Senators call for increased transportation funding

By Wes Duplantier
(MDN News) -- Two Missouri state senators filed legislation Tuesday, Feb. 5, that would increase funding for the state's roads and highways, but pass on at least part of the cost to shoppers in the state.

Sens. Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, and Ryan McKenna, D-Crystal City, are pushing a measure that would impose an additional one-cent sales tax for 10 years, if voters approve it in the November 2014 elections. Revenue from the tax would go specifically to city, county and state transportation projects.

Kehoe and McKenna spoke to reporters Tuesday morning about their proposal at a construction site near U.S. 50 in northwestern Osage County, about 15 miles from the state Capitol.

Both senators have called for increased transportation funding in the past. Kehoe voiced support last year for a proposal to put tolls along most of I-70 to finance upgrades to the aging highway. That proposal never made it to the full Senate, but a panel of 22 representatives of business and government interests was formed to study the state's transportation funding needs. In its final report, that committee estimated that the state would need an additional $600 million to $1 billion annually to deal with the state's transportation infrastructure needs.

On Wednesday, Feb. 6, Rudy Farber, the head of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission, said he is pleased the legislature is working on finding a new funding source for transportation. The state's Transportation Department has expressed the state has billions in deferred maintenance costs and Farber said he likes Kehoe and McKenna's proposal.

Bill to Combat Sexual Abuse of Students Wins Senate Approval

The Missouri Senate has passed legislation which would help keep teachers out of the classroom who have engaged in sexual misconduct with students. The proposal, sponsored by Senator Jane Cunningham of Chesterfield, was approved by the Senate on a unanimous vote of 34-0. The bill seeks to deal with a pernicious pattern in the public school system. A teacher or coach commits sexual abuse of a student and is released by the school district. The abuser then moves on to another school district which is unaware of the prior conduct because of employee confidentiality stipulations and agreements. The teacher or coach then engages in sexual misconduct again. This scenario is often referred to as "pass the trash." Under the provisions of the bill, any school district employee who shares information about a former employee with another school district will be immune from any civil action in court seeking damages. Any school district which failed to disclose information concerning sexual misconduct by a former employee in discussions with another school district would be liable for damages. The bill also requires that a school district suspend any employee who has been the subject of a child abuse investigation where the state's Division of Children's Services has substantiated allegations of sexual misconduct. School officials who receive allegations from a student of sexual misconduct must report that information to state child abuse authorities within 24 hours. All applicants for a state teaching certificate would be required to undergo a criminal background check. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will also be required to conduct an annual check of teachers with active certificates against criminal history records, the sexual offender registry, and the child abuse registry. A state audit conducted by State Auditor Susan Montee in 2007 found that students were at risk because of inadequate background checks. The Senate amended Cunningham's bill to include another child protection measure sponsored by Senator Ryan McKenna of Crystal City. Known as "Erin's Law," the proposal calls for the development of a curriculum in the public schools to discourage incidents of sexual abuse. Senator Cunningham has been working valiantly for several years to address the horrendous problem of sexual predators in the educational system. "Missouri statutes prohibit sexual offenders from being within 1000 feet of our schools, yet we allow them right inside our classrooms," Cunningham observes. Senator Cunningham's bill is named "The Amy Hestir Student Protection Act." Amy Hestir is a Missouri woman who was repeatedly molested and assaulted by her junior high school teacher during her youth. The perpetrator went on to teach in other Missouri school districts.

More texting while driving restrictions contested in the statehouse

Jim Weible has seen the extreme consequences of texting while driving. Earlier this year, a friend of the St. Louis County resident was driving and texting without wearing a seat belt. Weible's friend, 21-year-old Bond Rho, was driving alone through north St. Louis County when he veered off the road, hit a pole and was thrown from the car. He was killed instantly. "The fact that something like this could happen to a guy that young, a guy I had known that long, it made the statistics you see on the news a lot more real," Weible said. According to a study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, drivers take their eyes off the road for an average five seconds to send a text. Driving at 55 mph, that's traveling beyond the length of a football field without looking at the road. Some legislators, including Sen. Chuck Purgason, R-Caulfield, said people need to make these kinds of personal decisions about what they do when they drive on their own. Sen. Ryan McKenna, D-Jefferson County, said he disagrees with Purgason and sponsored a bill to expand Missouri's ban to include all drivers. "My example is when I first started driving, after I passed the driving test, somebody gave me a miniature typewriter and told me to start typing on it while I drive the car, you would have thought I was crazy," McKenna said. McKenna said his bill is currently stuck in the state's legislative process and that a similar bill is proposed in the House. Since 2009, it has been illegal in Missouri for anyone under the age of 22 to text while driving. Captain Tim Hull, spokesperson for the Missouri State Highway Patrol, said the age restriction makes it difficult for officers to enforce the law. But, Hull said, drivers who text typically make visible mistakes that get them pulled over by officers, such as veering into another lane of traffic or driving too slowly. From August 2009 to December 2010, the Highway Patrol issued more than 80 tickets for texting while driving. Under Missouri's current law, Bond Rho's texting was illegal, but one year later he would have been 22 and legally allowed to text while driving.