The state House has voted to send Governor Eric Greitens (R) a bill to regulate ride sharing companies like Uber and Lyft.
Representative Kirk Mathews (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
Representatives voted 144-7 to endorse House Bill 130, sponsored by Pacific Republican Kirk Mathews. He told lawmakers such companies could mean thousands of jobs in Missouri, but those companies might leave the state if his bill failed.
The bill would require such companies, which let customers use apps to connect them to drivers offering rides, to pay a $5,000 licensing fee and conduct driver background checks and vehicle inspections. It would also exempt companies from local taxes and bar the hiring of drivers guilty of certain offenses.
The bill had broad bipartisan support, including from St. Louis Democrat Karla May, who had filed her own rideshare legislation.
HB 130 advanced in part because of a compromise with Kansas City and St. Louis, who wanted criminal background checks of rideshare drivers including fingerprinting. Under the compromise, rideshare companies will perform checks on drivers and Kansas City and St. Louis can audit those records twice a year.
It is now up to Governor Greitens whether to sign HB 130 into law, veto it, or allow it to become law without his action. If it becomes law it will take effect on August 28.
The state House wants to give Missouri farmers a chance to enter a new market. It has passed a bill that would legalize the growing of industrial hemp.
Representative Paul Curtman (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
Hemp is a variety of the Cannabis sativa plant with a low concentration of THC, the psychoactive component found in marijuana. It can be used to make products including paper, clothing, and biodegradable plastics.
House Bill 170, sponsored by Washington Republican Paul Curtman, would allow the Department of Agriculture to issue a permit to growers who pass a background check, have not been found guilty of a felony in the previous ten years, and have never been convicted of a drug-related offense. The Department can also inspect growers and handlers for compliance, and inspect crops to make sure nothing illegal is being grown.
Some representatives disagreed. Dexter Republican Tila Hubrect argued the small amounts of THC found in hemp can cause “intoxication.” She also said hemp and marijuana plants are “indistinguishable to the eye,” so allowing the farming of hemp could complicate law enforcement efforts.
Carrollton Republican Joe Don McGaugh said the federal farm bill allows the growing of hemp by universities and colleges and state agriculture departments for research, unlike what Curtman is proposing.
The bill had broad, bipartisan support, passing 126-26. Similar legislation has been passed out of the House in several previous years, and St. Louis City Democrat Michael Butler said he’s supported it every time.
The state House has approved a bill that supporters hope will prevent overdose deaths.
Representative Steve Lynch (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
House Bill 294 would give immunity from charges for minor possession of drugs or paraphernalia or being under the influence to a person who calls for emergency medical attention for someone who is overdosing on drugs or alcohol, and would give immunity to the person in need of medical attention.
The bill’s sponsor, Representative Steve Lynch (R-Waynesville), called the bill an effort at “harm reduction,” and refers to it as “Bailey and Cody’s law,” for two overdose victims whose parents believe that having such a law in place might have saved their children’s lives.
Lynch’s legislation won bipartisan praise and support. Velda Village Hills Democrat Clem Smith said in the neighborhood he grew up in, he saw people who had overdosed and their bodies were left, sometimes for days, in places like alleys and empty lots by people afraid of being prosecuted if they called for help.
Lynch said this “Good Samaritan” bill has been shown in other states and local areas to save lives, particularly when working in conjunction with bills that allow first responders or friends and loved ones to have and administer naloxone – a drug that counteracts overdoses to opioids, including heroin. Missouri in 2014 and 2016 enacted such laws, both also sponsored by Lynch.
Lake St. Louis Republican Justin Hill, a former police officer, was one of 21 “no” votes against HB 294. He said by giving immunity to callers and those overdosing, the bill takes away an opportunity to get those individuals into treatment programs.
The budget proposed this week by the Missouri House attempts to strengthen an attempt started last year to defund abortion providers.
Representative Robert Ross (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
The current fiscal year’s budget includes language that intended to keep all money appropriated by it from going to hospitals or clinics that perform abortions. Yukon Republican Robert Ross proposed that prohibition, and said it needed to be strengthened.
The House voted to adopt language offered by Ross for this year’s budget to use the definition of “abortion services” found elsewhere in state law. Republicans including Sonya Anderson of Springfield said they hope this will clarify to the Department the legislature’s intent.
The statutory definition of “abortion services” includes not only performing abortions, but encouraging or referring a patient to have one. Raytown Representative Jerome Barnes (D) said that means facilities besides Planned Parenthood could lose money.
Representative Deb Lavender (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
Democrats also argue that tax dollars are already prohibited from being used to pay for abortions, but Republicans including Anderson say that isn’t enough.
Ross’ amendment was adopted 115-35. It is now part of the proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 that the House has sent to the Senate for its consideration. The Senate will begin its work on that proposal next week.
The single biggest change the House made during floor debate of its budget proposal this week would continue a program that aims to help low-income youth enter into the workforce.
Representative Bruce Franks (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
St. Louis City Democrat Bruce Franks, Junior, saw that Governor Eric Greitens (R) had proposed cutting all funding to the Summer Jobs League within the Department of Economic Development. Franks proposed taking $6-million from unused funds in two programs within Temporary Assistance for Needy Families to restore it, and the House voted to accept Franks’ proposal.
The Summer Jobs League gives 16- to 24-year-olds from low-income homes in the St. Louis or Kansas City areas the chance to work in a business in a field they’re interested in.
The largest portion of the state’s appropriation to the Summer Jobs League will pay the salaries of the youth participants – up to $8.50 an hour for up to 240 hours. Franks said that is part of the incentive for businesses to participate.
Participating businesses often hire the Summer Jobs League youths after their League term has expired.
Franks said Summer Jobs works in conjunction with other programs such as Prison to Prosperity, which helps youth in the St. Louis region transition out of prison.
Many of Franks’ fellow lawmakers commended him on being a freshman member of a superminority who secured a large change in the state’s budget, but Franks said that’s not what he felt good about.
The House’s budget proposal has been sent to the State Senate, which will propose its own changes. Once the two chambers agree on a spending plan, it will be sent to Governor Greitens.
If the House’s budget proposal stands, Missourians might see fewer DUI checkpoints on state roads over the next fiscal year.
Representative Galen Higdon opposed language in the House’s FY ’18 budget proposal that would keep state and federal funds allocated by that budget from going to DUI Checkpoints. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
The House proposed language that would prevent money controlled by that budget from going to such checkpoints. House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick (R-Shell Knob) said this is largely because of data indicating checkpoints aren’t effective enough compared to other enforcement methods.
Lake St. Louis Republican Representative Justin Hill, who formerly worked for the O’Fallon Police Department, also said saturation efforts are more effective. He encouraged fellow lawmakers to give those a try for the twelve months of Fiscal Year ’18.
Representative Galen Higdon (R-St. Joseph) is a former Buchanan County Sheriff’s Deputy. He coordinated checkpoints for the last four years before his retirement. He believes checkpoints have reduced crashes in his district, so he opposed the new language.
Representative Justin Hill supports language in the House’s FY ’18 budget proposal that would discourage DUI checkpoints for what he believes are more effective efforts. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
Representative Kathie Conway (R-St. Charles) chairs the budget subcommittee on Public Safety. She said when the idea to bar state funds from going to checkpoints came up she heard from numerous law enforcement agencies, victims groups, anti-drunk driving groups, and others who opposed the change and were “upset” about it.
She said checkpoints and saturation efforts can work in conjunction, and said the latter actually work better when the two are used together.
Proponents of the change also said there are questions of whether checkpoints violate Missourians’ rights, and said saturation efforts are also more effective at dealing with other violations of the law besides impaired driving.
If the language becomes law, nothing in Missouri law would prevent law enforcement agencies from conducting checkpoints. They simply would not be able to use money allocated by the state budget to do so.
The House’s proposed budget plan next goes to the state Senate for its consideration.
One of the things House Democrats wanted in the chamber’s proposed spending plan for the next fiscal year, they got.
The House voted to move $1.5-million from an election administration improvements fund in the Secretary of State’s office to go to the implementation of the voter photo ID law approved by voters in November. Specifically that money is for educating voters about the new law so that they can comply with it when they go to the polls.
St. Louis City Democrat Peter Merideth wants that education process to include direct mail; something the Secretary of State told the House Budget Committee he wasn’t planning to use.
The change would bump the funding available for voter photo ID education to nearly $3-million. The House’s earlier proposal for funding it with about $1.4-million was based on what the Secretary of State had asked for.
The measure initially failed but after a motion to reconsider the vote, many Republicans sided with Merideth and Fitzpatrick and approved it.
It becomes part of House Bill 12. The House is expected to vote Thursday on whether to send that and the rest of the budget bills to the Senate for its consideration.
The state House is poised to propose a Fiscal Year 2018 budget that includes money based on the repeal of a tax break for low-income seniors and the disabled. Budget planners used the money that would be saved by that repeal to support in-home care for the elderly and disabled.
The repeal was first proposed a few years ago by former Governor Jay Nixon (D), based on the recommendations of a bipartisan commission that recommended changes to Missouri’s tax structure. The legislature passed a bill based on language Nixon had prepared, but Nixon later vetoed the bill after groups spoke out against the proposal.
The plan was brought up again this year as part of Republican budget makers’ response to diminished revenue and the need to reduce spending.
Kirkwood Democrat Deb Lavender proposed pulling money from three locations in the state budget to restore money for that tax break. Lavender said Missouri is in a budget crisis because the legislature has granted tax cuts to corporations.
Lavender said her proposals would buy time for the seniors benefitting from that tax break, so the state could spend the next year developing a more comprehensive tax credit reform plan.
The House is expected to vote Thursday to send that budget proposal to the Senate for its consideration.
The House Bill that would repeal that portion of the renters tax credit is still in the Senate. If it does not become law, the money that supports that credit would not be available for the in-home care program.
The state House is poised to send to the Senate a budget that would cut $500,000 from the Department of Conservation.
Representative Craig Redmon (R-Canton), who chairs the budget subcommittee that oversees Conservation, proposed the cut. He said it is in response to the Department having paid $127,000 plus benefits to former director Robert Ziehmer since he left the Department in July.
The state House’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2018 would bar the use of General Revenue dollars for anything associated with collecting tolls on interstates running through Missouri.
MODOT had asked budget makers for money to conduct a third study of tolling in Missouri. Republicans including Representative Bart Korman (High Hill) said no more state money should be spent on yet another study.
Some, including Hermann Representative Justin Alferman, said MODOT has only shown interest in tolling I-70 and none of the other interstates in Missouri.
Corlew also argued that Congress and the administration of President Donald Trump (R) are preparing an infrastructure package, and Missouri should keep all options open to be able to take advantage of it when it is released.
The transportation budget is laid out in House Bill 4. The House is expected to vote Thursday on whether to send that and the rest of its proposed state budget to the Senate.
