’22 Legislative Reports: Week 17: Senate, House on Fast Pace as End of Session Nears

House Bill 1541 (McGirl, R-Potosi) is legislation pertaining to special road districts’ funds. Currently, certain special road districts are restricted to expend not more than one-fourth of the district’s revenue within the corporate limits of any city within the district. This bill removes the restriction. Senate Committee Substitute for HB 1541 was voted “do pass” by the Senate Local Government and Elections Committee by a vote of 5-0 on April 25. The Senate Committee Substitute added a condensed county financial statement to be published in local newspapers annually, and added salary modifications for coroners, sheriffs, and public administrators, and modified the Missouri Local Government Employees’ Retirement System.

House Bill 1562 (Griffith, R-Jefferson City) designates the “Stars and Stripes Historic Region of Missouri.” The Stars and Stripes military newspaper was founded during the Civil War in the town of Bloomfield, MO, where the Stars and Stripes Museum is located. On April 26, the Senate Economic Development Committee voted “do pass” on HB 1562 by a vote of 8-0. The bill now moves to the Senate. The bill specifies the multi-county, historic region of southeast Missouri. The Department of Transportation may place suitable markings and informational signs in the designated areas, costs to be paid by private donations.

House Bill 1633 (Morse, R-Dexter) Currently, political subdivisions that fail to submit the required annual financial statement to the State Auditor are fined $500 a day. This bill reduces the fine to an amount of not more than 10% of the total sales and use tax revenue of the fiscal year for which the annual financial statement was not filed for municipalities with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants. Hearing held April 25 in the House Financial Institutions Committee. No testimony in support or opposition. On April 27 the committee held an executive session where HCS for HB 1633 was voted “do pass” by a vote of 11-3.

House Bill 2003 (Pouche, R-Kansas City) adds all settlements and judgments paid from the state’s Legal Expense Fund to the list of financial transactions disclosed in the Missouri Accountability Portal. On April 25 the House Rules-Administrative Oversight Committee voted HB 2003 “do pass” by a vote of 10-0.

House Bill 2120 (Taylor, R-Republic) The bill creates provisions relating to the disclosure of personal information to public agencies and establishes the “Personal Privacy Protection Act”, prohibiting public agencies from disclosing or requiring the disclosure of personal information. Additionally, the bill includes the offense of harassment of a judicial officer by defining online harassment which can include the posting of private information such as an address, social security number, telephone number, or family member names. Lastly, the bill also adds filings required by law to be filed with the Secretary of State to the list of exemptions. Hearing held April 25 in the Senate Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee. Americans for Prosperity, People United for Privacy, and the Institute for Free Speech supported the bill. No opposing testimony was presented.

House Bill 2168 (Porter, R-Montgomery City) The bill states if an insurance policy is purchased through the Internet, a mobile application, a computer, a mobile device, a tablet, or any other electronic device or platform or if an insurance policy is initially delivered by electronic means, a party shall be considered to have affirmatively consented to have all future notices and documents related to the policy or claims of such policy delivered by electronic means. During committee discussion, substitute language was adopted to include the perfected version of SB 742, sponsored by Senator Sandy Crawford (R-Buffalo). Currently, the Petroleum Storage Tank Insurance Fund expires on December 31, 2025. This act extends the expiration date to December 31, 2030. During debate, the sponsor offered substitute language to align the bill with the perfected version of SB 783, which includes provisions pertaining to travel insurance, life insurance, motor vehicle insurance verification, and unemployment insurance. Once modified, the Senate Insurance and Banking Committee passed the bill by a 4-0 vote.

House Bill 2502 (Houx, R-Warrensburg) The bill seeks to legalize sports betting in Missouri. On April 25 the Senate Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee voted the bill “do pass” by a vote of 7-0.

House Bill 2587 (Riley, R-Springfield) establishes the “Regulatory Sandbox Act” which creates the Regulatory Relief Office within the Department of Economic Development. The Regulatory Relief Office shall administer the provisions of the bill with the purpose of identifying state laws or regulations that could potentially be waived or suspended for participating businesses during a 24-month period in which the participating business demonstrates an innovative product offering to consumers. HB 2587, as amended, was voted “do pass” by the Senate Economic Development Committee by a vote of 5-3 on April 26. Included in the bill is a House floor amendment that adds transparency to the bill, suggested by the Missouri Press Association. Transparency issues addressed regard the identity of residents and businesses that make suggestions on the web site, most meetings of the advisory committee shall be considered as public meetings under the Sunshine Law, and incident reports shall be publicly available on the regulatory sandbox web page, among other provisions. The Senate committee made no changes to the House bill.

House Bill 2705 (Lovasco, R-O’Fallon) This bill prohibits any county, city, town, village, municipality, state agency, or other political subdivision from enacting, adopting, or enforcing any law, ordinance, regulation, order, or other provision that authorizes the use of any automated traffic enforcement system, as defined in the bill, to establish evidence that a motor vehicle or its operator was not in compliance with traffic signals, traffic speeds, or other laws, ordinances, rules, or regulations on any public street, road, or highway within this state, or to impose or collect any civil or criminal fine, fee, or penalty for the noncompliance with certain exceptions. Retaining any data recorded by such a system regarding a person’s location or movements without a warrant is prohibited. Any county, city, town, village, municipality, state agency, or other political subdivision that has an automated traffic enforcement system installation or maintenance contract with a company on August 28, 2022, must arrange to complete or terminate the contract by September 1, 2023, after which date the city, town, village, municipality, state agency, or other political subdivision will be subject to the prohibition. The House Downsizing State Government Committee held an executive session on April 27 where House Committee Substitute for HB 2705 was voted “do pass” by a vote of 7-3. The substitute eliminates lines regarding warrants.

House Joint Resolution 79 (Henderson, R-Bonne Terre) was voted “do pass” by the Senate Local Government and Elections Committee by a vote of 4-2 on April 25. HJR 79 would make changes to the initiative petition process. The Senate Committee Substitute changed the title of the bill to “process for amending the law” and clarified the implementation date. HJR 79 is a proposed state Constitutional amendment that if approved by voters would require a two-thirds supermajority vote for passage of an amendment to the state’s Constitution. HJR 79 requires initiative petition signatures to place a measure on the ballot as a Constitutional amendment to be collected in each of Missouri’s eight U.S. Congressional districts using a percentage requirement of 10 percent. Statutes may be placed on the ballot using the current percentage requirement of 5 percent. (Currently, a Constitutional amendment may be placed on the ballot by initiative petitions signed by eight percent of legal voters in six of Missouri’s eight Congressional districts, and the ballot issue currently would take effect if a simple majority of votes cast approves the issue.) The bill would require the Secretary of State to administer public forums in each Congressional district at least 15 days before the measure is voted on a statewide ballot to give members of the public an opportunity to review and comment on the initiative petition. HJR 79 also has an effective date of Jan. 1, 2023, if approved by voters.

Senate Bill 745 (Cierpiot, R-Lee’s Summit) The bill, as originally filed, allows the Public Service Commission to track all utilities true amounts of property taxes. During the bill’s Senate progression, the bill was amended to include:

• SB 881, which authorizes a sales tax exemption on the purchase of solar;
• SB 763, creates the Task Force on Distributed Energy Resources and Net Metering;
• SB 756, seeks to create economic incentive discount rates for utility providers to increase utilization by providing services to new customers on electric, sewer, water, and gas usage. Additionally, allows the Public Service Commission to directly contract counsel, financial advisors, or other consultants as necessary to carry out the Commission’s duties related to financing orders and the Commission shall not be subject to provisions of law relating to competitive bidding for state entities.
• Language was included to allow coal-fired utilities maintenance costs to be captured during cases of emergency or disaster; and
• SB 827, which adds individually identifiable customer usage and billing records for customers of a municipally owned utility, unless the records are requested by the customer or authorized for release by the customer, to the list of records that may be closed under the Sunshine Law.

During an executive session of the House Utilities on April 27, substitute language was adopted to further amend the bill to align the language with the perfected version of SB 756, by including:

• SB 763, which creates the Task Force on Distributed Energy Resources and Net Metering, to conduct hearings and research information related to net metering and compile a report to submit to the General Assembly by December 31, 2022;
• language was included to allow local Missouri cooperatives to recover costs from natural disaster events;
• SB 820, prohibits home owners association from restricting solar, and provides sales tax parity for solar operations;
• SB 1014, establishes the “Task Force on Fair, Nondiscriminatory Local Taxation Concerning Solar Energy Systems” to exam the taxation of solar energy systems and related issues;
• SB 945, clarifies that utility taxes are exempt from the definition of “sale at retail” for hotels and motels. Once modified, the Senate provided its first of two necessary approval votes; and
• Removes language allowing the Public Service Commission to directly contract counsel, financial advisors, or other consultants as necessary to carry out the Commission’s duties.

Once modified, the committee passed the bill by a 5-2 vote.

Senate Bill 758 (Hough, R-Rolla) was voted “do pass” by the House Economic Development Committee by a vote of 9-0 on April 26. A substitute bill was presented that designates the Ozark Highlands Region for manufacturing of distilled spirits in Missouri and revises the One Start Act to allow for the Department of Economic Development to administer the incentive program more easily. SB 758 also requires public notice in newspapers for all state contracts for projects more than $100,000. The bill requires publication of an invitation to bid for a period of 10 days or more in a newspaper where the work is located, in one daily newspaper in the state which does not have less than 50,000 daily circulation, and on the Office of Administration’s website. Currently, notices must be published for such projects for five days in a daily newspaper in the county where the work is located or at least two times in a period of 10 days in a newspaper in the county where the work is located and in one daily newspaper in the state which has more than 50,000 daily circulation. The bill makes numerous changes to state statutes affecting design-build projects, public works contracts, construction projects, and single feasible source purchasing authority.

Senate Bill 775, 751 & 640 (Thompson Rehder, R-Sikeston) modifies provisions relating to sexual offenses. An amendment added to the bill prohibits a state court or any employee or agent of a state court to publicly disclose any confidential information of a living person unless the disclosure is permitted by federal law, federal regulation or state law. “Confidential information” is defined in the bill as personal information required under Missouri Supreme Court Operating Rule 4.07.1, including but not limited to, Social Security number and date of birth. For purposes of the section, “publicly disclose” shall not include the use of confidential information by courts, any law enforcement agency, or the Missouri Department of Public Safety in carrying out their constitutional powers or duties. Sections of the bill deal with witnesses of sexual offenses, sexual offenders, child pornography, and Sexual Assault Survivors Bill of Rights. Under current law, certain identifiable information of victims of domestic assault or stalking shall be closed and redacted from public record. Another section of SB 775, et al, adds that such identifiable information shall also include, but shall not be limited to, the victim’s personal email address, birth date, health status, or any information from a forensic testing report. On April 25 the House Rules-Administrative Oversight Committee voted the bill “do pass” by a vote of 10-0.

Senate Bill 845 (Eslinger, R-Wasola) requires a condensed county financial statement to be published in local newspapers in all counties of the first, second, third, or fourth classification. The bill language includes publication of the name and current gross annual salary of each elected or appointed county official. The county clerk or other county officer preparing the financial statement shall provide an electronic copy of the data used to create the financial statement without charge to the newspaper requesting the data. On April 26, the House Local Government Committee voted “do pass” on SB 845, as amended, by a vote of 11-0. Two committee amendments were added to the bill: an amendment modifying salaries of public administrators of counties, and an amendment requiring county officials who represent the City of St. Louis to confirm they have fully paid their local taxes before they can file for public office of the City.

Senate Joint Resolution 33 (Koenig, R-Manchester) This constitutional amendment, if approved by the voters, prohibits the General Assembly from setting an income tax rate exceeding 5.9%. It also modifies a provision prohibiting sales taxes levied on transactions not taxed as of January 1, 2015, by providing an exception for sales and use taxes on subscriptions, licenses for digital products, and online purchases of tangible personal property. On April 26 the House Rules-Administrative Oversight Committee voted SJR 33 “do pass” by a vote of 10-0.