PRIVACY ACTS
This sounds good, right? Let's protect privacy. It's important for all of us. But these acts aren't about protecting you. They are about expanding protections for elected officials and penalizing citizens when the line is crossed. And the penalty is steep. A Class D felony carries a penalty of up to 5 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Language is being added to expand the statutes already in place for judges and also to include all state elected officials, county elected officials and even election poll workers.
There are separate bills floating around to protect different groups of elected officials. They all have basically the same language although they are sponsored by a couple different legislators - Representative Peggy McGaugh and Representative Rudy Veit.
Please understand, I'm not in supporting ANY physical harm or harassment of ANYONE. However, when we include language that say "with the intent", who defines intent? How is that determined? "Intent to harass, intimidate" or even "influence the job performance" is a big problem in these bills.
This blog could be viewed as having intent to influence job performance of our elected officials. What if I mentioned to you in a blog that Senator Moon's wife and kids joined him at the Capitol for the legislative ball? Or that I ran into Representative Seitz and his wife, Valerie, while I was in Branson on vacation? If these bills pass and someone feels like I am trying to harass or intimidate, I could go to prison and have a felony conviction to live with the rest of my life...even though Senator Moon is married, loves his wife and kids and posts photos of her himself on his own social media pages. And we all know Representative Seitz and his wife Valerie live in the Branson area so I could very well run into them while I'm headed to Silver Dollar City.
These bills are just too invasive.
the bills
- HB 301 is a public safety bill sponsored by Rep Roberts with a "Privacy Act" amendment added by Rep Rudy Veit. It has passed the House and is in the Senate. This amendment pertains to judicial officers and all elected state officials and any political subdivision thereof. I've included a PDF attachment of the amendment for you to download and read as well as the link here. The following is language taken directly from the amendment beginning on page 2 line 6.
(1) "Elected official", any elected member of state government or any political subdivision thereof; (2) "Personal information", the same meaning as defined in section 407.1500. 2. A person commits the offense of unlawful disclosure of personally identifiable information if he or she knowingly releases, publicizes, or otherwise publicly discloses the name, home address, Social Security number, telephone number, or other personal information of an elected official or a family member of the elected official with the purpose to harass, intimidate, or cause death or bodily injury to the elected official or a family member of the elected official. 3. The offense of unlawful disclosure of personally identifiable information is a class A misdemeanor. However, if a violation of this section is done with the purpose to influence an elected official in the performance of such official's official duties, the offense is a class D felony.";
- HB 781 sponsored by Rep Peggy McGaugh is an election bill that grants this same protection to election officials, including volunteer poll workers. The following language is found on page 11 starting at line 88 in the bill. Emphasis added to bold words by me.
Disseminating through any means, including by posting on the internet, the personal information of the family of an election official with the intent to harass, intimidate, or influence such official in the performance of his or her duties. For the purpose of this subdivision, "personal information" includes home address, Social Security number, federal tax identification number, checking or savings account numbers, marital status, and identity of a child under eighteen years of age. For the purpose of this subdivision, the term "election official" includes election judges, challengers, watchers, and other volunteers or employees of an election authority. If a violation of this section results in death or bodily injury to an election official or a member of the official’s family, the offense shall be a class B felony.
- HB 405 sponsored by Rep Peggy McGaugh pertains to all elected county officials. The language is the same as her bill above, but please click the link to verify for yourself.
the end game
These bills are designed to protect government officials and intimidate citizens. The truth is we already have statutes on the books for stalking, harassment, assault, etc. These added measures aren't necessary and they infringe on our first amendments rights.
Protect the officials. Jail the citizens if they get offensive. Nice.
These bills need to go.
TAKE ACTION
Status: Senate hearing is scheduled for Monday 2/27 at 1:30pm. Call and/or email committee members and ask for the privacy act amendment to be removed.
Sen Leutkemeyer - 573-751-2183
Sen Schroer - 573-751-1282
Sen Coleman - 573-751-1492
Sen May - 573-751-3599
Sen Roberts - 573-751-4415
Sen Rehder - 573-751-2459
Sen Trent - 573-751-1503
Email Addresses. Copy & paste into your own email server.
tony.leutkemeyer@senate.mo.gov, nick.schroer@senate.mo.gov, mary.coleman@senate.mo.gov, karla.may@senate.mo.gov, steven.roberts@senate.mo.gov, holly.rehder@senate.mo.gov, curtis.trent@senate.mo.gov
Status: This bill has already had a House hearing but the committee still hasn't voted on it. Please email and/or call the committee members and ask for a no vote.
Peggy McGaugh, Chair - peggy.mcgaugh@house.mo.gov 573-751-2917
Dan Stacy, Vice Chair - dan.stacy@house.mo.gov. 573-751-8636
Joe Adams - joe.adams@ house.mo.gov. 573-751-4265
Brad Banderman - brad.banderman@house.mo.gov. 573.751.0549
Donna Baringer - donna.baringer@house.mo.gov. 573-751-4220
Tricia Byrnes - tricia.byrnes@house.mo.gov. 573.751.1460
Jeff Coleman - jeff.coleman@house.mo.gov. 573.751.1487
Bill Falkner - bill.falkner@house.mo.gov. 573.751.9755
Roger Reedy - roger.reedy@house.mo.gov. 573.751.3971
Alex Riley - alex.riley@house.mo.gov. 573.751.2210
Adam Schwadron - adam.schwadron@house.mo.gov. 573.751.2949
David Tyson Smith - david.smith@house.mo.gov. 573.751.9753
Justin Sparks - justin.sparks@house.mo.gov. 573.751.0562
Cheri Toalson Reisch - cheri.toalson-reisch@house.mo.gov. 573-751-1169
Ken Waller - ken.waller@house.mo.gov. 573.751.4451
Kevin Windham - kevin.windham@house.mo.gov. 573.751.4726
Eric Woods - eric.woods@house.mo.gov. 573.751.2199
HB 405 has been referred to a committee but not heard yet. Please call and/or email the committee members and ask for a no vote.
David Evans - 573-751-1455 david.evans@house.mo.gov
Rudy Veit - 573-751-0665 rudy.veit@house.mo.gov
Robert Sauls - 573-751-5701 robert.sauls@house.mo.gov
Marlon Anderson - 573-751-7605 marlon.anderson@house.mo.gov
John Black - 573-751-1167 john.black@house.mo.gov
Brad Christ - 573-751-2150 brad.christ@house.mo.gov
Ron Copeland - 573-751-1688 ron.copeland@house.mo.gov
Michael Davis - 573-751-2175 michael.davis@house.mo.gov
Justin Hicks - 573-751-3572 justin.hicks@house.mo.gov
Ian Mackey - 573-751-3859 ian.mackey@house.mo.gov
Cameron Parker - 573-751-3629 cameron.parker@house.mo.gov
Greg Sharpe - 573-751-3644 greg.sharpe@house.mo.gov
David Tyson Smith - 573-751-9753 david.smith@house.mo.gov
Justin Sparks - 573-751-0562. justin.sparks@house.mo.gov
covid vaccine & kids
Freedom. Personal liberty. That's generally my focus.
When it comes to vaccines & healthcare, I believe freedom and TRUE informed consent should be the priority.
Personally, my family and I are avoiding the Covid jab like the plague. There's no way in the world I'd get one now and I'd fight like the mama bear I am before I allowed my kids to get one.
Maybe you feel differently, and that's ok.
However, it is NOT ok for this jab or ANY mRNA jab or ANY medical therapy or procedure to be REQUIRED of our kids in order for them to attend school. Period. This is a hill I'll die on.
Missouri's process regarding required vaccines
You may not know this, but it is only a small committee of bureaucrats that decide when a new vaccine gets added to the school requirement list in Missouri. There is no legislative oversight on that process.
The addition of a vaccine would probably go completely unnoticed until you got a call from the school nurse.
Frankly, I hate this process and would love to see the legislature put the burden back on the legislative process so that the public would have an opportunity to weigh in. But that's not happening anytime soon as far as I can tell.
rep. bill hardwick working for our kids
Representative Bill Hardwick is Chair of the Emerging Issues Committee in the Missouri House of Representatives. Today, he is hearing a group of bills regarding vaccines.
Several of them are specific to Covid, one is concerning employer liability, but his primary concern is protecting our school kids. I applaud him for that!
Rep Hardwick and I agree that our school kids should NOT be required to take the Covid vaccine or ANY mRNA vaccine or other form of gene therapy in order to attend school. I'm thrilled he has sponsored a bill to address this and he's conducting a hearing today where his bill along with several others will be heard.
I hope you'll wholeheartedly support his bill and help us create a wave of grassroots voices across the House that would move them to action.
The lobbyists from the pharmaceutical industry and Chamber of Commerce will be working against us. The speaks volumes, doesn't it? The Chamber of COMMERCE. Why are they weighing in?? That's easy, right?
$$$$$$
This is all about the flow of MONEY. Not our kids. I won't go down that rabbit trail, but make no mistake about it. They don't care about the health of your children.
one hiccup
There is one issue I have with HB 700, which has nothing to do with our kids, but with employee exemptions regarding mRNA vaccines or gene therapy. I love the intent of the bill in allowing exemptions for employees, including hospitals and universities. However, there is a term, "undue hardship" that is not defined clearly in the bill.
This section of the bill requires hospitals and employers who are public entities grant exemptions for religious, non-theistic moral beliefs, and for medical reasons UNLESS the employer suffers from an "undue hardship."
I don't prefer this phrase to be in the bill because it does allow a possible loophole for an employer to refuse an exemption request. However, our kids need to be protected and grownups have choices. IF an employer refused the exemption, there would need to be a lawsuit filed and the results of that suit would be crucial to how things move forward.
Likely, some employees would lose their jobs or be forced to be jabbed, because how many people do you know who are willing to sue their employer? It's not going to go well for them even if they win.
I would prefer this section be completely removed and these two issues on separate bills and without the "undue hardship" language. But still, I'm thrilled to protect our kids and I believe they are the priority.
So... is this tiny bit of dog poop in the brownie worth eating? For my kids... maybe it is.
Representative Boggs does have a stand alone bill on employer liability that we can support or even Rep Hardwick could separate his bill into two.
In an ideal world, I'd love to see Representative Hardwick's bill passed without the employer liability and then a liability bill without the undue hardship in it.
please take action
1. Call & email every committee member. Names & contact info listed below. Keep it short, sweet and please be respectful. It's as easy as saying, "I support Representative Hardwick's vaccine bill without the "undo hardship" language" If you have a personal experience, please share it.
Bill Hardwick, Chair. 573.751.3834
Dane Diehl, Vice-Chair. 573.751.4065
Ashley Aune, (D) Ranking Minority Member. 573.751.3618
Bishop Davidson, 573.751.2381
Jeff Farnan, 573.751.9465
Sherri Gallick. 573.751.1344
Mike Haffner. 573.751.3783
Dave Hinman. 573.751.2176
Josh Hurlbert. 573.751.0246
Jamie. Johnson (D). 573.751.9760
Holly Jones. 573.751.7535
Doug Mann (D). 573.751.2134
Adam Schnetling. 573.751.5365
David Tyson Smith (D). 573.751.9753
Email addresses: Please copy/paste. Put your own email address in the "To" and then copy/paste these addresses into the "BCC" line in your email. You'll get a copy and then they will each get individual emails vs a group. I'd love to know if you get any responses. bill.hardwick@house.mo.gov, dane.diehl@house.mo.gov, ashley.aune@house.mo.gov, bishop.davidson@house.mo.gov, jeff.farnan@house.mo.gov, sherri.gallick@house.mo.gov, mike.haffner@house.mo.gov, dave.hinman@house.mo.gov, josh.hurlbert@house.mo.gov, jamie.johnson@house.mo.gov, holly.jones@house.mo.gov, doug.mann@house.mo.gov, adam.schnelting@house.mo.gov, david.smith@house.mo.gov
2. Submit an online testimony BEFORE MIDNIGHT TONIGHT!
SUPPORT HB 700 with a request to remove the employer liability section. (bans any potential mRNA requirements for school kids)
SUPPORT HB 336 (employer liability in regard to vaccines)
You'll have to submit 2 separate forms for each bill. Please check your email after you submit to verify & complete the process.
3. PRAY!
Apologies for my late publication of my focus for the week. I'm blaming the Super Bowl. I hope you were celebrating the BIG WIN, as well and enjoying the break for the crazy world of Missouri politics for a few hours.
YAY for the WIN... now back to reality.
monday, feb 13th
mo senate hearings
1:00 pm in Senate Committee Room 2
There are several bills being heard on the topic of Initiative Petitions and constitutional amendments.
I'm most familiar with Senator Carter's SJR 28 which includes language that would require a concurrent majority in order to pass amendments to the Missouri Constitution. This means when we have a ballot measure and there is a potential change to the MO Constitution a majority of MO House districts would be required to vote in favor of an amendment IN ADDITION to having the majority of the popular vote. The result of concurrent majority requirement is that the rural areas of Missouri would be represented vs the urban areas alone determining the changes to our constitution.
This issue is VERY important. We expect there will be an abortion related amendment on the ballot in 2024. We want ALL Missourians' voiced to count.
There may be other good bills being presented in the hearing as well. I'll do my best to share what I learn.
CALL TO ACTION
Request a YES vote from the committee members.
Senator Elaine Gannon, Chair - 573.751.4008
Senator Sandy Crawford, Vice Chair - 573.751.8793
Senator Jill Carter - 573.751.2173
Senator Mary Elizabeth Coleman - 573.751.1492
Senator Andrew Koenig - 573.751.5568
Senator John Rizzo - 573.751.3074
Senator Barbara Washington - 573.751.3158
Email Addresses (copy & paste):
elaine.gannon@senate.mo.gov, sandy.crawford@senate.mo.gov, jill.carter@senate.mo.gov, andrew.koenig@senate.mo.gov, john.rizzo@senat.mo.gov, barbara.washington@senate.mo.gov
THIRD READ & PASS
Subject: Parent's Rights & Transparency
My Opinion: NO. Read the blog for more details.
This bill is perfected and will come before the body of the senate for a yes/no vote.
CALL TO ACTION:
1. Call & email your Senator and let them know what your concerns are with this bill. Ask for a no vote. Senator Eigel has a better option! Nothing at all is better than this. Legislator Lookup Tool
2. Copy the link to this post & send it to a conservative friend!
SENATE BILLS FOR PERFECTION
Subject: Medicaid Expansion. Covers care for 12 months after pregnancy.
My Opinion: Yes IF they amend the bill to prohibit funds for post-abortion care.
CALL TO ACTION:
1. Call & email your Senator and let them know what your concerns are with this bill. Ask for language that would prohibit post abortion care. Legislator Lookup Tool
2. Copy the link to this post & send it to a conservative friend!
tuesday, february 14
hearings
8:15 in the Senate Lounge
Subject: Modifies provisions relating to workforce development in ELEMENTARY and secondary schools.
My Opinion: NO. You very well may disagree with my position. I DO believe our kids need to be proactive and have a plan for their futures. It's smart. It's wise. As a mom, I help my kids think through their options after high school. That said, although I do believe it's wise, I do NOT believe it should be mandated by the State government. My 14 year old 8th grader does NOT need to be worried about choosing a career or where he's going to college. He needs to learn to love learning. He needs to learn to love exploring and experiencing new things. He needs to be a kid. I even believe that's true of my 12th grader. Wise? Absolutely. But mandated? NO. NO. NO.
CALL TO ACTION:
Contact committee members to express your views. I'll be asking for a NO vote.
Andrew Koenig, Chair 573.751.5568
Rick Brattin, Vice-Chair. 573.751.2108
Lauren Arthur. 573.751.5282
Doug Beck. 573.751.0220
Elaine Gannon. 573.751.4008
Denny Hoskins. 573.751.4302
Greg Razer. 573.751.6607
Nick Schroer. 573.751.1282
Curtis Trent. 573.751.1503
Education Committee Emails (Copy & Paste): andrew.koenig@senate.mo.gov, rick.brattin@senate.mo.gov, lauren.arthur@senate.mo.gov, doug.beck@senate.mo.gov, elaine.gannon@senate.mo.gov, denny.hoskins@senate.mo.gov, greg.razer@senate.mo.gov, nick.schroer@senate.mo.gov, curtis.trent@senate.mo.gov
10:00 am in Senate Committee Room 1
SB 49- Senator Mike Moon
SB 164 - Senator Jill Carter
SB 236 - Senator Denny Hoskins
SUBJECT: These 3 bills ban puberty blockers and gender transition surgery for children under the age of 18.
MY OPINION: YES!
All three of these bills are great. They are written to protect our kids from the abuse of the left wing agenda that is targeting kids.
CALL TO ACTION:
1. Pray!! Last week, a whistleblower released the truth about the gender clinic that has been operating at St Louis Children's Hospital in partnership with Washington University. It has gotten the attention of our Attorney General and even national news outlets. I suspect the response to Tuesday's committee hearing will be larger than anything we've seen with the trans hearings thus far. Please pray for calm, safety and for God's will to be done. Pray for Senators Moon, Carter & Hoskins...for
their safety and their peace of mind as well as success.
2. Contact committee members. Request a YES vote.
Senator Justin Brown, Chair. 573.751.5713
Senator Mike Moon. 573.751.1480
Senator Elaine Gannon. 573.751.4008
Senator Nick Schroer. 573.751.1282
Senator Andrew Koenig. 573.751.5568
Senator Tracy McCreery. 573.751.9762
Senator Greg Razer. 573.751.6607
Email Addresses (Copy & paste):
justin.brown@senate.mo.gov, elaine.gannon@senate.mo.gov, mike.moon@senate.mo.gov, nick.schroer@senate.mo.gov, andrew.koenig@senate.mo.gov, tracey.mccreery@senate.mo.gov, greg.razer@senate.mo.gov
SUBSCRIBE TO THE BLOG
the problem with "parent's rights" Acts
I know the masses love the idea of "parent's rights." But I don't like it.
When you define something in statute, you then have to abide by it. If the definition isn't written correctly - you've got big problems and unintended consequences down the road.
In regard to parent's rights, the truth is that parents ALREADY possess the rights. ALL of them. Trying to enumerate or define them is inviting trouble because undoubtedly - even if they are trying to do a good thing - the legislature will likely mess it up. They will miss something, include something they shouldn't or use language they shouldn't- and we'll be worse off instead of better.
For that reason alone, I don't like most of the Parent's Rights legislation we're seeing right now. I do understand parents need transparency from their schools, but it needs to be written correctly.
Personally, I like Senator Eigel's "Empowering Missouri Parents Act." In his bill, he begins by saying, "Missouri school districts shall NOT..." I know it's a slight change in the language but it makes a huge difference. Senator Eigel puts the school in their place vs trying to give parents everything they are due. Senator Eigel's bill, SB 318, has not been referred to committee at this time.
Here's one clue Senator Eigel's bill is better. Eigel's is 2 pages. Koenig's is 33.
Senator Koenig's Parent's Rights Act has already been through committee and it was perfected on the senate floor this past week. That means the senate can no longer make any changes to it. They'll vote on the perfected bill the first part of the week.
koenig's bill is protecting schools not kids
we aren't guaranteed access to proprietary materials
Did you know that publishers of curriculum, even third party contractors that come into schools to teach various topics - including sex ed & mental health - often have agreements with schools that the materials will not be sharable with parents and sometimes even board members and admin?
For example, Missouri's MAP test is proprietary. No administrators, teachers, or parents ever see the exact test that students take. In fact, they are told many times not to even look over students' shoulders. Seeing the test is off limits.
This isn't transparency. I don't know about you, but I don't like it. When the kids had books, we could all see the pages when the kid brought them home or when we went to school at conference time. Now that most curriculum is online - we have no access and we don't have a clue what the kids are actually learning.
Senator Koenig's SB 4 does not guarantee parents will be able to see curriculum if it is proprietary. Copyrights and proprietary materials are mentioned a few other times in the bill in addition to this one on page 8.
This is taken from an email between a school board member and third party contracted to provide education to students, but unwilling to share curriculum materials because of the copyright. This is a problem.
penalties for schools is $25K
In the case of copyrighted, proprietary materials schools can be fined $25,000 per incident if they are found in violation. This disincentivizes schools to be transparent and allows for the excuse of copyright infringement for nearly any materials request. In most cases, a parent wouldn't know whether or not materials were proprietary, copyrighted or not. This is found on page 14.
allows CRT
This part is a little bit tricky, because if you don't read all the way through you'd think everything is A-OK. But no. Essentially, he says that, "You can't do all this CRT stuff" but then he turns around in the next section and says, "This shall not be seen as prohibiting...all the things that might be CRT."
So CRT is not prohibited IF...
- You are exercising your 1st Amendment right to free speech
- You go to the CRT filled teacher training because you choose to
- You provide access to CRT filled sources for the purpose of individual research
- You discuss or assign CRT filled assignments as long as you make it clear this is not the school's belief or position
- You discuss it in the context of history
- Concepts are related to the history of racial groups
- Concepts are related to current events
Here's a quote from page 30:
"This section shall also not be construed to prohibit teachers or students from discussing public policy issues, current events, or ideas that individuals might find unwelcome, disagreeable, or offensive." - pg 30 line 74-77
I'm sorry, Senator, but we'd be better off if you just delete this entire section. Let's not try to define CRT in detail and then try to give back the same list. You've basically just codified CRT!
We would TRULY be better off without ANY of this.
incentivizes homeless/immigrant students
Senator Koenig also decided to pull the school funding formula into this Parent's Rights bill.
- He increased the rate schools are paid on each child who receives a free or reduced priced lunch
- He added money for every homeless student.
Why? I believe there are a couple of possibilities.
PREPARING FOR IMMIGRANTS
Several of our schools have already had large influxes of immigrants over the last couple of years and unless our current Presidential administration changes something about our immigration policy, we are likely to have many more.
These students put a big toll on our public schools. They often times have no experience with English, they are living in hard situations and it costs our schools, teachers and our students a lot.
They are a burden to our already struggling system.
HIS SCHOOL CHOICE SUCCESS
It could also be that Senator Koenig wanted to incentivize schools for opting in to his open enrollment program and accepting students who qualify for free & reduced lunches or are homeless.
His open enrollment bill, SB 5, is about ready to be perfected on the senate floor and we can probably expect it will pass in the House quickly as well.
I could be wrong, But it's possible.
Call To Action
1. Call & email your Senator and let them know what your concerns are with this bill. Ask for a no vote. Senator Eigel has a better option! Nothing at all is better than this. Legislator Lookup Tool
2. Copy the link to this post & send it to a conservative friend!
Senator Ben Brown's SJR 30, a resolution that would add a ban of rank choice voting to our ballot, has a hearing at 2:00 pm in the Senate Local Government and Elections Committee.
This bill also includes additional provisions to help improve election security such as enshrining in statute that only US citizens can vote in MO elections. It strengthens requirements on what kind of machines can be used and ensures permanent paper records for each vote are kept and preserved for use in any future election audit.
Multiple democrat groups are expected to show up and strongly oppose the bill. We need as much support as we can get to be physically present in the room!
If you believe in preserving the integrity of our elections please share this information and consider coming to the Capitol Monday to testify. Unfortunately, the Senate has decided they will not be accepting online witness forms.
call to action
1. Come to the Capitol Monday to testify if you are able.
Time: 2:00 pm
Place: Senate Committee Room 2
Plan to arrive around 1:00 pm. Doors will open at 1:30 pm
If you need help with information regarding your visit to Jefferson City, please reach out. I'm here to help!
2. Call and Email each of the committee members and express your SUPPORT of SJR 30. Ask for a yes vote and any other support they are able to give.
Senator Elaine Gannon, Chair - elaine.gannon@senate.mo.gov 573.751.4008
Senator Sandy Crawford, Vice Chair - sandy.crawfod@senate.mo.gov. 573.751.8793
Senator Jill Carter - jill.carter@senate.mo.gov. 573.751.2173
Senator Mary Elizabeth Coleman - maryelizabeth.coleman@senate.mo.gov 573.751.1492
Senator Andrew Koenig - andrew.koenig@senate.mo.gov. 573.751.5568
Senator John Rizzo - john.rizzo@senate.mo.gov. 573.751.3074
Senator Barbara Washington - barbara.washington@senate.mo.gov. 573.751.3158
