(St. Louis Public Radio) – The Senate gave final approval to its deadly force bill Wednesday. The bill raises the standard to justify the use of deadly force. The measure passed with a 32-2 bipartisan vote and now heads to the House.
Sens. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, and Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, were the only “no” votes. Schaaf said earlier that he thought the wording would hinder police.
Nasheed voted against the bill because she said she doesn’t think it changes the language enough.
“Today, I’m disheartened because we’re still back to square one. At the end of the day I don’t think that this is going to solve the problems that we heard on the grounds during the unrest in August, September, October, November and December and even January,” she said. “This is a piece of legislation that should probably go in the trash can because it’s not doing anything to change the dynamics when it comes to deadly force.”
On Tuesday, Nasheed proposed an amendment to change the standard from reasonable belief to probable cause, but that was voted down. The change would have made the ground for use of deadly force even stricter.
The measure is part of an effort to address Ferguson-related concerns. Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, said Wednesday the bill is a good first step, but the legislature needs to do more.
“This is only one step. One. It may take a hundred action items to get this legislature to where it needs to be,” she said. “Anytime there is an outbreak or what people call a riot, they always refer to Ferguson as the worst case scenario. It’s the bottom; it’s the pits; it’s the embarrassment of the nation. And if Ferguson is the embarrassment of the nation then what does that make Missouri?”
The bill is sponsored by Republican Sen. Bob Dixon of Springfield. While the bill changed from his original version, he agreed with Chappelle-Nadal about the benefit the changes the bill makes to the state’s statutes.
“Now is the time to bring Missouri statutes and U.S. constitutional case law together and now is the time to bring the people of Missouri together– time to bring the people together for healing,” he said.
Less than three weeks remain for the House to pass the bill and the legislature to send it to Gov. Jay Nixon’s desk.