The Missouri Times | Jan. 29, 2020

The Missouri Times

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JANUARY 27, 2020

2019 STATESMAN OF THE YEAR

CALEB JONES www.missouritimes.com

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OPINION 225 Madison St., Jefferson City, MO | (573) 746-2912

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Scott Faughn, Publisher | scott@themissouritimes.com | @ScottFaughn Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Editor | kaitlyn@themissouritimes.com | @K_Schallhorn Jim Benoist, Producer | jim@themissouritimes.com Cameron Gerber, Reporter | cameron@themissouritimes.com

Open letter to lawmakers: Be bold for Missourians with continued push for criminal justice reform this session Jeremy Cady, state director of Americans for Prosperity; Jeanette Mott Oxford, executive director of Empower Missouri; Sara Baker, policy director of American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri Dear Members of the 100th General Assembly, On behalf of our organizations and the thousands of Missourians we represent, we urge you to take additional bold steps this year toward reforming our criminal justice system to ensure a better approach towards reducing crime, keeping communities safe and affording individuals with criminal records a chance to become productive, lawabiding citizens.

Missouri is heading in a new direction, one that stresses smart-on-crime criminal justice practices rather than the so-called “toughon-crime” policies implemented over the last several decades that have proven ineffective.

To say the criminal justice policies of the past have failed our communities would be an understatement. Across the board, from mandatory minimums – which have caused disproportionately long sentences – to barriers in the system that facilitate higher recidivism rates, it’s time to find a new way forward.

Too often our citizens are punished with sentences that outweigh their crimes, many of which are lower-level, non-violent offenses. Gov. Parson directly addressed this in October urging all to reconsider the ways in which we use minor violations of probation and parole to throw away the key and place too many individuals back in prison. We second his call.

Missouri must stop piling on an already bloated and expensive prison system that takes a toll on families and fails to produce the best results from our Missouri tax dollars.

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Missouri has the seventh-highest incarceration rate in the country with a prison system that costs our taxpayers an estimated $300 million a year, according to 2016 data.

Long sentences don’t stop the vicious cycle of incarceration-release-repeat. The latest data show 47.4 percent of incarcerated individuals will return to prison within five years of release. We must look both at our prison system and at our local jails, where total populations have increased by 295 percent since 1970 and where, in some counties, the percent of individuals held prior to any trial or conviction has increased 88 percent since 2000.

These policies have done enough harm in Missouri. But, thanks to efforts from the Missouri General Assembly in 2019, criminal justice reform is now part of the conversation in our state. We must keep it that way.

Our organizations are encouraged that lawmakers are dedicated to creating a justice system that gives flexibility to judges in sentencing, deters crime, keeps streets safe, and provides formerly-incarcerated individuals a chance to succeed when they return to their communities.

We urge you to continue down this path to reach the goals that we share: a reduced crime rate, safer communities, second chances for those who have met the conditions for release, and fewer tax dollars obligated to prisons. Across the aisle and across Missouri, we know we can work together for a better future.

HOT LIST

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MCADSV

The Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and will be recognized at our upcoming Statesman of the Year event. Congrats on 4 decades of service to Missouri, MCADSV!

PHOTO OF THE WEEK Carol Comer @CarolSComer1

So excited to be back with my @MoDNR and @mostateparks family. The outpouring of love and support was amazing! You guys are the best!!!

Tweets of the Week Highlights in 280 characters or less.

MODOT

Oh, the weather outside is frightful — but all of those working for MoDOT deserve a huge thanks for keeping the roads as clear as possible during the recent winter storms.

Rasheen Aldridge Jr. @RepSheenBean The first week of the Second Regular Session of the 100th General Assembly has been a delight. We are already getting busy in the 78th Dist. It’s a true honor to serve the Dist I love so much in the state legislature. #MoLeg Jeremy LaFaver @jeremylafaver I notice all of the people criticizing Kiki Curls and Jason Holsman aren’t facing certain unemployment in a few months. Be mad about term limits if you want to be mad about something. Or just say “thanks” for over a decade of public service.

Don’t be a jerk.

Mike Kehoe @Mikelkehoe I’m incredibly proud of the work @ClaudiaLKehoe is doing for the MO Mentoring Initiative and the other charities she is involved in. She did not ask for this job, but she sure is good at it. #MissouriProud #MikeProud

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ENERGY

WITH JOBS ON THE LINE, SPIRE TO APPEAL COURT’S REJECTION OF ITS INFRASTRUCTURE REPLACEMENT PROCESS

Kaitlyn Schallhorn The feasibility of how utilities handle infrastructure replacement cases — such as with corroded cast iron pipes — is in question following a recent appeals court decision. And for one Missouri company, a bevy of jobs are on the line.

The Western District Court of Appeals remanded a prior Public Service Commission (PSC) order related to Spire Missouri’s Infrastructure System Replacement Surcharges (ISRS) in November; whether some of the replaced pipes were actually “worn out or deteriorated” had been questioned during the case. The utility company had initially requested an adjustment to its ISRS to recover costs from pipe replacements it made in 2017 and 2018.

An ISRS appears on most natural gas customers’ bills to offset what companies spend to replace pipeline systems — often to keep in compliance with local, state, or federal regulations —

after a rate case. An ISRS is regulated by the PSC. The decision noted Spire’s replacement program “replaces or retires” cast iron, steel, and plastic pipes. Cast iron pipes have been deemed unsafe because of graphitization — a degradation procession weakening metals and allowing for leaks — and steel pipes can quickly erode. And following a 2003 decision by the General Assembly, Spire had accelerated that process with what officials said was an investment of up to $300 million.

Craig Hoeferline, Spire’s vice president of operations services, testified the company will replace pipes as workers come across them during a “leak survey” or “leak crawl.” He said whenever there is a leak in bare steel and cast iron structures, “by definition the structures are worn out and deteriorated.”

“We’re about two-thirds of the way through a

HOLSMAN JOINS PSC Cameron Gerber State Sen. Jason Holsman has officially joined the Public Service Commission (PSC), following an appointment by Gov. Mike Parson.

Holsman, a Democrat who represented Kansas City’s SD 7, was confirmed by the Senate to join the PSC shortly after the legislative session got underway. The PSC regulates investor-owned electric, natural gas, water, and other utilities in Missouri.

“Throughout my years of service, energy and its infrastructure have been priority issues for me because of their direct impact on our environment, our economy, and our quality of life,” Holsman said. “Because of term limits, my ability to work on these issues in the legislature is quickly drawing to a close. That is why I am grateful to Governor Parson for providing me a new opportunity to continue this important work as a member of the Public Service Commission.”

His first PSC agenda meeting was on Jan. 21. He had been serving his final term in the state Senate due to term limits.

In the legislature, Holsman sat on a variety of committees, including education, appropriations, and rules. He championed a variety of legislation — from efforts to reduce homelessness to modifying property taxes.

Before joining the upper chamber, Holsman served as a state representative. He is also a former educator.

25 year accelerated replacement [process],” Larry Pleus, the natural gas company’s director of government affairs, told The Missouri Times.

“So here we sit. There’s been no issue with it for 15 years, and now all of a sudden everything is thrown into limbo. How are we going to deal with this in the future — or even right now?”

Pleus said Spire has about 1,000 employees in Missouri — in addition to hundreds of contractors in the Kansas City area — whose jobs are dedicated to the accelerated replacement of these pipes. And these workers are concerned about their futures, Pleus said.

“They understand the company can’t keep that many employees on if financially we have to cut that work … by probably 75 percent to not incur some kind of financial ramifications,” he said.

Spire does plan to appeal the decision — although officials are not hopeful a higher court

will intervene. In the meantime, Spire is looking to the General Assembly for a fix.

Sen. Wayne Wallingford, a Republican, is behind SB 618, legislation that would change the definition of “eligible infrastructure system replacements” to include cast iron, steel, and other pipes that “can no longer be installed under current applicable safety standards,” among other things. He said his bill would “put it back to where it was for the last 16 years.”

The bill is scheduled to be heard before the Senate’s Commerce, Consumer Protection, Energy and the Environment Committee this week.

“This is a safety and reliability issue. And it’s a financial issue for utilities,” Pleus said. “This is a model program … so you scratch your head as to why they are challenging this.”

EVERGY FACING HOSTILE TAKEOVER THREAT FROM ELLIOTT MANAGEMENT COMPANY Kaitlyn Schallhorn

Evergy, Inc. and Elliott Management Corporation, an activist hedge fund owned by billionaire Paul Singer, are seemingly at odds over the direction the Kansas City-based utility company needs to take.

The New York-based Elliott firm owns about 11.3 million shares in Evergy, or about $760 million in market value — about a 5 percent stake.

Elliott is an activist hedge fund, meaning it attempts to influence or change management and other decisions within a company through a large enough investment, and is owned by Singer, dubbed the “Doomsday Investor” by New York Magazine. Elliott is known for its role in slashing companies, leading to thousands of layoffs.

In a letter to Evergy’s board, Jeff Rosenbaum, Elliott’s senior portfolio manager, pointed to what he called a “stock-price underperformance” since Evergy was created through a merger between Westar and KCP&L. “Investors are especially skeptical regarding Evergy’s current strategy of using capital to repurchase shares at the expense of increased investment in its infrastructure,” Rosenbaum said.

“As we layout … increased system investment would not only provide meaningfully more value to shareholders than buybacks, but would also provide clearly superior benefits to Evergy’s customers, employees, regulators, and the

broader communities Evergy’s utilities serve, in addition to helping to facilitate the Company’s deployment of renewables and reducing its carbon footprint.”

Specifically, Elliott suggested the need for a new “highly-credentialed board- and management-level leadership” as well as a “strategic combination via a premium stock-for-stock merger.”

“We believe either path, if executed properly, should result in high-certainty, line-of-sight equity value creation of up to $5 billion, with opportunities for significant additional value creation over time. In addition, we believe the business improvements envisioned under either path will leave Evergy better positioned to serve all of its key stakeholders, with stronger corporate governance and a greater commitment to renewable energy.”

But Evergy said it’s “confident in our ability to deliver long-term growth and shareholder value creation through the execution of our strategic plan.” In a statement, Evergy said it’s been in discussions with Elliott since October 2019 and has retained Morgan Stanley as a financial advisor and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP as legal counsel.

An Evergy spokeswoman declined to comment.

Evergy’s statement maintained it’s on track to

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exceed $550 million of cumulative net cost savings through 2023 in connection to the merger.

Elliott noted it had engaged in private conversations with Evergy over the past few months before going public with its letter to the board because of its “interactions with management and the board to date as well as Evergy’s persistent share-price underperformance.”

Late last year, Evergy was locked in a battle with the Public Service Commission (PSC) over an order requiring the utility company to set up a regulatory liability account for revenue and returns from a Sibley coal plant it is shuttering.

In a call with the investment community in November, Evergy President and CEO Terry Bassham estimated the annual impact of the PSC’s order would be $9 million or $0.03 per share.

“We remain open to continuing our dialogue with Elliott,” Evergy said in its statement. “As we consider any opportunity, we are resolute in our commitment to serving the best interests of all Evergy stakeholders, including our shareholders, employees, customers, and the communities we serve.”

The Governor’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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S T AT E S M A N O F T H E Y E A R

STATESMAN OF THE YEAR: CALEB JONES Kaitlyn Schallhorn

A state lawmakerturned-CEO of the Missouri Electric Co-Ops, Caleb Jones’ dedication to Missouri, particularly its rural areas, knows no bounds. In fact, he says his commitment to public service has only grown over the years.

And so, The Missouri Times has selected Jones as its third annual Statesman of the Year.

“When we were discussing who we should honor this year, we tried to think about someone who had served the state and served it in a way that was dedicated to improving the lives of people who might never even know of his actions — someone in the tradition of our first honoree, now-Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, and last year’s nominee, Gov. Mike Parson,”

The Missouri Times publisher Scott Faughn said.

“When thinking about the people all over rural Missouri who will be able to live and work in their hometown, and for the first generation in a 100 years, live and raise a family in a rural way of life due to his work extending broadband internet access to all corners of the state, Caleb Jones was the obvious choice,” Faughn continued.

“I’d like to congratulation Caleb Jones for being named the 2019 The Missouri Times Statesman of the Year,” said Gov. Mike Parson. “He is a strong leader and understands the issues that impact rural Missouri. We are proud to have him represent our great state.”

“C ong r atu l at i ons to Caleb on this wellearned recognition,” U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt said. “During his time in public service and as CEO of Missouri co-ops, Caleb has been an incredibly effective advocate for rural Missouri. I appreciate all he has done, and continues to do, to expand opportunity and improve the quality of life in communities across our state.”

Jones, 40, has had a storied career in Missouri politics, all beginning the summer of 1984 when he rode in the back of a 1949 Chevrolet truck as his father (successfully) campaigned for sheriff.

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PLEASE JOIN US FOR THE 3rd ANNUAL

STATESMAN OF THE YEAR EVENT JANUARY 29TH 6:00 PM AT MILLBOTTOM 400 WEST MAIN IN JEFFERSON CITY

Special room rates for event attendees at the Capitol Plaza Hotel by calling 573-635-1234 and asking for the Statesman of the Year Event rate. www.missouritimes.com

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He’s worked for U.S. Congressman Kenny Hulshof, served on the Bush/Cheney campaign, and worked in the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a presidential appointee.

Eventually, Jones would start his own law firm and run for state representative, serving a mid-Missouri district for several consecutive sessions.

In 2016, Jones resigned from the General Assembly to become the deputy chief of staff to then-Gov. Eric Greitens. And by January 2018, Jones was making moves again — this time to serve as vice president of the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives (AMEC). A year later, he was promoted to its CEO. “The rural electric co-ops have been very involved in broadband, but it doesn’t just stop there. From the time the first electric line was run out to a farm, turning on a light there, the rural electric co-ops have been committed to making the lives of rural Missourians better,” Jones

said.

“As a state representative, I served 35,000 people and represented them,” Jones added. “With this job, I get to really do the same thing I’ve done all along in public service and represent our 2 million members in rural Missouri. For me, my commitment to public service hasn’t changed. It’s only gotten bigger. I feel like it’s my job to make sure rural Missouri is represented.”

In the House, Jones was known for his tenacity.

He didn’t shy away from running for leadership positions and at one point chaired the powerful General Laws Committee.

He championed a wide array of legislation, from enacting stricter regulations on docks and marinas to helping electric cooperatives.

“My first experience with Caleb was umpiring him when he was the catcher on the California High School ‘Fighting Pintos’ baseball team — and he has left an impression on me ever since,” veteran strategist Jeff Roe said. “From the Huckabee For President campaign to

‘allowing’ him to marry my employee to his races for the statehouse and Speaker, I’ve never encountered a more fun-loving, honorable guy.

I’m proud to see all that he’s accomplished and look forward to seeing what the future holds.”

“Caleb instinctively wants to do the right thing — not just for his family, clients, or constituents but also for the state,” said Jewell Patek, a friend and lobbyist.

“In the world of politics, being able to pursue each simultaneously is unique.”

Jones is married to wife Lindsey and has two children: Max and Charlie.

He said it’s “humbling” to work in Missouri politics, surrounded by people who — no matter the political party or hometown — truly want to make the state a better place. And that’s a cause to which he, too, is committed.

MCADSV celebrates 40th anniversary: ‘We’re not done yet’ Kaitlyn Schallhorn Colleen Coble says it’s one of the greatest blessings, to know her life has prepared her to be in a position to advocate for victims of sexual and domestic violence. And as the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence (MCADSV) celebrates its 40th anniversary, Coble has a message: They aren’t done yet.

A reporter-turned-advocate, Coble has led the MCADSV as its executive director since 1988. She’s watched the MCADSV transition from a two-person team with 13 member groups to an organization with nearly 20 people and 120 member groups, from domestic and sexual violence prevention to prosecutors to law enforcement to child counseling and more.

“It’s been a dramatic increase in the number of services available and the extent to which recognition of domestic and sexual violence and the work to prevent and end it has crossed into all areas of every community,” Coble told The Missouri Times. “It’s not just any longer a job for that program over there. It’s something that is unifying in recognition, in all aspects across the workplace, our schools, our families and extended families, through the justice system and law enforcement and health care.”

Coble began her career as a journalist, which took her from Missouri to Washington. It was there in the Pacific Northwest that she met a group of

women who were starting an advocacy group. Coble volunteered at the fledgling program and was eventually hired.

Coble later moved to Florida for a brief time and tried to get back into journalism. But one of the first people she met at her new job was a sexual assault survivor.

“And I kind of realized that I wasn’t going to not know what I had learned as an advocate, and I thought maybe I could take my journalism skills and use them in a different way and continue down the road opening before me, which was being an advocate,” she recalled.

So Coble came back to Missouri, settling down with work at a domestic violence and rape shelter and crisis center in Columbia. Then in 1988, the MCADSV began looking for a new executive director — and found Coble.

Coble isn’t hesitant to note the work the MCADSV has done over years — all that it has accomplished in four decades — hasn’t always been easy. In fact, she said one constant in her line of work is the determination of those who wish to do harm to others.

“They will continue to find avenues that we have yet to address in our laws.

It’s astounding,” Coble said. “We have to be very diligent each year to make sure we are providing the most complete response in our laws and policies as we can. Because if there’s an angle to be worked, a loophole to be exploited, those who wish to continue to do harm will

find it.”

But she’s prideful of the success the organization has held, from successfully backing legislation adding housing protections for victims of stalking or domestic and sexual violence in 2019 to advocating for state funding for sexual assault services in 2014.

“It hasn’t always been easy, but one of the most powerful parts of working for the coalition is just that: it’s a coalition.

There are so many others involved and dedicated and on the journey with us that we’re not alone in this work, and that’s parallel to the best of our work with victims of violence, to let them know that they’re not alone as they get the help they need for that important transition to being a victim of something to being a survivor,” Coble said.

Sen. Lauren Arthur worked with the MCADSV on the housing protections bill last year, calling the group “a wonderful organization that’s made meaningful contributions to preventing and addressing sexual and domestic violence.”

“Missouri is a better place thanks to MCADSV’s advocacy, as are the lives of the countless survivors that the MCADSV has supported,” Arthur said.

“I’m very grateful that we’ve been able to make the progress that we have in Missouri and that we have every good faith in making more from here on,” Coble said. “We’re not done yet.”

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S T AT E S M A N O F T H E Y E A R

JONES (Continued from Page 6.)

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L E G I S L AT U R E

Lawmakers seek parole changes for minors Cameron Gerber

A group of bipartisan lawmakers came together to tout a recently-filed bill that would grant prisoners sentenced to more than 15 years as a minor greater opportunity for parole.

HB 2201, sponsored by GOP state Rep. Nick Schroer and co-sponsored by Democratic state Rep. Barbara Washington is a bipartisan effort to give reformed inmates the chance to appeal their cases. The bill was inspired by the case of Bobby Bostic, who was sentenced to 241 years for a brief crime spree in 1995 involving an armed robbery and carjacking. Bostic, who was 16 at the time, was tried as an adult.

Among the support for this proposed legislation is former Judge Evelyn Baker, who handed down the sentence in 1995. Baker told reporters Tuesday she has seen a change in Bostic since his sentence began.

“He’s not a little child anymore,” Baker said.

“Now he’s a 40-year-old man. He’s written books, he writes poetry, he has tried to help as many people as he can to learn.”

Bostic has earned his GED, an associate’s degree, and an assortment of other certificates from institutions including Missouri State University

while in prison. He has spent much of his time in scholarly pursuits and in helping his fellow detainees to learn as well.

In addition to the proposed bill, a parallel effort is being made to secure clemency for Bostic.

Schroer began gathering legislators’ signatures on a clemency letter that he has since passed on to Gov. Mike Parson. This petition has about 50 signatures from both sides of the aisle.

“This is a man who can contribute widely to society, a man who deserves clemency, and we deserve to create a future in Missouri where situations like Bobby’s can never happen again,” Sara Baker of the ACLU, who assisted in drafting and filing the petition, said during Tuesday’s event.

Missouri is one of five states that still allow for consecutive sentencing for juveniles — such as in Bostic’s case, according to Baker.

Schroer and Washington’s bill would catch Missouri up to a national standard set by rulings in other states, such as in Florida and Alabama.

House Bill 2201, which would ironically be the final year of Bostic’s sentence, has received much support and attention. It is not yet scheduled for a hearing.

Ashcroft pushes initiative petition changes Kaitlyn Schallhorn Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft touted an overhaul of Missouri’s initiative petition process before a Senate committee, testifying that he wants it to be less cumbersome for taxpayers.

Sitting before the Senate Committee on Local Government and Elections, state Sen. David Sater said his SB 522 — would “make much-needed updates and changes to the initiative petition process.”

Among other things, Sater’s bill: • Requires text of proposed measures to be in 12-point Times New Roman font with one-inch margins • Establishes a fee of $500 per petition, along with an additional $25 per page after a petition exceeds 10 pages, with the option for a refund if the measure becomes certified for the ballot • Enacts a 12-week period after general elections when initiative sheets cannot be filed • Mandates each sample ballot include the question: “Shall the measure

summarized be approved?” with “yes” and “no” options • Sets the total number of words a petition’s summary statement can include at no more than 150 “Currently there are no standards … or structure of the signature pages for the initiative petitions for the county clerks so they don’t know what they’re getting sometimes,” Sater, a Republican, told the sevenmember committee on which he also sits. “This would allow the secretary of state to issue best practices in this process.

Ashcroft, who has served as Missouri’s secretary of state since 2017, said the filing fee would be a way to deter people from submitting “frivolous” petitions, not to be meant as a “revenue stream” for the state.

“We’re trying to make sure that this process is more efficient and that it is cheaper for the

taxpayers, but at the same point, it doesn’t really create a burden for people who truly want to make a change,” Ashcroft said.

Aside from Ashcroft, SB 522 saw support from representatives for the Missouri Pork Association, Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, Missouri Corn Growers Association, and Missouri Soybean Association.

Several other groups, such as the ACLU of Missouri and Missouri Coalition for the Environment, testified in opposition to the bill — mostly taking a stance against the filing fee. A representative for United for Missouri said there were many things in Sater’s bill his organization supported but would like to see the “excessive” filing fee lowered and the 12week ban following general elections removed.

Additionally, Sater presented his SJR 31 before the committee Wednesday. The joint

“We’re trying to make sure that this process is more efficient and that it is cheaper for the taxpayers....”

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resolution, if approved by voters, would require initiative petitions to be signed by 15 percent of all legal voters in each congressional district — up from the current requirement of 8 percent of legal voters in two-thirds of the congressional districts.

The resolution would also mandate constitutional amendments could take effect if approved by at least two-thirds of voters as opposed to a simple majority.

Ashcroft did not testify directly in favor or opposition to the resolution but instead thanked the Senate committee “for looking into the initiative petition process.”

“Our office believes that the constitution of the state should not be changed unless the people of Missouri broadly agree with that change,” Ashcroft said.

Members of the Senate Committee on Local Government and Elections include Sandy Crawford (chairwoman), David Sater, Dan Hegeman, Lincoln Hough, and Doug Libla.

Sens. John Rizzo and Scott Sifton are the lone Democrats on the committee.

First batch of SAFE Kits delivered to private labs for testing The first untested sexual assault kits inventoried through the SAFE Kits Initiative was collected at the Springfield Police Department from neighboring law enforcement agencies and sent to private labs to be tested.

“When I was sworn in as Attorney General, tackling this backlog of untested sexual assault kits was one of my top priorities, and remains a key focus of this office heading into the new year,” said Attorney General Eric Schmitt.

“Thanks to Judge Williams and her team’s hard work, our exhaustive inventory identified the number of untested sexual assault kits in the state of Missouri, an important step in tackling this issue. Now, with the help of Chief Williams, the Springfield Police Department, and our incredible law enforcement partners across the state, we’re taking a crucial step forward in our fight to bring justice for victims.”

“Springfield Police Department has been involved in this effort from the beginning.

We are pleased to partner with the Attorney General to be able to send backlogged sexual assault kits from throughout Southwest Missouri to a lab for testing,” said Springfield Police Department Chief Williams.

To preserve the chain of custody and since the Attorney General’s Office cannot handle the kits themselves, representatives from remote departments such as Branson, Hollister, Monett, Nixa, and Republic, as well as Sheriff ’s departments from a variety of counties, will physically bring over 100 untested sexual assault kits identified in the inventory to the Springfield Police Department, who will then ship those collected kits off to a private lab to be tested.

In all, untested sexual assault kits that were inventoried by the SAFE Kit initiative will be gathered from 12 neighboring Sheriff ’s departments and 20 neighboring police departments.

Major metropolitan departments like the Springfield Police Department will serve as host agencies as they have more capacity and inventory space than smaller departments, making them a prime department to gather these untested sexual assault kits from local departments to then send out to the lab.

Moving forward, the same process will be used in other areas: a larger department will serve as a host agency to gather kits from smaller, neighboring departments and Sheriff ’s offices to then send out to the lab to be tested.

The SAFE Kits Initiative is using a private lab to ensure that kits are tested expeditiously and to not overwhelm the Missouri State Highway Patrol crime lab with a large influx of kits.

The SAFE Kits Initiative, funded by a grant administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, was launched by Schmitt in January 2019 to inventory all untested sexual assault kits identified in a previous survey, create an electronic tracking system, and send those identified kits to a lab for forensic testing and potentially eventual prosecution.

The results of the inventory were announced in November 2019 and compiled into a comprehensive report, which stated that there were over 6,800 untested sexual assault kits sitting in a backlog across the state of Missouri.

The Attorney General’s Office is also currently working on developing an electronic tracking system.

Missouri health department refutes claims of ‘scoring irregularities’ with medical marijuana licenses

Kaitlyn Schallhorn

The director of the Missouri health department’s medical marijuana program has refuted claims of “scoring irregularities” made by an industry association last week.

Lyndall Fraker, director of the Department of Health and Senior Services’ (DHSS) medical marijuana regulation section, said he believes the scoring — including on a section pertaining to marketing plans — was done “in a way that is both highly professionally competent and legally valid.”

The Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association’s (MoCannTrade) executive director, Andrew Mullins, had pointed to what he alleged as inconsistencies with the scoring of a question regarding marketing plans after DHSS issued cultivation licenses to 60 facilities. He said 67 percent of 577 applications received no points for the question.

But Fraker said Friday that the independent scorers

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utilized by the department would deem a marketing plan as having failed to meet minimum qualifications if it did not “sufficiently address its costs.”

“Accordingly, an applicant that failed to sufficiently address the subject of costs, as applicants were asked to do, likely would have received a zero on that question,” Fraker said. “The scorer would not have confidence in a plan’s ability to fulfill its claims if costs were not sufficiently addressed.

This same professional judgment was applied consistently across all cultivation applications.”

MoCannTrade had noted 25 percent of applications scored a 10 on the question — the highest mark possible — whereas 6 percent of applicants scored four points, and 3 percent received seven points.

“While this question alone potentially only impacts a handful of applicants that just barely missed out

on a cultivation license, a failure to review and explain this situation could erode confidence in DHSS and the scoring system by many. That’s obviously the last thing we want to see happen,” Mullins said in the letter.

Fraker noted the department does not plan to respond to specific inquiries regarding scoring details or applicants because of pending and anticipated litigation.

However, the department released Friday’s letter “in the interest of transparency.” “[W]e will not be responding to applicantspecific inquiries. In addition to that, we do not anticipate providing this type of information again in regards to any other general scoring inquiries,” Fraker said.

Using a third-party blind scoring system, DHSS announced the approval of 60 cultivation facilities out of more than 500 applicants in late December.

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Missouri Times Ad 2.pdf 1 1/23/2019 3:41:28 PM

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Capitol Calendar CHECK ANY TIME AND SIGN UP TO RECEIVE THE CALENDAR IN YOUR EMAIL WEEKLY AT THEMISSOURITIMES.COM/CALENDAR Sent events for included to calendar@themissouritimes.com.

24 | Adam Schnelting’s Hunger Gala — Old Hickory Golf Club, St. Charles — 6 p.m.

29 | Missouri Corn Growers Association annual meeting & reception — Capitol Plaza Hotel

27 | Missouri Soybean Association annual meeting — The Millbottom — 5:306:30 p.m.

29 | The Missouri Times’ Statesman of the Year event — The Millbottom, Jefferson City — 6 p.m.

27 | Foundation for Soybean Innovation Reception — The Millbottom — 6:30-8 p.m.

30 | Dave Gragg town hall — Republic Library, Springfield — 6 p.m.

28 | MOST Policy Initiative STEM Briefing; Gene Editing in Agriculture Biotechnology — HHR 2 — 3-4 p.m.

29 | National School Choice Week — Capitol Rotunda — 11:45-1 pm

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ALS IMPACTS FAMILIES.

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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a

February 5 | Missouri Association of Manufacturers conference — Oasis Hotel & Convention Center, Springfield 5 | Common Sense Economics for Legislators and Voters — House Hearing Room 2, Capitol —8 a.m.-

9 a.m.

11 | MRTA Legislative Blitz Day — Capitol rotunda — 10 a.m.

12 – 14 | County Commissioners Training — HIEC, Columbia 12 | Association of Missouri Nurse Practitioners Lobby Day — 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

12 | Missouri Beer Wholesalers Association Advocacy Day — 5:30-8 p.m.

26 | NFIB – Small Business Day at the Capitol

BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MISSOURI SOYBEAN ASSOCIATION.

progressive neuromuscular disease that robs a person of their ability to talk, walk, move and eventually breathe. There is no cure.

Because of it’s debalitating and relentless nature, ALS exacts an enormous toll on families.

The ALS Association St. Louis Regional Chapter helps families manage the emotional and physical strain brought on by an ALS diagnosis, with free programs and services for patients, caregivers and children.

Learn more at

www.alsa-stl.org. www.plannedparenthood.org/book | 1-800-230-PLAN (7526)

www.missouritimes.com

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COURTS

The Missouri Times

Photo By: Tim Bommel

Draper touts criminal justice reform efforts in State of Judiciary address Kaitlyn Schallhorn Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice George W. Draper III called for a continued push for criminal justice reform in the legislature as well as a boost to the public defender system.

“To be sure, all attorneys in public service work long, hard hours, and many are underpaid and under-recognized. But if criminal cases cannot be moved efficiently through the system because of overloaded attorneys, we risk leaving those who are guilty on the street, those who are not guilty unable to return to being productive members of society, and victims and their families powerless

to find closure and move forward with their lives,” Draper said during the annual State of the Judiciary address.

Draper praised the legislature for making certain crimes eligible for expungement and allowing defendants to pursue diversion programs last year.

But Draper, 65, also implored lawmakers for an additional $2.8 million in the 2021 fiscal year budget to go toward continued court automation system efforts. Additionally, he suggested lawmakers allow for greater appropriations to

STATE REPS ASK SUPREME COURT TO REVERSE COURSE ON PRE-TRIAL BAIL RULES Kaitlyn Schallhorn

raise certain court system employees’ salaries.

During his 30-minute speech, Draper also touted Missouri’s efforts to fight addiction — particularly as the nation grapples with the opioid epidemic — with treatment courts.

“As a result of this collaboration among all three branches of government, Missouri now has more than 100 counties served by more than 120 treatment courts — adult, juvenile, family, and DWI courts,” Draper said, noting legislation passed last year will mean each circuit will have a treatment court by August 2021.

Dozens of state representatives have signed onto a letter asking Missouri’s highest court to reverse course on pre-trial release standards it set last year.

The Missouri Supreme Court implemented new bond rules, that went into effect in July 2019, which urged judges to consider non-monetary conditions of release first, unless deemed necessary for the public’s safety or to ensure an alleged offender will show up to a scheduled court appearance.

These new rules were heavily criticized by a bevy of Republican lawmakers following an October shooting at a Kansas City, Kansas, bar that left four people dead. One of the suspects in the shooting had a history of run-ins with the law in Missouri and was granted a bond reduction and released just a month before the shooting.

In the letter to the Missouri Supreme Court — and provided to The Missouri Times — 82 state representatives said the new rules have “placed a significant burden on all our courts.”

Rep. Justin Hill, who championed the letter, told The Missouri Times the court needs to repeal the rules and come to

www.missouritimes.com

“Together, we have built a strong foundation from which our state can continue to fight the substance abuse crisis on multiple fronts — alcohol, opioids, and as health officials have forecast, another rise in methamphetamine use,” Draper said.

Draper was first appointed to the Missouri Supreme Court in 2011 and rose to chief justice in mid-2019. Originally from St. Louis, Draper holds degrees from Morehouse College and Howard University School of Law.

the table to work with the legislature.

“The Supreme Court should recognize that they went outside their authority” by implementing the rule changes, Hill said.

“How more blatant can you get in violating the separation of powers?”

The letter is expected to be delivered to the Supreme Court just one day after Chief Justice George W. Draper III called for a continued push for criminal justice reform in the legislature as part of his State of the Judiciary address. Specifically, Draper praised the legislature for making certain crimes eligible for expungement and allowing defendants to pursue diversion programs last year.

“Many judges feel they no longer have the option to impose conditions like bail that encourage accused criminals to avoid re-offending while awaiting trial, and they are instead forced to engage in ‘catch-and-release,’ letting individuals go on recognizance with no conditions to hold them accountable,” Hill said.

A spokesperson for the Missouri Supreme Court did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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The Missouri Times

www.missouritimes.com