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Two pieces of legislation are currently moving through the Missouri Legislature. One good, and one bad.

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But perhaps the most interesting recent development on this subject happened Tuesday night. As part of the House’s annual budget debate, amendments were repeatedly added to spending bills that would explicitly stop state funding from going to DEI programs—not only in higher education, but in other state departments as well.

Now that the budget bills go to the Senate, this language will likely change or even be removed by the upper chamber. We’ll keep you posted on the progress of the budget bills and on the other anti-loyalty oath initiatives. The legislation remains a long way from crossing the finish line.

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And to be clear, the movement of this bill is part of a larger spending transparency reform arc. Last year the state began publishing its own spending online in a more digestible format, and legislation passed in 2018 now requires school districts to publicize similar spending details of their own. We’ll keep you posted on where the municipal spending bill goes, and whether cities will have to join other government units in Missouri in sharing their spending with the public. Such a requirement is long overdue.

If government can spend your money, they should be able to tell you where they spent it. And if they can’t, or won’t? That’s a problem.

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Cities across Missouri, including Kansas City and towns around St. Louis, have banned Airbnb outright in some areas. As we’ve written previously, this is an onerous and likely unconstitutional restriction on property rights. In 2017, home sharing advocates supported state legislation that would have pre-empted localities from imposing fees or prohibiting STRs outright, while permitting those subdivisions to impose “reasonable regulation” to “protect the public’s health and safety.” It may have been those undefined regulatory allowances that killed that bill, as supporters abandoned the effort at the end. A similar bill is being considered by the Missouri legislature this session.

The economic case for home sharing is compelling. Contrary to opponents’ fears, home sharing seems to increase home values in the surrounding area. However this has raised the concern that it increases rents as is displaces available housing units, although it hasn’t seemed to affect the hotel industry as much as hoteliers feared. As the industry matures, we will learn more about the consequences, intended or otherwise, of this new opportunity for homeowners.

Our guiding principle, however, must not be fear of change or of disruption, but protecting the economic freedom and individual liberty of Missourians. Protecting property rights against neighborhood NIMBYs remains a worthy endeavor.

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Have questions or comments about any of these legislative items? Leave them in the comments below. 

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High among those jeopardized priorities: state benefits for some of Medicaid's very neediest beneficiaries. This video from the Foundation for Government Accountability provides an example from cash-strapped Illinois.

The good news is that this year both the House and Senate have passed legislation to implement these regular audits. Barring any legislative hiccups in the final mile, this could be good news for taxpayers, currently qualified Medicaid beneficiaries, and other state priorities. Stay tuned.

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 “The leases, agreements, contracts, or subleases and any amendments for space, usage, or services in any convention center or related facilities owned or operated by a regional convention and visitors commission… must not be considered public records under the Open Meetings and Record law, commonly known as the Sunshine Law…”

It goes on to say that this is only the case if transparency would put the commission at a competitive disadvantage; however it never defines such a situation and seems to leave it to the commission’s discretion.

Upon reading this, I immediately found myself wondering a few things. How is it ever a bad thing for the public to know how a public entity is spending public dollars? What is the possible competitive disadvantage regarding documents to which the parties have already agreed? If there really are legitimate situations in which the Convention and Visitors Commission would be hurt by transparency, why did nobody take the opportunity to tell us what these situations look like? At least the law states that this exemption does not apply if a sports franchise is involved, but I doubt it should apply under any circumstances.

I understand that secondary provisions get tacked on to bills fairly frequently, and perhaps legislators felt very strongly about getting the rest of this bill passed. However, questionable policy is questionable policy. Even if the legislature felt strongly that the main of the bill needed to pass, why did it not take the time to clean up this unrelated, troubling provision?

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The concern: Would the governor veto “Right to Try” this year, much like he vetoed the Volunteer Health Services Act last year?

The answer: Nope. He just signed it.

The Governor signed two health-related bills, which will provide Missourians in specific situations with additional options for medical treatment of illness and disease. House Bill 1685 allows drug manufacturers to make available investigational drugs, biological products, or devices to certain eligible terminally ill patients. House Bill 2238 allows the use of hemp extract to treat some individuals with epilepsy and also allows the Department of Agriculture to issue licenses to grow industrial hemp strictly for research purposes. House Bill 2238 contains an emergency clause.

I talked about this bill a lot in the last few months. This was, to me, an obvious opportunity to empower people to make each other’s lives better. The government should open doors for people to care for one another, not erect and maintain barriers to helping each other. “Right to Try’s” enactment is not only a victory of reform-minded policy, but more importantly, it is a victory for Missourians in need.

Congratulations to the Missouri House and Senate for sending the bill to the governor, to the legislators who sponsored the bill and powered this important conversation, and to the governor for making the right decision by adding his support to the unanimous votes of the legislature. Well done.

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Now some legislators want to get bicyclists off the roads, presumably so cars can drive faster. The cyclist ban would apply to state roads within 2 miles of a state bicycle path or trail. Missouri Rep. Bart Korman (R-Dist. 99), who introduced the bill, said that its purpose is to “encourage people to use the bicycle trails that are for the bicycles and pedestrians and not for motor vehicles.”

Should the answer to our aggravations always be to make them illegal? With the Thanksgiving Family Protection Act, lawmakers sought to close retail stores on Thanksgiving because they felt workers should spend time with family. That is a reflection of their ideals and their preferences— but not necessarily everyone else’s. The same is true with the proposed bicycling ban. Korman would prefer that cyclists stay off the road, but many cyclists would like to share the road. Why can’t they? He is not saying it is incredibly dangerous. Even if it were, people do incredibly dangerous legal and illegal things everyday, and whether we like it or not, that is their own choice. We cannot restrict people from doing everything we do not like.

This is a situation in which legislators should ask themselves whether we actually need a law. Making things illegal is not the only way to impact behavior. Look at texting while driving, for example. Which method do you think is more effective in reducing texting while driving, Oprah’s No Phone Zone Pledge or a state law? I think we all know the answer to that. Let’s just say I doubt Stedman ever texts, “U were gr8 on tv 2day O,” while driving.

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Well, yesterday the Education Committee told Missouri families where it stands, voting to not send the bill to the full Senate for further consideration, meaning the bill is effectively dead — for now, anyway. The House is still considering substantially similar legislation, and there are technical pathways through which this legislation could be resurrected or otherwise attached to other bills, and thus reconsidered. I will be on the lookout for all such activities, but the good news is that the prospects for the bill are now very bleak.

Kudos, Senators. There are more effective and efficient ways of promoting eye health for Missouri’s children than through the mandate contemplated here. The Committee made the right decision.

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But, concerns about personal liberty do not appear to be stopping the Missouri Legislature from taking a stand against fake tans.

Missouri House Bill 1283, sponsored by Rep. Jay Barnes (R-Dist. 114), would make it a crime for anyone under the age of 15 to use a tanning bed. This legislation is not just about commercial tanning beds: The way the bill currently reads, it would be a Class C misdemeanor for a 14-year-old to use her parents’ tanning bed. If she tanned at a commercial tanning facility, the company would be subject to a $1,000 fine.

But wait. What if she has her parents’ permission to tan at a tanning facility? According to Barnes’ anti-tanning bill, her parents could be charged with a crime.

There are many things we do that are hazardous to our health, with and without our parents’ permission. The Missouri Legislature should not be preoccupied with trying to write laws to force us to do whatever they think is “right.”

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