(Missourinet) – Outgoing Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander (D) used an opening day address Wednesday at the Statehouse in Jefferson City to criticize House Republicans over photo ID.

Kander, who lost a Senate race in November to incumbent Roy Blunt (R) by 78,000 votes, asked Republicans not to “overstep” on the issue of voting rights. He says photo ID bills can disenfranchise voters, and brought up North Carolina.

“In North Carolina, an 86-year-old woman went to the DMV to get an ID that she didn’t need,” Kander said at the dais. “But she was going to need it if she was going to vote, so she set out to get it. She was turned away from the DMV because she couldn’t prove her maiden name.”

Kander suggests that Republicans will try to strengthen Missouri’s voter ID law. In September, the GOP-controlled Legislature overrode Governor Jay Nixon’s (D) veto of a bill requiring a photo ID to vote. Missourians approved a voter ID constitutional amendment in November.

“Today (Wednesday) is the first day of the legislative session. That law has not yet taken effect,” Kander said. “And yet already there are folks saying they want to go back on their word and they want to go further to possibly restrict the rights of Missouri voters.”

Kander told the House that if they follow the example of Wisconsin and North Carolina, he would “see them in court.”

State Rep. Justin Alferman (R-Hermann), who sponsored photo ID, tweeted Wednesday that it was “disgusting that Jason Kander is taking the dias to chastise the General Assembly on Voter ID. Voters have spoken, you’re wrong.”

State Rep. Travis Fitzwater (R-Holts Summit) tweeted during Kander’s address, saying that Kander’s “partisan soapbox” was inappropriate and was “another example of why Democrats lost so big in 2016.”

Kander, who served two terms in the Missouri House from January 2009 to December 2012, will leave office as Secretary of State on Monday.

(Missourinet) – A Missouri lawmaker says Uber predicts they’ll add about ten-thousand new Missouri drivers, including in St. Joseph, if his bill involving transportation network companies passes.

State Rep. Kirk Mathews (R-Eureka) has filed legislation to create a statewide regulatory platform for transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft.

“If you sign up to be an Uber driver, depending on where you live, you might start your day in one county and be perfectly fine from a regulatory perspective, but then be in violation of some ordinance or regulation or be illegal if you cross into a different municipality or a different county,” says Mathews.

Mathews has filed the legislation for the second straight year.

“Uber predicted that if this bill passes, in the first year, they will add in the neighborhood of ten thousand drivers,” Mathews says. “That’s ten thousand small businesses, ten thousand independent contractors.”

Mathews says Uber currently operates in Kansas City, St. Louis, Springfield and Columbia. He tells Missourinet Uber is looking to expand.

“They’re looking at places like St. Charles and St. Charles County, which is huge,” says Mathews. “They’re looking at Jefferson City, they’re looking at St. Joe (St. Joseph) Missouri, they’re looking at Cape Girardeau. They’re looking at a ton of new markets across the state.”

Mathews says his bill is intended to create opportunities for drivers across Missouri to start their own business.

Mathews says taxicab companies opposed his legislation last year.

Some legislative critics of Mathews’ 2016 legislation wanted fingerprint background checks on Uber drivers. His 2016 bill passed in the House, but not the Senate.

His HB 130 would require a TNC to conduct a local and national criminal background check for each driver applicant, and would prevent cities from passing additional regulations, that go further than the bill.

Mathews’ bill would also prevent municipalities from requiring a license for drivers.

The 2017 Missouri legislative session begins Wednesday at noon at the Statehouse in Jefferson City.

(Missourinet) – The Missouri House of Representatives’ human trafficking task force is making several recommendations to the General Assembly, including funding for the care and sheltering of trafficking victims.

Task force member Emily van Schenkhof with Missouri KidsFirst tells Missourinet she’s not hopeful that the recommendation will happen this year.

“In the budget year that we are looking at, I think that that probably is a pretty steep task and a little discouraging to be truthful,” van Schenkhof said. “So much of what we need in order to make sure that people aren’t profiting off of selling women and children’s bodies is funding to address that. We’re in a climate where basically everyone is telling me we don’t have enough money.”

A report issued by the panel also wants the legislature to create a state position that’s responsible for anti-trafficking initiatives.

“That is going to take money, but it’s considerably less than what it would cost to set up infrastructure and to be able to support services throughout the state, which would be an expenditure in the millions of dollars,” van Schenkhof said.

She says the position would include trying to obtain federal funding to help with anti-trafficking efforts.

The task force also recommends funding to educate law enforcement about trafficking. Van Schenkhof says law enforcement must be properly trained in order for such cases to be investigated and prosecuted.

“Human trafficking victims often look like prostitutes. So when you pick up a 17-year-old for participating in prostitution, we need to have law enforcement officers that are trained to see and to ask questions to make sure there isn’t more going on,” van Schenkhof said.

The report also recommends:

*Building on conviction expungement legislation passed in 2016 to include vacating convictions for some offenses committed while victims are trafficked,

*Requiring employers to display posters with the national trafficking hotline and related information,

*Establishing the crimes of coercion and extortion for threats to report illegal immigration status to officials for the purpose of extorting money,

*Reinstating funding for the Missouri Department of Labor inspectors who look for labor trafficking violations and other labor-related issues, and

*Legislation to continue the task force for another calendar year, with two survivors appointed to the task force.

The group is made up of lawmakers, law enforcement and anti-trafficking advocates.

(Missourinet) – The 2017 Missouri legislative session begins Wednesday in Jefferson City.

Republicans have large majorities in both chambers: they control the Missouri Senate 25-9 and the House 117-46.

Wednesday’s events will mainly be ceremonial. Newly-elected members will be sworn in.

Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard (R-Joplin) will address the Senate. House Speaker Todd Richardson (R-Poplar Bluff) and House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty (D-Kansas City) are both scheduled to address the House. Richard, Richardson and Beatty are expected to outline their 2017 legislative priorities.

Right-to-work is expected to be a top priority for GOP leaders in both chambers.

There will be 42 freshmen State Representatives and six freshmen State Senators.

The 2017 Missouri legislative session begins at noon at the State Capitol.

Outgoing Governor Jay Nixon (D) leaves office on Monday, which is the day of Governor-Elect Eric Greitens’ (R) inauguration in Jefferson City.

(Missourinet) – State Rep. Jean Evans (R-Manchester) says sex traffickers have been taking advantage of Missouri law, by bringing their victims to the state to marry them.

The freshman lawmaker has pre-filed legislation that would increase from 15 to 17 Missouri’s minimum age at which a person can get married.

Current Missouri law allows teens as young as 15 to get a marriage license when extenuating circumstances exist, as long as one of the teen’s parents gives permission.

Evans says when traffickers marry their juvenile victims, it makes prosecuting the abuser difficult or impossible.

“That’s not something that we want to be known for, is a place for sex traffickers to come to do that sort of thing,” says Evans.

Evans says some parents are involved in trafficking their own children and agree to such marriages. She recalls one case involving a woman who reported being trafficked at the age of 3 by her parents.

“As disturbing and disgusting as that is, that is a reality that we’re dealing with, and to the extent that we can intervene we want to do so,” says Evans.

She says there is little that can be done to investigate extenuating circumstances. Evans says the responsibility is falling on the recorder of deeds office wherever the marriage license is being issued.

“They’re not social workers or FBI agents,” says Evans. “They’re just issuing the marriage license as long as they have one parent’s consent.”

She says an undue burden is being placed on the recorder of deeds offices to investigate whether the circumstances are extreme.

The Missouri legislature convenes on Wednesday.

(Missourinet) – Thirty-nine recruits have graduated from the Missouri State Highway Patrol academy in one of two classes held annually.

Advancing troopers took part in a ceremony before a standing room crowd at the agency’s academy gym Friday in Jefferson City.

Although Missouri has the lowest paid state employees in the country, the Patrol’s Captain John Hotz says troopers’ salaries are competitive.

“The patrol, as far as we go, are very fortunate,” said Hotz. “Of course, we have pay studies that they do with the other law enforcement agencies in the state. We’ve been very fortunate. The legislature and the governor have been very supportive if our efforts.”

After completing the academy, the starting salary for Missouri Highway Patrol Troopers is slightly over $41,000.  A check of 15 trooper salaries throughout the state showed pay ranging from roughly $42,000-$48,000 as of November 30th. They also receive at least 15 vacation days and 11 paid holidays per year.

Although the 39 recruits graduated Friday, Hotz says their two year process to become fully functional troopers is not over.

“They’ve got the knowledge here as far as the laws and that. Now for the next, roughly 70 working days, they will be learning how to do the job on a day to day basis. So (they’ll) apply what they’ve learned here to the actual real world situations that they will face as troopers.”

Not all recruits complete the course, as a number of them typically drop out because of the physical and academic requirements. Hotz says the size of graduating recruit classes is normally 30-40.

Outgoing Democratic Governor Jay Nixon gave the keynote address at Friday’s graduating class. During the ceremony, he was given a trooper hat and an honorary plaque to recognize his attendance at every graduating class during his eight years in office.

Hotz says Nixon’s support has been critical to the organization’s success.

“You can look around the country. In other state’s that don’t have the support of their legislature or their governors, those organizations are kind of struggling as far as keeping up with the staffing levels and that.”

Nixon was presented with the hat and plaque by Highway Patrol Superintendent Colonel J. Ben Johnson, who is retiring after 30 years with the agency in February.

At one point, Republican Governor-elect Eric Greitens was also slated to address the graduating troopers, but he was not listed on the commencement program and was not present at the ceremony.

(Missourinet) – An automotive group wants state lawmakers to ban texting while driving in Missouri.

Currently, people 21 and older are allowed to text behind the wheel.

Mike Right with AAA Missouri thinks the concept of restricting the practice by age doesn’t make sense.

“The whole notion is idiotic,” said Right. “The age is not an issue. It’s the distraction associated with texting that’s the issue. It’s not related to any age.”

Triple-A has supported all proposals in the legislature to ban texting while driving in the past. It’s been attempting numerous times over the past three years with no success.

Right calls the rationale behind barring only young people from the practice illogical.

“People over 21 are less able to deal with texting and driving than someone who’s under 21, whose manual dexterity is a heck of a lot better than somebody who’s 55 years old.”

A proposal to outright ban texting while driving for everyone has been filed each of the last three years in the Missouri legislature. Each one failed to gain traction.

Right says lawmakers’ previous reasons for rejecting the ban are weak.

“We’re a little slow to adopt these restrictions on driving because we don’t want to establish a nanny state. Well, I would rather have a nanny state than be injured by somebody that thinks that they have the capability of texting and driving.”

Democratic Senator Jill Schupp of Creve Coeur pre-filed legislation for the upcoming legislative session to ban all ages from texting behind the wheel. Senate Bill 165 is identical to the last three failed measures. It does permit texting through hands-free, voice activated devices.

AAA’s Right doesn’t oppose the provision as a compromise, but doesn’t think hands-free devices solve the problem of distracted driving.

“Hands free is not risk free,” said Right. “It engages your consciousness. You can’t drive a car and think about what you’re saying, and do calculations, if you will, or whatever the conversation might require.”

Currently 46 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands ban text messaging for all drivers. Two states, including Missouri, restrict younger drivers from the practice. Three states prohibit bus drivers from texting behind the wheel.

Nine proposals, not identical, but similar to Senator Schupp’s measure were introduced in the legislature in 2015 and 2016.  All of them fell short.

(Missourinet) – Governor Jay Nixon (D) says watching the first transit van roll off of the Ford plant in northwest Missouri’s Claycomo is one of his greatest memories while serving as governor.

“That plant was going to be closed at Claycomo. Instead, this is the largest and most productive Ford plant in the world,” Nixon tells Missourinet. “To ride in that vehicle as it came off after I had to call a special session and we had to get our pension system to get it paid for there and to know those workers were going to lose their jobs and now they’re hiring 700, 800, 900 more just right in that tranche. Almost 7,500 people are working there making good wages. Those moments kind of stick out, where historic things happen that I was really involved in.”

Nixon, a Democrat and union supporter, is serving his final days in office. Due to term limits, he will leave office next month.

Nixon says he has many other memorable moments, including one that gave closure to the community of Joplin after the 2011 tornado.

At one point, about 1,500 people were reported missing. Nixon says getting the unaccounted list down to zero closed one chapter and opened another. He says he wanted to give confidence that rebuilding efforts could start.

“While that’s kind of a sad moment in the sense, it was a completion point that marked the beginning of the next phase,” says Nixon.

An EF-5 twister ripped through the center of town, killing 161 people and destroying more than 500 business in less than 30 minutes.

Nixon says once he leaves office, he’ll take a vacation to an undisclosed location. After a little bit of rest and relaxation, he’ll begin working for Dowd Bennett law firm in the St. Louis area.

Republican governor-elect Eric Greitens will be sworn into office on January 9.