With only two weeks left in session, one of our top priorities is finishing the budget.
The Senate is now considering a proposal approved by the House. Hopefully they will pass it, as it contains many items beneficial for the state of Missouri and the 152nd District.
For instance, I was fortunate with the help of my colleagues to get funding to help finish the Highway 67 project. This is a decades-long effort to expand the highway from two lanes to four lanes throughout Missouri. The House’s budget proposal contains $10 million for right-of-way acquisition all the way to the Arkansas state line. This will put us on the cusp of completing the improvements that so many legislators and community leaders throughout Southeast Missouri have worked toward for so long.
Another crucial item in the budget is a pay increase for the (Missouri State) Highway Patrol. I support a 20% raise in trooper pay to ensure they remain fully staffed. As our state’s crime rate remains among the nation’s highest, recruitment and retention of law enforcement is absolutely critical. State troopers are important to our entire state, but especially in rural counties where they fill coverage gaps. Without this major pay increase, we won’t have enough troopers to protect citizens.
This week, the governor’s office called me and others in leadership to a meeting to discuss transgender medical treatment legislation. He wanted to know our feelings and I told him the Senate needs to pass the House version, HB 419. This is better because the Senate’s bill contains a grandfather clause and sunset. I want to thank everyone who contacted the Senate leadership to ask for support of HB 419. One day after the governor’s meeting, I was contacted by Jamie Reed, the whistleblower from the transgender clinic at Washington University. I very much appreciate her visiting to tell us about the irreversible harm they have caused to our children. I am confident something will pass and I hope it is HB 419.
While these are some of the prominent issues, other bills are also important. One of these, my HB 36, seeks to curb the sharp increase in car theft. This problem can, in part, be traced to a law that took effect in 2012. Before that time, only vehicles 20 or more years old could be sold for scrap in Missouri with no title.
But under a law passed that year, vehicles only need to be 10 years old. For me, it is almost a legal way to steal, and since the law passed, vehicle thefts have gone way up. Locally, the head of the (United Gospel) Rescue Mission had his car stolen and it was sold to a local scrap dealer and he lost his automobile. The trouble is that all these scrap dealers have powerful lobbyists who defend their interests, and they will do about anything to stop it from getting passed.
My bill changes the law back to 20 years as the age at which a car must be before a scrap metal operator can purchase the vehicle without the title. This may not completely solve the issue, but it will almost certainly help. The bill has passed unanimously out of committee and I have also attached it as an amendment to a Senate bill. There is still a long way to go since the lobbyists will continue to work for its defeat.
May God bless and keep you and our great nation.
Hardy Billington represents District 152, which includes Butler County.