Jeff City Beat: Local lawmakers did get bills through Missouri Legislature

May 19--"Jeff City Beat" is a weekly report on happenings in Missouri's state government. Aside from noting actions of locally elected officials Rep. Nate Walker (R-3), Rep. Craig Redmon (R-4) and Sen. Brian Munzlinger (R-18), this is a summary of important bills and votes from the Missouri House and Senate.

It turns out Rep. Walker and Rep. Redmon had more bills reach Gov. Eric Greitens' desk than it first appeared.

The Daily Express reported Friday that none of their bills were passed during what was a slow-moving Missouri Legislative Session that saw a record-low number of bills approved.

But that initial report was not entirely correct. Parts of several of Rep. Walker's pensions bills were added to Senate Bill 62, while Rep. Redmon had three bills ultimately passed under Senate Bill 8. Both of those bills were passed and delivered to Gov. Greitens for his signature or veto.

The confusion stemmed from an apparent change in the Missouri House of Representatives' bill tracking system. In previous years, the online tracking noted when legislation had been added to, joined with or replaced by other similar bills.

No such notations were made this year, giving the appearance that a bill stalled when it could have possibly been merged with other legislation.

Rep. Walker's bills added in part to SB 62, which was sponsored by Sen. Dan. Hegeman (R-12), were:

- HB 865: The pieces added to SB 62 pertain to airport police officers employed by the City of St. Louis (those officers will not be required to join the Police Retirement System of St. Louis as a condition of their employment); terminated members of the closed plan of the Missouri State Employees' Retirement System or the Year 2000 plan (they can elect to receive a lump sum payment instead of deferred annuity)

- HB 723: The pieces added to SB 62 pertain to retired teachers in the Kansas City Public School Retirement System (allowing members to work for a third party or as an independent contractor and not forfeit retirement allowance)

- HB 1085: The pieces added to SB 62 pertain to the City of St. Louis' public school retirement system (lowers eligible retirement age, establishes new benefit calculation for new employees, increases retirement plan contribution for employees and lowers contribution for employers)

- HB 972: The pieces added to SB 62 pertain to the county employees' retirement fund, or CERF (increases fees collected for CERF that are collected on back taxes, increases the penalties for property assessment lists and directs additional revenue to CERF)

Rep. Redmon's bills added in part to SB 8, which was sponsored by Sen. Munzlinger, were:

- HB 694: The pieces added to SB 8 pertain to propane fuel (adds a five cent per gallon tax on propane used to fuel motor vehicles; the tax would increase to 17 cents per gallon by 2025; applications for and use of alternative fuel decals is continued)

- HB 791: The pieces added to SB 8 pertain to commercial motor vehicles (use of specially designated routes will not be deemed a nuisance or evidence of a nuisance)

- HB 85: The pieces added to SB 8 pertain to the state's "Move Over" law (adds stationary public utility vehicles to the list of vehicles motorists are required to slow down or move over for)

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