Understanding the vetoes

This is my third and final report covering six bills that Gov. Parson vetoed. This focuses on a little bill on mining royalties and a big bill on transportation.

SB202 would have clarified that mining royalties would be distributed to the counties where the mining took place. In his veto letter, the governor said he agreed with the goal of the bill, but the language is counter to federal law, and would never fly.

SB147, which would have changed Missouri’s driving laws, would have done the following:

(1) allowed corrections officers’ home addresses in the license system to be kept private for their protection;

(2) given the state permission to develop a digital driver’s license for your cell phone;

(3) increased license fees;

(4) changed the rules for businesses that rent or lease vehicles;

(5) allowed drivers to turn left at a red light onto a one-way street;

(6) changed the definition of an “autocycle” (3-wheeled vehicle);

(7) changed recreational trailer fees to be due in May instead of December;

(8) changed when cars are required to be inspected from five-year-old cars to cars that are ten-years-old or 150,000 miles (which was my HB 451);

(9) changed the month when vehicle registrations are due;

(10) made wearing a helmet on a motorcycle optional if the rider is over 18 and has medical insurance;

(11) changed several rules relating to commercial driver’s licenses;

(12) created a Towing Task Force to study the practices of Missouri’s tow truck industry; and (13) allowed for a driver’s license to be suspended for failure to pay fines or appear in court for traffic violations. An exception for this would be allowed in St. Louis City and St. Louis County.

The part of SB147 that got the most press was allowing motorcyclists to ride without a helmet. But the reason the governor vetoed the bill was the revoking of driver’s licenses for unpaid traffic fines.

In 2014, the uproar over the Ferguson riots revealed that Ferguson and other St. Louis area municipalities were heavily fining their citizens over minor traffic violations and then jailing them when they couldn’t pay up. The practice was dubbed “taxation by citation,” and was identified as a component of the distrust between low-income St. Louis residents and their local governments.

Therefore, in 2015, SB5 was passed banning the jailing or revoking the license of those that do not pay traffic fines. This has predictably resulted in an increase in unpaid traffic fines since there are no repercussions for scoffing the law. A recent article in the St. Joseph News Press reported $168,000 in outstanding unpaid fines in that city.

The provisions in SB147 relating to the increased license fees, businesses that rent or lease vehicles, recreational trailer fees, car inspections, and commercial driver’s licenses were all passed and signed into law on other bills. All other provisions in SB147 died with its veto.

The legislature could try to override the governor’s veto during the September Veto Session, but I have not heard there will be any attempt to do so.