Tim Jones: Measure Protecting Unborn Heads To Senate

At right: With Bishop Edward Rice of St. Louis, Bishop James Johnston, Jr. of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Bishop John Gaydos of Jefferson City and Monsignor Kurwicki, our House Chaplain, from Jefferson City.

A tale of two weeks in one over the past few days carried us to the Capitol in a nearly blinding snowstorm on Monday and then saw us home in brilliant sunshine and warming temperatures by weeks’ end. Old Man Winter still blows across the northern States with all sound and fury while in the lower Heartland thoughts are turning to gentle spring days and blossoming flora. Beneath the Capitol Dome, activity has reached a steady, drum like pace as we await the coming behemoth of the State’s Budget…

“Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: First a right to life, secondly to liberty, and thirdly to property; together with the right to defend them in the best manner they can.” —Samuel Adams

FLOOR ACTION: Monday, March 14^th

HCS HB 213, of which I am the Chief Sponsor, continued debate on the House Floor today. This bill is referred to as the late term abortion ban. The bottom line: It is a constitutionally defensible position that the State should protect those who are most needy. With respect to the neediest, who could be more in need of protection than the unborn child? In the State of Missouri, if you are an unborn child who has reached the level of viability, you are currently not afforded any legal protection. We must take the steps necessary to correct this injustice and HB 213 does exactly that by making it a class-C felony to perform an abortion after 20 weeks without determining viability and assessing penalties to the facility used to perform the late-term abortion. When debate ended, HCS HB 213 was ordered perfected and printed by an overwhelming vote of 120 to 37.

At right: Discussing legislation with Rep. Anne Zerr.

HJR 6, sponsored by Rep. Mike Cierpiot (R-56), proposes amending the Missouri Constitution to include a 35^th section in Article I which would guarantee the right to vote by secret ballot. This is a key concept in maintaining the integrity of the voting system. HJR 6 passed and was ordered perfected and printed.

HCS HB 29, sponsored by Rep. David Sater (R-68), was ordered perfected and printed. This bill establishes the Volunteer Health Services Act which allows a licensed health care provider to render volunteer professional health care services for a sponsoring organization.

HCS HB 89, sponsored by Rep. Darrell Pollock (R-146), was ordered perfected and printed. This bill changes the laws regarding deposits into the State Park Earnings Fund, notice requirements of the Clean Water Commission, and certain water pollution control fees; eliminating the ability of the state legislature to sweep the funds into the general revenue. The funds are meant for the parks, not for general revenue. The fear of having funds swept and budgets reduced for the following year creates incentive for hasty, irresponsible, and wasteful spending in order to secure funding levels. This bill removes this incentive by solidifying the funds for use by the State Parks.

FLOOR ACTION: Tuesday, March 15^th

HCS HB 431, as amended, sponsored by Rep. Ward Franz (R-151), was ordered perfected and printed. HCS HB 431 changes the laws regarding foster care and adoption, establishes the Missouri State Foster Care and Adoption Board, and creates the Foster Care and Adoptive Parents Recruitment and Retention Fund. This would generate additional funding for recruitment of foster care providers and promote foster care activities in Missouri.

HJR 29, as amended, sponsored by Rep. Solon (R-55), was ordered perfected and printed. HJR 29 proposes a constitutional amendment requiring the State Lottery Commission to develop and sell a Veterans Lottery Ticket to support the Veterans Commission Capital Improvement Trust Fund. Neighboring states have indicated such a ticket does not reduce the amount of revenue generated for education, but rather, creates an increase in overall sales and revenue generated by lottery ticket sales. During tough economic times when across board budget cuts impact areas like the Veterans Commission Capital Improvement Trust Fund, this is an innovative way to generate additional funding.

HCS HB 131, sponsored by Rep. Cox (R-118), began debate today. HCS HB 131 and SCS for SB 113 have received a lot of press due to what some might call the intrusion of the state legislature into a proposition passed by the people; specifically Prop B. This legislation is actually receiving bipartisan support in the House. If you support Prop B, and have read what HCS HB 131 and SCS for SB 113 actually do, then you understand the bill actually strengthens the laws protecting animals while allowing lawful dog breeders to stay in business. The intent of Prop B was not to put dog breeders out of business, but to protect animals. Proposition B, as written, has several serious statutory flaws that must be corrected to make it effective. Proposition B is a statutory change, but because it was an initiative petition, it was a statutory change that did not go through the normal vetting process that every legislative vehicle does in the General Assembly. As Proposition B is currently written, it has the following serious issues: 1. It only applies to licensed breeders. 2. It is an unfunded mandate and has NO funding mechanism. 3. Pet is defined as “any domesticated animal,” which would improperly include livestock. 4. It is based on arbitrary regulations and not factual guidelines. 5. It requires feeding animals only once a day, when in fact, many animals require more feedings. 6. It establishes NO enforcement mechanism and does not even specify who is responsible to regulate the proposition or to whom to report violations. 7. It requires only one annual vet inspection. 8. It only requires the relevant facility to be determined to be sanitary once per day. 9. And it allows for waste/feces from upper cages to drop on dogs below without criminal offense. Every single one of these issues are dealt with and CORRECTED in the HCS for HB 13 and in the SCS for SB 113. It remains to be seen how this issue will be ultimately resolved. It is clear, however, that for the legislature to sit on its hands and do nothing, we would be committing what I submit is legislative malpractice and would potentially end the business of lawful bog breeding in Missouri. Is this what the people really intended? Personally, I am against any measures which would allow for the abuse of animals to continue unabated in the State of Missouri and I am opposed to any repeal of Proposition B but I am equally resistant to any measures which make the business environment so hostile to pet breeding that good, quality, lawful breeding facilities will be put out of business.

FLOOR ACTION: Wednesday, March 16th

HCS HB 294, et. al., sponsored by Rep. Jeanie Riddle (R-20), changes the laws regarding firearms, ammunition, and concealed carry endorsements. This will further protect the rights of law abiding gun owners in Missouri while strengthening the penalties against criminals. According to a report released Tuesday in the Huffington Post, the Obama administration is currently researching all the ways in which “executive order” can be used to place restrictions on your 2nd Amendment rights. We need to pass legislation to strengthen and protect your rights, not restrict and destroy them. Here in the Missouri House of Representatives, we plan to do just that with the passage of this legislation.

HB 252, sponsored by Rep. Stanley Cox (R-118), was ordered perfected and printed. HB 252 is the Business Premises Safety Act. This bill keeps business owners from being held responsible for providing safety for customers against the criminal acts of a third party. It also solidifies the right of a person to possess a firearm in their own personal vehicle. It only makes sense that a business owner is not capable of predicting the actions of a criminal and therefore should not be held responsible for any harm done in their committing of a criminal act.

HB 731, sponsored by Rep. Mark Parkinson (R-16), was ordered perfected and printed. This bill will add citizenship information to the sexual offender registration form and requires the State Highway Patrol to report to the federal government any non-U.S. citizen on the sexual offender registry.

As well as the aforementioned bills, many consent bills passed the house this week. Consent bills are not debated on the House Floor for a variety of reasons: 1. They are non-controversial (no opposition). 2. They have no fiscal impact. 3. They create no penalty provisions.

Third Read Thursday, March 17th

Today, the House gave final overwhelming and bipartisan passage to the following bills described above: HCS HB 213, HCS HB 29, HCS HB 89, HCS HB 431, HCS HB 294 et. al., HB 252, HB 731, HJR 6, and HJR 29.

Public Service Announcement!

The Eureka Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual Swap Meet/Garage Sale in the Six Flags Parking Lot on March 26, 2011. This is a huge event and a great advertising opportunity for your business in the event map. There are only a limited number of spots available, so, if you are interested, please contact Joy Sauter, the Membership and Marketing Director for the Eureka Chamber of Commerce, at joysauter{at}eurekachamber{dot}us.

Important Tax Information

Taxpayers making $58,000 or less can visit http://www.irs.gov/efile/ to prepare and E-File federal tax returns, for FREE, through a landmark partnership between the IRS and tax software providers.

Michelle Moore Needs Your Help!

Michelle Moore is a great friend and colleague back in the St. Louis region. This week we found out that she is projected to be on the kidney donor wait list for 3 years. Do you know someone who can help? Please visit http://www.atraditionallifelived.com and/or http://twitter.com/Michelle_Moore for more information. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BEING TESTED FOR DONATING YOUR KIDNEY TO MICHELLE, PLEASE CALL 314-362-5365 OR 800-633-9906 - OPTION 2 - BEFORE APRIL 25TH.

Visiting the Capitol

I always enjoy it when constituents visit the Capitol and want to thank all who make the journey. If you ever find yourself in or around Jefferson City at any time during the year, please feel free to visit us! Stop by the Majority Leader’s Office in Room 302 and we will be happy to meet and greet you!

Personal News & Notes

If you know anyone who would be interested in receiving the Capitol Report, they can click the “Capitol Report Signup” button on my member home page at www.house.mo.gov and enter the appropriate information to receive the Capitol Report. As the days grow longer under the Capitol Dome, we want to encourage you to keep up with the flurry of legislative activity. Now that another long Session Week has concluded and we will be on a one week Legislative Spring Break, I am very excited to be able to spend an entire week at home, spending good quality time with Suzanne, Katie and Abby and billing some good, quality hours at my law firm of Doster Ullom! I know my family and law partners eagerly await my return! Finally, have a very happy and safe ST. PATRICK’S DAY (!) and if we can ever be of any assistance to you at your State Capitol, do not hesitate to contact us at: 573.751.0562 or you can reach my primary assistant, Jody, at: jody{dot}williams{at}house{dot}mo{dot}gov.

Until our next update, I am, and remain, in your service.