from the desk of Travis Smith, State Representative District 155
Greetings from Jefferson City. Two of my most important items in the legislative process are protecting innocent life and helping small businesses. The Missouri House passed two bills this week to do just that.
Just as soon a Missouri became the first state to outlaw abortion our adversaries already started working on Initiative Petitions to make abortion legal in Missouri. Currently, I think it’s too easy to get something on the ballot. This week we passed a bill that makes the process much tougher than just collecting signatures in Saint Louis, Kansas City, Springfield and Columbia. Below are the details of that bills.
House Members Take Action to Improve and Protect the Initiative Petition Process (HB 703)
The Missouri House has approved legislation that would make statutory changes based on court precedent to the state’s initiative petition process. By a vote of 109-49, House members approved HB 703 and sent it to the Senate, which is already considering a constitutional change to the initiative petition process that was approved by the House in early February. Mike Haffner, the bill’s sponsor said, “This is a complex bill, but nothing is more important than protecting our constitution. Since 1945 over 199 amendments have been added to the Missouri Constitution. The U.S. Constitution has been amended 27 times with 10 of them being in the original Bill of Rights, and that has been since 1789. 199 to 27.” He added, “We have added such policy as marijuana to the Missouri Constitution. Topics such as this or others may deserve some statutory language but in my view it does not belong in our constitution.”
One provision in the bill requires that petition circulators be citizens of the United States, residents of Missouri or physically present in Missouri for at least 30 consecutive days prior to the collection of signatures. It also prohibits them from being compensated based on the number of signatures collected.
Representative Haffner said it’s important to eliminate paying circulators per signature obtained because it’s a process ripe with fraud. He said, “It’s out-of-state interests paying these folks per signature. Their motivation is to collect as many signatures as possible instead of the validity of the process.
We have way too many out-of-state interests trying to make a determination as to what’s happening with the Missouri Constitution and it’s wrong. It’s Missourians’ responsibility to determine the constitution and that’s why I feel this court precedent is so important. Let’s bring it back to the people that are actually being affected.”
Other provisions in the bill would provide standardization to the initiative petition process with the forms that are submitted to the Secretary of State, change the timeline for constitutional verification based on a Missouri Supreme Court decision, ensure voter signatures are only counted for what they actually sign, update the criminal codes, and delete a requirement that the Joint Committee on Legislative Research hold a hearing to take public comment on a proposed measure.
The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration.
Missouri House Approves Bill to Protect Small Businesses (HB 1263)
Lawmakers in the Missouri House have approved legislation to establish the “Protecting Missouri’s Small Businesses Act.” The bill would help offset the economic damage done to businesses that are forced by government to shut down through no fault of their own.
Representative Brown, a former teacher and coach sponsored the bill as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic that saw many small businesses suffer economically because of government-mandated shutdowns. “We’re just trying to make a bad situation potentially a little bit better for businesses that, for no fault of their own, get caught up in a public safety issue where maybe they are shut down, they are experiencing some severe economic losses.” The “Protecting Missouri’s Small Businesses Act” requires the state of Missouri and its political subdivisions to give careful consideration and appropriate concern for the lasting effects of actions taken during a shutdown order that adversely affect the economic viability and well-being of Missourians and businesses. The bill provides that if any political subdivision with jurisdiction over a business implements any shutdown order and the business closes due to the shutdown order for at least 21 consecutive days or at least 45 cumulative days, the following requirements apply: (1) Waiving of any fee for a business license during the period of the shutdown order or six months, whichever is longer; and (2) Reducing the real and personal property tax liability of the business based on the number of days the business was shut down in a given year, as further explained in the bill. Brown explained, “What this bill simply does is it sets up a process by which small businesses, in the event of a forced shutdown by a local municipality, can apply for a refund or be exempt from a certain amount of their personal and real taxes, and some licensing fees. In the spirit of fairness, if they are mandatorily shut down, I just don’t believe they should be forced to pay taxes for that time period when they are shut down.”
The bill was approved by the House by a vote of 141-9. It now moves to the Senate for consideration.
I am thankful that we can be helping protect and help the constituents of the 155th District. Please know that if you ever need any help with any aspect of the government at any level give us a call at 573-751-2042 and will be your advocate. God Bless you and your families.
Travis Smith
