A House Republican is again proposing that an outside agency investigate deaths involving law enforcement, but some in his own party are skeptical of the bill.

Representative Shamed Dogan (R-Ballwin) said having officer-involved deaths be investigated by an agency outside of that employing the officers involved would improve public trust.

“When the most serious consequence that can possibly happen – the loss of someone’s life – happens in police custody, I think people ought to be confident that law enforcement is going to conduct a fair and impartial investigation,” said Dogan, “and I think that just inherently there is a conflict when you’re investigating one of your own.”

Dogan said a similar law helped restore public trust in Wisconsin when an officer-involved death resulted in no charges against the officer.

“At the same time that the prosecutor announced they weren’t bringing charges they also released this investigation saying, ‘Okay, here’s why.’ 25 pages of detailed information,” said Dogan.

Last year the proposal was voted out of a committee 11-1, but not all in Dogan’s own party are receptive. Representative Ken Wilson (R-Smithville), a former police chief, said it isn’t needed.

“We already do this. I’m not sure what we gain by this,” said Wilson.

The Missouri Fraternal of Police opposes the bill. President Kevin Ahlbrand says agencies do a good job of investigating themselves, or handing it off when they have to.

“I think we do a good job of investigating our own and I think the system works now,” said Ahlbrand.

Dogan cited the fatal shooting by a Ferguson Police officer of Michael Brown, Junior in August, 2014, and the drowning death of Brandon Ellingson while in State Highway Patrol Custody on the Lake of the Ozarks in May of 2014 as two incidents in which the public would have had more confidence in law enforcement if outside agencies had investigated.

Others in the hearing noted the St. Louis County Police investigated the Michael Brown, Junior, shooting, and that a charge was eventually filed against trooper Anthony Piercy related to the death of Brandon Ellingson.

A former trooper, Randy Henry, testified that despite Piercy being charged the Patrol and others engaged in a coverup after Ellingson’s death.

A state representative has again proposed dissolving the Department of Health and Senior Services into the Departments of Social Services; Mental Health, and a new Department of MO Healthnet.

Representative Sue Allen (R-Town and Country) says there have been many changes since the current department structure was established.

“The systems that we have now don’t work because people are living longer,” said Allen. “We have [a department that is] too big – they’ve grown, inefficiencies … in my opinion I don’t see a lot of accountability for inefficiencies.”

Representative Tracy McCreery (D-St. Louis) thinks Missourians won’t be better served by the reshuffling. She thinks the problem is that Missouri has cut too many positions that deal with people needing services.

“State workers have so many clients and have so many things in their portfolio that there’s not even a way to be hopeful that you can accomplish your work,” said McCreery. “I think that’s where [the legislature has] failed as managers of the money and of the Department.”

Allen is in her final year in the legislature and hopes someone will continue considering her idea after she is termed out.

The state legislature is being asked again this year to require changes aimed at preventing electrocution-related deaths at the Lake of the Ozarks.

On July 4, 2012 13 year-old Alexandra Anderson and her eight-year-old brother Brayden of Ashland died after being shocked by power running to a dock they were swimming near on the Lake of the Ozarks.

Columbia representative Caleb Jones is sponsoring a bill in their name that would require all docks to have a ground fault interrupter – devices to shut off electricity to a dock when there’s a short.

“If their dock does have an electrical issue then the people that are not only on the dock but also around the dock are protected from getting hurt,” said Jones of the use of GFIs.

Jones’ bill would also require defibrillators on Highway Patrol boats. The children’s mother believes if those were already required her children could have been saved, and Jones says he’s heard similar things from other people.

“Anybody that’s around water and electricity at the same time, potentially being harmed by being electrocuted should have access to that whenever emergency personnel arrives,” said Jones.

Angela Anderson, the mother of Alexandra and Brayden, wants Missouri to certify electricians – she says that would have made a difference in dock inspections. Jones’ bill doesn’t do that.

“I don’t think this addresses all the problems that we’re facing in this area but I think this piece of legislation is certainly a good step forward,” said Jones. “I look forward to continuing to discuss the issues and if more legislation needs to be filed and passed to fix this I plan on doing it.”

Jones says he’s talked to leadership about moving this legislation this year. Last year it did not receive a committee hearing.

“I think everybody wants to make sure that this doesn’t ever happen again and have been very open and willing to try and move legislation forward,” said Jones. “I think that it’s going to get a lot of traction this year and I really think it’s going to pass.”

(Missourinet) – Concerned Student 1950 released revised demands with further information for the University of Missouri on Wednesday, in an effort to promote their stance for the “advancement for Blacks on campus.”

The revised demands are three-through-eight of their original list which was released in late 2015 following protests on the UM-Columbia campus which led to the resignation of University of Missouri System President, Tim Wolfe.

In a statement released through the group’s Twitter account, they made it clear that these demands are not requests and they must be met. The group set deadlines mostly falling in the range from March 2016-August 2016.

Below is a transcript of Concerned Student 1950’s demands:

Demand III.
We demand that the University of Missouri meets the Legion of Black Collegians’ demands that were presented in 1969 for the betterment of the black community.

Demand IV.
We demand that the University of Missouri creates and enforces comprehensive racial awareness and inclusion curriculum throughout all campus departments and units, mandatory for all students, faculty, staff, and administration. This curriculum must be vetted, maintained, and overseen by a board comprised of students, staff, and faculty of color.

What does this look like?
Using established programs to create workshops for racial awareness and inclusion
Example: Summer/Fall Welcome

The core of these workshops will focus on building cultural competencies by properly educating students on the creation, implementation and long-lasting effects of racism on marginalizing identities, particularly African-Americans.

Creating a campus culture that not only recognizes, but respects the cultural differences between ethnicity by first educating students on the variances in the American identity.

How to measure the results?
You cannot quantify culture. It is not to be measured. It is simply the way of life through respect and genuine love for ALL people.
Diverse education within the classroom prepares students for citizenship, as they are exposed to varying identities and the systems of oppression that follow in their intertwined course work.
Thus, inclusion of diverse education into the curriculum should be mandatory and all-inclusive. Under this requirement, students will be required to earn a C or higher in courses that substantially addresses issues of race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic standing, sexuality, religion, etc.

Demand V.
We demand that by the academic year 2017/­2018, the University of Missouri increases the percentage of black faculty and staff campus­wide to 10%.

Demand VI.
We demand that the University of Missouri composes a strategic 10 year plan by May 1, 2016 that will increase retention rates for marginalized students, sustain diversity curriculum and training, and promote a more safe and inclusive campus.

Demand VII.
We demand that the University of Missouri increases funding and resources for the University of Missouri Counseling Center for the purpose of hiring additional mental health professionals; particularly those of color, boosting mental health outreach and programming across campus, increasing campus­wide awareness and visibility of the counseling center, and reducing lengthy wait times for prospective clients.

Demand VII must be met by June 2016.
1969 Demand #8
There will be the set up of an academic bankruptcy program for the entire campus. This program will allow a student to drop an entire semester from his records for justifiable circumstances. These circumstances will determined per case by the council described in point #3 for Blacks and other non-white students.

1969 Demand #9
A panel will interview and select for hiring all people on the staff of the Office of Minority Students. The panel will consist of the LBC Executive Board and those remaining members of the Office of Minority Students.

Legion of Black Collegians Demands #8 & #9 from 1969 must be met by August, 2016.

The racial climate on the University of Missouri’s campus must be addressed and adhered to as marginalized students are the ones suffering from the lack of emphasis on creating a more safe and inclusive campus.

There is still no hate crime policy in place to address incidents of bigotry and racism on campus, and white students are given the autonomy to demonstrate hatred to their minority counterparts with little fear that they will face consequences.

The 10 year Strategic Plan must be made by May 2, 2016.

Who Should be on this board?
Dr. Shonekan
Chuck Henson
Imani Simmons-Elloie
Marshall Allen
Reuben Faloughi

When should this be done?
Should start immediately with the class of 2020.
According to the Note to the Senate Membership from Legislative Assembly Secretary Professor Neal Garrett at UCLA, “Positive impacts on individual perspectives on diversity issues and greater racial-cultural engagement at the institutional level have been noted in research on efforts to promote understanding of diversity issues (such as diversity curricula). A survey of UCLA students found that 63% of over 8,400 respondents were in favor of the Undergraduate Diversity Requirement. These issues, along with the favorable response of students, have resulted in the proposal of a diversity course requirement for undergraduate students in the College.”

Demand VIII.
We demand that the University of Missouri increases funding, resources, and personnel for the social justices centers on campus for the purpose of hiring additional professionals, particularly those of color, boosting outreach and programming across campus, and increasing campus­wide awareness and visibility.

According to Census.gov, African Americans make up 13.2% of the population. However at the University of Missouri, black students only make up a whopping 7%. African American faculty make up, an even lower, 3.25% of the total faculty.

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF “TARGETED HIRING” DEMAND MUST BE MET BY: AUGUST, 2016

It would be beneficial to the University to hire more Black faculty so that they can prove to their students, the nation, and the world that the University values Black scholars. This would aid in the recruitment and retention of Black students because WE can have comfort in knowing that our professors can relate to being Black in America.
$6,000

Funding needs to be increased for social justice centers for boosting outreach and programming across campus.
$250,000

The Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center needs to be granted $250,000 for expansion. The expansion space would be called the “Liberation House.”

Statue
Lloyd Gaines must be placed in the center of Carnahan Quadrangle also known as “Tent City”

Demand VIII must be met by August 2016

Budget release: February 29, 2016
Catherine Scroggs Timeline of Progress: March 1, 2016-August 2016

Blueprints for the liberation house: August 2016
House expansion completed: August 2017

Students at the University of Missouri need counselors with lived experiences that extend beyond their formal training. Students dealing with mental health crises especially need counselors that can understand the intersections of their identities and relate to their lived experiences

There should be one psychologist or counselor per every 1,500 students. Based on current enrollment data, to meet this demand, the University would have to hire 14 more psychologists or counselors.

This would increase the budget by $840,000 by 2017. This is approximately the equivalent of 40 in-state undergraduate students’ tuition.

(Missourinet) – Missouri sentencing laws don’t consider those whose first child sex offense resulted in them completing a 120-day treatment program to be repeat offenders if they commit such a crime again. Repeat offenders face longer jail sentences.

Senator Kurt Schaefer (R-Columbia) is proposing a change to that sentencing law.

“A 120-day callback was really designed as a drug treatment program. It’s broadened into other things now. That’s what it used to be. When it comes to sexual offenses, that’s a completely different type of offense, it’s a completely different type of offender and it doesn’t work,” said Schaefer. “A 120-day callback has gotten to be pretty big leverage to get a plea deal. I think it’s fine particularly if you have questionable evidence and you are worried about going to trial, but I also think you have to be fair to victims and the public.”

Senator Bob Onder (R- Lake St. Louis) supports the bill.

“Why is it that we’ve gotten to a point that a program meant to be a way to getting people into drug treatment has morphed into a way of letting pedophiles off?” asked Onder.

Emily van Schenkof with Missouri Kids First also supports the proposal and hopes another discussion will follow.

“We use and sentence approximately 100 sex offenders a year under the 120-day program. So you rape a child, you spend four months in jail. I believe that the vast majority of Missourians would be appalled to know that this is a sentence that we regularly use for sex offenders,” said van Schenkof.

“We do a better job of holding drug offenders accountable for their crimes. We do a better job of holding people who commit property crimes accountable. We typically see sentences of sex offenders that are grossly inadequate to what they have done to children.”

The bill would also require lifetime supervision of child sex offenders and prohibit granting probation to pedophiles.

A Senate committee is considering Schaefer’s proposal.

(Missourinet) – How available videos from police dash and body cameras should be is being debated again in the Missouri House.

Discussion of expanding the use of body and other cameras by law enforcement accelerated after the shooting death of Michael Brown, Junior, in August, 2014, and similar incidents elsewhere in the nation. Since then Missouri lawmakers have proposed both requiring more cameras, and restricting who can access the videos they capture.

Representative Ken Wilson is proposing the latter out of privacy concerns.

“Private homes are protected by the Fourth Amendment and we’ve got to make sure that we protect that. There’s also an expectation of privacy in the hospital room,” said Wilson. The events that take place out in the public, you have no expectation of privacy, so [the bill doesn’t] even address that.”

Wilson believes the bill has been improved after last year’s debate. The Missouri Press Association’s Doug Crews agrees, but thinks it still has flaws.

“This would apply to all public records. Not just video here but the public body would be able to charge for reviewing the records, and you’re going to get to a point where charges for public records are going to be so high that nobody’s going to be able to get public records,” said Crews.

Crews and the Missouri ACLU’s Sarah Rossi said another section of the bill creates a situation of “prior restraint:’ when material is censored before it is used. Rossi cautioned that section would likely be ruled unconstitutional if taken to court.

Representative Shane Roden (R-Cedar Hill) was not impressed by their arguments on that section. He said people at the site of a vehicle accident, for example, should have a right to privacy where a dash cam might capture medical personal cutting clothes off of injured people.

“It kinda irks me that we’re even having this discussion, that you guys would be against the potential of small children being involved in an incident on the side of the highway and you guys would want video of that stuff,” said Roden.

Rossi said it’s just too soon to pass a bill without finding a better balance between privacy and access to information.

“My issue with it isn’t that there shouldn’t be some restrictions in place. It’s just that there needs to be a bigger and longer conversation about what those restrictions should be,” said Rossi.

The bill hasn’t been voted on.

(Missourinet) – State House Republican budget leaders believe Governor Jay Nixon’s (D) estimate of how much state revenue will grow is too optimistic, so they’re dusting off an approach they took two years ago.

In 2014, Republican budget leaders thought Nixon’s budget proposal was about $310-million dollars too high. Then-Budget Committee Chairman Rick Stream proposed, and the legislature passed, a separate fund. They proposed a budget based on their own revenue estimate, but it outlined how revenue beyond their projection should be used and that it should come from the a Surplus Revenue Fund.

House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Flanigan thinks Nixon is about one percentage point too high in his projection for revenue, and he’s introduced a bill proposing the Surplus Revenue Fund again be used to rectify the situation. He also filed his proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2017 – Nixon revealed his proposed budget last month.

His budget is based on projected growth of 3.1-percent. Nixon’s is based on 4.1-percent growth.

Flanigan proposes a Surplus Revenue Fund to capture as much as $195-million in revenue beyond the House’s projection. There is a difference of $91.3 million between the projection of the House and that of the governor. Flanigan says the remaining 103.7-million would be the result collections additions Nixon anticipates, including an increased federal CHIP rate and recent court settlement between the federal government and the Division of Youth Services.

Flanigan, in a press release, said if revenues come in at the higher estimate, the fund would provide another $46.6-million for K-12 education, for a proposed increase of $70-million FY 2017. It would also provide: $5-million for K-12 Foundation Transportation; $9.9-million for Higher Education Performance Funding; $4.5-million for Community College Equity; $373,979 for State Tech Equity; $4.5-million for tourism; $4-million for the state’s public defenders; and more than $104-million for Medicaid.

Flanigan’s budget outlines $27.1-million in spending in the fiscal year that begins July 1, including: $1.3-million for the 2015 Dairy Revitalization Act; a $2-million increase for river ports; a $2-million increase for business startups through the Missouri Technology Corporation; $30-million to revive the state’s cost-share program to fund transportation projects; a three-percent increase in Medicaid provider pay rates; a two-percent increase in state employee pay; a $500,000 increase for the Alternatives to Abortion program; and a $1.75-million increase to library funding beyond that proposed by the governor.

The House Budget Committee will begin working on Flanigan’s budget proposal this week. The legislature must have the budget to the governor by May 6, but Republican budget leaders want to get the budget to him earlier so the legislature can consider overriding any vetoes of budget bills before the end of the session.

A Moberly resident’s “hobby” has resulted in a call to the Highway Patrol’s bomb squad.

A loud explosion was heard Sunday night in a park in Moberly when authorities detonated an explosive material that, they’re told, some residents made for a hobby. The blast was heard shortly before 7 p.m.

Residents say a second detonation was heard later in the evening.

It was determined to be too volatile to move it out of the neighborhood, so a robot was used to take it to the nearby park and put it in a hole where it was blown up. The explosion was reportedly heard more than a mile away.

No charges will be filed against the hobbyists since no property was damaged and the material wasn’t weaponized.