By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A state senator wants to re-direct federal stimulus payments which might be heading to prisoners who owe compensation to victims.
Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer of Parkville sponsors the measure being considered during the legislative session in Jefferson City.
“If these prisoners owe restitution to a victim, it requires that the Department of Corrections would intercept these funds and make sure that restitution is paid before any of the funds make there way to these prisoners,” Luetkemeyer says of his bill.
Congress recently approved $1,400 stimulus payments to Americans earning less than $75,000 a year as part of its economic stimulus package. Couples earning up to $150,000 qualify as well.
Luetkemeyer says prisoners shouldn’t have gotten stimulus payments in the first place.
“I disagree with what the feds did,” Luetkemeyer tells St. Joseph Post. “I think they should have carved out prisoners, that prisoners should not be receiving the checks at all. But one thing that we can do is we can say if you owe restitution to a victim as a prisoner that restitution must be paid before you can gain access to those checks.”
Luetkemeyer is also working on legislation to exempt the federal stimulus checks from state income tax, a measure he sponsored last year that won approval in the last legislative session.