Jackson rep to file crime bill for '07 session

Friday was the first day state legislators could prefile bills to be voted on in the session starting Jan. 3 in Jefferson City.

Prefiling can put bills to the front of the line for consideration and is often used to push important issues or refile legislation that died in a previous session.

As of Friday, none of the legislators representing Cape Girardeau County contacted had prefiled bills, but one expressed interest in doing so.

Scott Lipke, R-Jackson, has a slew of anti-crime measures he would like to see passed in the coming months.

He hopes to prefile an omnibus crime bill, SB 1221, which makes a number of small alterations to Missouri criminal law.

Included in the bill are stipulations that a minor can be found guilty of possession of alcohol even if found with "nonintoxicating beer." The bill also asks to confine the Amber Alert to missing children; the alert has occasionally been used for adults.

The bill would increase the penalty for possession of child pornography from a class D to a class C felony, punishable by up to eight years in prison instead of four.

It also makes devices called "alcohol vaporizers" illegal. They allow users to inhale nonliquid alcohol mixed with oxygen.

"It's mainly clarifying some things," Lipke said.

Lipke also plans to submit a bill that will create a centralized database system for tracking pseudoephedrine sold in drugstores in Missouri.

"With the meth law we have now, all that is required is a written log. There's nothing that ties everybody together," he said.

Lipke is also working with others to create legislation which would make it easier for people caught driving with drugs in their system to be charged with driving while under the influence.

'Doesn't help or hurt'

State Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, does not expect to prefile any legislation, but he still plans to have a busy session.

"Sometimes people will fight to get Senate bill number one, but you've got to remember that doesn't help or hurt your chances of passing that bill," he said.

Tops on Crowell's agenda is the I-Care Missouri health-care plan. The plan seeks to create individualized access to health care and allow people to be treated by a primary-care physician rather than emergency room doctors.

"Far too many of our population have a better relationship with their auto mechanic than they do with their physician," Crowell said.

The plan would allow small businesses to band together and form alliances for the sole purpose of buying health care. It would also, Crowell said, create a system that travels with the individual instead of depending on the employer.

"Every Missourian gets a primary-care physician. If you ask doctors if they could wave a magic wand what one thing could result in the biggest benefit to the state's health, it would be that," Crowell said. "It's the difference, for example, between treating diabetes with a nutrition diet as opposed to a hypoglycemic diet later on."

Crowell would also like to stop taxing Social Security benefits.

"Missouri is one of only 15 states in the U.S. that puts in place a state income tax on Social Security benefits," he said.

"Depending on the numbers, if we were to eliminate state income on Social Security benefits it would mean 80 to 100 million more dollars in the hands of retired seniors."

State Rep. Nathan Cooper, R-Cape Girardeau, was out of the country and unable to be reached for comment.

tgreaney@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245