Missouri legislature takes steps toward addressing ‘rape kit’ backlog

The Missouri Legislature this session passed three provisions aimed at addressing the thousands of untested rape kits in the state.

The Missouri legislature passed some measures that would address how forensic examination kits, or “rape kits,” are handled in Missouri. Advocates say the changes will likely result in more prosecutions and cases being closed, and better resolutions for victims. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Those kits include DNA samples and other evidence collected in medical examinations conducted after sex crimes.  The Attorney General’s Office has learned of more than 5,000 forensic evidence kits that have gone untested in Missouri.  The exact number remains unclear as not all agencies in the state responded to that office’s inquiries.

Public Policy Director with the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, Jennifer Carter Dochler, said for a kit to be sitting on a shelf when a victim wants it to be tested is, “incredibly traumatizing.”

“When they have come forward and told their story and wanted to participate in the process it really is disheartening,” said Carter Dochler.

The Attorney General’s report suggested among other things that the state secure funding for testing kits; create a statewide tracking system for kits; and create standards for the handling of kits.  Those recommendations were addressed by the legislature in its session that ended in May.

House Bill 1355 includes language that requires the Attorney General’s Office to create a statewide tracking system for forensic evidence from sexual assaults.

That provision was originally sponsored by Representative Donna Lichtenegger (R-Cape Girardeau), who hopes it will send a message to victims in Missouri.

“I think that they’ll know now that we’re really serious in trying to find the person who violated them,” said Lichtenegger.

The budget approved by the legislature also gives the Attorney General’s Office authority to apply for a federal grant to fund a statewide tracking system.  The office should learn in September whether it will receive that grant money.

HB 1355 also requires that hospitals and other medical providers should notify law enforcement when they have a forensic evidence kit; that law enforcement shall take possession of a kit within 14 days of that notification; law enforcement shall take it to a laboratory for testing within 14 days of taking possession of it; and that law enforcement will hold on to a kit for 30 years if the related crime has not been prosecuted.

Carter Dochler says this will bring statewide continuity to how evidence kits are treated.

“We have so many inconsistent practices in the state:  inconsistent practices regarding how soon law enforcement picks up the kit; whether or not the kits are submitted for analysis; definitions we’re using,” said Carter Dochler.  “This should help create much more consistent terminology and practices across the state.”

Carter Dochler said it is hoped that with these provisions becoming law, more sex crimes in Missouri will be prosecuted.

“Especially when we’re talking about serial offenders and being able to show a pattern, having multiple kits and the same DNA among those kits is going to be a very important tool for prosecution,” said Carter Dochler.

She said some issues that still must be addressed concern how a kit will be handled when the victims in the associated case has not made a decision whether to report the crime to law enforcement.  She said many of these “unreported” kits remain in hospitals.

“What we’d like to see is consistent practice across the state regarding unreported kits,” said Carter Dochler.  “There should be a centralized place to store unreported kits across the state.  We should also have a consistent practice of how long are they kept before they’re destroyed.”

She said some of those issues could be addressed in departmental rules and regulations, and might not require future legislative action.  HB 1355 does define “reported” and “unreported” kits, and she said those definitions are a first step toward consistency.

Even with such areas still requiring attention, Carter Dochler said from the Coalition’s point of view, the 2018 legislative session saw the passage of many important laws.

“This was an incredibly successful legislative session for us.  We are incredibly proud and very hopeful for the changes it’s going to make in survivors’ life and experience,” said Carter Dochler.

Extensive Foster Care reforms passed in 2018 session set to become effective

The Missouri legislature this year passed a number of provisions aimed at making life better for children in the state’s foster care system.  Legislation that has become law would help children get an education, proper medical care, and ease their transition out of state care.

Representative Jim Neely carried Senate Bill 819 in the House and chaired a committee tasked with examining issues related to foster care. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

House Speaker Todd Richardson (R-Poplar Bluff) in January created the Special Committee to Improve the Care and Well-Being of Young People, to focus on foster care issues.  That committee and its chairman, Representative Jim Neely (R-Cameron), handled many of these provisions and oversaw combining several of them into one bill, House Committee Bill 11.  Many of them later became part of Senate Bill 819 which was passed and has been signed into law.  The provisions in that bill become effective August 28.

The Director of Missouri’s Office of Child Advocate, Kelly Schultz, has been a foster parent to 17 children over the years.  She said both as a foster parent and as the director, this year has been “huge,” for professionals, families, and most importantly children in foster care.

“Just to recognize what the professionals in foster care and what the foster families go through, and that really talking about it and just going through and looking at just everyday decisions that we make – as the legislative body, as the executive branch and policy – what those decisions are and how they impact the children in care,” said Schultz.

She said this year the legislature took steps toward doing the most important thing changes can do for children in Missouri:  to “normalize” their lives relative to those of their peers.

“Normalizing mistakes, normalizing learning, because that’s honestly what the teen years are about a lot of times, is testing boundaries, learning from that, moving forward, taking chances and risks,” said Schultz.

Schultz described some of the changes the legislature approved this year as “low-hanging fruit;” issues that were easily fixed that could have a major impact on the lives of children and those who work with them.

One example is a provision that allows children in state care to get bank accounts in their own name after they turn 16.  That measure was originally found in a bill handled by Representative Don Phillips (R-Kimberling City).

“I think it really gives the foster children some freedom, it gives them some independence, some responsibility, and they don’t have to have a co-signer or anything like that where most would have to have, and I just think it’s a wonderful opportunity for them,” said Phillips.

House Speaker Todd Richardson in January created the Special Committee to Improve the Care and Well-Being of Young People, which spent much of the 2018 session examining foster care issues. Much of its work became law in SB 819. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Schultz said as a foster parent, that provision doesn’t just help children.  She was once “on the hook,” when a child whose account she was a co-signer on overdrew that account.

Another provision will allow fees for birth, death, or marriage certificates to be waived if those documents are requested by certain state agencies on behalf of a child under juvenile court jurisdiction.

The sponsor of the original legislation dealing with that, Representative Mike Kelley (R-Lamar), said the fees for those documents might be considered nominal to most people, but they can seem insurmountable to children trying to gain their independence.

“It’s hard for most citizens to realize that $10 or $15 to someone who doesn’t have a job and has no way to make income is a huge amount of money and a burden upon those citizens that truly are wards of the state that we should be looking out for and doing what we can to help them be successful,” said Kelley.

Also included in SB 819 are provisions to:

– Allow a child who is homeless or in state care and who has not received all his or her required immunizations to enroll in school, daycare, preschool, or nursery for up to 30 days while he or she begins getting caught up on those immunizations.

– Expand assessment and treatment services for children in foster care.  It would require such services for all children in foster care – currently it is required only for those under the age of ten – and would require that those services be completed in accordance with the American Academy of Pediatrics’ periodicity schedule.  Current law requires screenings of children in state custody every six months.

– Allow minors to contract for admission to a rape crisis center if qualified as specified in the act

SB 819 also creates the “Social Innovation Grant Program.”  It will create a state program to fund pilot projects that seek to address social issues such as families in generational child welfare, opioid-addicted pregnant women, or children with behavioral issues who are in residential treatment.  Projects receiving grants should have the potential of being replicated to get the most out of state funds and address such concerns.

Earlier stories:

House prepares extensive foster care reform legislation

Bill to extend Medicaid coverage to chiropractor visits becomes law

One of the legislature’s proposals that has become law will see Medicaid pay for a patient to visit a licensed chiropractor up to 20 times in a year.  Backers say by giving Medicaid recipients more options for treating pain, fewer patients will risk becoming addicted to opioids, and the state will save money by getting away from other, more costly treatments.

House Bill 1516 allows licensed chiropractors to be reimbursed for treatment of conditions currently covered under the MO HealthNet program.  Sponsor John Wiemann (R-O’Fallon) said such services are currently covered by most private insurance carriers and Medicaid parts B and C on a limited basis.  He said more than half of the states in the nation allow Medicaid recipients to receive chiropractic services.

“Ultimately the goal of this legislation is to allow Medicaid recipients access to chiropractic health care providers at a lower cost and in many cases with better outcomes, and overall reduction in opioid abuse,” said Wiemann.

Wiemann said under HB 1516 Missouri will save money as MO Healthnet patients would turn less often to opioid prescriptions and to services from emergency rooms, hospitals, and physicians.

He said the bill is part of a shift happening across healthcare to offer patients more options for treating pain or other chronic conditions.

“Medicine’s moving in that direction, where it’s more collaborative in nature.  It used to be very siloed – the doctors only did this, the nurses only did this … but interdisciplinary medicine is really kind of the wave of the future, and with technology and everything else it just makes sense to make sure we look at all of our options,” said Wiemann.

One of the St. Louis-area chiropractors who testified for HB 1516 when it was in a House committee is Doctor Ross Mattox.  He said pain can stem from many different catalysts, and patients must be given more options to manage it.  While the best answer isn’t always chiropractic care, he said those it can help should have the choice to use it.

“For that large number of people that come in and it is a musculoskeletal problem and it does respond to chiropractic care, you just got that person better without sending them down that really complicated pathway of lots of dollars in the form of referrals and advanced imaging, and the potential for addiction with opioids, surgeries, all that stuff,” said Mattox.

Doctor Quinn James also testified for the legislation.  He said some of his patients are seeking chiropractic care after having used medication.

“When they start coming to us they’re able to start to slowly – through their primary [care provider] also – to be able to reduce the amount of medication that they’re taking, so we’re able to get them off of a lot of the opioid medications after we start treating them,” said Quinn.  He said to date he’s only been able to offer that care to fully insured patients because Medicaid wouldn’t cover chiropractic care.

Wiemann said he expects more legislation to be filed in future sessions that would seek Medicaid coverage for other pain treatment options.  Things like acupuncture and massage therapy could also be candidates for coverage, as a reflection of the shift in medicine to a more all-encompassing approach to treat patients’ pain.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that we will see future legislation that will be pushing for other types of therapies that can alleviate pain without the use of narcotics and opiates – therapies that are known and approved, not some untested and unproven therapies,” said Wiemann, who said he might even carry such bills.  “I don’t have any that I’m looking at right now.  I’m certainly open to looking at ones that are proven to save taxpayers money in addition to providing good medical outcomes.”

Wiemann noted that the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, a nonprofit responsible for accrediting hospitals, began this year requiring hospitals seeking its accreditation to develop strategies to decrease opioid use and minimize related risks, and to offer patients at least one non-drug pain treatment option.

The House voted 137-4 to send HB 1516 to the governor’s office.  Governor Mike Parson (R) signed it into law July 5.  Its provisions become effective August 28.

Gas tax increase goes from legislature to voters on November ballot

The legislature is asking voters whether they want to increase Missouri’s gas tax to pay for road and bridge work and to boost support of the Highway Patrol.

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

The House voted 88-60 to complete passage of House Bill 1460.  It would ask voters in November whether to increase the state’s fuel tax by two-and-a-half cents a year for four years – a ten cent total increase by July, 2022.  The current tax is 17-cents per gallon.

If passed, projections are the increase would generate about $421-million when fully implemented.  $128-million would be for local governments for road construction and maintenance.  The remaining $293.3-million would be appropriated by the General Assembly between the Department of Transportation to be used solely for road and bridge work, and the Highway Patrol.

Representative Jean Evans (R-Manchester) sponsored HB 1460, which was amended by the Senate to include the gas tax proposal.

“This is a vote to allow the people of Missouri a vote on how they want to pay for roads and bridges, how they’d like to fund their law enforcement,” said Evans.  “Send this vote to the people.  This is a vote for freedom and for safety.”

Kansas City Democrat Greg Razer said he was glad to see the House considering the ballot issue that would give the state a chance to take on pressing road and bridge work.

“We have these projects all over Missouri.  We need to address it.  This is a fantastic opportunity to allow the people of Missouri to make a decision on the future of our roads and bridges,” said Razer.

Kansas City Republican Kevin Corlew chaired the 21st Century Missouri Transportation System Task Force.  It recommended a gas tax increase to help support transportation funding.  He said whether such an increase will happen should be up to voters.

“Allow our citizens the opportunity on the November ballot to make a choice and to determine whether or not we can go forward with the 21st century Missouri transportation system, or will we be stuck with the transportation system that was built in the 20th century and continues to be funded with 20th century dollars.” said Corlew.

The House vote sent HB 1460 to the Secretary of State, who’s office is preparing it for the November ballot.  Many of the 60 “no” votes were cast by Republicans.

Representative Phil Christofanelli (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

St. Peters representative Phil Christofanelli (R) called the proposal a “massive” and “deceptive” tax increase.

“The voters already had an opportunity to vote on raising taxes for transportation.  They said, ‘no,’ and here we are, coming back today, poll testing different ideas, how can we sell this idea that the voters have already rejected?”  said Christofanelli.  “We’re all going to go back to our districts – many of us in this [Republican] majority – and tell people how conservative we are, we are conservatives.  The voters believe that conservatives are here to shrink the size of government and not to grow the size of government, and that is exactly what we’re doing today.”

Representative Rocky Miller (R-Lake Ozark) said this measure is flawed and he will oppose it even though his district needs road maintenance and improvements.

“My district will come after me like a crazy person for voting against this, but there’s no way in the world I’m voting for this, and if it passes I’m going to work my guts out to kill it at the poll,” said Miller.

HB 1460 was originally a bill that would waive state tax liability on cash prizes awarded to Olympic medalists.  Another provision in the bill would create an “Emergency State Freight Bottleneck Fund,” that would pay for road projects costing $50-million or more that would relieve bottlenecks or delays of 20 minutes or more on Missouri roads.

The bill would also allow alternative fuels to be taxed at a substantially equivalent rate by 2026.

Because it was changed to include the ballot language for the gas tax, the language voters will see on the ballot will also ask them whether the state should waive tax liability for Olympic medal winners and could include language about the Bottleneck Fund as well.

Missouri legislature proposes reform of state’s sex offender registry

A bill that aims to strengthen Missouri’s sex offender registry, and give some sex offenders a better chance at rehabilitation, was one of the bills passed out of the legislature on Friday in the final hours of its regular session.

Representative Kurt Bahr sponsored language to reform Missouri’s sex offender registry. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications – click for larger version)

Language that was part of Senate Bill 655 would have Missouri’s registry mirror the federal system.  It would break that registry into three tiers based on the severity of sex-related offenses.  Individuals guilty of the least serious offenses would go on the first tier and could petition the courts to be removed from the registry ten years after being put on it.  Those on the second tier would be guilty of more serious offenses and could petition for removal after 25 years.  The third tier is for those guilty of the most heinous sex offenses, who must remain on the registry for life.  Those who commit additional sex crimes or other felonies while already on the registry also would not be eligible to be removed.

The House handler of SB 655, St. Charles representative Kurt Bahr (R), said there are so many people on Missouri’s sex offender registry, for all levels of crimes, that it waters down the meaning of the list.

“By shrinking the list a little bit it adds value to the list,” said Bahr.

Bahr said in its current form, the list treats people guilty of crimes like rape and sexual assault the same as it treats those guilty of offenses such as urinating in public.

“The list, as it grows, ceases to be as effective for public safety because if you simply see a name on the list you don’t know if they are a true problem – a possible rapist of somebody who’s molested children – or if they’re somebody who had a non-contact offense that’s still deemed a sex crime,” said Bahr.  “Aside from creating the tiers it also makes the list reflect the level that the offender is as well as what their offense was.”

Bahr said the ability for an offender to come off of the registry can decrease the likelihood that he or she will reoffend.

“There are three major factors for an offender to repeat offend.  Those three factors are lack of housing, lack of jobs, and lack of social interactions.  A person on the list has a hard time finding housing – a lot of apartment complexes don’t want to rent to anybody on the list; finding jobs becomes difficult because again a lot of businesses don’t want to hire anybody on the list; and if you can’t live or work anywhere near friends or family then you become socially ostracized as well, so there is definitely a very significant social cost to somebody on the list that would lend to somebody becoming a repeat offender,” said Bahr.  “Allowing somebody who’s not a violent sex offender to be able to get their life in order and to go get off the list will allow them to become a more productive member of society.”

The proposed registry updates have the support of the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, and the Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.  Bahr said law enforcement was also supportive.

Bahr is glad to see the proposal passed out of the legislature before the end of this year – his last in the House due to term limits.

“It’s an issue that people don’t like to talk about, but still an issue that is important and needs to be dealt with,” said Bahr.

The House voted on Friday, the final day of the regular session, to pass SB 655, 135-3.

The bill’s other provisions include one that would remove the statute of limitations in cases of sex crimes against children, and one that would set the minimum age to get married in Missouri at 16.  Bahr hopes having all those provisions together improves the chance that the bill will be signed into law by Governor Eric Greitens.

Governor Greitens could sign SB 655 into law, veto it, or allow it to become law without taking any action on it.

Earlier stories:  

Missouri House proposes reform of sex offender registry

Missouri House considering reform of state’s sex offender registry

Missouri legislature proposes statewide funding mechanism for 911 services

An issue that has faced lawmakers and the state’s counties for about two decades might finally have been addressed, as the Missouri House on Friday completed passage of a proposed statewide way to pay for 911 services.  This makes the first time such a bill has been approved by the legislature and sent to a governor.

An emotional Representative Jeanie Lauer presents a proposal for statewide funding for 911 that became the first such bill sent to a governor, after nearly two decades that the issue has been debated in Missouri. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications – click for larger version)

The issue consumed much of Representative Jeanie Lauer’s (R-Blue Springs) eight years in the House.  On Friday, as she is about to leave the chamber due to term limits, she got to see her work culminate in the passage of House Bill 1456.

The heart of the issue is that most 911 services in Missouri are paid for by charges on landline phones.  As fewer and fewer people have landlines, the amount of money each county receives to support local 911 has diminished, but efforts to charge the ever increasing number of cell phone users often met with too much resistance to pass.  Missouri has for years been the only state that doesn’t have a statewide 911 funding mechanism.

Lauer said that’s because there are so many players involved in deciding what such a mechanism should and should not include, it took years to come up with something they – and legislators – would all support.

“We have 114 counties and 163 representatives and 30-some senators, and everybody has something different that we’re trying to address and make sure that we can accommodate in the legislation so that everybody can be safe in Missouri,” said Lauer.  “It has been rather complex – a little bit like a Rubik’s Cube putting it together – but it came together and it is so, so exciting to have that done.”

The funding plan in HB 1456, Lauer hopes, will not only allow Missouri to have 911 service statewide – a handful of counties have no service at all – but will also allow counties to have the latest 911 technology.  That would allow emergency responders to do things like locate cell phones when a caller can’t give his or her location, receive texts, and other upgrades and functions that many Missouri counties haven’t been able to afford.

The issue has been an emotional one for Lauer.  In the eight years she’s worked on it she’s heard multiple stories of people who were in need of emergency services and their outcomes were worsened because they were in a part of Missouri where no 911 service exists, or they couldn’t be located because the 911 service hadn’t been upgraded.

“This has never been about a bill … it is about what it does,” said Lauer.  “Of all the things that we’ve done here in the Capitol and that I’ve been personally involved with, this truly has significant impact on the life and wellness of people, and I couldn’t be more gratified.”

Lauer and other lawmakers have seen several 911 funding proposals fail over the years, either for lack of support or by running out of time in the final days of a session.

HB 1456 would allow counties and certain municipalities in Missouri to seek voter approval for a fee of up to $1.00 on any device that can contact 911.  Areas adopting this new funding source would replace their current 911 funding source; they could not keep both.

Representatives Elaine Gannon and Glen Kolkmeyer congratulate Representative Jeanie Lauer upon passage of her 911 funding legislation. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications – click for larger version)

The bill would create a 3-percent charge on the purchase of prepaid phones, to go toward 911 funding.  A portion of that money would go to 911 service in the county the phone was bought in; the rest would go to a statewide fund to support and improve 911.

The bill would also address the need for 911 facilities in many parts of the state to consolidate.  Lauer said in Missouri’s 114 counties there are 185 Public Safety Answering Points, or PSAPs.

Under the bill, where consolidation is needed, voters could not be asked to approve a new funding stream unless a plan for consolidation is developed.  Lauer says some locations are ready to consolidate but need the bill to be passed to make it possible.

Now that legislature has voted to send the bill to Governor Eric Greitens, Lauer is hopeful it will be signed into law.

“He has been supportive at the very beginning.  I have continued to talk to his staff and they have continued to assure support, so I would certainly hope that he would find this important,” said Layer.

Greitens could sign the bill into law, veto it, or allow it to become law without his consent.

Earlier story:  Term-limited House members hopes for, at long last, statewide 911 funding solution’s success

With victim’s family present, House passes bill to require reporting of sexual assaults in nursing homes

Several years ago a woman living in a Missouri nursing home died after being sexually assaulted in that home, and the identity of her attacker will likely never be known.  On Friday the Missouri House completed passage of a bill aimed at keeping that from happening to anyone else.

Maribeth and David Russell of Russellville, Missouri, listen as the House passes legislation Maribeth advocated for, for five years, after her mother-in-law was victimized at a nursing home and the crime was not reported to law enforcement. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications – click for larger version)

That woman was Maribeth Russell’s mother-in-law, and Russell spent the past five years pushing for a change in Missouri law.  That culminated Friday with the passage of House Bill 1635, which requires that law enforcement be notified when it is suspected that a long-term care resident 60-years of age or older has been sexually assaulted.

Russell was in the House when it gave final passage to HB 1635, 139-0.

Russell said that law enforcement was not notified by the nursing home or the hospital of the crime against her mother-in-law.  The family assumed such notification was made when the Department of Health and Senior Services was contacted.  By the time the family learned that was not the case, it was too late.

“Sexual assault is timely.  You have to quickly jump on it to try to collect evidence and that wasn’t done, so there was never an arrest made or a prosecution made at all, and I simply wanted to prevent this from happening to others down the road,” said Russell.  “Let’s change this law, let’s fill this gap that’s in the statute and prevent this from happening again.”

HB 1635 would expand Missouri law that requires abuse or neglect to be reported to the Department of Health and Senior Services.  Its reporting requirement applies to in-home care providers, adult day care workers, medical and mental health care providers, medical examiners, funeral directors, and those in numerous other professions.

Representative Mike Bernskoetter (R-Jefferson City) has worked for several years, with Russell, on the language that became HB 1635.  He agreed with other lawmakers that the issue was, “unsettling.”

“Especially a situation like this where somebody went through this kind of heinous act and then there was basically nothing [that] could be done about it because there was a hole in our statutes,” said Bernskoetter.  “Just thinking about what could have happened to [Maribeth Russell’s] mother-in-law, it could happen to your mom or your grandma or somebody that you knew.”

Russell said the passage of HB 1635 amounts to closure for her.

Representative Mike Bernskoetter (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications – click for larger version)

“Knowing that we’re helping others down the road – people who may never know we’ve helped – but we’re trying to prevent others from having to experience what we’ve experienced here,” said Russell.

She said the nursing home and hospital that treated her mother-in-law have made it their practice to report possible sexual assaults to law enforcement, and she’s thankful for that.  She wants HB 1635 to ensure that all agencies in the state are doing the same.

Bernskoetter is hopeful that, while it is unlikely, the person who attacked Russell’s mother-in-law will one day be identified.  In the meantime he hopes that 1635 will be signed into law by the governor, and will prevent the same thing from happening again.

Missouri House honors well-known Capitol employee who started local summer lunch program

The state House has honored a long-time fixture in the Capitol not only for her work under the dome, but her charitable efforts elsewhere in the capital city.

Malissa Smith (2nd from left) accepts a House resolution sponsored by Representative Mike Bernskoetter (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications – click for larger version)

Malissa Smith has worked in the Capitol’s cafeteria for twelve years.  Visually impaired since the age of 31, she helped train workers in the cafeteria when it was operated by the Division of the Blind.

These days she is often seen in the hallways of the building, sometimes pushing a sandwich cart from office-to-office for those who don’t have time to dash out for lunch.

Representative Mike Bernskoetter (R-Jefferson City) said nearly everyone who works in the building knows Smith and she speaks with them as she makes her rounds.

“Not only is Malissa an example for people without sight, she shows everybody an example of what can be done if you set your mind to it,” said Bernskoetter.  “I think she’s an example for us all.  She has a fantastic attitude.  If you go down and talk to Joan at [the current cafeteria, operated by] Chez Monet, she will tell you how great a worker she is and she will do anything for anybody at any time.”

Bernskoetter said Smith has also launched, with her own money, a free summer lunch program for children and teenagers up to the age of 17.  All summer long she and the volunteers who joined her feed more than 100 children in Jefferson City who otherwise would likely go without lunch during the months they aren’t in school.

“What happened was my chair of the board of the church said I want to appoint you chairman of outreach, and I said, ‘Oh, Lord, what am I going to do?’” Smith said.

She had learned a lot of children in the church’s neighborhood were not eating, so she decided on the lunch program as part of her outreach effort.

“It’s a blessing just to see the smiles on their face.  Now that the majority of them have come back year after year, they kind of talk to us now – make conversation – and they think we’re part of their family now,” said Smith.  “If they have a need also, like if they tell me they don’t have a pair of shoes or something, we have another outreach that works with me – community outreach – that we can look for things like that for them.”

Smith moved to Jefferson City from her hometown of Moberly in 2004 to pursue a job that would allow her to keep working in spite of her impairment.

“I’m trying to be an example to the blind.  Just because you have a disability doesn’t mean you can’t try something,” said Smith.

She hopes to keep working in the Capitol for years to come.

“I love the people around here.  That’s my biggest thing,” said Smith.  “I’ve made a lot of rapport and friends, and it’s just fun being up here.”

Smith was honored with a resolution from the House recognizing her 12 years of work in the Capitol, and the lunch program that she expects will grow this year to feeding nearly 200 children.

The summer lunch program she launched resumes May 21 at the annex of the Second Christian Church in Jefferson City, where she is an elder.

Legislature includes money for K-3rd grade dyslexia screenings in FY ’19 budget

The budget approved last week by the Missouri legislature includes some money for screening children for dyslexia while they are in kindergarten through the third grade.  Those screenings are required under a bill the legislature approved two years ago.

Representative Kathy Swan (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications – click for larger version)

That bill, House Bill 2379, was sponsored by Cape Girardeau Republican Kathryn Swan.  It required those screenings to begin in the coming school year and created a task force to develop recommendations for how they should be conducted.

The budget includes $250,000 that would help some schools pay for those screenings.

Students who have dyslexia often struggle in every subject in school, can fall behind their peers, and even be victims of ridicule because of their struggling.  Swan said beginning to screen all students for dyslexia will reveal earlier which students have it and need to be educated differently so that they don’t have those struggles.

“When we’re talking one out of five people being dyslexic, it’s not something that’s outgrown; it’s a neurological disorder that tends to run in families that people accommodate for sometimes themselves, but obviously it can impact reading and you have to be able to read in order to learn,” said Swan.

Swan said identifying earlier in life those who have dyslexia and then helping them deal with it could also save the state money in the long run in a number of ways, not the least of which being to keep some of those students off a path that often leads to prison.

“Not only does it make sense from helping students graduate from school on time and prepared, whether they want to go into the workforce or whether they want to go on for some kind of additional training or go to college, but it can also help prevent some substance abuse, incarcerations in prison – most incarcerations in prison are related to a substance abuse of some sort – so long-term this is a small investment to make with a big return on family lives and on success in one’s career and life,” said Swan.

Swan said she would like to have seen more than $250,000 go toward dyslexia screenings, but was grateful that the state could provide any money toward that purpose.  She also said the fact that there is now a line in the budget to support screenings increases the likelihood that the state will spend more toward them in future years.

Swan has spent several legislative sessions working on issues related to dyslexia.  She said after realizing that one in five people must deal with that condition, she saw that those people need help.

“We had to do something not only to help the quality of life for people, we had to do something because of the impact it has on our prisons and the rest of society, because that does impact the rest of society,” said Swan.  “So it just became critical and we had to do something, and I felt as the educational community we were not being responsible if we were not addressing this need because it is such a significant need.”

HB 2379 also required additional training for teachers so that they can recognize the signs of a possible dyslexia diagnosis.

“We’re going to screen grades K-3, so if there’s a student outside that – maybe there’s a student that transfers in – so we want teachers to have the knowledge in order to be able to determine, ‘You know, there might be something going on here, I think we need to screen this student,’ or, ‘Let’s try moving him or her closer to the board,’ or, ‘Let’s not make them read aloud in a round-robin,’ or, ‘Let’s give them more time for their test,’ or, ‘Let’s give them an oral test,’” said Swan.  “We’ve got to help arm the teachers with information so they know some simple things they can do in the classroom to help.”

The House and Senate agreed last week on a $28.3-billion spending proposal for the fiscal year that begins July 1.  That plan will next go to the governor for his consideration.

Earlier stories:

Task Force on Dyslexia issues recommendations for dyslexia screenings of Missouri students

Legislative Task Force on Dyslexia holds first hearing, Rep. Swan selected as chair

Missouri legislature honors sheriff, 1st trooper killed in line of duty, as nation honors police

The state legislature has voted to memorialize two law enforcement officers fatally shot in 1933 by naming sections of Interstate 70 for them.

Missouri Highway Patrol Sergeant Ben Booth (left) and Boone County Sheriff Roger Isaac Wilson

Highway Patrol Sergeant Benjamin Booth was the first member of the Missouri State Highway Patrol to be killed in the line of duty.  He and Boone County Sheriff Roger Isaac Wilson were killed by two men they had stopped at the intersection of Highways 40 and 63.

On June 14, 1933, Booth was on a day off when Wilson called him in to help set up a roadblock as part of an effort to catch two men who robbed a bank in Mexico earlier that day.  The two men they stopped were not the robbers but were armed, and when their vehicle was stopped they shot the two law enforcement officers.  Wilson, 43, died at the scene.  Booth, 37, died on the way to a hospital.

Senate Bill 999 would designate I-70 in Columbia from Rangeline Street to Business Loop 70 the “Sergeant Benjamin Booth Memorial Highway,” and would make I-70 from Highway 63 to Rangeline the “Sheriff Roger I. Wilson Memorial Highway.”  The House finalized passage of that bill last week, ahead of National Police Week.

It was sponsored by Columbia senator Caleb Rowden (R) and carried in the House by Hallsville Republican Cheri Toalson Reisch.

The Missouri State Capitol’s dome is illuminated in blue through the month of May to honor Missouri law enforcement officers who gave their lives in the line of duty.

“These men were killed in cold blood in Boone County … and it is our duty to honor these men especially in light of law enforcement memorial month,” said Toalson Reisch.

Wilson is the grandfather of former Missouri Governor Roger Wilson, whose father was 15 when Sheriff Wilson was killed.  He told House Communications the recognition will mean a lot to the Wilson and Booth families.

“I think the recognition on the highways will probably mean more to the families than anybody else but I think it’ll also mean something to our community, so I’m glad that this is taking place,” said the former governor.

Kelly Allen of Springfield, Illinois, is the granddaughter of Ben Booth’s widow.  She says her grandmother and others often talked about the kind of man he was.

“He was an honest, good, working man, family man, and he was an honorable trooper,” said Allen.  “I’m just really honored and thrilled.  I know my mother and my grandmother would be so pleased that people still remember.”

Allen said when Booth was killed her grandmother struggled to raise the couple’s 7-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son.

“No safety net, no social security – of course that wasn’t invented yet – no pension, nothing.  The patrol was very good to her as what they could do but being during The Depression, everybody was having hard times,” said Allen.

Wilson said a lot has changed in law enforcement since his grandfather was the sheriff.

“We have lost the era when police officers of all stripes could actually be protectors, and almost parents, of our children – bringing somebody home and informing a parent instead of taking them down to the station and booking them is probably out the window because of all the liability now and the sensitivity around law enforcement.  I feel that’s a lost, constructive thing for society,” said Wilson.

SB 999 has been sent to the governor to await his attention.

The murders of Sheriff Wilson and Sergeant Booth triggered a massive manhunt including the use of roadblocks and airplanes.  Authorities eventually caught up to the two men responsible.  One of them was later hung in one of the last state executions by hanging in Missouri.  The other man, who testified against his partner, spent 12 years in state prison before being paroled.  He moved to Iowa, married and had four children, and his sentence was eventually commuted.