Lant: Defining A Nuisance Lawsuit

As the Session progresses, some of the legislation is getting more complex. This week we passed HB 209. This bill seeks to protect farmers from "nuisance" lawsuits that can virtually put a farmer out of business. What is a nuisance, you ask? Before this bill passes, it is anything a person might dream up. Currently, when a judge hears a nuisance case, there is no law that covers how much can be paid out. HB 209 puts a cap on damages and also limits them to the fair market value of the property affected. A good example would be a person moving to the country and building a 100,000 home next to an existing farm, then suing the farmer for 10,000,000 because the smell of livestock and noise of machinery bothers them. Another danger here is that currently, if they lose the lawsuit, they can file another and the farmer has to continue fighting the suits at great cost to him.

This bill does not prevent someone from bringing suit if a farming operation is making people sick due to water pollution, or releasing toxic gasses. A person always has protection from those types of offenses. The point is to protect our number one industry in Missouri from repeated nuisance suits which endanger the well being and livelihoods of family farm operations.

HB 139 was passed and it requires the office of administration to maintain public school and county government accountability information on the Missouri Accountability Portal.

We are fortunate in this part of the state to have school districts that operate "in the light of day", sadly, that is not the case in some areas where the taxpayers really have no idea where there hard earned dollars are going.

An amendment was added that provides that the governors' office must also maintain travel accountability information. Some of the items which must be listed include: destination, departure time, duration of the trip, reason for the trip, and travel expenses, among other information. The more transparency that government entities have, the better chance that taxpayers will get there moneys worth!

My wife Jane accompanied me to the Capitol this week, where with the collusion of the Speaker, I was able to go up on the Speakers' platform on Tuesday and in front of the entire assembly have her presented with a bouquet of roses and thank her for putting up with me for 42 years! She is one tough woman!

There has been an increase in activity in all the various committees this week. This promises to get even more hectic as the chairmen try to get testimonies wrapped up and decide whether to attempt to vote bills out. Even when passed out of committee, there is a chance they will not make it to the floor for debate. The amazing fact is, every year 2000 to 2500 bills are presented, but only 100 to 150 are signed into law; sometimes I wonder if that is even too many!

For my History moment this week I want to talk about the dome. The eye of the inside dome is 160 feet above the floor level. There is a "whispering gallery" below the eye 36 feet in diameter with a railing and walk area around it. The acoustics are so perfect that you can stand on one side of the walk and speak in a low voice to someone 36 feet across and be heard perfectly! Suspended from the center of the eye is a brass chandelier. It is hung by two steel cables 3/4 inch in diameter and weighs 9000 pounds! Once a year, the great winch which it is fastened to lowers it 160 feet to the floor where it is cleaned and polished, and the bulbs are replaced.

Next week should be really jam packed with activity so until then, I am and remain in your service.