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Patrol Provides Synopsis Of Some New Laws Related To Crime and Traffic Safety

Press Release from MSHP

The abbreviated descriptions below are intended to make the public aware of some of the new legislation enacted by the Missouri General Assembly which is related to crime and motor vehicles. The listed legislation has been signed into law. Unless otherwise noted, these laws will go into effect August 28, 2019. The Patrol wishes to make the public aware of several of these new laws or changes to increase public awareness and education. For a complete description of these newly enacted laws, visit the Missouri House of Representatives or Missouri Senate websites.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES LEGISLATION

HB 243/544 — VICTIMS OF CERTAIN OFFENSES

This bill provides that a person who is, has been, or is in imminent danger of becoming a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking shall not be denied tenancy, be evicted from the premises, or in violation of a lease agreement on the basis of or as a direct result of being such a victim. 

This bill also modifies the language regarding when a person commits the offense of nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images (Section 573.110 RSMo.).

HB 355 — OFFENSES INVOLVING CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
FACILITIES

A section of this bill creates new criminal offenses involving critical infrastructure facilities, as such term is defined in the bill. A person commits the offense of trespass on a critical infrastructure facility if he or she purposefully trespasses or enters property containing a critical infrastructure facility without permission. The offense of trespass on a critical infrastructure facility is a class B misdemeanor. If it is determined that the intent of the trespasser is to damage, destroy, or tamper with equipment, or impede, or inhibit operations of the facility, the person shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor. A person commits the offense of damage of a critical infrastructure facility if he or she damages, destroys, or tampers with equipment in a critical infrastructure facility. The offense of damage of a critical infrastructure facility is a class D felony.

The provisions of this bill do not apply to conduct protected under the Constitution of the United States, the Missouri Constitution, or any state or federal law or rule (Section 569.086 RSMo.).

HB 397 — PROTECTION OF CHILDREN

(5) Allows the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to reject applications for childcare facilities if they are located within 1,000 feet of residences, care facilities, hospitals, or other places housing sex offenders. It also provides that a patient of a hospital or long-term care facility is not considered a resident for purposes of locating childcare facilities near the residence of a registered sexual offender (Sections 210.221 and 566.147 RSMo.).

(9) Requires the Amber Alert System Oversight Committee to meet at least annually to discuss potential improvements to the Amber Alert System. Amber Alerts issued in Missouri may include an embedded URL, which references a resource online that provides additional information or technological capabilities. The bill establishes “Hailey’s Law,” which requires the Amber Alert System to be integrated into the Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System (MULES) to expedite the reporting of child abductions (Section 210.1014 RSMo.).

HB 499 — RELATING TO TRANSPORTATION

The bill increases specified motor vehicle and trailer registration fees under Section 136.055 RSMo. The fees are increased as follows: (1) Licenses increase from $3.50 to $6 for annual and from $7 to $12 for biennial; (2) Transfer of title increases from $2.50 to $6; (3) Instruction permits, nondriver’s, chauffeur’s, operator’s, and driver’s licenses increase from $2.50 to $6; (4) Notice of lien processing increases from $2.50 to $6; and (5) Notary fee or electronic transmission per processing from $0 to $2.

This bill changes the due date for a payable annual registration fee for recreational trailers to December and defers any fee due in December 2019 to May 2020. Recreational trailers are defined in the bill (Sections 301.010 and 301.067 RSMo.).

This bill states if a person’s license has been revoked because of a refusal to submit to a chemical test, the case may be assigned to a traffic judge.

This bill requires the director of the Department of Revenue to revoke a driver’s license upon notification by a law enforcement officer that an individual was involved in a physical crash where his or her negligence contributed to his or her vehicle striking a worker or highway worker, as defined in the bill, within a properly designated construction or work zone, or substantially contributed to his or her vehicle striking an emergency responder within a properly designated active emergency zone. Required notice of the revocation shall be deemed received by the driver three days after mailing unless returned by the postal authorities.

HB 604 — PREVENTION OF SEXUAL MISCONDUCT IN SCHOOLS

This bill requires disclosure between school districts about a former employee when requested, specifically regarding any confirmed violation of a board policy related to abusive behavior toward a student. Additionally, any school, before offering employment, must contact the district or charter school that previously employed the prospective hire and request information.

This bill defines a “screened volunteer” and requires a criminal background check to be conducted on any screened volunteer before they are left alone with a student or have access to student records.

This bill requires that schools provide trauma-informed, developmentally-appropriate sexual abuse training to students in grades six and higher. The training will be developed by DESE. 

This bill adds school personnel, contractors, and volunteers that establish relationships through a school or school activity to the definition of those responsible for the care, custody, and control of a child for certain sections of statutes relating to child abuse as outlined in the bill (Sections 162.068, 162.203, 168.133, 170.045, and 210.110 RSMo.).

HB 694 — RAP BACK 

This bill allows qualified entities, under certain circumstances, to receive updated information related to an individual’s criminal history as part of the Missouri Rap Back Program as well as the National Rap Back Program. The Missouri program includes automatic notifications made by the Missouri State Highway Patrol about whether an individual, specifically an applicant who is employed, licensed, or otherwise under the purview of the entity, has been arrested for a reported criminal offense in the state.

The bill specifies what qualified entities are required to do before having access to the national and state programs, and it specifies the limited circumstances in which individuals’ criminal history information may be used. An applicant must give consent to the qualified entity before that entity may access the applicant’s fingerprints and criminal history information. Missouri circuit courts and the Department of Social Services may require fingerprinting for applicants applying to adopt or to serve as guardian, conservator, or as another type of personal representative and the fingerprint-based record check will be forwarded to the Missouri State Highway Patrol to be used to search the criminal history repository. The fingerprints will be sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a national background check.

Finally, this bill extends the surcharge assessed against all criminal cases, filed in a circuit court, in which the defendant is found guilty of a felony from August 2019 until August 2029. The money from this surcharge goes into the DNA Profiling Analysis Fund.

This bill contains an emergency clause and became effective upon the governor’s signature on June 6, 2019.

HB 812 & HB 832 — MEMORIAL HIGHWAYS 

This bill designates a portion of U.S. Highway 50 in Johnson County from Business 50 east to the interchange with PCA Road as the “Trooper John N. Greim Memorial Highway.”

The bill designates a portion of State Highway 33 from State Highway A continuing to South Street in Clinton County as the “Trooper Fred L. Walker Memorial Highway.”

HB 898 — SPECIALTY LICENSE PLATE

This bill creates a “Back the Blue” license plate, which will be available for a $10 contribution to the Missouri Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation and a $15 fee in addition to normal registration costs. The Missouri Department of Revenue may specify the design in accordance with statutory criteria and may enact rules for the program.

HB 926 — DEALER LICENSE PLATES

This bill allows use of specified motor vehicle dealer license plates on cars used by customers while their vehicles are being serviced or repaired by the motor vehicle dealer.

SCS/SB 1 — EXPUNGEMENT

This act removes the following crimes from the list of crimes where expungement is not currently available: property damage in the first degree, stealing, possession of a forging instrumentality, and fraudulent use of a credit device or debit device.

SB 30 — FAILURE TO WEAR SEAT BELT

This act provides that in actions arising out of the design, construction, manufacture, distribution, or sale of a motor vehicle factory equipped with a safety belt, failure to wear a safety belt by the plaintiff shall be admissible as evidence of comparative negligence or fault, causation, absence of a defect or hazard, and failure to mitigate damages. This act has an effective date of January 1, 2020.

SB 89 — RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION 

VEHICLE INSPECTIONS (Sections 301.020, 301.191, and 307.350 RSMo.)

Currently, the Department of Revenue collects odometer information for motor vehicles five years old or less, and retains this information for a period of five years. This act modifies this requirement to specify that the DOR shall collect odometer information for motor vehicles aged 10 years or less with fewer than 150,000 miles on the odometer, and retain the information for a period of 10 years (Section 301.020 RSMo.).

The act also modifies homemade trailer inspection requirements by making the requirement applicable to all homemade trailers, rather than only to homemade trailers over 16 feet in length, and by raising the inspection fee from $10 to $25 (Section 301.191 RSMo.).

Currently, motor vehicles are exempt from biennial mechanical inspection requirements for a period of five years following their model year. This act instead exempts motor vehicles for a period of 10 years following their model year, provided the vehicle has fewer than 150,000 miles on the odometer (Section 307.350 RSMo.).

COMMERCIAL DRIVER LICENSES (Sections 302.170, 302.720, and
302.768 RSMo.)

This act adds test score documents from Missouri commercial third-party tester examiners to an exemption from the prohibition against retaining certain driver’s license application materials (Section 302.170.3(2) RSMo.). The act specifies that skills and written test waiver documents may be retained for commercial driver’s instruction permits in addition to commercial driver’s license applicants (Section 302.170.3(5) RSMo.).

The act provides that commercial driver instruction permits shall be nonrenewable, and lengthens, from six months to one year the period for which the permits are valid. This act increases from $5 to $10 the fee for a commercial driver instruction permit, and specifies that the fee for a duplicate shall be $5. This act also repeals a provision allowing for the issuance of a 30-day commercial driver instruction permit (Section 302.720.1 RSMo.).

The act specifies that applicants for a commercial driver license shall complete an entry-level driver training program as required under federal law (Section 302.720.2 RSMo.).

The director of revenue currently has the authority to waive the driving skills test for a commercial driver license for qualified military applicants. This act allows the director of revenue to also waive the written test, and to waive the skills and written tests for commercial driver’s instruction permits. The act repeals the list of specific requirements an applicant must certify he or she meets, and specifies that the applicant shall meet all federal and state qualifications and shall be required to complete applicable tests that are not waived (Section 302.720.2(5) RSMo.).

Beginning December 1, 2019, the Department of Revenue shall certify as a third-party tester any private education institution or other private entity, provided the necessary qualifications are met (Section 302.720.6 RSMo.).

This act provides for the use of an electronic verification system, approved by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, to receive medical examiner’s certificates for commercial driver license issuance (Section 302.768.3 RSMo.).

CRASHES OCCURRING IN WORK OR EMERGENCY ZONES
(Sections 304.580, 304.585, and 304.894 RSMo.)

This act requires the director of the Department of Revenue to revoke a driver’s license upon notification by a law enforcement officer that an individual was involved in a physical crash where his or her negligence contributed to his or her vehicle striking a worker or highway worker, as defined in the act, within a properly designated construction or work zone (Section 304.585 RSMo.), or substantially contributed to his or her vehicle striking an emergency responder within a properly designated active emergency zone (Section 304.894 RSMo.). The department shall base its determination of these facts on the report of the law enforcement officer investigating the incident, and its determination shall be final except as specified in the act. Required notice of the revocation shall be deemed received by the driver three days after mailing unless returned by the postal authorities. The notice shall clearly state the reason and statutory grounds for the revocation, the effective date of the revocation, the right to request a hearing, and the date by which the request must be made. The revocation shall be effective not sooner than 15 days from the department’s order.

Individuals who received notice of driver’s license revocation may apply for immediate reinstatement by retaking and passing the written and driving portions of the driver’s examination, or may petition the circuit court in the county in which the crash occurred. The revocation may be stayed pending the outcome of the case, as specified in the act. The county prosecutor shall act on behalf of the
director of the Department of Revenue at the hearing. The hearing shall determine only whether the person was involved in a highway crash when a worker or emergency responder was hit, whether applicable guidelines for notice and signage were properly implemented, and whether the investigating officer had probable cause to believe the person’s negligence contributed to the vehicle striking a highway worker or substantially contributed to the vehicle striking an emergency responder. If the court determines any of these conditions to not be satisfied, the court shall order the director to reinstate the individual’s license.

Administrative rulings and any related evidence used to reinstate a license under these provisions shall not be subject to subpoena or otherwise discoverable in any administrative, civil, or criminal case.