HCS#2 SCS SB 1221 -- CRIME

SPONSOR:  Goodman (Lipke)

COMMITTEE ACTION:  Voted "do pass" by the Committee on Crime
Prevention and Public Safety by a vote of 13 to 0.

This substitute changes the laws regarding crime prevention.  In
its main provisions, the substitute:

(1)  Adds any moving violation, as defined by Section 302.010,
RSMo, to the list of infractions for which a court may order
payment to the county law enforcement restitution fund;

(2)  Authorizes the prosecuting or circuit attorney to dismiss a
complaint, information, or indictment without the consent of the
court;

(3)  Authorizes the City of St. Louis to impose, upon voter
approval, a sales tax of up to 0.5% for the operation of public
safety departments as well as for the compensation, pension
programs, and health care for public safety employees and
pensioners;

(4)  Creates the crime of distribution of a controlled substance
near a park when a person unlawfully distributes or delivers a
controlled substance to another individual within 1,000 feet of a
public, private, state, county, or municipal park, a class A
felony;

(5)  Creates the crime of falsifying or attempting to falsify a
drug or alcohol test when a person knowingly and intentionally
commits a fraudulent act to falsify or defraud a drug or alcohol
test.  Evidence of a fraudulent act will be possession of false
tubing, bladders, containers, and other devices concealed on the
body to provide a false biological sample; submitting a false or
adulterated biological sample to be tested; submitting a
biological sample that was collected from another person or
animal; adulterating a biological sample; or submitting a false
document or false material statement with the intent to hinder or
defraud a drug or alcohol test.  Violation of this offense will
be a class C felony.  It will be a class A misdemeanor to
manufacture, possess, sell, give away, distribute, market, or
transport a biological sample in this state with the intent of
using the biological sample to hinder or defraud a drug or
alcohol test or substances intended to be used to adulterate a
biological sample for the purpose of hindering or defrauding a
drug or alcohol test;

(6)  Requires a photograph to be taken of an incarcerated
individual upon release and made available to the victim at the
victim's request;

(7)  Allows any offender to refuse parole that is conditioned on
the performance of free work.  Any county, city, person,
organization, agency, or its employee who is charged with the
supervision of free work or who benefits from its performance
will be immune from any cause of action arising from his or her
supervision of performance, except for an intentional tort or
gross negligence;

(8)  Allows any sheriff or jailer to refuse to accept or
incarcerate any prisoner that is deemed to be medically unfit for
confinement;

(9)  Changes the process for registering securities in Missouri
by requiring a statement of cash flows instead of a statement
declaring changes in financial position.  The substitute also
removes the discretion of the Commissioner of Securities to
institute a revocation or suspension proceeding based on an order
issued under a law of another state that is reported more than
one year after the date of the order.  Orders from the
commissioner may include a civil penalty or the costs of the
investigation when sought in the statement accompanying the
order.  The standard for imposing a $50,000 civil penalty changes
from several violations to more than one violation of a
commissioner's order;

(10)  Allows a party to file a written motion for
disqualification of a judge within 10 days after discovering the
grounds for disqualification;

(11)  Allows a judge to order the defendant in a municipal or
circuit criminal case to pay costs as determined in Section
488.012;

(12)  Removes the exemption for cases disposed of by a traffic
violations bureau.  Sheriffs, county marshals, and other officers
are currently authorized to charge a fee for their services in
certain cases;

(13)  Specifies that a prosecution is commenced for a misdemeanor
or infraction when the information is filed.  A prosecution for a
felony is commenced when the complaint is filed;

(14)  Expands the crime of unlawful transactions with a child to
include a wholesaler, retailer, or employee of a wholesaler or
retailer who knowingly sells, rents, or otherwise makes available
a video game which is rated mature or adults only or which
contains intense or graphic violence or graphic depictions of
sexual behavior;

(15)  Changes the term "stealing-related offense" to include
robbery and clarifies that a person who has pled or been found
guilty of two separate stealing offenses, which were committed on
two separate occasions, will be guilty of a class B felony;

(16)  Increases the penalty for the crime of possession of child
pornography from a class C felony to a class B felony;

(17)  Creates the crime of disarming a peace or correctional
officer if a person intentionally removes from the peace or
correctional officer or deprives the peace or correctional
officer the use of his or her firearm or other deadly weapon
while the officer is acting within the scope of his or her
official duties.  The crime, a class C felony, does not include
situations in which the person does not know or could not
reasonably have known that the person was a peace or correctional
officer or if the officer was engaged in felonious conduct at the
time of disarmament;

(18)  Establishes the Alan Woods Law and specifies that any
state, county, or municipal law enforcement officer who has the
power to arrest an individual for driving with excessive
blood-alcohol content or driving while intoxicated and is
certified under Missouri law will administer a chemical test to
any person suspected of driving a motor vehicle involved in a
collision which resulted in a fatality or serious physical
injury;

(19)  Increases the penalties for littering by requiring at least
40 hours of community service and a $600 restitution payment.
One half of the restitution payment will be deposited into the
county law enforcement restitution fund, and the remaining half
will be deposited into the county school fund.  If the county in
which the crime occurred does not have a county law enforcement
restitution fund, the entire amount will be deposited into the
county school fund;

(20)  Revises the definition of "intoxication-related traffic
offense" to include any offense committed in another state or any
federal or military offense which, if committed in Missouri,
would be considered an intoxication-related traffic offense.  The
substitute also specifies that a person may be considered an
aggravated or chronic offender if he or she has committed any
offense in another state or any federal or military offense
which, if committed in Missouri, would be considered an
intoxication-related traffic offense;

(21)  Prohibits the use or possession of an alcohol beverage
vaporizer.  Any substance that has been approved by the federal
Food and Drug Administration as an over-the-counter or
therapeutic drug product administered by an authorized medical
practitioner is exempt;

(22)  Changes the laws regarding damages to an animal facility
for which criminal penalties are imposed.  The penalties will be:

(a)  A misdemeanor for animal facility damage up to $200;

(b)  A class D felony for animal facility damage exceeding $200,
but not exceeding $5,000;

(c)  A class C felony for animal facility damage exceeding
$5,000, but not exceeding $75,000; and

(d)  A class B felony for animal facility damage exceeding
$75,000;

(23)  Requires the Peace Officer Standards Training (POST)
Commission to make training available to peace officers that
provides instruction on the investigation of crimes involving the
use of a computer, the Internet, or both;

(24)  Requires crime victims to be paid up to $250 from the Crime
Victims' Compensation Fund to replace clothing, bedding, or other
personal items seized by law enforcement as evidence of a crime;

(25)  Allows victims to be represented by an appointed person
instead of appearing in person during parole and probation
revocation hearings for the offender.  The victim's appointee who
honors any subpoena to testify in or attend a criminal proceeding
is protected from discharge by any employer or from using
vacation, personal, or sick leave to attend any criminal
proceeding;

(26)  Authorizes access to official court records to victims of
offenses against the family found in Chapters 566 and 568 to use
in his or her own judicial proceedings.  Currently, access to
official court records for persons arrested and charged but the
case is subsequently nolle prossed, dismissed, or the accused is
found not guilty or imposition of sentence is suspended is
limited to law enforcement agencies, child care agencies,
residential care facilities, and skilled nursing facilities;

(27)  Allows a judge to order, as a condition of probation, the
probationer to be vaccinated for Hepatitis A and B at his or her
local health department with the costs to be paid by the
probationer; and

(28)  Creates the crime of knowingly entering unlawfully or
knowingly remaining unlawfully on any property designated as a
licensed hunting preserve by the Department of Conservation, a
class A misdemeanor.

FISCAL NOTE:  Estimated Effect on General Revenue Fund of a cost
of More than $100,000 in FY 2007, a cost of More than $100,000 to
an income of Unknown in FY 2008, and a cost of More than $100,000
to an income of Unknown in FY 2009.  No impact on Other State
Funds in FY 2007, FY 2008, and FY 2009.

PROPONENTS:  Supporters say that most judges interpret the law to
mean that a person has to steal on two separate occasions in
order to be charged with a felony, yet other judges interpret it
to mean that the defendant must plead guilty on two different
days of a stealing offense.  The bill will clarify the existing
law.

Testifying for the bill was Senator Goodman.

OPPONENTS:  There was no opposition voiced to the committee.

Kristina Jenkins, Legislative Analyst

Missouri House of Representatives
93rd General Assembly, 2nd Regular Session
Last Updated November 29, 2006 at 9:47 am