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7

NewsBook: Missouri Government News for Week of March 5, 2001

 


. State Audit shows problems at Social Services(03/08/01)
JEFFERSON CITY - State Auditor Claire McCaskill said a state audit showed mismanagement of $11.8 million in federal funds by the Department of Social Services. Lax oversight also allowed some Missouri residents to claim dual worker's compensation and welfare benefits, the audit said.

  • Get the newspaper story.
    . State Supreme Court rules state does not have to pay $244 million in refunds (03/08/01)
    JEFFERSON CITY - The Missouri Supreme Court handed the state a major victory Thursday by ruling that the state did not have to refund $244 million to taxpayers.

    However, the University of Missouri system may still lose funds for capital improvements, including a variety of construction projects on the drawing boards at its four campuses.

  • Get the newspaper story.
  • Get the radio story.
    . Mentally retarded one step closer from being exempt from death penalty after House passes bill (03/08/01)
    JEFFERSON CITY - The Missouri House passed a bill to exempt the mentally retarded from the death penalty just days after a Missouri man had his execution stayed because of concerns over his mental capabilities.

    This bill will not affect his case or the case of anyone currently on death row.

  • Get the newspaper story.
  • Get the radio story.
  • Get more information on HB 265 and the bill's sponsor, Rep. Craig Hosmer.
    . Alternative approved to Holden plan (03/07/01)
    JEFFERSON CITY - One day after Gov. Holden presented his $620 million transportation plan, a Senate panel endorsed a smaller measure.

    No taxes would be raised under the proposal approved Wednesday by the Senate Transportation Committee.

    Instead, the plan would phase out the practice of diversion of fuel tax increases to agencies other than the Department of Transportation -- except for money that goes to the Mo. State Highway Patrol. The result would be annually about $60 million in transportation and the $200 million when fully implemented.


    . Senate approves exempting the mentally retarded from death penalty (03/07/01)
    JEFFERSON CITY - The Senate gave first-round approval to a bill that includes a provision excluding mentally retarded people from the death penalty.

    The bill also requires the Highway Patrol to keep all DNA evidence from felony cases in Missouri.

  • Get the radio story.
  • Get more information on SB 267 and the bill's sponsor, Sen. David Klarich.
    . Beef, a booming industry in Missouri (03/07/01)
    KINGDOM CITY - Legislation within Missouri's Statehouse is supporting the state's booming beef industry.

    The demand for beef has risen across the nation due in part to the efforts of farmers throughout the state.

  • Get the newspaper story.
    . Missouri lawmakers offer alternative funding plans for transportation (03/07/01)
    JEFFERSON CITY - One day after Gov. Bob Holden unveiled his package of tax hikes for highways, a House committee heard testimony on a number of alternative funding plans.

    These plans are similar to the transportation plan that Gov. Holden introduced on Tuesday.

  • Get the newspaper story.
    . A senator who usually supports gun control proposes to allow some people carry concealed weapons (03/07/01)
    JEFFERSON CITY - Sen. Ken Jacob, D-Columbia, is sponsoring a bill that calls for a public referendum on the right to carry concealed weapons.

    However, the bill leaves out the provision that prompted the bill: a provision that would limit the bill's application to those who have good cause for carrying a concealed weapon.

  • Get the newspaper story.
  • Get the radio story.
  • Get more information on SB 629 and the bill's sponsor, Sen. Ken Jacob.
    . Missouri lawmakers do little to fix problems with the Internet and adoptions (3/07/01)
    JEFFERSON CITY- The international debate still rages over the Internet twins, born in St. Louis, yet Missouri lawmakers have no concrete plan to correct omissions in the law.

  • Get the newspaper story.
    . Abused pets get the attention of Missouri lawmakers (3/07/01)
    JEFFERSON CITY - One hundred people converged on the Capitol Wednesday to lobby a Senate committee considering legislation on animal breeding and distribution.

  • Get the newspaper story.
  • Get the radio story.
  • Get more information on SB 511, SB 490, and the bills' sponsors, Sen. Michael Gibbons and Sen. Pat Dougherty, respectively.
    . Organized labor holds a rally in support of equal-pay legislation (03/06/01)
    JEFFERSON CITY - A rally backed by the AFL-CIO swept the Statehouse Tuesday to push for the House Equal Pay Bill. The bill would allow wage discrimination suits to be heard more easily in state courts.

  • Get the newspaper story.
  • Get more information on HB 115 and the bill's sponsor, Rep. John Hickey.
    . Holden transportation plan hits Republican opposition (03/06/01)
    JEFFERSON CITY - Gov. Bob Holden's long-awaited transportation funding program, which asks Missouri taxpayers to approve the state's largest tax increase since 1992, ran into Republican opposition Tuesday.

    State lawmakers said they commend Holden's leadership for bringing the plan forward, but leading Republicans said they are skeptical of any tax increase plan passing this legislative session.

  • Get the newspaper story.
  • Get the radio story on Holden's plan.
    . Holden goes forward on plans for Richardson execution (03/06/01)
    JEFFERSON CITY - Missouri Gov. Bob Holden indicated Tuesday that he was leaning toward taking no action on a commutation petition submitted on behalf of Antonio Richardson, a convicted murderer who protestors claim is borderline mentally retarded.

    "I've not made a final decision on the case," Holden said. "But up to this point, I've seen no additional information that would indicate that we should not go forward."

    Holden supports a proposal that would bar executions of the mentally retarded, but said it would not apply in this case.

    "As I understand it, the definition of mentally retarded in the bills would not cover this case," Holden told reporters at the State Capitol.

    Richardson was convicted in the 1991 murder of Julie and Robin Kerry, teenage sisters. He was scheduled to be die by lethal injection Wednesday at the Potosi Correctional Center, but a federal court issued a last-minute stay.

  • Get the newspaper story.
    . Drivers' privacy questioned (03/01/01)
    JEFFERSON CITY - Rep. David Levin, D-St. Louis County, announced a bill that would stifle Department of Revenue attempts to gather drivers' personal information for encoding on the back of drivers' licenses.

    Reid calls the issue a state invasion of personal privacy. Encoding possibilities include accessing everything from DNA to checking account information.

  • Get the newspaper story.
  • Get more information on HB 897 and the bill's sponsor, Rep. David Levin.
    . Debate on applying death penalty to the mentally retarded (03/05/01)
    JEFFERSON CITY - Missouri lawmakers were set to consider a proposal that would exempt the mentally retarded from the death penalty.

    Meanwhile, Missouri Gov. Bob Holden was expected to decide whether to go ahead with the execution of a mentally retarded man currently on death row.

  • Get the newspaper story.
    . New money for life science research (03/05/01)
    JEFFERSON CITY - A bill is awaiting debate in the Missouri Senate to provide money for life science research.

    The money would come from tobacco settlements.

  • Get the radio story.
  • Get more information on SB 226 and the bill's sponsor, Sen. Wayne Goode.
    . A Bipartisan Proposal Would Set Up A Fund For Tobacco Money (03/05/01)
    JEFFERSON CITY - House Republicans and Democrats have planned to create a fund that would hold one billion dollars of the tobacco settlement money.

    Then, interest made from the fund would be spent on prescription drugs, smoking prevention and childhood education.

    And the people will be able to vote on how to spend this money if the proposal goes through.

  • Get the newspaper story.
  • Get the radio story.