Lamping Addressed Domestic Violence; Cunningham Eyed Turner v. Clayton

A Republican lawmaker who represents Clayton and Richmond Heights played a role in shaping this year’s session of the Missouri General Assembly. Meanwhile, another Republican lawmaker spearheaded an effort to provide some resolution to the over the court case Turner v. Clayton.

The legislature ended its roughly five-month session on Friday, most notably adjourning without deals on sweeping changes to tax credit programs, local control of the St. Louis Police Department or a measure aimed at starting the process to build a nuclear power plant in Callaway County.

The legislature did have a list of successful ventures, including ending the “franchise tax” on corporate assets and extending a prescription drug program to seniors. House Speaker Steve Tilley, R-Perryville, said at a post-session news conference that the Republican caucus accomplished some notable goals.

“About five months ago, we came before you all with the Show Me Solutions initiative,” Tilley said. “First and foremost, it was a pledge that we heard the citizens of this state and we were going to balance our state budget, we were going to live within our means and we were going to hold the line on taxes."

“And let me tell you, first and foremost, mission accomplished,” Tilley said.

House Minority Leader Mike Talboy, D-Kansas City, said in a statement that Republicans chose to pursue the wrong types of priorities over the last few months.

“To House Democrats, job creation means providing opportunities for Missourians to support their families at a fair wage,” Talboy said in the statement. “Attacking Missouri workers will not bring economic prosperity.”

LAMPING STEERS BILLS TO PASSAGE

One lawmaker who engaged in an active session was Sen. John Lamping, a Ladue Republican whose district encompasses Clayton and Richmond Heights. Lamping also works as a financial adviser with Wells Fargo Advisors in Clayton.

Lamping successfully handled legislation aimed at altering laws related to domestic violence and adoption records. He also helped revise laws related to human trafficking.

In an interview, Lamping said the domestic violence bill—which passed through both chambers of the General Assembly—aims to sync up terms and definitions in statute.

Lamping also said the bill’s language seeks validate that stalking is encompassed under domestic violence.

“The biggest change of the application now going forward is that there are now protections for teens where there never were protections, meaning court orders of protections that they can request,” Lamping said. “So up until now, a 16-year-old dating a 15-year-old with the 15-year-old subject to domestic violence, there was nothing the parents or the guardians could do in terms of getting a court order of protection."

“So that’s the biggest change that takes place,” Lamping said. “It really brings into the 21st century the realities of domestic violence in that it does occur for people who aren’t adult age. It was just long overdue.”

In the next two or three years, Lamping said, there could be further changes to domestic violence law.

“Anything as comprehensive as this should really, every 10 or 15 years … stop, sync it all up and make sure everything’s in line,” Lamping said.

The legislation changing language about adoption records and human trafficking also passed through both chambers and is also on Gov. Jay Nixon’s desk.

"Up until now, we barely defined human trafficking in law," Lamping said. "And now, we've redefined it, we've expanded the penalties, we've given the victims of human trafficking the right to use the fact that they're being trafficked as a defense. It really brings human trafficking into the legal code where we didn't have it before."

CUNNINGHAM SEEKS ‘TURNER FIX’

Meanwhile, Sen. Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield, was involved in the scramble to establish a so-called “Turner fix,” which seeks to change state law in the light of a court decision

Cunningham said in an interview that her role was to try and “honor the rights of the children in the unaccredited districts to make sure that no child lost their rights under statute and under the Supreme Court decision.” She also said she wanted "to respect and accept the positions of the county districts so they would not have to accept children they feel like they can’t or won’t right now.”

"So balancing those two desires, I came up with a fix that allowed the students in the city and in Riverview Gardens (School District) to have a scholarship to go to any independent school that they wanted to go to that was accredited, as well as allowing the county districts to open charters in the city of St. Louis to provide some supply and to allow county district(s) to decide how many seats under their class size policy that they have for students to attend,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham said the goal of that legislation was to “make sure we had the supply to not turn any child away.” She said the bill prompted agreements from a number of nearby school superintendents.

But Cunningham’s bill didn’t pass. Another bill from Sen. Jim Lembke, R-Lemay, which would have exempted St. Louis City schools from paying tuition and transportation costs to adjoining school districts, also failed this year.

Because the legislature didn’t act, Cunningham said, her best reading of the Turner v. Clayton decision is that county districts will have to accept the students.

“It’s not too late to do it, we could still do it next year,” Cunningham said. “Let’s just say that the judge does go ahead and implement the statute and the Missouri Supreme Court decision, and come September the county districts are scrambling and trying to accommodate those children … . They’ll be back here hoping we’ll be giving them a Turner fix. And if the education community that lobbies the halls here will come around and accept a reasonable fix, we could get it done next session.”