Missouri NORML will be sponsoring its first Lobby Day of the 2020 session of the Missouri General Assembly next Wednesday, February 26, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Missouri state Capitol Building in Jefferson City. We hope that you will attend.
We will gather at 11:00 a.m. in the northwest corner of the Capitol Building on the first floor, between offices 112 and 113. We will review some of the pending bills and we will hear from some members of the General Assembly who support our cause.
Rep. Wiley Price of St. Louis is a member of the Adult-Use Legalization Petition Board. He is a strong supporter of marijuana legalization. He has agreed to speak to us, as has Rep. Ron Hicks of Dardenne Prairie. Rep. Hicks has sponsored several marijuana law reform measures including one which would protect the right of medical marijuana patients to adopt children (HB 1740), another which would allow for the operation of hotels and other public accommodations where cannabis use is allowed (HB 2411). We hope Rep. Hicks will also sponsor bills to protect the rights of all medical marijuana patients as parents and a bill to protect the rights of medical marijuana patients from employment discrimination.
Among the bills we will be lobbying for is HB 2507 filed by Rep. Shamed Dogan, seeking to enact some very important forfeiture law reforms. Currently Missouri police officers work with federal police officers to evade the provision of the Missouri Constitution which requires all forfeiture proceeds to support education. Instead, the state police often engage in a subterfuge of sending seized property to federal authorities for forfeiture. Under Missouri law, a defendant must first be convicted of a felony related to the property the state seeks to take. Under federal law, the owner of the property need not even be charged with a crime in order for the federal government to take the property. When Missouri police officers send seized assets to federal authorities, they get an 80% kickback of the money taken! Missouri schools suffer as a consequence.
Rep. Peter Merideth of St. Louis has sponsored a bill which would legalize marijuana in our state. While that bill may not advance in the Republican-controlled Missouri legislature, we certainly express our gratitude to Rep. Merideth for filing it. He has also been very outspoken in his criticism of the limitations on licensing of medical marijuana businesses in our state.
We will call on legislators between noon and 3:00 p.m. At 3:00 p.m., we will gather at Arris’ Pizza which is just southeast across High Street from the Missouri state Capitol Building. We will eat and drink and share our experiences with our fellow activists from around the state.
Future Lobby Days planned for this session include Wednesday, March 11, and Wednesday, April 22. Please mark your calendars and try to be with us for all of these important legislative activities.
Lobby Day Schedule and commentary provided by Dan Viets, Missouri NORML Coordinator