One-size-fits-all municipal court bill is a bad fit for Kansas City
All municipal courts in Missouri are not alike. In the push to protect citizens against abuses that were taking place in cities near St. Louis, state lawmakers must steer clear of measures that harm communities like Kansas City.
Gov. Jay Nixon in 2015 signed a bipartisan bill that was in response to disclosures that municipalities in the St. Louis area were harassing citizens with excessive tickets for traffic violations and jail stays if they weren’t able to pay fines.
Last year’s law places a $300 cap on fines for minor traffic offenses.
It also also bars judges from jailing people or suspending their licenses if they are charged with what is considered a “minor” traffic violation — even if they fail to appear in court or pay a fine.
Courts in the Kansas City area almost never jail traffic offenders for first offenses or an inability to pay a fine. But the new law strips judges of leverage over offenders such as habitual speeders and people who repeatedly drive without insurance. Judges can’t threaten them with a day or two in jail if they refuse to go to traffic school or comply with the terms of probation. There are few consequences for individuals who refuse to pay a fine.
Judges, prosecutors and city officials had hoped to convince lawmakers to fix the law this year. But legislators now are considering a bill that would remove even more leverage from local courts.
Senate Bill 572 expands the list of municipal offenses that would be exempt from jail time. And it lowers the cap on fines for those transgressions to $200.
The expanded list, which already has cleared the Senate, unwisely includes property code violations. An absentee slumlord or operator of an illegal junk yard may calculate that a $200-per-violation fine is a reasonable cost of doing business and avoiding repairs.
The inclusion of property violations is in reaction to overzealous enforcement in some St. Louis County communities. The small town of Pagedale issued almost two citations per household in 2014 for violations as minor as a barbeque grill in the front yard.
But Kansas City, Independence and other places are challenged by serious blight. Municipal Court judges use the threat of hefty fines and possible jail time to get property owners to clean up nuisances. Most Kansas City residents applaud the tough approach.
In Kansas City, the fines flow into a court fund that helps people without means, usually elderly and indigent homeowners, to correct property violations. The lower fines would mean less money to help them.
In their quest to correct abuses on the east side of the state, lawmakers are impairing the quality of life in Kansas City and its suburbs.
A motorist driving 19 miles over the speed limit is guilty under Senate Bill 572 of a minor traffic violation, and faces a fine capped at $200. But a speeding violation of that magnitude isn’t minor in a neighborhood where children play. Neither is driving without insurance, if you are in an accident caused by an uninsured driver.
Housing code violations aren’t minor either if you are the neighbor looking at high weeds, broken windows and rusted car parts in the front yard.
It’s up to the House to fix the parts of Senate Bill 572 that would harm the Kansas City region. If that proves too difficult, the bill should be shelved.
This story was originally published March 21, 2016 at 6:39 PM with the headline "One-size-fits-all municipal court bill is a bad fit for Kansas City."