For the second year, the Missouri House Elections and Elected Officials Committee has been asked to let the attorney general live anywhere in the state.
Current state law states, "The attorney general shall reside at the seat of government and keep his office in the supreme court building."
Missouri's Constitution defines the seat of government as Jefferson City.
Identical bills sponsored by Elections Committee Chairman Lindell Schumake, R-Hannibal, and committee member Nick Marshall, R-Parkville, would remove the "reside at the seat of government" language but keep the requirement that the attorney general's office be in the Supreme Court Building.
"When Rep. Marshall brought this up for the first time last year, I thought this was a very common-sense measure," Schumake said. "I feel that, when we run across a law that is outdated or antiquated - pertaining to anything - it's time to update that law when it no longer serves a purpose for which it was there in the first place."
Schumake said only the attorney general is given a mandate to live in Jefferson City, while the other five statewide office holders don't face the same requirement.
The Legislature's online listing of the state's laws says the attorney general's residency requirement dates back at least to 1939, and Schumake testified it may have started in the 1800s.
"In 1875, we didn't have Twitter, Facebook, Facetime - we didn't have all the modern means of communication that we have now," Schumake explained. "And it would stand to reason that the attorney for the state, who represents us and our laws, be available when things came up, because the matter would come up right here in Cole County."
While the law may have had a purpose at one time, he said, "in the light of modern travel and communications, I see that - along with the other statewide officers - they could maintain their residence virtually any place in the state and still, properly, do the work of their offices."
Schumake and Marshall said they had not talked with Attorney General Josh Hawley about the proposal.
Rep. Stacey Newman, D-St. Louis County, asked if they understood that Hawley wasn't following the existing law.
Marshall said, "I don't know where he resides."
Hawley and his family live on Missouri 163 just west of U.S. 63, between Ashland and Columbia in Boone County.
The Boone County Clerk's office has confirmed Hawley twice voted from that address in elections last year.
Jefferson City attorney Gaylin Rich Carver filed a lawsuit last November on behalf of Jefferson City resident Donna Mueller, arguing Hawley is violating the state law. However, Circuit Judge Dan Green ruled Jan. 10 that Mueller is not the proper petitioner to file that suit over where Hawley lives.
According to Case.net, Green has not filed his written order in the case, so Carver hasn't decided if she'll appeal.
After the issue was first raised in news reports in January 2017, Hawley said he also had rented an apartment in Jefferson City which, Deputy Chief of Staff Loree Ann Paradise said last year, was acquired "as a matter of custom, and his permanent residence (in Boone County) is minutes away, enabling him to be at the Capitol on even the shortest notice."
Schumake and Marshall told the House Elections Committee members Wednesday that the current law clearly needs to be changed.
"What I'm aware of is, the law needs to be changed," Marshall said.
Schumake added, "I believe that this is the duty of our offices - when we find antiquated and outdated laws, to bring them up to speed and update them.
"Election laws, I think, are an example of things that have to change from time to time."
Newman suggested the law - which currently uses the pronouns "his" and "him" - be updated to be gender-neutral.
Schumake expects the committee to vote on a revised bill next week, to send the idea to the full House for debate.
That's what happened to Marshall's bill last year, but the House never discussed it.