Ingrid Burnett: Missouri House passes resolution condemning Ukraine invasion; Make Murder Legal Act returns

 

(From Rep. Ingrid Burnett, D-Kansas City)

The last piece of business the House took up on Thursday, March 3, was a House Resolution to “condemn, in the strongest possible terms, Vladimir Putin's violent attack on the people of Ukraine and strongly endorse the swift and severe economic sanctions and stringent export controls that President Biden's administration has imposed on Russia.” 

It was a long “debate” and many members spoke in favor. Almost everyone who spoke is concerned about loved ones impacted by this crisis – some of them in grave danger. It was a rare moment of solidarity in the House. I hope it had an impact.

House Passes Bill To Require KC To Spend More On Police

Last week the House also voted out HB 1986, intended to require that KC increase the amount of local revenue we direct to the Police Board to spend. 

This is one of several bills being considered by the legislature this year seeking to allow the state to impose unfunded mandates on local governments regarding law enforcement budgets. Kansas City is already required to allocate at least one-fifth of its general revenue fund for the police department, and it does. House Bill 1986 seeks to greatly expand the base of what is considered general revenue by including special taxes that are dedicated for specific purposes outside of the general fund. 

Some of the funds would be used instead to assist with prevention and social services aimed at reducing crime and allowing officers to dedicate their efforts on improving response rates to serious threats. A provision of the Missouri Constitution’s revenue-limiting Hancock Amendment prohibits the General Assembly from enacting laws that impose unfunded mandates on local governments beyond requirements already in place at the time voters ratified the amendment in 1980. 

By requiring the city to spend more local revenue for the police without providing state funding, the requirement likely runs afoul of the Hancock Amendment.

I spoke against this bill mainly because I believe that our locally elected officials and policymakers are in a better position to provide for public health and safety in our community than the legislative body at the state. Adding more police and allowing more guns in more places hasn’t worked very well for us.

Killed in Senate, ‘Make Murder Legal Act’ returns in House

Nearly three weeks after a Senate committee rejected Republican legislation a rural prosecutor dubbed the “Make Murder Legal Act,” a House panel considered an identical bill. Once again, law enforcement organizations uniformly opposed the measure, which seeks to create a presumption in state law that whenever one person kills another, the killer acted in self-defense.

Current law allows a defendant to claim self-defense at trial, but the defendant must show the use of force was justified under the circumstances. Prosecutors, of course, always bear the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime was committed.

Under House Bill 2118, a person who used physical or deadly force would be presumed to have acted in self-defense and be “immune from criminal prosecution or civil action.” Not only could that person not be prosecuted, but the bill would also prohibit suspects from being arrested, detained or charged with a crime unless authorities can prove “by clear and convincing evidence” that suspect didn’t act in self-defense.

The House Special Committee on Government Oversight took no immediate action on the bill. On Feb. 10, the Senate Transportation, Infrastructure and Public Safety Committee voted 4-3 against allowing an identical measure, Senate Bill 666, to advance to the full Senate.

Budget Update

We are starting to move into what is called the “markup” phase of the budget. Last week, in the Education Appropriation Committee I was pleased to be a part of offering and/or supporting sending funds to provide feminine hygiene products for girls in our middle and high schools, increasing funds for schools to hire extra counselors or mental health providers, and adding clarifying language to ensure federal funds for homeless students are protected for that use. 

I also supported funds for teacher recruitment and retention through a program to support local students to teach in their local communities through a non-traditional path.

Each appropriation committee should be finished by the end of next week so that we can bring our recommendations to the full committee before spring break starts on the 14th.