Jeff City Report from State Representative John Burnett

This week in Jeff City we passed a very scary, 1984ish bill that creates a State run database of personal medical information of all citizens who purchase prescription and some non-prescription drugs. It is called the "Drug Monitoring Law". Asbestos "reform" was on the front burner for a while and may be again next week. Back at home in Historic Northeast a big political event. The Democrat candidate for Governor, Attorney General Jay Nixon, was a guest at the home our neighbors Will and Carol Royster.

Attorney General Jay Nixon brings his campaign for Governor to Historic Northeast

Jay Nixon hosted by Will and Carol Royster at their historic home in Historic Northeast Kansas City

Thursday, March 5th, Attorney General Jay Nixon was a guest at the home of our next door neighbors Will and Carol Royster. I had the honor of introducing Jay when he made his speech to the crowd. Over one hundred community leaders heard Nixon talk about his campaign for Governor.

It was an incredibly impressive event for Historic Northeast. I have been involved in politics in this community since I was a child passing out flyers for our mother who was Democrat Committeewoman and I have never seen such an event here in my adult life.

When I was a child the State Representative was Bill Royster - father of Will Royster. He hosted many political events in the days of my youth and I told the crowd that when I was a child attending those events it was beyond my wildest dreams that some day I would stand in that home and hold the same office that Bill Royster held. Will opened the speeches by telling us that the house was built in 1893 and in the first forty years his Grandfather hosted all the Governors, Mayors and Congressmen of the day. His father Bill brought political leaders to the home and now Will continues the tradition.

Mayor Funkhouser towered above the crowd that was full of elected officials and leaders from all walks of life. Jay Nixon told the crowd about why he is running for Governor. I won't try to summarize his stump speech but I will say the crowd was quite pleased with his health care and economic positions. There was no doubt the crowd was pleased with what they heard.

Drug Monitoring Law passes by two votes

House Bill 1619 passed the House this week by a vote of 84- 69. It needed 82 votes to pass. It was opposed by a large group on both sides of the aisle who argued that it is an incredible invasion of privacy. It is. It passed by tacking together the tough on crime votes with the pro-lifers. The punch line is that both of those topics - the tough on crime and pro-life are tiny parts of the bill. The bill will create a State run database that prescription drugs will be reported into. For now that information will be "confidential." At least according to the sponsors. But it is only a matter of time until bureaucrats and insurance companies get into the database. I just cannot see the idea of creating a database with personal medical information run by State employees having any benefit for the average citizen.

The bill contains a provision requiring reporting into the database of purchasers of pseudoephedrine so people who are manufacturing meth from that will theoretically be more exposed. Guess what? We already have to sign for those drugs when we buy them now so this "new" crime fighting tool is merely more paper work for the pharmacists. The real meat of the bill is the database of prescription drugs for ALL citizens.

Oh. And Rep. Salva (D-Sugar Creek) tacked on a provision to ban the morning after pill so that added a few votes from the die hard right to lifers who have never seen any birth control pill they wouldn't ban.

So the "I'm tough on crime" votes with the hard core pro-lifers pass a bill that gives neither of them much to speak of but creates a database of prescription drugs for the entire State. Not a good week for the citizens.

Reporting who purchases what drugs to the State of Missouri and trusting the bureaucrats to use this intensely personal information "wisely" and keep it "confidential" gives me the willies. And why the State needs to know what prescription drugs citizens take anyway was a question that was never answered to my satisfaction. I voted no.

Presidential Delegate selection Caucuses continue on March 27

Last week caucuses were held around the State to choose the first round of Missouri delegates for the Presidential race. The Congressional District stage of the process will be on March 27th.

We will be represented there by the delegates and alternates we elected last week. They are:

Eleventh Ward

Carol Royster - Hillary Clinton Delegate
Ingrid Burnett - Hillary Clinton Alternate

Will Royster - Obama Delegate
Linda Smith - Obama Delegate
Bruce Rahtjen- Obama Alternate
Daniel Smith - Obama Alternate

Twelfth Ward

Christina Cavallaro - Hillary Clinton Delegate
Frank Tosti - Hillary Clinton Alternate
John Akinwale - Obama Delegate
Grace Akinwale - Obama Delegate
Scott Wagner - Obama Alternate

Thirteenth Ward

Mark Morales - Hillary Clinton Delegate
Jerry Morales - Hillary Clinton Alternate
Crispin Rea - Obama Delegate
Jerry Knight - Obama Delegate

St Louis Post Dispatch story on House Bill 1970 - the Auto Dealers attack on the Lemon Law

Following is an editorial published by the St. Louis Post Dispatch this week about the Lemon Law bill we passed out of the House last week. The bill will be debated on the Senate side next week. I know this is a bit long but it is important to consumers.

Wreckorama

03/07/2008

Missouri auto wholesalers and many dealers soon may be able to sell previously wrecked cars and trucks without the fear of lawsuits from clueless customers who eventually wind up owning the vehicles.

That would be the effect of an anti-consumer bill that sailed through the Missouri House of Representatives on a 113-to-37 vote late last month. The bill would prohibit consumer lawsuits against wholesalers and dealers unless a consumer bought a vehicle directly from them. It would amount to a grant of immunity to businesses that sell repaired wrecks to other vehicle dealers without disclosing their history.

The problem arises when a repair shop, dealer or wholesaler buys a wrecked car, repairs it and sells it to an auto auction or another wholesaler or dealer without disclosing the information about the vehicle's history. An unwitting consumer could wind up buying the car or truck.

That's what happened to Rodney Gibbons of St. Charles. In 2004, Mr. Gibbons paid $25,990 to an auto dealer in St. Peters for a 2003 Honda Accord with 27,000 miles on the odometer. "I asked the guy, 'Has it been in an accident?'" Mr. Gibbons recalled. "He said, 'No. We do a thorough inspection.'"
When Mr. Gibbons got the car home, he noticed that the headlights were loose and that parts of the car had been repainted. He took the car back to the dealer and pointed out the problems. The dealer then checked the vehicle's history through a commercial tracking service and discovered that the car had been in an accident that required $6,000 in repairs to the front end.

From Mr. Gibbons' perspective, that made the Accord worth considerably less than what he had paid for it. "I didn't even know if it was safe," he said.

Missouri's Merchandising Practices Act forbids deceiving a purchaser by "omission of any material fact." We would bet that anyone in the market for a used car or truck would consider its having been in a wreck as a material fact.

But if retail buyers sue dealers who sell them such vehicles, the dealers may make a persuasive case that they didn't have the information when they made the sale. Consumers then would have to go after previous owners - wholesalers, repair shops or dealers - who knew the condition of the car or truck and failed to disclose it.

Mr. Gibbons had to take his case all the way to the Missouri Supreme Court to confirm the right to sue a wholesaler. In its decision a year ago, the court held that wholesalers are not immune from legal responsibility, even though they don't deal directly with consumers.

The bill being considered by the Missouri Legislature specifically would free such wholesalers from that responsibility. The bill has strong support from the Missouri Auto Dealers Association, and one of its influential backers is House Majority Whip Brian Nieves, R-Washington, a car dealer.

The bill is being touted, incredibly, as consumerist legislation. Without it, Mr. Nieves has said, the potential costs of fighting lawsuits has to be built into the retail price of used cars.

Nonsense. Honest dealers already are protected - as are their customers - by full, good-faith disclosure of what they know about the vehicles they sell. The threat of a future lawsuit can act as a major deterrent to other sellers, those who might be tempted to hide the facts as they pass damaged vehicles through the wholesale trade.

Consumers deserve the protection that having legal recourse can provide, because once they unknowingly buy a badly damaged vehicle, they're stuck. "You lose so much," Mr. Gibbons said. "Nobody wants to buy a wrecked vehicle."

Thank you for the opportunity to serve.

State Rep John Burnett

Jeff City Report March 9

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