Blog Layout

WEEKLY LEGISLATIVE UPDATE 01/22/2024

Jan 22, 2024

The Mood at the Capitol

If you had predicted that the Missouri Senate would enter into an extended filibuster going late past dinner on a random Thursday with no legislation actually on the calendar, you should be playing the lottery. And an incredibly unusual move, senators Bill Eigel and Rick Brattin held the Missouri Senate floor for almost 12 hours. There was no pending legislation, but the move blocked a slate of gubernatorial appointments before the body. The appointments have to be made before February or the people who have been appointed by the governor will not be able to hold the offices to which they were nominated ever in their lifetime. The Freedom Caucus members had repeatedly and unsuccessfully attempted to bring IP Restrictions to the senate floor without going through the committee process. The objections to the citizen initiative process is a response to the pro-choice petition that began collecting signatures this last week. This strategy of early obstruction of non-controversial measures shows just how powerful the Missouri conservatives have become. The debate got very personal at times. As of the writing of this report, nothing has been referred to the Senate regarding IP Restrictions and we truly won't know the repercussions of this tactic until the Senate reconvenes on Monday.

The house in reaction to the lack of movement in the Senate has been trying to get as much done in the early part of session as possible. The house emerging issues committee on Wednesday night works late into the evening to hear legislation dealing with trans youth and bathroom use in the workplace. The house education and education reform committees have already heard legislation dealing with open enrollment and charter schools. The house judiciary committee has already passed out a comprehensive judicial procedures bill. We are expecting to start hearing floor debate on legislation that has been passed out of committee next week in the house. This year will likely continue to be a study in contrast as the house attempts to work at a breakneck pace while the Senate continues to be delivered and focused on a very few number of priorities for each senator.

discrimination and cultural competency in education

Education is definitely the big topic of 2024. Whether it’s open enrollment, charter school authorization, or tax credits for private education tuition (vouchers), there is a lot of energy behind alternatives to the current public education system. All of these proposals would take resources out of the local public schools - even if it is only being shifted to another public school.

We are also seeing parents’ bills of rights and curriculum and book bans introduced again this year. These proposals are a way for those who do not support public education to build a case for using taxpayer dollars to fund private schools. The argument follows the flawed logic that parents should be able to control every aspect of their children’s education even at the expense of the other children in the classroom. Since the locally elected public school boards are focused on quality education for all children, the small but vocal group of anti-public school parents believe they should be able to take their tax money to a private school.

The NAACP is currently opposed to all of the bills that deal with “school choice” or “parents’ bill of rights.” If you have interest in testifying against any of these bills, please reach out to Sharon Geuea Jones at sharon@jonesadvocacy.com.

voting rights issues

Election Worker Protections

Last week, the House Elections and Elected Officials Committee heard HB2140, sponsored by Representative Peggy McGaugh who is the chair of the committee. This is the bill MOVPC has been working on with the County Clerks and Representative McGaugh. It contains the election worker protections that MOVPC supports. The discussion about this bill went very well. Denise Lieberman was present to testify in favor of the bills while advocating for a few small changes. There was overwhelming support for this bill and this issue seems to be gathering momentum and a large amount of bi-partisan support. While we remain optimistic, with the current issues within the Senate it’ll be difficult to get this across the finish line clean. We encourage everyone to voice their support of poll worker protections. The bill is not currently scheduled for Committee Vote. We will keep you informed on when it will be voted out and any changes that may be made.

IP Restrictions

As I stated in the opening, IP Restrictions have once again become a key issue for the Senate. While the Republican caucus in the House has stated that it was one of their key issues for this legislative session, the Senate leadership has been less enthusiastic. The recent movement on the petition to restore reproductive rights has brought renewed focus to the issue. It is now likely that the Senate will be referring IP restriction bills to committee this week. However, the Senate leadership is still holding all other legislation and pushing forward on the Federal Reimbursement Act enabling legislation, the Budget, and the Gubernatorial appointments that need to be confirmed or withdrawn before February. We’ll be keeping a close watch on these bills and where they go and how much support they will get from Senate Leadership.

The House, on the other hand, is moving quickly through Speaker Plocher’s priorities. There is a hearing this Tuesday, 1/23 at 10:30 am on several IP Restriction bills. The bills are HB 1749, HJR 72, and HJR 102. Both HJR 72 and HJR 102 are sponsored by Representative Ed Lewis and require the concurrent majority votes from both statewide and the majority of congressional districts. They are designed to make it harder to pass any sort of constitutional ballot initiatives. Both bills would be required to go to a vote of the people if they were to pass. HB 1749, sponsored by Representative Mike Haffner, makes starting initiative petitions significantly harder and would make it so that if the courts issued a title change after signatures have been gathered, it would nullify all previous signatures. We are strongly opposed to all three bills. Opposing these bills are one of the top priorities of the MOVPC. We encourage everyone to submit online testimony opposing these bills. We have in-person testimony lined up, but the volume of online testimony is a message in itself.

cOMPREHENSIVE CRIME BILL(s)

HB1659 (Roberts 161) - The Comprehensive Crime Bill has been voted out of committee with significant changes. The bill now includes the following provisions:

Juvenile LWOP for 2nd Degree Murder if the Actually Participated in the Killing
Cocaine Parity
Cyberstalking Taskforce
“Persistent Offender” Includes People with a Single Prior Conviction for a Dangerous Felony
Increased Penalty for Unlawful Possession
Max’s Law
Blair’s Law
ACA is an Unclassified Felony
Motion to Vacate Venue Fix
Narrowing of Focus for CPRBs
Allows Funding to Go Into the Public Defender Fund
New Crimes:
Delivering a contaminated controlled substance
Involving a minor in a weapons offense

There is a hearing on Monday on several Senate bills that will likely be combined to create the Senate version of the Comprehensive Crime Bill. The House and Senate versions will likely be identical before they go to the floor. Also, each provision was passed in SB189 from 2023.

upcoming hearings

01/22/2024 2:00 PM Senate-Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee

SB765 Establishes a conviction review unit — Sen. Brian Williams (D)
SB841 Modifies provisions relating to funding for the Office of the Public Defender — Sen. Lauren Arthur (D)
SB861 Modifies provisions relating to expungement — Sen. Brian Williams (D)
SB887 Modifies provisions relating to certification of juveniles for trial as adults — Sen. Barbara Washington (D)

01/23/2024 8:00 AM Senate-Education and Workforce Development Committee

SB780 Modifies provisions relating to student enrollment in the Missouri Course Access and Virtual School Program — Sen. Karla Eslinger (R)
SB867 Authorizes a tax credit for certain educational expenses — Sen. Rick Brattin (R)
SB902 Creates and modifies provisions relating to elementary and secondary education — Sen. Nick Schroer (R)

01/23/2024 10:30 AM House-Elections and Elected Officials Committee

HB1749 Modifies provisions for initiative petitions and referendums — Rep. Mike Haffner (R)
HJR72 Modifies provisions for initiative petitions — Rep. Ed Lewis (R)
HJR102 Modifies provisions for initiative petitions — Rep. Ed Lewis (R)

calls to action

Attend the MOVPC Lobby Day on Jan 30th 9am - 2pm https://www.movpc.org/movpc-latest-news
Let Olivia Pener or Sandy Jiles know if there is a week between now and May 17th you are willing to be on call to come to the Capitol on short notice.

If you have any questions about any of the legislation mentioned here or the legislative program generally, please contact President Chapel or Olivia Pener.

Save the Dates! Come to the Capitol to Support Our Legislative Issues

January 30 - MOVPC Lobby Day - Support Free and Fair Elections
February 6 - MO Education Equity Partnership Lobby Day - Oppose Efforts to Ban Black History Curriculum
March 6 - Day of Empathy - Support Criminal Justice Reform
March 12 - MO to Abolish the Death Penalty Lobby Day - Support Proposals to Reduce and Eliminate State Murder

Tracking List

https://govwatch.net/report/M6q8o0GrzR

*This list is continually updated and improved. If you have questions, please contact Sharon Geuea Jones at sharon@jonesadvocacy.com.

< Older Post

Newer Post >

RECENT ARTICLES

Successful First Weekend for Cape Girardeau NAACP Canvassing Team

By Pat McBride, President - Cape Girardeau 4048 • 09 May, 2024

This year the Cape Girardeau Branch is focused on voter registration. We have formed The Cape Girardeau Branch NAACP Canvassing Team, which consist of students from Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO). The students have registered more than two-hundred students on campus this school year, and are now working with me to register voters off-campus. They have named themselves the "SEMO Democrats." We have received donations from a variety of sources to support the students' efforts. Prior to canvassing the South Cape Community, the team received training from the Cape Girardeau County Clerk office and me. We wanted them to clearly understand that the NAACP Canvassing team is nonpartisan, what the requirements of the law for registrars currently is, and how to properly make sure only eligible voters are registering through us. We are serving people and not a particular party or agenda - other than the importance of voter participation. Within two hours, we knocked on fifty-three doors. We held several impromptu conversations on the street. We registered one convicted felon who recently regained their eligibility but wasn't aware. We met one person who did not want to complete voter registration. I will re-visit this door. The team also had the opportunity to canvass a community event who provided our hard working students food. I have been canvassing and working as a Cape Girardeau Election Officer since I retired from the State of Missouri in 2015 and have canvassed for voter registration since that time. I have learned that there is much need for voter registration and education activities in the South Cape community. We have families who are not registered to vote; ones who are registered but do not vote; some who need a voter registration record update ; and finally, many who have been on probation in the past and do not realize they are eligible to vote. I am proud of our students and our branch for making this project a priority. We plan to canvass weekly on Saturday (weather permitting) through October 2024. I will provide updates on our registration progress as we work to make sure every eligible voter in our area has a chance to register. We really appreciate the support of the MO State Conference of the NAACP!