Perspective: Special session underway

Greetings once again from the fourth floor of your Missouri Capitol. Summer is in full swing in Central Missouri, and with that comes family vacations, picnics and reunions. However, this year's activities have had to be altered because of COVID-19, but I do hope you will gather with your family as safely as possible and enjoy the time you have together.

This past Monday, the General Assembly went into "special session" to take up measures proposed by Gov. Mike Parson. The House met for a technical session while the Senate took up the first piece of the proposed legislation. With the protocols in place in order to hear a bill on the floor of the House, it will take some time for this to happen, but eventually, we will address those issues and find some resolution.

I would agree with the governor that we need to do something to stem the violence we are experiencing in our larger metropolitan cities, but the issue goes far beyond St. Louis and Kansas City. A little over a week ago, I attended the Fraternal Order of Police presentation to the Jefferson City Council's Finance Committee to listen to many of the concerns felt by our local police officers. It was an eye-opening presentation about the state of our city concerning violent crime as well as other issues facing our law enforcement community. One of the issues we have faced for many years is one I saw when I served as a City Council member, and that is retention. We have a great training program within the department, and because of that, once we have an officer trained, they have the opportunity to move to another city at a considerable increase in pay. While I cannot begrudge the officer for wanting to better his/her financial situation, we as citizens are the big loser of the time and money we have put into this training - not to mention the relationships these officers have built in the neighborhoods they work. Retention and compression were two terms that were spoken of throughout the presentation and are definitely issues that need to be addressed. But a meaningful conversation between the city, county, police officers and sheriff's deputies is long overdue all in the best interest of public safety and security of our community and county.

My son was a police officer for more than 16 years, and a day did not go by when his mother and I did not worry about his safety in performing his daily duties. Our police officers put their lives on the line to protect and serve our community, and in the days we are living in now, it is incumbent on each one of us to show our support to them. When you see an officer out and have the opportunity to thank them for their service, please do; they will certainly appreciate it.

OK, back to the special session.

As a reminder, the special session will focus on amending state statutes related to violent crime. Specifically, six different provisions will be considered:

Police and public safety employee residency requirements for St. Louis - The proposal would be to eliminate the residency requirement for St. Louis law enforcement as long as the officer lives within an hour of the city. This proposal would also prohibit requiring any public safety employee for the city of St. Louis to be a resident of the city. (This is something we have addressed the past two years on the floor of the House and it is still not been resolved.)

Juvenile certification - This proposal would require the court to determine if a juvenile should be certified for trial as an adult for the offense of unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action.

Witness statement admissibility - This proposal would allow certain statements to be admissible in court that would otherwise not be allowed under current statute.

Witness protection fund - This proposal creates the Pretrial Witness Protection Fund.

Endangering the welfare of a child - This proposal modifies the offense of endangering the welfare of a child for a person who encourages a child to engage in any weapons offense.

Unlawful transfer of weapons - This proposal would increase penalties for a person who knowingly sells or delivers any firearm to a child less than 18 years without the consent of the child's parent or guardian.

If you will take note, three of the six deal with violence involving children under the age of 18 and more importantly deal with the endangerment of the welfare of our children. Using children to advance crime is wrong on so many levels, and while we cannot fix all the issues of violence, we must do what we can to protect the lives of the most vulnerable.

As I said earlier, it will take some time for this special session to conclude unlike many other specials we have had, but we must get the work done.

Finally, on a lighter note, the Jefferson City Jaycees Cole County Fair 2020 concluded this weekend, and from early accounts, it was a huge success, especially for our youth. I hope many of you had a chance to make it to many of the livestock shows and competitions and witness firsthand the hard work these young farmers put into raising and caring for the animals. The FFA and 4-H not only give these young folks the skills and training they need to be productive young farmers, but they also instill in them the qualities of a great citizen and Missourian.

I received numerous letters and requests from constituent families to consider purchasing their animal or ham, and the stories and pictures brought a smile to my face and really warmed my heart. To you, moms and dads, as well as grandparents, of these exceptional children, speaking for many of us, I want to thank you for taking the time and your resources to give them this lifetime experience. We will all be better off because of it.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to serve you as your state representative and please know I will always do my best to make good decisions and follow the will of the people of the 60th District. If ever you need to talk with me please reach out to my office.

State Rep. Dave Griffith, R-Jefferson City, represents Missouri's 60th District, and shares his perspective on statehouse issues twice a month.