State briefs

Ameren raises energy efficiency fee

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Some Ameren Missouri energy customers soon will pay a few dollars more a month for an energy efficiency incentive. The Missouri Public Service Commission on Wednesday announced commission members approved a request from the company to bump up the monthly Energy Efficiency Investment Charge. A typical residential customer now pays $3.70 a month for the charge. That will increase to $6 a month starting Jan. 27. The charge is meant to encourage utility companies to use energy efficiency programs. Ameren requested to charge higher rates to pay for changing costs to the company for energy efficiency efforts.

Bill would ban spanking in schools

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Proposed Missouri legislation would ban the use of spanking or paddling by educators in public schools. Democratic state Sen. Joe Keaveny of St. Louis this week filed a bill to prohibit corporal punishment in those schools. Missouri is one of 19 states that allow teachers to hit children as a form of discipline. Local school boards are responsible for deciding whether educators can use corporal punishment and whether parents must be notified if it's used. School boards also can determine whether parents can opt for an alternative form of discipline. Similar legislation that also would have banned spanking in private schools failed last year.

Panel against raises for elected officials

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A Missouri House committee is suggesting lawmakers reject a pay increase for statewide elected officials in 2017. The House Rules Committee on Wednesday approved a measure to forego raises recommended by a state commission charged with evaluating salaries. Recommendations included $22,000 more per year for Gov. Jay Nixon and ranged from 8 to 10 percent increases for other state-elected officers. Members of the Legislature would have received $4,000 more annually, or an 11 percent raise under the commission's proposal. Republican Rep. Kevin Engler of Farmington says he wants to reject the increase, but says a better system is needed to determine whether officials deserve raises. Lawmakers have rejected proposals for salary increases since 2009. The measure must be approved by two-thirds of both chambers before going to the governor.

Highway patrol must have water training

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri lawmakers say standards for State Highway Patrol swimming training are necessary after a handcuffed man drowned while in custody. A House panel released a report Thursday, noting swim training decreased when the highway and water patrols merged in 2011. Lawmakers spent months investigating the merger after Brandon Ellingson fell from a trooper's boat in May in the Lake of the Ozarks and drowned. The trooper had arrested the 20-year-old Iowa man on suspicion of drunken boating. The merger was supposed to save the state $3 million a year. But the report says the merger actually cost taxpayers $900,000 a year and resulted in poor training for troopers on the water.

-- From wire reports