JEFFERSON CITY, MO—The Missouri House wrapped up the first half of the legislative session and reached its annual Spring Break this past week. The first two-and-a-half months of the 2015 session saw the House move legislation out of committee at a near record pace. To date, House committees have voted out more than 200 bills and another 40 plus consent bills. In comparison, the House passed only 200 non-consent bills at this point in time in the 2011 and 2012 sessions combined.
The heavy workload of the committees has resulted in many bills coming to the floor for discussion, and the House has already passed several of the Majority Caucus’s priorities and sent them to the Senate. Already this session the House has approved bills to make Missouri a Right-to-Work state; restore medical malpractice damage limits; protect the integrity of the elections process by requiring a photo ID to vote; and solve the school transfer problem to give kids in failing urban districts new opportunities to learn. In addition, the House has passed a balanced, fiscally responsible $26.1 billion operating budget that will take K-12 education funding to record levels.
Reforming Missouri’s Welfare System (SB 24)
In an effort to place a greater emphasis on helping people get back to work, the members of the Missouri House approved legislation recently to reform the state’s system of welfare. The bill is designed to restructure the welfare system and reinvest the savings in incentives such as childcare, job training and transportation services to get people back into the workforce.
A study completed earlier in the year by the Heartland Institute found that Missouri had only a 14 to 16 percent work participation rate for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. The participation rate ranked Missouri last in the nation and earned the state a grade of F in the report. The bill approved by the House this week would add Missouri to the list of 37 other states that require welfare recipients to take immediate steps to seek employment in order to receive benefits. The legislation also would lower the lifetime limit on assistance from five years to 30 months. The savings generated from the change would then be invested in childcare, education, transportation and job training assistance for participants in the TANF program.
As supporters said on the House floor, the changes are meant to put an emphasis on getting people back to work and out of poverty. They emphasized the need for welfare benefits to be temporary assistance that helps people in need to return to self-sufficiency and independence.
The bill now returns to the Senate with the changes made by the House. In all likelihood the bill will now move to a conference committee where select members from each chamber will meet to iron out any differences.
House Advances Measure to Combat Human Trafficking (HB 152)
The Missouri House took action to address a gap in current law that allows dangerous sex traffickers to advertise in the state without fear of criminal charges. The bill approved overwhelmingly by the House would add the advertising of sexual acts with a minor to Missouri’s existing law against sex trafficking.
During debate on the floor, the sponsor of the bill talked about websites and flyers used to promote the exploitation of children and how law enforcement is currently powerless to stop them. He said his bill would give law enforcement and prosecutors a powerful tool to target and shut down trafficking websites and protect innocent children from harm.
Modeled after the congressional SAVE Act, HB 152 would criminalize any form of advertisement – from online posts to classified ads – if the advertiser knows it could lead to human trafficking. Individuals who engage in such advertising would be guilty of sexual trafficking of a child, which is a felony offense in Missouri with a possible maximum sentence of life in prison.
House Approves Bring Jobs Home Act (HB 325)
Like many other states, Missouri has seen many businesses close up shop in recent years to seek greener pastures outside the borders of the state, and the nation. For some that has meant moving their operations to Mexico or even India where they can keep costs down and profits up.
Last week the House took action to address the problem by passing legislation known as the Bring Jobs Home Act. The bill was approved by House members from both parties with the goal of keeping businesses and jobs in Missouri where they can go to Missouri residents who are ready and willing to work.
To do that, the Bring Jobs Home Act would allow for businesses that move back to Missouri to take a tax deduction of up to 50 percent of the eligible insourcing expenses associated with eliminating a business outside the state and reestablishing it in Missouri. The bill also includes several safeguards, including a cap on the deduction and a sunset, to ensure companies cannot exploit the incentive.
Supporters of the bill said its primary goal is to bring jobs back to the United States, and specifically to the state of Missouri. They called the legislation a simple but effective step the state can take to help create more of the good-paying jobs Missouri families need and want.
House Approves Legislation to Require Childproof Packaging for Liquid Nicotine (HB 531)
Heading into its Spring Break, the Missouri House also passed legislation to protect young people from dangerous liquid nicotine commonly used in e-cigarettes. The bill passed by the House would require that the refillable containers for liquid nicotine be sold in child-safe packaging.
The sponsor of the bill noted that the increasing popularity of e-cigarettes has led to new dangers for children that occur due to contact with the liquid nicotine. She pointed to cases where children have accidentally ingested the dangerous liquids that are often flavored as types of candy or fruit. During discussion on the floor, she reminded the members of the House of the tragic death of a toddler in New York who passed away last year after drinking some of the liquid nicotine. By putting new safety standards in place, the members of the House hope to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in Missouri.
House Moves to Improve Amber Alert System (HB 635)
The Missouri House took action last week to improve the state’s Amber Alert System that is used to alert Missourians when a child goes missing. The House passed HB 635, which is known as “Hailey’s Law” in memoriam of a 10-year old Springfield girl who was abducted and murdered last year.
Hailey Owens was abducted while walking home from a friend’s house in February of last year. Because of the current complicated and tedious process to issue an Amber Alert, it was two hours before one was put out for Hailey’s abduction. After Hailey’s tragic death, her family called for a faster process for issuing alerts, which they believe could have saved her life.
The bill passed by the House this week would integrate the Amber Alert System into the Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System so that the process is streamlined and expedited. It also would require the Amber Alert System Oversight Committee to meet at least annually to discuss potential improvements to the system. As the bill’s sponsor said, “When a child goes missing every second counts and every additional moment we can give our law enforcement officials to act can mean the difference between life and death. We must do everything we can to protect our young people from harm, and this much-needed change is a positive step in the right direction to ensure tragedies like the one that took Hailey’s life do not happen to other innocent young people in our state.”
Contact Representative Pike or her legislative assistant, Beth Rohrback, at the Missouri House of Representatives at 573-751-5388 or e-mail them at Patricia.Pike@house.mo.gov for assistance on State Issues and to receive Capitol Reports electronically.
Rep. Patricia Pike's Weekly
