Missouri House sends prescription drug monitoring proposal to the Senate

The Missouri House has voted to create a statewide monitoring program for drug prescriptions.  Backers hope such a law would combat the abuse of prescription drugs and help prevent conflicts between medications.  Opponents say it would violate Missourians’ constitutional right to privacy.

Sikeston Republican Holly Rehder, who has pushed for a prescription drug monitoring program for years in response to her own family’s struggles with prescription drug abuse, hopes this is the year PDMP legislation is finally sent to the governor. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

House Bill 188 would create an online database that physicians and pharmacists could use to track pill purchases and pharmacy visits.  Missouri is the only state in the U.S. without such a system, statewide.  A program launched in the St. Louis region several years ago now covers 67 of the state’s 114 counties, encompassing about 87-percent of its population.

The bill cleared the House 103-53.  Republicans who opposed it were very vocal about fears that the program would create a government database that would jeopardize Missourians’ medical information.

Backers say no other PDMP database has ever been successfully hacked and say this would fall under Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act privacy protections.  Blue Springs Republican Dan Stacy remained critical, and said that to say databases won’t get hacked is, “probably somewhat naïve.”

“The bigger the database, the bigger the target, and when we, as a body decide to put all of the State of Missouri – all of these records into one database – that is helping create a large target, and that is a place in which we can get a lot of data hacked because it’s a target,” said Stacy.

Eureka Republican Dottie Bailey said she remembered being a concealed carry permit holder when, under the administration of Governor Jay Nixon, information about those permit holders was shared with the Department of Homeland Security.

“Nothing has happened to that administration since that occurred other than my name is with the federal government as a firearms owner, or permitted, so right now, not a big deal, right?  But what happens when another administration gets in that wants to weaponize those databases?  And this is where I worry, this is where my constituents worry,” said Bailey.  “This bill is very difficult because yes, something needs to be done, but an overwhelming, sweeping government program has never, ever done what we think it’s going to do and then we usually end up regretting it.”

Proponents said concerns over privacy were being overblown, and paled in comparison to the bill’s goal of saving lives by fighting prescription drug abuse.

“Hacking is a real concern, I know, for all of us,” said Representative Sheila Solon (R-St. Joseph), “however we can’t let that worry consume us or we would never use a credit card to go to a restaurant or to go shopping or go to the gas station.  We’d never use a credit card or do any shopping online.”

Other lawmakers expressed frustration that all attempts to amend the bill were rejected.  Among those amendments were proposals to require physicians and pharmacists to participate in the database – the bill would make that optional – and to create penalties for failure to participate.

Representatives Justin Hill, Jack Bondon, and Jason Chipman were among those Republicans who opposed HB 188 to create a PDMP. Chipman offered an amendment to require all physicians and pharmacists in the state to participate in the program the bill would create, but it and all amendments to HB 188 were rejected. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

“No penalties; no requirement to participate; no protection for chronic pain patients, and that is unfathomable.  I just don’t get it, why we are punishing those who actually need the help,” said Ash Grove Republican Mike Moon.

Bill sponsor Holly Rehder (R-Sikeston) responded to those critics, saying, “I disagree with those who said that we didn’t do our job because this bill hasn’t been amended.  Mr. Speaker this bill has been massaged for years on this floor.  We started this year with where we had left off with the things we had agreed with.  The ones who wanted to amend it wanted to kill it.”

Rehder, who has proposed PDMP legislation for several consecutive sessions, told opponents that one way or another Missouri will have a monitoring program.

“Over half of our counties have passed this locally.  The current program will be statewide at some point and that program does not have legislative oversight; it doesn’t have a purge; it doesn’t protect our ability to purchase or have ownership of guns.  Do you need to pick which program you want?” said Rehder.

HB 188 now goes to the Senate, where past years’ versions have run into opposition and stalled out.  While the senator who led that opposition is no longer in that chamber due to term limits, last week the Senate version of Rehder’s bill stalled in a tie committee vote.

Rehder and other backers note that all members of that committee were present for the vote, and she believes that outcome isn’t representative of the chances of passing a PDMP bill this year.

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.

Representative and daughter push for celiac disease awareness

Celiac disease is an immune disease that leaves a person unable to eat wheat, rye, or barley.  A person with celiac can go through a broad variety of uncomfortable symptoms, but a lack of awareness about the disease can cause it to go undiagnosed for years.

Grace Tate and her father, Representative Nate Tate, presented House Bill 72 to the House Committee on Tourism on January 31, 2019. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

That’s the thought behind House Bill 72 offered by St. Clair Republican Nate Tate.  Tate’s daughter, Grace, suffers from celiac disease, often referred to as “gluten intolerance,” and she actually suggested the proposal.

“My intent for this bill would be to help raise awareness for everyone including doctors, because it seems like it takes doctors a long time to say, ‘You know what, it might be celiac disease,’” Tate told the House Committee on Tourism.

HB 72 would designate the second Wednesday in May as “Celiac Awareness Day” in Missouri.  That would fall during national Celiac Awareness Month.

Tate told the committee it took more than five years for Grace to be diagnosed, during which time she endured the symptoms of celiac while going through a series of treatments and tests that did nothing to ease them.

“The last four, five, six visits before he decided to do the blood test, he was like, ‘Well it might be celiac but let’s try this.’  The next visit, ‘Well it might be celiac but let’s try this first,’ and that happened five, six, seven times,” said Tate.  “A simple blood test – whenever she was already getting blood tests done for other types of things – would have detected it.”

There is no treatment or cure for celiac disease.  The only thing Grace and other sufferers can do is closely watch what they eat and avoid even the smallest amounts of gluten.

“It is stressful,” Grace told the committee.  “If I have gluten – even just the littlest thing – I will be in so much pain for hours and hours.  It used to be a lot more stressful because there was almost no gluten free food that we could find back when I was young, 5 and 6, but now there’s a lot more restaurants you can eat at and a lot more gluten free foods that you can find.”

Like her father, Grace hopes that passing HB 72 would make more people – particularly doctors – aware of celiac and shorten the time it takes for a person to be tested for it.

She told the committee, “Please support this bill so I can help keep others from going through the pain I had to endure.”

The committee has voted 8-0 to advance the legislation.

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.

 

Family of MoDOT worker killed in work zone asks lawmakers to toughen license revocation law

More than two-and-a-half years after Lyndon Ebker was struck and killed while working on a MoDOT Road Crew, the man that struck him was still driving.  Ebker’s family, the Department of Transportation, and Representative Aaron Griesheimer (R-Washington) say that’s not right, and they’re asking the legislature to change state law because of it.

MoDOT employee Lyndon Ebker of New Haven was killed in an April 2016 accident in a work zone outside his hometown. His death prompted the filing of House Bill 499. (photo courtesy of the Ebker family)

“When I say we lost a good man, I mean we lost a good man,” Ebker’s daughter, Nicole Herbel, told the House Transportation Committee.  “A man who cared for others and always put others in front of himself.  If you would’ve been able to ask him why he would’ve told you just what he told me:  ‘I do what needs to be done,’ Let’s do what needs to be done and fix this process together.”

The man who struck Ebker was later revealed to have macular degeneration.  Even so, neither his physician, family, nor law enforcement investigating the crash reported him as an unsafe driver, to require that he take driver testing.

The committee is considering House Bill 499, which would allow a driver’s license to be revoked if that driver hits a highway worker or an emergency responder while in a properly marked work or emergency zone.  The license would be revoked upon notification by law enforcement to the Department of Revenue.

“The purpose of this bill is to, obviously, protect our highway workers,” said Griesheimer, the bill’s sponsor.  “We have a need out there.”

Backers say the bill would make sure whether drivers who have been involved in work zone accidents are competent to be on the roads.  A driver whose license has been revoked could seek reinstatement by taking and passing the written and driving parts of the driver’s license exam, or petitioning for a court hearing.

Since 2000, work zone incidents have claimed the lives of 13 employees of Director Patrick McKenna’s Department of Transportation.  He told the committee, “Justice was not operating quickly,” in the case that left Ebker dead.

Lyndon Ebker’s daughter, Nicole Herdell, recounted for lawmakers the work zone incident that killed her father in 2016 and asked them to pass House Bill 499. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

“This is a substantial problem for us.  In these cases – we are talking about at-fault crashes, not accidents.  That is a distinction, and that is a distinction that there is due process to determine.  We’re not looking to remove anybody’s rights.  We’re simply trying to be able to operate and maintain the system with safety,” said McKenna.

State Maintenance Engineer Becky Almeroth told the committee other workers in the region where Ebker was killed felt unsafe after the accident because the driver who hit him was still on the road.

“For the last 2.5 years those coworkers in this very tight-knit community had to live with the fact that they would get texts on an almost weekly basis, several times a week, letting them know that this driver was out driving at the time.  So their minds at the time, they’re not going to put a work zone in that area because they know the routes that he usually takes.  There are many times that these workers saw him in the convenience store, saw him in the grocery store, and they know this is somebody that could potentially put others in harm’s way,” said Almeroth.

Griesheimer said he is considering amending the bill to say that drivers could also have their licenses revoked for hitting utility workers in work zones.  One lawmaker suggested extending the language to cover hitting anyone in a work zone.

The committee has not yet voted on his bill.

House Committee advances prescription drug monitoring proposal

The Missouri House is again being asked to consider creating a statewide prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP), with the aim of battling the abuse of opioids and other prescription medication.

Representative Holly Rehder presents to a committee House Bill 188, which would create a statewide prescription drug monitoring program in Missouri. Behind her, Senator Tony Leutkemeyer (R-Parkville) listens to the discussion. Luetkemeyer is sponsoring identical legislation in the Senate. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

House Bill 188 is sponsored by Sikeston Republican Holly Rehder, who has proposed a statewide PDMP for several years.  Such legislation has passed out of the House several times but was held up in the Senate.

Rehder has been a strong proponent of PDMPs largely because of her family’s experience with opioid and drug abuse.  One of her step-fathers was a drug dealer.  Her daughter, Raychel, became addicted to pain relievers after an emergency room visit when she was 17.  She went on to abuse other substances including methamphetamine before becoming drug-free more than 5-years ago.  Rehder says other members of her family have also struggled with abuse issues.

“I know this issue inside and out, as a parent, as a kid who grew up in it, and it doesn’t matter what your background is, it doesn’t matter how you grow up or how you raise your children.  It’s not a moral failing.  Addiction is a disease,” Rehder told the House Committee on Insurance Policy.

Missouri is the only state in the nation without a PDMP.  Such programs collect and monitor drug prescription and dispensing data to look for, among other things, “doctor shopping;” the visiting of multiple doctors in an attempt to obtain drugs that are commonly abused.

Rehder and other supporters say they don’t view PDMPs as a “silver bullet,” that will end the abuse of opioids and other prescription drugs, but as a tool that will help fight such abuse.

“A PDMP allows providers to see concerning trends in their patients’ narcotic history.  That physician can intervene with options for that patient:  alternative care treatment, medication-assisted treatment – we have many options available now with excellent outcomes, but we need our medical professionals seeing their patients’ history before they get too far down the road,” said Rehder.

Opponents of PDMPs argue that they violate citizens’ rights by collecting personal data and putting it into a government database that, they say, could then be jeopardized by hacking or other breaches.

Doctor John Lilly of Springfield told lawmakers they should put privacy concerns above all others in considering PDMP legislation.

“Your job is not to make my job easier.  Your job is to protect the liberty of the citizens of this state,” said Dr. Lilly.  “I am a U.S. citizen first and a doctor second.  I care about the liberty of these citizens of Missouri.”

Lilly and others speaking against HB 188 argued that data show PDMPs in other states have not been effective in fighting opioid abuse.

Monroe County Commissioner Ron Staggs asked the committee, “After you see the data from 49 states and a death rate that continues to climb why would you want to enact the same thing?”

Proponents say a PDMP wouldn’t just address drug abuse in Missouri.  It could also help pharmacists spot cases in which patients might be prescribed unsafe combinations of medications.

Anne Eisenbeis works at a pharmacy in Moberly.  She told the committee of one such instance that she caught by chance, that a PDMP would have ensured was flagged.

“I had a patient and a friend – a young man – bring in two prescriptions from two different doctors for two almost identical narcotics … had he not brought both physical prescriptions into my store, because in Moberly we don’t have access to the PDMP … he would’ve easily overdosed.  There would’ve been an interaction with these two medications,” said Eisenbeis.  “With a PDMP this would help me prevent this kind of medication error accident.  I would’ve been able to see that he was given another prescription had he gone to another pharmacy.”

In previous years one of the proponents of a PDMP in the Senate has been Senator Dave Schatz (R-Sullivan), who is now the President Pro-Tem of the Senate.  Rehder said she and Schatz worked in past years on compromises that have been worked into HB 188, and having him in Senate leadership bolsters the chance PDMP will become law this year.

The committee voted 13-3 to pass HB 188.  It goes next to another House committee, which could vote on whether to send it to the full chamber for consideration.

Bills would let victims of domestic or sexual violence or stalking get out of leases

When a person is trying to get out of a domestic violence situation one of their needs is a place to live, sometimes for children as well as their self.  If that person is under a lease agreement, property owners are under no legal obligation to release that person.  This could have lasting repercussions both financially and in finding another place to live.

Representative Jean Evans (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

House Bills 243, 544, and 683 Sponsored by Representatives Jim Neely (R-Cameron), Jean Evans (R-Manchester), and Raychel Proudie (D-Ferguson), are aimed at helping such individuals.

“This legislation would go a long way to help victims get a safe place to live,” said Heather Silverman with the National Council of Jewish Women – St. Louis.

Those bills would prevent anyone at risk of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking from being evicted, being denied tenancy, or violating a lease agreement as a result of that risk.  A person who was a victim or in imminent danger of being victimized would be able to use that as a defense if a landlord takes them to court.  The bills would establish what evidence a landlord must accept as proof of such situations.

Kate Heinen with the Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault told the House Committee on Children and Families, “In 2014 … 23,000 women and children were denied shelter [in Missouri] because the shelters were full, and shelters are often full because people arrive in one and then realize that there’s going to be a much longer trajectory before they can access safe housing because of their disrupted rental history, because there’s no laws to protect them.

Representative Raychel Proudie (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

“Allowing someone to be resolved of their lease agreement when they show some supporting documentation from a local program agency – an order of protection, a court record, anything that’s listed in the bill – is profound.  It’s huge.  It’s going to save lives,” said Heinen.

Heinen said individuals attempting to escape domestic violence often find it difficult to find a new place to live after facing problems getting out of a former residence.

“Either an eviction judgement on their record as a result of experiencing violence and being seen as a troubled tenant, or their rental history looks spotty because they’re seen as a troubled tenant as a result of experiencing violence, and then it makes it impossible for them to rent in their city or other places in their state,” said Heinen.

Representative Proudie’s legislative assistant, Holly Bickmeyer, told the committee she was 14 when she lost her mother due to domestic violence.  She thinks legislation like these bills could have made a difference in her life.

Representative Jim Neely (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

“I feel like if something like this had been in place to where we would have been able to leave, it’s entirely possible that I would still have my mother today,” said Bickmeyer.  “Speaking as someone who has lived through that, I can tell you how much of a help something like this would have been.”

The committee held hearings on HBs 243 and 544 on Tuesday morning.  There was no opposition voiced.  Daryl Dewe, a registered lobbyist for the St. Louis Apartment Association, joined those testifying in support.

“Our landlords, most of all, we want our tenants to be safe and secure,” said Dewe.  “If that means, in a situation like this, helping them to a safe space more easily, then it’s the right thing to do.”

The bills would allow landlords to impose a termination fee when a tenant or lessee wants to terminate a lease early.

The committee has not yet voted on HBs 243 and 544.

5 years after Hailey Owens was murdered, Representative hopes to pass bill in her name

February 18 will mark the five-year anniversary of a tragedy that shook Springfield, the State of Missouri, and the nation.  State lawmakers are hoping this will be the year the legislature passes a bill meant to honor the little girl killed that day in 2014.

“Hailey’s Law” is named for 10 year old Hailey Owens.

House Bill 185 is commonly known as “Hailey’s Law,” named for Hailey Owens.  Owens was 10 years old when she was kidnapped while walking home from a friend’s house.  She was murdered and her body was found early the next morning.

“It was incredibly traumatizing,” said State Representative Curtis Trent (R-Springfield), the House sponsor of Hailey’s Law.  “As I remember the event everybody was talking about it.  Wherever you went people were commenting on it.  A lot of people, especially people with young families, were concerned that this sort of thing could happen.  I think there was a lot of concern and outrage over the length of time it took to issue the Amber Alert.  People were questioning the efficiency of that system, and so there was just a lot of uncertainty, a lot of confusion, and a lot of anger that such a thing had happened despite all the safeguards that had been attempted to be put in place to prevent it.”

Soon after the arrest of her killer, state officials and lawmakers turned their attention to the Amber Alert System.  Though witnesses saw Owens being abducted, more than two hours passed before an Amber Alert was issued to let authorities and the public statewide know to look for her, and what her kidnapper and his vehicle looked like.

Legislators then and now said that faster issuance of an Amber Alert is unlikely to have changed the outcome in Owens’ case – she is believed to have been killed too soon after her abduction – but Trent said the case highlighted a need to expedite the issuance of Alerts.

“What we are saying is that we have these safeguards in place, we have these systems in place to try to save lives.  They should operate as effectively as possible,” said Trent.

HB 185 would require the Amber Alert System to be tied into the Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System (MULES), the computer system that allows all law enforcement in Missouri to communicate.  That means once an officer enters information about a missing child into MULES, it would at the same time be available to the Amber Alert system.

Law enforcement in Missouri has already instituted this change.  Trent said the purpose of passing Hailey’s Law now is twofold:  to make sure those changes remain in effect by requiring them in law, and to honor Owens by naming that law after her.

“We want to prevent any future tragedy like this from occurring, and also we call the bill ‘Hailey’s Law’ because want to create a legacy and memorial for the girl that lost her life,” said Trent.

Representative Curtis Trent (left) and Jim Wood of Springfield testify to a House Committee about Hailey’s Law. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Jim Wood is the father of the man sentenced to death for killing Hailey Owens.  He told the House Committee on Crime Prevention and Public Safety that it was his truck his son was driving on the day of the crime, but law enforcement didn’t contact him until about five hours after the abduction.  At the time of the abduction he was at a restaurant about 2-minutes away from his son’s house, which is where Owens was murdered.

“I feel if I could’ve been informed, possibly I could have interceded.  It was walking distance to his house where I was, so expediting this situation is obvious to me,” said Wood.

HB 185 would also require the state’s Amber Alert System Oversight Committee to meet at least once a year to discuss ways to improve the system.  Currently there is no requirement for that committee to meet.

Trent said having that committee meet regularly to evaluate the system means there will be an ongoing effort toward getting alerts out more quickly.

“The speed is really what matters in these cases.  The faster the Amber Alert can be issued, the faster we can find the child, the lower the chance of having a tragic outcome,” said Trent.

The House and the Senate have in previous years passed the language of HB 185, just not in the same bill, so it’s never become law.

The language of HB 185 was first offered by then-representative Eric Burlison of Springfield, who this year became a state senator.  Burlison is now carrying his bill in the Senate.  Before Burlison was elected to the Senate the language was carried in that chamber by Senator Caleb Rowden (R-Columbia), who is now the Senate’s majority floor leader.  Trent believes having the support of those two lawmakers only increases the chance that Hailey’s Law will at last reach the governor.

The Committee on Crime Prevention and Public Safety will vote soon on HB 185.

House Committee advances bill to protect trafficking victims from prosecution

A bill meant to make it easier for sex trafficking victims to avoid being prosecuted for prostitution is advancing through the Missouri House.

Representative Mary Elizabeth Coleman presents House Bill 397, the first bill of her legislative career, to the House Committee on General Laws. (photo; Mike Lear, Missouri House Communications)

Missouri law makes it an affirmative defense for a minor charged with prostitution to have been acting under coercion at the time of the crime.  Under House Bill 397 it would be an affirmative defense that the defendant was under the age of 18.  It would also allow a person guilty of prostitution while a minor to apply to the courts to have records of that crime expunged.

“Right now not all of our laws treat victims as victims,” Jessica Seitz with Missouri Kids First told the House Committee on General Laws.  “This, right now, is essentially a loophole where a young person can be charged with prostitution when they’re a victim of trafficking, and this can be even more traumatic.  Arrest and prosecution can further traumatize a victim which prevents victims from seeking assistance.”

The bill is sponsored by freshman state lawmaker Mary Elizabeth Coleman (R-Arnold).

“This is a common sense provision in the first part of the bill that says if you can’t consent to a tattoo or to have your ears pierced, that you cannot consent to prostitution,” said Coleman.

Coleman told the committee it can be difficult for minors to prove coercion because trafficking victims have often been forced to abuse drugs.

“By the time that she’s arrested it’s difficult to untangle and prove force or coercion because at that point she may be paying off fines and paying off her drug use,” said Coleman.

The bill would also add some offenses related to child abuse and sex trafficking to the state law’s definition of “pattern of criminal gang activity.”  Advocates say the frequency of trafficking operations being conducted by gangs has increased in recent years.

Office of Child Advocate Director Kelly Schultz spoke in support of that provision.  She told the committee about the handling of a case when a child in the state’s foster system was found to have been trafficked.

“Somebody actively recruited that child, somebody advertised that child, somebody got them a hotel room, and somebody enforced payment.  Johns weren’t just willingly throwing money at young kids to have sex.  Somebody was enforcing the payment as well.  It was very much an organized crime,” said Schultz.

Schultz stressed to lawmakers that in a 2013 nationwide raid by the FBI, about 60-percent of the children recovered were involved in the child welfare system and many had open foster care cases.

“I always tell the public these children are our responsibility, but when I’m talking to you guys I am being very literal.  These children – 60-percent of them – are literally our responsibility,” said Schultz.

The committee voted unanimously to advance the bill.  It is scheduled to be considered Monday by another committee, and then it could go before the full House for debate.

House staff efforts to respond to ‘Clean Missouri’ sunshine provisions continue

Sixty-two percent of Missouri voters in November approved Constitutional Amendment 1, better known as “Clean Missouri.”  The Amendment included language that would extend the application of the state’s open records law to the state’s lawmakers.

Chief Clerk of the Missouri House Dana Rademan Miller  (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Since its passage, Missouri House staff has been examining what it will mean for state representatives as well as the citizens they serve.

Otherwise known as the “Sunshine Law,” the open records law dating back to 1973 allows members of the public to request records from any public governmental body.  The House and the Senate had been exempt prior to Clean Missouri taking effect on December 6.

The chief clerk of the House, Dana Rademan Miller, said while the House’s administration has always responded to Sunshine requests, this will be new for some individual members.

“Our members … want to do what’s right and they want to comply with the law, but there’s a learning curve because a long-standing position was held that the members’ records were closed,” said Miller.

Miller said the House began working on updated policies to educate members shortly after Amendment 1 passed, and that work continues.

The House has provided members and their staffs with a memo outlining the provisions of Amendment 1 and materials from the Attorney General’s Office on Sunshine Law compliance, briefed incoming freshman lawmakers, and held additional meetings on managing Sunshine requests.

“We’ll be bringing in the Attorney General’s Office … They’ve got a Sunshine Unit.  They can help provide some training to the members … they’re experts on the Sunshine Law,” said Miller.  “[We’re also] talking to the Secretary of State’s Office and the State Archivist, and the Director of the Records Commission, getting their insight and advice.  They’re very willing to help members as they draft their retention policies.”

One particular area members are being educated on is what should be released in response to a request, and what should not be.

Miller said the Sunshine Law outlines more than 20 exemptions to what information should be released.

“We are making sure that the members are understanding what those exemptions are and that they are redacting information that should be redacted – for instance, personally identifiable information; social security numbers, that sort of information – but also on the other side, not redacting information that’s not protected,” said Miller.

Miller said that there are parts of the Sunshine Law that could benefit from clarification, and that interpretation of some provisions varies.  She said the language regarding exemptions is one such case.

“I think that there’s [an] understanding that we probably need to look at clarifying some of those provisions, not just for our lawmakers but also for all public governmental entities so that we can all be on the same page and everybody understands what should be provided,” said Miller.

Members of the Missouri House were sworn in on January 9, 2019, for the beginning of the 2019 legislative session.  (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The way the new constitutional provision is worded makes clear that each representative will be the custodian of records for his or her office.

“That makes sense to some extent because each member, they maintain their own records and they maintain their own e-mail account … so I understand that, but at the same time it makes it difficult for enforcement of any blanket policy on what a Sunshine policy [must] look like and maybe what a retention policy should look like – we could potentially have 163 policies and they may all be different,” said Miller.

Miller hopes the inclusion of individual lawmakers in the requirements of the Sunshine Law doesn’t discourage constituents from reaching out to those lawmakers to seek help.  She did say that members of the public should consider leaving personally identifiable information out of initial correspondence.

“We don’t want there to be a chilling effect on the ability for constituents to talk to their members,” said Miller.  “We also might want to be mindful that those records are [presumed to be] open and we need to be able to educate the constituents as well that some of the information they provide might be subject to scrutiny by another party if the documents are ‘sunshined.’”

Miller stresses that in her discussions with representatives, they haven’t been looking for ways to skirt open records requirements placed on their offices.

“I really think that in the end the records component of Clean Missouri is not a bad thing.  …  We have a duty to be transparent and responsive and I think that’s what this is going to do,” said Miller.

Of course, other portions of Amendment 1 have been the subject of discussions with lawmakers, including the prohibition against campaigning while in the Capitol and on other state property; and a $5 limit on gifts to legislators.  Miller said the respective caucuses have also been discussing the implementation of the new provisions and that the work to implement the changes will continue.