By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A special legislative session in Jefferson City ended with the legislature approving only two of the seven measures sought by Gov. Mike Parson.
State Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer of Parkville acknowledges the session had a disappointing ending.
“I think the special session certainly took a little bit longer than most of us anticipated,” Luetkemeyer tells St. Joseph Post. “We didn’t get everything done that was part of the governor’s call. I was a little disappointed to see that all of the items didn’t pass, but that’s the way it sometimes works whenever you have a bicameral legislature; some things will pass the Senate and not pass the House or vice versa.”
The Senate put all of the proposals by Gov. Parson in one package and passed it. The bill didn’t receive a warm reception in the House, which split all of the proposals out individually.
A bill aimed at protecting witnesses of violent crimes did pass. It was a piece of legislation which failed to make it through the coronavirus-shortened regular session. Luetkemeyer sponsored the measure and says its provisions should remove a real obstacle in the prosecution of violent crime.
“What I’m hoping it will do is it will help us solve a bunch of unsolved murder and other violent crime cases,” Luetkemeyer says. “In many cases, particularly homicide cases, law enforcement officers are unable to solve those crimes, because a witness is intimidated from coming forward for fear of retribution.”
The legislature also agreed to repeal the requirement that St. Louis police officers and other emergency responders live within the city limits, seen as a detriment to recruiting police officers to the St. Louis force.
Lawmakers rejected three proposals involving juveniles. One would have enhanced penalties for adults who attempt to pawn off firearms used in crimes to juveniles. Another would have certified juveniles as adults in certain violent crimes.
Parson might have had a detrimental effect on the session when he added a proposal to authorize the state Attorney General to take over certain murder cases in St. Louis, seen as an outgrowth of the governor’s spat with St. Louis Prosecutor Kim Gardner, likely stemming from her decision to file charges on two homeowners who brandished guns when protestors passed their home on the way to demonstrating in front of the mayor’s home. When the governor amended the special session call, House leadership decided to take the issued individually, rather than as one large piece of legislation.
Luetkemeyer was disappointed the House failed to approve legislation which would have allowed witnesses who feel intimated to submit written testimony during a trial. He saw that as a companion piece with the witness protection bill. Witnesses at trial must present testimony in person.
Luetkemeyer agrees with one suggestion that legislative leaders and the governor should have prepared better before legislators returned to Jefferson City.
“I think there might have been some miscommunications or lack of communication that should have happened between the House and the Senate, the governor’s office, and that’s not unusual. Those types of communication breakdowns sometimes happen even during a regular session,” Luetkemeyer says. “So, certainly I think those things could have been done differently.”