House again passes bill on elder abuse

Ready for Vivaldi

Southeast Missourian/Charles DiStefano

Penny Robinson, 5, warmed up before a Suzuki Play-in at the Brandt Music Building Saturday at Southeast Missouri State University while her mother, Bambi, watched. Almost 50 people ages 3 to adult from the Southeast Music Academy and the Brehmer Music Academy in Dexter, Mo., gathered informally to play together for the first time. Most of the musicians were violinists, but a few played violas and one a cello. The musicians played selections from a Vivaldi concerto.

By Marc Powers ~ Southeast Missourian

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- For the third time in as many years, the House of Representatives has sent the Senate a bill that would strengthen laws against abusing the elderly.

House Speaker Jim Kreider, D-Nixa, implored the Senate, where the measure died in previous sessions, to pass the bill this time around.

"The senior population of this state is important to the members of this House," Kreider said. "We want to protect those seniors in nursing homes, and the people of Missouri, I believe, are on our side."

The bill, known as the Protection of the Elderly Act, cleared the House by a vote of 150-3.

It would require all suspected cases of elder abuse to be reported to law enforcement officials and impose tougher penalties on nursing homes that violate standards of care.

"There needs to be a fundamental change in the way we handle cases of abuse and neglect of our senior citizens," said the bill's sponsor, state Rep. Craig Hosmer, D-Springfield. "A crime committed in a nursing home goes through an administrative process, but a crime committed on the street is automatically reported to police. There should be no distinction."

Nursing homes would have the incentive of fewer state inspections by providing high-quality care and ensuring a safe environment for residents.

Compelling interest

State and local officials would have to meet the highest legal standard in order to take action that would infringe on the free exercise of religion under a bill that cleared the Senate last week.

The bill, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, would apply the compelling state interest test to restrictions on religion. Currently, officials must merely have a rational basis for such restrictions.

The measure is now before the House.

Tax holiday

Another Kinder bill that moved to the House last week would give consumers a holiday from sales taxes. However, the Senate refused to endorse a clause that would allow the first such holiday in August.

The measure calls for sales taxes to be suspended, up to certain limits, on purchases of clothing, school supplies and computers during two three-day periods -- in August 2002 and 2003.

Most legislation signed by the governor takes effect on Aug. 28 of the year it passes, unless an emergency clause is added allowing a measure to become law immediately. Without such a clause, Kinder's bill, if passed, would take effect too late for a tax holiday this year.

Residency rule passes

The House revisited and passed a bill it a week earlier had rejected that would ban law enforcement agencies in first-class counties, such as Cape Girardeau County, from imposing residency rules on officers.

The bill would invalidate a Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department policy that deputies live in the county. The Cape Girardeau and Jackson police department have no such rules.

However, the measure is expected to be changed in the Senate to apply only to police departments in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas.

Hate crimes

Purposely setting fire to a church, synagogue or mosque would be considered a hate crime under another House bill now awaiting Senate action.

If the bill becomes law, arson involving a place of worship would be a class A felony.

Hispanic day

Gov. Bob Holden last week played host to the first-ever Hispanic legislative day in the Missouri Capitol.

Dozens of Hispanic Missourians from around the state visited with Holden, members of his cabinet and legislative leaders. With Missouri's Hispanic population having more than doubled in the past decade to nearly 120,000 people, Holden said state officials must do reach out to that segment of the population.

"Missouri's Hispanic population, while growing and prospering, historically has had a very limited presence in Jefferson City and in the political process statewide," Holden said. "I welcome their interest in and enthusiasm for learning about state government and getting more involved in public service at the state and local level."

mpowers@semissourian.com

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