(Missourinet) – The Missouri House Transportation Committee chairman supports a gasoline tax increase.

State Rep. Bill Reiboldt, R-Neosho, serves on Missouri’s 21st Century Transportation System task force. The task force held its first meeting Wednesday at the Statehouse in Jefferson City.

Reiboldt tells Missourinet a gas tax increase “must be on the table.”

“Ten cent I think is a reasonable, I think some people want more, some perhaps a little less,” Reiboldt said. “But I think ten cents, that would be about half of what MoDOT’s asking for.”

Missouri’s fuel tax hasn’t been increased in 21 years. The last increase was part of a bipartisan 1992 six-cent gas tax increase backed by then-Governor John Ashcroft (R) and then-House Speaker Bob Griffin, D-Cameron.

Missouri also ranks 47th in the nation in revenue per mile.

State Rep. Greg Razer, D-Kansas City, also serves on the task force.

“I want to keep an open mind on what the funding solution is, but I don’t think there’s any doubt that we’ve got to raise new revenue in the state of Missouri,” Razer said.

State Sen. Bill Eigel, R-St. Charles, told committee members Missouri has a $27 billion operating budget and that his constituents are paying enough in taxes. Eigel said, “we are paying more for government now than ever.”

Representative Razer, who grew up in the Bootheel and graduated from Cooter High School, said Democrats and Republicans can and must work together on transportation.

“We also need to work between urban and rural communities throughout the state,” Razer said. “We’re all in this together. It doesn’t matter what letter you have behind your name or what part of the state you live in, whether it’s Jackson County or Newton County, we want everyone to have good roads and bridges and help everyone in our state.”

Razer notes Missouri has the seventh-largest state highway system, with 33,884 miles of roadway. That’s partially because MoDOT has had jurisdiction over the letter routes since the 1950s.

Razer tells Missourinet those rural residents have a right to good roads.

The 21st Century Transportation System task force, which is chaired by State Rep. Kevin Corlew, R-Kansas City, will meet monthly and will submit a report and recommendations to the General Assembly by January 1.

Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) Director Patrick McKenna delivered a presentation at Wednesday’s meeting.

McKenna says MoDOT has 1,303 “weight-restricted bridges,” along with 866 “poor” bridges.

Chairman Corlew said Missouri ranks sixth nationally in number of bridges, with 10,394.

MoDOT’s current budget is about $2.3 billion.

(News release) – The Justice Department announced today that it reached a settlement agreement with Panda Restaurant Group, Inc. (Panda Express), a restaurant chain with over 1,800 locations in the United States. The agreement resolves the department’s investigation into whether Panda Express discriminated against non-U.S. citizens in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) when reverifying their permission to work.

The department’s investigation concluded that Panda Express unnecessarily required lawful permanent resident workers to re-establish their work authorization when their Permanent Resident Cards expired, while not making similar requests to U.S. citizen workers when their documents expired. The investigation also revealed that Panda Express routinely required other non-U.S. citizen workers to produce immigration documents to reverify their ongoing work authorization despite evidence they had already provided sufficient documentation. The antidiscrimination provision of the INA prohibits such requests for documents when based on an employee’s citizenship status or national origin.

Under the settlement, Panda Express will pay a civil penalty of $400,000 to the United States, establish a $200,000 back pay fund to compensate workers who lost wages due to the company’s practices, train its human resources personnel on the requirements of the INA’s anti-discrimination provision, and be subject to departmental monitoring and reporting requirements.

“Employers should ensure that their reverification practices comply with laws that protect workers against discrimination,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler of the Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department applauds Panda Express for its cooperation during this investigation and its commitment to compensating workers who may have lost wages due to its documentary practices.”

Work-authorized, non-U.S. citizens who lost work at Panda Express between May 31, 2014, and June 28, 2017, due to Panda Express’ documentary practices may be eligible for back pay for the wages they would have earned. For more information, email IER.PEclaims@usdoj.gov.

The division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER), formerly known as the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices, is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA. The statute prohibits, among other things, citizenship, immigration status, and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee; unfair documentary practices; retaliation and intimidation.

For more information about protections against employment discrimination under immigration laws, call IER’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); call IER’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); sign up for a free webinar; email IER@usdoj.gov (link sends e-mail); or visit IER’s English and Spanish websites.

Applicants or workers who believe they were subjected to different documentary requirements based on their citizenship, immigration status, or national origin; or discrimination based on their citizenship, immigration status, or national origin in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral, should contact IER’s worker hotline for assistance.

(Missourinet) – Respect, Excellence and Discovery halls at Mizzou have turned into an overnight getaway for the general public.

The Columbia campus is renting suites that include four twin beds for $120 a night. Don’t expect valet parking, mints left on the pillows, room service, or continental breakfast. Spokesman Christian Basi says the school is offering an experience different from a typical hotel stay.

“The amenities are very barebones,” says Basi. “This is not a hotel accommodation.”

Occupants will receive clean linens and towels. Each suite has a private bathroom. The rooms will not include a television, refrigerator and microwave.

Just like with many hotels and motels, occupants must sign a waiver to take responsibility for any damages to their suite during their stay. Guns are not allowed on campus and Mizzou officials are considering whether alcohol will continue to be prohibited in those halls. Campus police will conduct their usual patrols and the halls will be staffed at all times.

Last Thursday, the university announced it would open its suite doors for rental purposes. Basi says lower student demand and enrollment have prompted Mizzou to rent out the suites. The school is not opening seven dorms this fall to students.

“If we kept the residence halls idle and did not use them for anything this year, it would cost the university about $5 to $5.5 million,” says Basi. “We need to make sure we’re doing the fiscally responsible thing. This is a lot of money that’s tied up in these halls and to let them sit would not be responsible for us to do so. Additionally, by opening up these halls, we’re actually able to draw in more people to Columbia and to the area.”

Last Thursday’s announcement has prompted interest. The rooms are already sold out for this fall’s Homecoming and Family Weekend.

Basi says no additional hires are anticipated to help with maintenance and housekeeping of the suites.

(Missourinet) – The Missouri NAACP anchored a rally at the state capitol Tuesday to draw attention to recent events and legislative moves it claims infringe upon civil rights.

After publicly asking for a conference, the organization’s state president, Rod Chapel, also met with Republican Governor Eric Greitens.

Among other things, the NAACP Missouri chapter has issued a travel advisory to instruct individuals to be extremely cautious when passing through or spending time in Missouri. It says incidents involving residents and visitors offer examples of looming danger, and lists a number of occurrences to support its conclusion.

In one of them, an African American man from Tennessee died in jail after an altercation with a sheriff who had been suspended. In another instance, two internationally born men were killed by a person who thought they were Muslim.

The advisory notes that black high school students in St. Louis have been attacked with hot glue while being denigrated racially.

It further acknowledges a report by the attorney general that African Americans are 75% more likely to be stopped while driving than whites, and references a statement by a state Representative Rick Bratton that homosexuals are not human beings according to his faith.

The advisory also contends racial threats and attacks at the University of Missouri have threatened civil rights.

A coalition of faith and labor groups joined the NAACP at the rally, which also drew attention to legislation passed this year that would make it more difficult to sue for employment and housing discrimination.

Governor Greitens hasn’t said whether he’ll sign the measure. He’s been critical of discrimination in general, but has also strongly backed legislation to limit lawsuits that could hamper the state’s business climate.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce, which has given a full-throated endorsement of the litigation bill, was also a strong supporter of Greitens. Some lawmakers have speculated that Greitens will avoid any political fallout and let the bill become law without his signature.

NAACP leader Chapel said he doesn’t think the governor, who was a Rhodes Scholar and a Navy Seal, will back away from the consequential decision.

“He’s a man of courage,” Chapel said. “He served his country with distinction. I think that he would take the same high road in terms of any action that he would issue. Either he would veto it, or sign it, but not let it pass. No pocket pass is what I’m saying.”

Greitens will have to sign or veto the litigation bill by July 14th, or the measure will automatically become law. Enforcement of it would begin August 28th.

Chapel said his move to release a travel advisory is extraordinary, but necessary.

“To say that you have to be careful because of the conditions that are present in the state, that you, in your person may not be safe, that’s very uncommon,” Chapel said. “It’s an extreme step, but I don’t think that we had any choice. We couldn’t shirk our obligation to our membership or to the public to let everyone know what’s happening, and what’s happening now.”

Republican Mike Kehoe of Jefferson City, the state Senate’s Majority Floor Leader, was a vocal supporter of the litigation bill like many of his fellow party members. He said he doesn’t think Chapel’s travel advisory is a fair representation of Missouri.

“I know it’s positioning on a discrimination bill, they feel that way,” Kehoe said.  “And of course the report about how many people get pulled over and what race they might be. But at the end of the day I think Missouri is welcoming and open for business. I don’t see through the same glasses as Rod does on this issue.”

Chapel said he agrees that Missouri is welcoming, but doesn’t think the hospitality is being extended to all people.

“I thinks that there’s a little work to be done, but I certainly join him in that sentiment, and would love to see things change so that we can lift this travel advisory,” Chapel said.

Chapel issued a statement Tuesday evening regarding his meeting with Governor Greitens.

“The Missouri State NAACP conference and our coalition partners are delighted to have had an opportunity to meet with governor Greitens today. We believe that an open and honest conversation about Senate Bill 43 (the litigation measure) and the attending harms that would flow from it to Missourians of all sorts was not only productive but also informative.  The governor is, in his own words, as he has said publicly, listening to all sides and shared that he has not made his mind up.”

(Missourinet) – The Missouri Supreme Court has backed up lower bench findings that the state’s Sexually Violent Predator Act is constitutional.

The high court released two unanimous decisions in cases that had challenged the law which allows for prisoners convicted of a sexually violent crime to be committed indefinitely.

Such offenders can be turned over to the custody of the state Department of Mental Health if there is probable cause to believe that they are likely to engage in sexually violent predatory criminal behavior upon their release.

Lawyer Chelsea Mitchell told the judges they should scrap the law because it doesn’t allow for those who are declared Sexually Violent Predators to ever be unconditionally released.

“The statute on its face is punitive because it would never allow discharge,” Mitchell said.

In court documents filed by Mitchell, she contended the Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) Act is punitive, and in violation of the constitution because it doesn’t provide protections such as the Double Jeopardy clause (where a person can’t be prosecuted for the same crime twice).

The state countered that those protections only apply if the act is criminal in nature, and noted the Missouri high court has already held the Sexually Violent Predator Act to be civil, not criminal, in nature.  The Supreme Court reaffirmed its previous decision in its findings released Tuesday.

Both 6-0 decisions were written by Judge Paul C. Wilson in appeals involving Carl Kirk and Jay Nelson.

(Missourinet) – About 60,000 older Missourians who get state assistance to pay for prescription drugs will lose their coverage as of Saturday.

A program known as Missouri Rx will no longer be offered to seniors who make between 85% and 185% of the federal poverty level, which is up to $22,000 for an individual.  The arrangement being eliminated covered 50% of their prescription drug costs.

The rollback in funding was the result of cuts lawmakers made to balance the state’s budget after tax revenues fell short.  Discontinuing the subsidy saved $15 million.

The aid was part of a larger overall Missouri Rx program that was scheduled to sunset August 28th, but was preserved by the legislature in the final days of the session.

Republican state Representative David Wood of Versailles sponsored the measure.  He said the program’s extension means assistance that’s about to be discontinued can be reinstated as early as next year.

“That way it’s still a budget line. It’s still a program and if revenues improve, we can put it back to the other population very easily,” Wood said. “If we had let the whole thing sunset and expire, then it would’ve been a whole new bill, a new decision item in the budget. It would’ve been a lot more difficult to get through.”

The group of seniors losing their coverage account for 30% of the program. The 70% who will keep their eligibility make under 85% of the federal poverty level, or up to roughly $10,000 for an individual.

Those people have dual eligibility, meaning they qualify for both Medicaid and Medicare benefits. Governor Greitens could still veto the legislation, which would eliminate the funding for everyone, although such a move is not considered likely.

The decision to suspend the smaller portion of the program was made when the Senate and House were deadlocked over funding for 8,000 in-home and nursing home elderly and disabled people.

Wood said lawmakers were focused on finding a solution.

“We were really looking to try and make sure that our level of care for in-home health care and nursing homes was that we didn’t take any more people out of that than we absolutely had to,” Wood said.

In the end, coverage for the 8,000 recipients was kept in place as were tax credits for low income seniors who rent their homes. Those now losing assistance for prescriptions could face the tough choice of purchasing their medications or paying other monthly bills.

Wood said he’s been contacted by numerous constituents who are frustrated over the cut, but also said lawmakers had little choice in the matter.

“It’s not an easy decision.  It is very, very tough,” Wood said. “It’s one of those things that when you don’t have enough money, somebody has to be cut. Unfortunately this was one of the places that was hit.”

If revenues pick up and the benefits are restored next year, they could remain in place for several years. The provisions of the overall Missouri Rx Program were extended by lawmakers to sunset in 2022.