JEFFERSON CITY — The House debated and passed bills Monday regarding sheriff duties and limits on how cities can voluntarily annex land.
Language in Senate Joint Resolution 87, sponsored by Sen. Jill Carter, R-Granby, which would move election guidelines for sheriffs from statute into the Missouri Constitution, faced scrutiny from several representatives.
Concerns were raised about a section of the bill that would require sheriffs to apprehend and commit to jail all felons and traitors in their county.
Rep. Aaron Crossley, D-Independence, stated he doesn’t see the terms staying narrow.
“Is a traitor a protestor? What if a sheriff believes that a journalist has wrote something negative about them, are they a traitor?” Crossley asked. “I’m already uncomfortable with it being in statute but putting it in our Constitution … I think we’re really trying to hit on that dangerous route.”
Crossley argued that this debate was a reversal of traditional views on how much reach the government should have.
Others like Rep. Brad Banderman, R-St. Clair, argued that these arguments distracted from the bill's purpose.
“The idea that we’re on the House floor today and we don’t know what a traitor is or what a treasonous act is within our state or constitutional framework is silly at best,” he said. “This is an opportunity to guarantee the local control of the communities around our state, to guarantee a vote for sheriff, an important office within the state."
The bill passed 100-47 and returns to the Senate for action.
The conference report for House Bill 2818, sponsored by Rep. Brenda Shields, R-St. Joseph, passed with a vote of 136-7. It was sent to the Senate for final action.
The bill was initially written to allow the city of St. Joseph to annex its airport into city limits, but it grew with additions that deal with the voluntary annexation of land into a city.
Current statute dictates that land must be “compact and contiguous” to be voluntarily annexed, but that phrase wasn’t defined. Rep. Richard West, R-Wentzville, said the conference committee of senators and representatives decided land that's 18% contiguous to city limits would serve as that definition.
This was done to prevent developers from asking cities with more lax zoning requirements to annex land. West said that housing developers will go to nearby, less contiguous cities that don’t require a land permit with declaration of future use so they can build more houses.
“You get a bunch of houses and the highways, the sewers, the police, the fire, the trash, everything, cannot keep up with the growth,” West said. “We’re just doing this so that growth will be made and maintained with the development of the infrastructure.”
Final passage was given to House Bill 1825, about county salary commissions, and Senate Bill 903, about expanding the duties of a pharmacist, gained final passage.
SB 878 imposing criminal penalties for damaging certain infrastructure was sent back to the Senate with amendments.