KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson vetoed three bills on Friday. The bills covered requirements to run for certain public offices, government lending programs and EPA regulations for cars.
House Bill 362would have required state-run lending and credit programs to report total amounts of lending and debt to the state auditor each year. It also required the Office of Child Advocate (OCA) under DSS in Missouri to create a system for reporting safety complaints.
Parson vetoed the bill on the grounds that the state auditor already has “sufficient authority” to oversee lending programs and that the OCA’s expansion of authority under the bill would not properly allow for better monitoring of the people involved in taking care of juveniles, according to his veto letter.
House Bill 661 would have established a committee to oversee charges for towing vehicles to ensure they were “fair, equitable and reasonable.” The reason behind this being to create a process for making complaints against towing companies that could then result in barring them from working. Additionally, the bill sought to establish a committee to oversee issues relating to electric vehicles, school bus safety.
It would have created regulations for electric bikes and farm vehicles, required MoDOT to publish cost estimates and completion dates for construction projects and modified vehicle inspection requirements.
Parson vetoed the bill because regulating the towing industry was infringing on the free market, current law already requires MoDOT to publish sufficient cost estimates and that the law would exclude Franklin, Jefferson and St. Charles counties from vehicle emission inspections. Ultimately, this would have put the state in violation of the federal Clean Air Act, according to his veto letter.
House Bill 685 would have lowered the age required to hold certain public office positions and changed several other requirements for running for office.
Parson vetoed the bill because it allowed lobbyists who wanted to hold municipal or school district offices to maintain a candidate committee, which he said created a conflict of interest in his veto letter.
The Missouri legislature could overturn Parson’s vetoes with a two-thirds majority vote.
