Capitol Report: Rep. Jeff Coleman

Jeff Coleman, State Representative, 32nd District

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​Bills Filed
In addition to the five bills I pre-filed last month, I have also filed another Joint House Resolution 114, and House Bill 2307. As eluded to in last month’s capitol report, stopping human trafficking is one of my main priorities this session. HB 2307 creates a monetary penalty for patronizing prostitution a fee of $5,000. This fine establishes a "Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation Fund." Money from this fund will be used for rehabilitation services for the victims of human trafficking; such as mental health, substance abuse counseling, general education, parenting skills, housing, and training for employment. Money from the fund will also be used for preventative measures, meaning it will go towards law enforcement in an attempt to increase the number of officers who enforce these human trafficking laws and educational resources for our children. HJR 114 also deals with human trafficking. As it stands, the Missouri State Constitution requires that schools receive funding from criminal fines collected (this is not the only funding source for our schools). The goal with HJR 114 is to exclude the fines collected from patronizing prostitution from this mandatory allocation to the schools and instead put these funds towards the victims of human trafficking, the police departments, and education to stop human trafficking.
2022 Legislative Session Begins
 
Lawmakers returned to the State Capitol Building Wednesday, January 5 for the start of the 2022 legislative session, which is officially the Second Regular Session of the 101st General Assembly.
 
House members returned to Jefferson City with a current split of 110 Republicans, 49 Democrats, and 4 vacant seats. On the first day of session, two Republican members announced their resignations to pursue other interests. The resignations drop the total number of Republicans in the House to 108 members, which is one vote short of a veto-proof majority.
 
Leading up to the start of the session, members have pre-filed bills at a near-record pace. Pre-filing began Dec. 1 and ended January 4. In that period of time House members pre-filed 770 pieces of legislation. That number is significantly more than the 688 pre-filed bills for the 2021 session, and just six bills short of the pre-filing record of 776 that was set in 2020.
 
Legislators begin the session with a number of pressing issues on the table. They will need to move quickly to approve new congressional district maps based on the latest U.S. Census data. The maps have to be approved and signed into law in time for the August 2 primary. Lawmakers will also work expeditiously to approve a supplemental budget bill proposed by Gov. Parson. The governor has asked the House and Senate to have the legislation approved by February 1.
 
As the 2022 legislative session progresses, members will also focus on a number of other important issues including the state operating budget, protections for the unborn, election integrity, school accountability and transparency, and protections against overly burdensome mandates.
 
Missouri Legislative Leaders Release Proposed Congressional District Map (HB 2117)
 
Before the new year began, the respective chairs of the Missouri House Special Committee on Redistricting and Senate Select Committee on Redistricting jointly released their proposed changes to Missouri’s congressional district map. The map, which is treated as a legislative bill, was filed as HB 2117.
 
The proposed congressional map balances several required criteria including compliance with the Missouri and U.S. Constitutions as well as the Voting Rights Act. The map’s districts are compact, contiguous, and equal in population. The districts adhere to the doctrine of “one person, one vote” and have preserved the cores of each existing congressional district to the greatest extent possible.
 
“This is a fair and constitutional map with common-sense boundaries that everyday Missourians can recognize,” said the chair of the Senate Select Committee on Redistricting. “This map, which must be passed by both the House and Senate, is also drawn to achieve the greatest amount of consensus possible.”
He added, “My House counterpart and I chose to make this joint announcement to emphasize the great care that went into drawing a map we were confident could survive legislative, judicial, and public scrutiny.”
 
The chair of the House Special Committee on Redistricting said, “The task of creating this congressional district map required balancing the legislative process while maintaining compactness, contiguity, equal population, and preserving the existing districts’ core identities. I look forward to working with my House and Senate colleagues to deliver HB 2117 to Governor Parson for his signature without delay.”
 
Both congressional and state legislative districts are redrawn every ten years upon the completion of the census. Missouri’s congressional districts are drawn by state legislators and state legislative districts are drawn by independent, bipartisan, citizen commissions. The 2021 redistricting process has been compressed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and technical delays by the U.S. Census Bureau.
 
The proposed maps are available at the following links:
 
https://house.mo.gov/pr/Maps/JointProposedMap.pdf
https://house.mo.gov/pr/Maps/JointProposedDistricts.pdf
 
Governor Parson Ends State of Emergency
 
As 2021 came to a close, Gov. Mike Parson announced that Missouri's COVID-19 related State of Emergency would expire and not be renewed on December 31.
 
Please let me know If you have other concerns and suggestions.  If you would like to schedule a specific time to meet locally, please call my office at 573-751-1487, or email my office at [email protected]. 
 
Best regards,
Jeff Coleman
Missouri State Representative
District 32