By Paul Thompson

Northeast News

December 13, 2016

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – Bipartisan legislation designed to increase penalties for theft while in public office has been pre-filed in the Missouri Senate.

On December 1, Republican Senator Bob Dixon of Springfield pre-filed Senate Bill 176, which received the support of Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker and Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway during a joint press conference at the Jackson County Courthouse on the afternoon of Tuesday, Dec. 13. Under Senate Bill 176, those found guilty of official misconduct in the first degree – offenses including lobbying or willfully maintaining conflicts of interest – would face a Class E felony if the offense involves more than $750. Additionally, SB 176 creates a new misdemeanor offense, official misconduct in the second degree, which addresses lesser crimes related to the misconduct of public officials.

The bill would also create additional powers to help courts recover stolen public dollars, provides methods for those who abuse public office to be quickly removed from power, and allows prosecutors and law enforcement personnel to request audits of local governments when there are suspicions of fraud or other abuses of public resources.

Baker touted the new tools for getting restitution from corrupt public officials during the Dec. 13 press conference, specifically discussing how a felony offense allows prosecutors more time to reimburse the public.

“First of all, usually when you’re talking about a corruption case, you’re talking about a much larger dollar amount than in other types of cases,” said Baker. “On a misdemeanor, it gives us only a two-year provision for a probationary period, if that were appropriated in a particular case, in order to collect restitution. That’s simply not adequate time for us to get that done. The felony provision gives us much more time in order to recover that kind of restitution.”

Baker noted that perhaps the biggest advantage of SB 176 is how prosecutors can request partnerships with the State Auditor’s office in order to protect public funds.

“Probably the key advantage is getting us prosecutors someone to work with, and that is Nicole Galloway and her office,” said Baker. “This gives us another opportunity to work together to get justice for, generally, taxpayers.”

“My previous experience with the Auditor’s Office was that their reach was deeper than my local jurisdiction was able to go,” Baker added. “So we were able to go back for a far (larger) number of years in order to see a greater pattern of conduct.”

Galloway pointed out that some rural parts of Missouri simply don’t have the resources to conduct major investigations into misconduct without assistance from the State Auditor. In her eyes, SB 176 would create a stronger incentive for public officials to behave appropriately with taxpayer money.

“If there is a suspicion of theft or fraud or misappropriation or misuse of public dollars, a local law enforcement agency can call the Auditor’s Office and use our expertise for forensic auditing, which is a bit more of a specialty,” said Galloway. “When public officials use their power for their own benefit, they need to be held accountable. We want to partner and do as much as we can to get those taxpayer dollars back.”

Missouri’s upcoming legislative session will being on January 4, 2017.