, equal to one semester, of education on this subject matter. O’Donnell discussed with legislators on the House Committee on Elementary and Secondary Education whether that would be enough.
The committee did discuss incorporating some of this education at a less-complicated level into an earlier grade level, such as eighth grade.
The bill’s supporters include the Missouri Bankers Association and the Missouri Credit Union Association. No one testified in opposition to it.
HB 809 cleared that committee on a 12-0 vote and awaits action by a second committee. O’Donnell said the language of this bill will likely be incorporated into at least two other pieces of legislation.
PHOTO GALLERY: House fresh off renovation for ’23 session
When the Missouri House convened in January for this, the 102nd General Assembly, it did so in a freshly renovated House Chamber featuring new voting and message boards; refinished woodwork; updated wiring; and most importantly, badly needed new carpeting.
You can see photos from before, after, and throughout that project in the gallery below (and linked here), and scroll down to read more about it.
The work done during the summer and fall of 2022 was overseen by the Chief Clerk and Administrator of the House, Dana Rademan Miller. Among other things, Miller has a deep appreciation for the history and cultural significance of the Capitol, and she brought that to this project.
She tells us that when the Capitol was being built more than 100 years ago the carpeting in the House was originally wool. It has been replaced several times since then, the last time having been in 2008.
In what was intended to be a cost saving decision the carpet installed at that time was synthetic. Instead of saving money, this proved to be a costly choice that hampered business in the Chamber because the synthetic carpet built up static electricity more quickly than had the wool.
“Pretty quickly after we had that installed we were noticing that members were, as they were populating the chamber and walking about, they were building up a static charge and then they were shocking each other, but they were also shocking their voting boxes when they would go to vote,” Miller explained. “A member would go to vote and they would shock their box, which then would create a chain reaction and it would shut their box down and … it would shut all of the voting stations behind it all the way to the back of the room.”
This problem developed at the beginning of a session, and obviously the voting system was of primary importance, so staff at the time had to quickly come up with a short-term fix.
The wiring in the chamber was replaced that next summer to alleviate the static issues. Now the Chamber is back to having wool carpeting not just for the sake of historical significance and functionality, but also because wool holds up better than did the synthetic.
A lot of thought was put into the visual design elements of this new carpeting by Miller and others with a mind for history. It leans heavily on symbology already found elsewhere in the Chamber.
Miller said when these symbols were built into the Chamber they were meant to represent qualities that, it was hoped, would be found in the representatives in the House as well as in all people.
Among other work done during this time, professional woodworkers refinished the fine features of the dais and rostrum. When carpet was removed from the stairs leading up either side of the dais, a fine cork floor – chosen for that structure in part to control sound – was uncovered, and it was able to be saved.
The members’ desks from the House floor were sent to a St. Louis company to be refinished for the first time in about 35 years, and before-and-after photos show that now they look virtually new. Most of these desks are original to the building, their number having increased as the size of the House has increased since 1917.
The removal of the carpeting and those desks also presented an opportunity to update the wiring beneath the Chamber floor. This work will better serve the modern laptops and new voting boards. It also added a system that will help the hearing impaired.
The replacement of the voting boards had been a priority for Miller for years. The old ones dated back to 1997 and were still running on a program that relied on Windows ’97.
Finally, the sound desk – which had not been original to a Chamber that originally had no sound system – was updated to a smaller, more efficient design.
For Miller, as someone who admittedly loves the Capitol and its history, it has felt good to get to leave her stamp on the Chamber by having a project like this take place during her time as Clerk.
She says there is still work to be done in the Chamber, including some plaster detailing and decorative paintings that need to be touched up. She said there has been money set aside by the General Assembly for restoration of the Capitol as a whole, but the legislature will have to give more attention to that issue.
“We need the full commitment from the General Assembly … we’ll see how that turns out,” said Miller. “[The Capitol is] 100 years old and it has issues, as any historic home would have. You have to do the maintenance and the upkeep and you have to do the remediation at times when you have environmental factors that have taken a toll, and we have all of that.”
Missourians suffering from WWII-era radioactive contamination ask House panel for help
A House committee has heard from dozens of Missourians that it could help secure relief for families that have suffered for decades due to radioactive contamination throughout the St. Louis region.
Nuclear weapons development and testing there in the 1940s and ‘50s contributed to the U.S. having the atomic bombs used in World War II. That work, also known as “The Manhattan Project,” also eventually led to the dumping of nuclear waste near Lambert airport which contaminated soil, Coldwater Creek, and the Creek’s floodplain.
Residents who live or have lived, or whose families have lived, in the affected region, testified for more than four hours Tuesday night about House Concurrent Resolutions 21 and 22, which would trigger an investigation by state agencies into whether those residents could be eligible for federal relief funds in programs that already exist to compensate those harmed by nuclear testing.
The Committee on General Laws heard story after story of cancer clusters; high concentrations of extremely rare diagnoses; and of mental, physical, and financial suffering that has impacted multiple generations.
The sponsor of HCR 21 is Tricia Byrnes (R-Wentzville), whose son was diagnosed at age 15 with thymoma, a form of cancer typically caused by the use of radiation or chemotherapy to treat a different cancer. Some experts have told her that his may be the only case in history of thymoma being a patient’s primary diagnosis.
It was his diagnosis that led to her investigating the issue of contamination in the St. Louis region, and eventually to filing HCR 21.
Representative Richard West (R-Wentzville), who sponsors HCR 22, said he began learning about the situation after his mother was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. He learned that one cause of that form of cancer is contaminated water, and he knew that among the sites tested for radioactive contamination were wells like those on his parents’ property.
“A year later I am knee-deep in one of the largest atrocities laid on the American people by their government. The issue spreads from the Mallinckrodt sites in St. Louis City out to Latty Avenue, the Berkeley, Bridgeton, and Hazelwood areas, Coldwater Creek through Bridgeton and the legacy landfills, and finally out into St. Charles County’s Weldon Springs site, owned by the Department of Energy,” said West. “While most of these sites are proclaimed as ‘cleaned up,’ we are constantly finding hot spots and families impacted by these areas and the dangers they hold.”
One of those who testified Tuesday was Christen Commuso, the Community Outreach Specialist with the Missouri Coalition for the Environment. Commuso also lived in St. Ann until the age of 7, and often played in Coldwater Creek. She is among those diagnosed with cancer at an early age, as well as other diagnoses. Among other procedures she has undergone, she has had her gallbladder and left adrenal gland removed, and had to have a total hysterectomy.
She told lawmakers that the emotional and physical tolls on her and her family have been massive, and the cost at times is so great that she is forced to skip appointments or tests.
“For each one of us here today there are probably 20 back home facing the same challenges or worse. That’s why I’m asking you to stand with us. Help ease some of the burden and fight for the medical monitoring and compensation this region deserves,” said Commuso. “Now is the time for the people and the state to work together. St. Louis stepped up to save the nation. Now it’s time the nation stepped up to save St. Louis.”
Karen Nickel grew up in Hazelwood and played in a park on the bank of Coldwater Creek, and the Creek flooded other local playgrounds and backed into her parents’ basement.
“We played in that park. We ate snow during snowball fights. We took the honeysuckle off the banks of the Creek and sucked the stuff out of them. We spent a lot of time there,” said Nickel. “I am sick. I have three autoimmune diseases. I have lupus, psoriatic arthritis, I have Sjogren’s disease,” said Nickel.
She and other residents explained that the impacts of this contamination go beyond any one individual. Some families spend decades trying to keep more than one of their members alive. The radiation can also cause mutations that put future generations at risk, even when there had been no history of such diseases in those families prior to the contamination.
Thomas Whelan taught for 30 years at Francis Howell High School, a school that was within walking distance of a uranium processing facility. He and several others said that as that site was cleaned up students were exposed to particulate matter and other contaminants.
“When that plant was imploded … I was there. We were watching the whole thing go down. It was like an implosion, and that dust, guess where it went? A thousand feet away into the playing fields of Francis Howell, into the duct work of Francis Howell, into the air system of Francis Howell,” said Whelan. “There’s kids still at that school right now and many of those kids are second and third generation Francis Howell students who might, and may not know this, have the altered DNA that they’re going to continue to pass on.”
“You’re taking the first step,” Whelan told legislators. “This is going to be one of the biggest environmental cover-ups in U.S. history and we are starting, right now, today, asking you to start that process.”
The committee has not voted on those resolutions.
VIDEO: Republican and Democrat press conferences going into legislative Spring Break
With the session having reached its halfway point, leadership from each caucus evaluated the work that’s been done and looked ahead:
‘The Art of Being Me’ tackles mental health stigmas in the Missouri Capitol
Those visiting the Capitol this week will see photos and stories from nearly 30 people living with mental health conditions. Participants in The Art of Being Me hope to inspire others to share their stories, to seek help, and to reduce stigmas surrounding mental health issues.
The exhibit, mostly found in the Capitol’s third floor Rotunda, features large portraits of each participant next to the text of a portion of their experience. There is also a video that features 3-5 minutes of each participant.
The project is a collaboration between the Burrell Foundation and artist Randy Bacon. Burrell Foundation Executive Director Gabrielle Martin said it began with 22 volunteers and is now up to 27, talking about, “their very raw, very real experiences with mental health, substance use, sometimes suicide; it kind of runs the gamut.”
The exhibit includes stories like those of Alia, a friend of Martin. She shares not only her own story which began in her youth, but that of supporting her college-age son.
“Her video is really powerful because she actually brought her son with her to it and so you see her sharing all of this really difficult content, and her struggles, and her coping mechanisms through it, with him, and he’s right there with her,” said Martin. “We have some very great youths in there as well. Lincoln and Eli, two boys that share their experience with anxiety, and I believe that one of them does have autism, and we have a young lady, Kate, who shares about her struggle with eating disorders and she is on the recovery side of that … and her video is so powerful.”
The Art of Being Me came to the Capitol after several legislators and other elected officials saw it last year at Bacon’s studio in Springfield. After seeing it, some of them requested that it come to the Capitol.
That included Representative John Black (R-Marshfield), who chairs the House’s budget subcommittee on Health, Mental Health, and Social Services. He called the exhibit, “powerful.”
Another of those legislators is Representative Betsy Fogle (D-Springfield), who said a large part of addressing mental health issues in state policy is removing stigmas surrounding them, and she hopes having that display in the Capitol will help do just that.
Those featured in The Art of Being Me are at varying points in their own mental health journeys, but Martin said the fact that they were willing to share their own stories is empowering for them as well.
House bills would help Missourians with vehicle taxation, stem temp tag ‘abuse’
The House passed two bills this week that will help Missourians regarding the taxes they pay on vehicles. One would address a years-old issue regarding temporary license tags. The other would stem the hiking of property taxes on vehicles that are getting older with increasing mileage.
House Bill 415 could at last cut off the displaying by drivers of expired temporary tags – something that has been an issue in Missouri for years. It would require dealerships to collect sales tax at the time of a vehicle purchase, either as a lump sum or by rolling the tax into the financed amount. House Bill 713 would lay out how vehicles’ assessed valuations would be determined, replacing a system that has allowed property tax increases in the last two years.
St. Louis Republican Michael O’Donnell carries HB 415, which he says is the latest step in addressing the temporary tag issue. Under previous action by the General Assembly a new computer system is coming to the Department of Revenue that will allow the collection of sales tax by dealers. This bill would allow for its use beginning in January.
He said the bill could also make car and truck purchases easier for Missourians by addressing what can now be a significant up-front cost.
Bipartisan backing gave the bill a 155-1 vote on its way to the Senate. Democrats including Peter Merideth (St. Louis) said it would be a fix that is “important,” and “overdue.”
“I actually hear more from constituents about this than many other things, strangely – about the expired tags, and frequently have to have the conversation with them that the main problem in Missouri is that we aren’t requiring dealers to collect the sales tax at the time of sale,” said Merideth. “So folks, either intentionally or not intentionally find themselves not getting their taxes paid and their licenses ready.”
O’Donnell said the passage of this legislation could eliminate “90%” of “temp tag abuse” in Missouri, and noted that 47 other states already allow dealers to collect tax at the time of the sale.
The sponsor of HB 713, Rodger Reedy (R-Windsor) explained that each year Missouri assessors use the October edition of the National Automobile Dealers’ Association (NADA) Used Car Guide to determine the values of the vehicles on which Missourians pay property taxes. HB 713 would replace that with a system that begins with the original suggested retail price (MSRP) of each vehicle from when it was new, and apply a depreciation schedule for each year of its age up to 15 years. After that its value would be assessed at one-tenth of one percent.
Reedy said the old system’s flaws were made obvious in the wake of the COVID pandemic.
“In 2021 and ’22, due to used care values going up, our constituents and citizens had higher tax assessments and therefore paid higher taxes,” said Reedy. “When those values went up, there’s no provision for rollbacks on personal property, and when that happened our taxpayers just got a taxing increase and I’ve talked to several members [who have said] that that’s been a really big issue as they’ve talked to their constituents.”
That measure advanced to the Senate on the strength of a 150-0 vote.
VIDEO: Republican and Democrat media conferences 03/02/2023
After the close of House business for the week, leadership from each caucus spoke and fielded media questions:
Bills would have MODOT, not families, cover cost for highway memorial signs
The families of fallen veterans, police officers, and firefighters, and of those missing in action, would no longer have to foot the bill for highway or bridge memorial signs honoring those loved ones under a bill approved by a House committee.
Legislation sponsored by Representatives Tricia Byrnes (R-Wentzville) and Don Mayhew (R-Crocker) would require the Department of Transportation to cover those costs.
“Keep in mind, folks, these are the folks who gave all to represent our country … if we’re going to have honorary signs, the very least that we can do is pay for it,” said Mayhew when presenting the legislation to the House Committee on Transportation Accountability, which he chairs.
Byrnes joined Mayhew in proposing this change in response to the effort to honor Marine Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz, a Wentzville native, who was one of 13 U.S. military members who died in a 2021 bombing at an airport in Kabul, in Afghanistan. She learned that when Corporal Schmitz’s family wanted to have a section of highway named for him they received an invoice from the Department of Transportation for more than $3,000.
Schmitz said he talked to the families of the other 12 personnel who died at the same time as his son. None of them had to pay the cost of having a memorial sign placed in honor of their loved on, on a highway in their respective states.
The Department of Transportation did not oppose the legislation but offered information on how the system currently operates. Chief Safety and Operations Manager Becky Allmeroth said the Department has to consider other signage.
Allmeroth told legislators, “We have 830 memorial designations across the state highway system. The number is expected, with this bill, to increase exponentially if the current participation fee is removed.”
Most committee members voiced support for making the change in policy.
“Personally I don’t care about the costs. I just think we need to do this. I don’t think the family should pay,” said Republican Bob Bromley (Carl Junction). “If we’re making the Slim Pickens Highway or Mark Twain Highway at Hannibal I understand having a fee. If we’re doing it for fallen soldiers I think [having a fee is] ridiculous.”
The committee voted unanimously in favor of the bills, House Bill 882 (Byrnes) and 518 (Mayhew), advancing them to another committee for consideration.