last stop - the senate floor
There are a few bills have already passed the MO House floor and have made their way through Senate committee. The last big hurdle on their path to the Governor's desk is the perfection process on the Senate floor.
This is, in reality, your LAST OPPORTUNITY to effectively use your voice to stop another layer of your freedom & the Republic being stripped away. Please read & pass this information on to your like-minded friends and family!!
House Bills on Third Read in the Senate as of 4/17/23 are:
HB 301 (discussed below)
HB 253 - Open Enrollment
HB 827 - Missouri Virtual School Enrollment
HBs 903, 465, 430, 499- Foreign Land Ownership
HJR 43 - Modifies Initiative Petition & MO Constitution Amendment Ratification
hb 301 - privacy actS, blair's law & local control
HB 301 is a public safety bill. The underlying bill has some problems I'll list here, but my pet peeve on this one is an amendment added to it, a "privacy act", by Representative Rudy Veit on the House floor that is a huge violation of your First Amendment Right of free speech. It protects elected officials and squelches the voices of THE PEOPLE.
The Privacy Act details are listed here first while the rest are in chronological order.
Privacy Acts
There are 2 sections that deal with protecting privacy of elected officials. The first is specific to protecting judicial officers. The second is protecting "elected officials" across the state of Missouri, including ALL political subdivisions. This would apply to all elected officials from the Governor to your city council and school board members.
- Page 22. Section 575.095 protects Judicial Officers. We already have a current statute that is being amended with an addition. The regular text here is current statute while the bold print is being added.
The Problem: If you disseminate by ANY means, ANY of these "private" details listed here (some of which are actually public information) you could be charged with a Class D Felony, which carries the potential of 5 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
- Page 23. Section 578.710 - This section covers all elected officials in Missouri. See full text of this section below.
The definition of "personal information" in current statute is:
Both these sections create a huge problem for citizens who are actively working to participate in any type of government process. The way this language is written, I could be committing a felony if I publish this blog - which is naming Representative Rudy Veit and yes, I AM hoping to influence him along with other elected officials in their job performance.
I would potentially be committing a felony if I told you I ran into Senator Moon and his wife, Denise, while I was at a meeting in town and we discussed SB 49, The SAFE Act.
Ultimately - any good attorney could make the case that we are always trying to influence their job performance and if you share or share their name or phone number - you could end up in prison.
blair's law
Blair's Law is a well intentioned section of the bill which tries to protect citizens inside city limits from stray bullets fired primarily from celebratory gunfire. However, it doesn't protect citizens from firing weapons on their own property if those bullets do not leave their property.
A suggested language addition written by Ron Calzone would be to add a 4th point on Line 34 of page 22 which reads,
"4. Notwithstanding this section, or any other statute to the contrary, no order, ordinance, or regulation by any political subdivision of this state shall prohibit a person from discharging a firearm in an otherwise lawful manner as long as the projectile does not leave property by such person or property owned by another person from whom he or she has received permission to discharge a firearm."
local control
The first section of HB 301 allows the Governor to appoint a special prosecutor based on certain circumstances pertaining to total homicide cases. It would be advisable in order to protect local control to the fullest measure possible that this appointment would be made not only by the Governor but also with the advice & consent of the Senate, and also triggered by something other than total case load. Another possible trigger might be the number of cases not being addressed.
take action
1. Email YOUR Senator as well as EVERY Republican Senator and let them know you oppose 3 specific areas of HB 301. Look up your legislators HERE.
Republican Senators are listed HERE.
The pattern for senate email addresses is FIRST NAME (.) LAST NAME@Senate.Mo.Gov
- Delete the privacy acts in sections 575 & 578. They are potentially harmful to our first amendment rights and need to be stripped from the bill. Our elected officials are already protected - as we all are - from any criminal harm.
- Copy & paste the additional language above and request it to be added to Blair's Law, section 571.031.
- Request more protections for local control be added to Section 56.601 by making the suggested changes above.
