SPONSOR: Roberts
COMMITTEE ACTION: Voted "Do Pass" by the Standing Committee on Crime Prevention by a vote of 6 to 1. Voted "Do Pass" by the Standing Committee on Rules- Administrative Oversight by a vote of 9 to 1.
This bill specifies that the State Highway Patrol must maintain on its website a registry for violent offenders who are on probation or parole for the offense of first or second degree murder in Missouri or for an equivalent offense in any other state. The Division of Probation and Parole of the Department of Corrections must notify the State Highway Patrol if a violent offender is placed on probation or parole, is removed from probation or parole, or relocates to the state under the Interstate Compact for adult offender supervision so the State Highway Patrol can update the Offender Registry accordingly.
This bill is the same as HB 1343 (2020).
PROPONENTS: Supporters say that there are a number of people who are on parole for murder and Missouri receives some such inmates from across state lines via compact. A conviction of murder in the second degree is often the result of a plea bargain and the underlying offense was murder in the first degree. This would allow people who have concerns about others to search a registry just like they could with the sex offender registry. Registries are not popular things so this would create a new category in the sex offender registry, which is already maintained by the Missouri State Highway Patrol and would not be a new registry. It would just create a category people could search online. It should not be a heavy workload to add, especially because this is not a new registry that has to be created anew. The registry requirements would be the same as what is currently required of people who are on the sex offender registry. One witness testified about her sister who was murdered by a man whom she was renting a room to and she did not know he had already murdered before. This would be a good tool for law enforcement.
Testifying for the bill were Representative Roberts; Mona Lisa Caylor; Dale Schmidt, Missouri Peace Officers Association; and Arnie C. Dienoff.
OPPONENTS: There was no opposition voiced to the committee. Written testimony has been submitted for this bill. The full written testimony can be found under Testimony on the bill page on the House website.
Statutes affected: