The 2016 session of the Missouri General Assembly concluded in May. It is critical that St. Louis residents understand what lawmakers did – and did not – accomplish, and the impact of their work on black people.
Legislators must be held accountable to the people; therefore, we urge our fellow St. Louisans to absorb our analysis of these key policy areas. Our legislature is failing our community. Their policy “achievements” prove that. Please remember these seven major issues in mind when you vote on November 8.
Lawmakers continue their annual attack on voting rights, passing a measure to put photo ID on the November ballot. Requiring photo IDs to vote is a solution in search of a problem, and a blatant attack on the voting rights of black and poor people. St. Louisans, and all Missourians who believe in our constitutional right to vote, must vote NO on Amendment 6.
Lawmakers also passed, in an appalling move, a controversial Stand Your Ground measure. Missouri now has the dubious distinction of being the first state to pass such a law since the murder of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. Stand Your Ground is an assault on the lives of black people and will contribute to more gun-related deaths in Missouri.
Missouri has the worst campaign ethics laws in the country, and legislators clearly want to keep it that way. They passed a better-than-nothing six-month waiting period before a lawmaker can cash in and become a lobbyist. They can’t serve as political consultants anymore, but, by failing to limit gifts from lobbyists, legislation limiting campaign contributions withered on the vine. Jefferson City remains a cesspool vulnerable to the worst kind of corruption.
Missouri is in the midst of an opioid addiction epidemic, yet legislators clocked out having rejected a prescription registry bill. Missouri remains the only state without a prescription drug registry to help doctors and pharmacies fight opioid addiction. St. Louis can expect recent crime rates to continue their upward climb.
Rather than do their job and add $425 million to the budget needed for K-12 (according to their own mandate), legislators pulled a stunningly dishonest move and declared no funding gap exists. This leaves public schools with the aftermath of legislators’ failure to act. Kids and community will suffer the consequences.
Lawmakers again attacked Planned Parenthood, actually cutting the health care provider from the state budget. This will cost Missouri $8 million in federal funds. The black infant mortality rate in St. Louis city is four times the national average; black women die from childbirth at twice the national average. Still, lawmakers pandered to their conservative base, rather than fund life-saving healthcare for black women and babies. Gov. Nixon must now find alternative funding for the 13 Missouri Planned Parenthood clinics.
Finally, lawmakers again failed to require cities with 100,000 or more populations to equip police officers with body cameras. They also voted to restrict access to some police videos, thus creating less accountability and transparency. Watch for petitions eliminating the St. Louis Recorder of Deeds, freeing up funds for body cameras.
Veto session begins September 14. The Black Alliance for Leadership & Action encourages voters to call your state senators and state representatives and ask them to sustain the following bills vetoed by Governor Nixon: HB1631 (requires voters to show a photo ID), SB 656 (includes Stand your Ground).
Ashli Bolden is a member of Black Alliance for Leadership & Action, a strategic think tank and convening space around issues impacting black people in St. Louis.
