![Gov. Mike Parson delivers State of the State address](https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/6b/16b30a1e-0b9f-5b39-aaa6-5f1e55668061/65b1a35fdce36.image.jpg?resize=150%2C113 150w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/6b/16b30a1e-0b9f-5b39-aaa6-5f1e55668061/65b1a35fdce36.image.jpg?resize=200%2C151 200w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/6b/16b30a1e-0b9f-5b39-aaa6-5f1e55668061/65b1a35fdce36.image.jpg?resize=225%2C170 225w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/6b/16b30a1e-0b9f-5b39-aaa6-5f1e55668061/65b1a35fdce36.image.jpg?resize=300%2C226 300w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/6b/16b30a1e-0b9f-5b39-aaa6-5f1e55668061/65b1a35fdce36.image.jpg?resize=400%2C302 400w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/6b/16b30a1e-0b9f-5b39-aaa6-5f1e55668061/65b1a35fdce36.image.jpg?resize=540%2C407 540w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/6b/16b30a1e-0b9f-5b39-aaa6-5f1e55668061/65b1a35fdce36.image.jpg?resize=640%2C483 640w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/6b/16b30a1e-0b9f-5b39-aaa6-5f1e55668061/65b1a35fdce36.image.jpg?resize=750%2C566 750w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/6b/16b30a1e-0b9f-5b39-aaa6-5f1e55668061/65b1a35fdce36.image.jpg?resize=990%2C747 990w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/6b/16b30a1e-0b9f-5b39-aaa6-5f1e55668061/65b1a35fdce36.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C781 1035w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/6b/16b30a1e-0b9f-5b39-aaa6-5f1e55668061/65b1a35fdce36.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C905 1200w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/6b/16b30a1e-0b9f-5b39-aaa6-5f1e55668061/65b1a35fdce36.image.jpg?resize=1333%2C1006 1333w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/6b/16b30a1e-0b9f-5b39-aaa6-5f1e55668061/65b1a35fdce36.image.jpg?resize=1476%2C1113 1476w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/6b/16b30a1e-0b9f-5b39-aaa6-5f1e55668061/65b1a35fdce36.image.jpg?resize=1657%2C1250 2008w)
Sporting a “57” on his tie, Missouri’s 57th governor, Mike Parson, waves after giving the State of the State address on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City. With him are House Speaker Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, left, and Parson’s wife, Teresa.
JEFFERSON CITY — Gov. Mike Parson launched a bill-signing blitz Monday, announcing plans to approve at least 10 new laws this week including a long-sought ban on celebratory gunfire and new regulations covering meatpacking waste.
After a historically low number of bills were sent to his desk amid a chaotic, election-year bottleneck in the Senate, Parson is set to begin putting the final touches on his legacy as he heads toward retirement in January.
His action will cap the least productive legislative session in decades, resulting in only 28 policy bills crossing the finish line this year, beating the previous low of 31 during the pandemic year of 2020.
Among those on tap to be signed during a ceremony in the governor’s office is a wide-ranging anti-crime package that includes a provision called “Blair’s Law,” named after 11-year-old Blair Shanahan, who died in 2011 from a stray bullet during a backyard barbecue in Kansas City.
People are also reading…
The practice of randomly shooting bullets into the air also is common in St. Louis, where hundreds of rounds fly into the air on major holidays, including July 4 and New Year’s Eve, according to police records.
The Post-Dispatch earlier reported that four people who went to a hospital with gunshot wounds told police they were walking near Eighth and Pine streets in downtown St. Louis and heard gunfire after midnight on July 4.
The new law declares a person commits the offense of unlawful discharge of a firearm “if he or she recklessly discharges a firearm within or into the limits of any municipality.”
A person’s first offense for unlawful discharge of a firearm would be a class A misdemeanor. The second offense would be a class E felony, and subsequent offenses would be a class D felony.
The bill also includes a provision aimed at stopping people from fleeing a police stop. It is named after former St. Louis County Police Officer Antonio Valentine, who was killed by a car fleeing police at high speed.
The crime proposal also will create a state Conviction Review Unit to review innocence claims and increases penalties for assault of police dogs.
The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, R-Parkville, is Senate Bill 754.
The governor also is set to give his stamp of approval to a series of updates to a law he signed last year allowing counties to stop real property tax increases for certain seniors.
The current law authorizes the freeze for homeowner taxpayers eligible for Social Security benefits. But opponents questioned whether the language of the law excluded certain seniors, such as Missouri teachers who participate in a state pension plan instead of Social Security.
The plan sponsored by Luetkemeyer clarifies that eligible homeowner taxpayers must be 62 or older to receive the benefit.
The proposed change also would require taxpayers to pay all delinquent taxes, interest and penalties to the county to be eligible for the relief.
In St. Louis County, it could be months before applications for the freeze are available. The county has yet to hire employees who will enact the freeze, and it still needs to finalize a contract for application software.
The legislation is Senate Bill 756.
Parson, who runs a small cattle operation in Bolivar, also is set to approve plans to regulate meatpacking sludge.
Under the proposal, which won bipartisan, near-unanimous support in both the House and Senate, companies that want to build storage lagoons for animal byproducts would be required to test the waste monthly for heavy metals and pathogens and make sure those materials are not being spread on cropland. Storage lagoon operators would also have to install groundwater monitoring wells to prevent groundwater contamination in some cases.
The storage of animal waste products in open lagoons and its spreading on farmland have been in regulatory limbo between the Missouri Fertilizer Control Board and the Department of Natural Resources.
Denali Water Solutions, an Arkansas-based firm that collects the sludge, last year sued the fertilizer board over its refusal to issue the company a fertilizer permit.
Missouri residents have also sued the DNR over regulation of Denali’s meatpacking sludge.
As part of House Bill 2134, the agency will have to begin drafting its rules within two months.
The governor also is set to sign legislation barring local governments from imposing any moratoriums on eviction proceedings.
Eviction moratoriums arose during COVID-19 pandemic shutdown orders. But after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal moratorium, some local governments enacted their own.
The moratoriums were heavily criticized by landlords, who said it made it harder to meet mortgage payments on their properties.
The legislation is Senate Bill 895.
According to the governor’s weekly schedule, Parson is set to sign more legislation on Thursday.
He has until Sunday to sign bills into law or veto them. Any left unsigned will automatically become law.
New laws in Missouri take effect Aug. 28 unless otherwise mandated.