Veto Session: Veto upheld on Agenda 21 bill with ambiguous language threatening bike/ped nonprofits
The 2013 Missouri legislative session wrapped up yesterday after a two-day veto session.
This year, Governor Nixon vetoed a record number of bills and the General Assembly overrode a record number of vetos--but upheld some key vetos as well.
One of the vetos upheld--by a mere two votes in the House of Representatives--was SB 265. SB 265 dealt with Agenda 21, an innocuous and non-binding U.N. model plan for dealing with sustainability, poverty, and various 'green' issues. Governor Nixon vetoed SB 265, citing "ambiguously worded restrictions on state and local governments."
Agenda 21 has become the focus of groups having an interest in defending property rights, which have strong support across Missouri. And Agenda 21 is often cited by opponents of sustainability and 'green' initiatives at the state and local levels. For example, Agenda 21 opponents cited Denver's Bike Share system as an example of Agenda 21 in action, and testimony at SB 265 hearings in Jefferson City specifically mentioned St. Louis area bike paths as one of the type of 'land grab' projects SB 265 was designed to thwart.
Little-noticed ambiguous but sweeping provision in SB 265 threatened bike/ped groups and others perceived to be working on 'green' initiatives
Most worrying to bicycle and pedestrian groups in Missouri was a little-noticed ambiguous provision in SB 265 (Section 3) that prohibited nonprofit organizations identified in Agenda 21 from working with or receiving funds from any local or government agencies. Since Agenda 21 recommends working with a wide variety of local nonprofits and agencies in order to develop broad community support for sustainability initiatives, it was very unclear whether or not Missouri bicycle and pedestrian nonprofits might have fallen under this prohibition.
The very ambiguity was troubling. Laws should be written so as to be clear and unambiguous, and organizations naturally felt very uncomformtable because they were not certain whether or not they fell under the umbrella of the sweeping, ambiguous language.
Anti-Agenda 21 activists oppose bike-friendly roads and communities
A recent South County Times article discussed SB 265 and examined how Agenda 21 activists and those of us who support reasonable bicycle, pedestrian, and livability considerations in our communities may clash:
Lisa Pannett of South County is a mother with a mission: to make sure that her kids do not live in some "sustainable future" dictated by verbiage of Agenda 21 of the United Nations. . . .
"I have listened to city planners talk about walking and biking to work, getting rid of our cars, ending single-family home living in favor of stack-and-pack housing," explained Pannett. "Whether they know it or not, these bad ideas are straight out of the United Nations Agenda 21.
"I don't think average Americans want this in their schools and city codes," said Pannett. "It's really just an influential fringe that wants us to not have a yard, a single-family home or a car to get to work. I think we are waking up to what is going on now."
The article draws a direct connection between SB 265, sponsored in the House by Rep. Lyle Rowland of Cedar Creek, and concerns of citizens like Pannett:
In April, the awakened rallied at the Capitol Rotunda in Jefferson City to end the Agenda 21 threats "to our children's education, water resources, energy availability ... and our liberties daily here in Missouri." The rally also applauded Republicans Ed Martin, Shane Schoeller and Lyle Rowland for their anti-Agenda 21 stands.
Rep. Lyle Rowland, R-Cedarcreek, sponsored a statehouse bill to prevent the implementation of Agenda 21 as part of state and local policy, and to bar its kind of language from being incorporated into government codes or school district directives.
Anti-Agenda 21 activists like Pannett were hoping the the veto of SB 265 would be overridden in this week's Veto Session:
South County's Pannett said she hopes the legislature will rebuff Gov. Jay Nixon, who vetoed Rowland's bill on July 1. Nixon called the bill an attempt to "solve a problem that does not exist" over a two-decades old non-binding U.N. Resolution.
Nixon said such bills may drive up the ratings on cable television talk shows, but should not be the basis for state public policy. He said the law would have forced local governments to interpret ambiguously worded restrictions to determine if a proposed action could be considered "traceable" to a nonbinding U.N. resolution.
Trailnet's Ann Mack responded to the concerns of the anti-Agenda 21 activists:
Mack said people worried about Agenda 21 say some "off-the-wall things." She said her Trailnet bike riders were accused on talk radio of taking communal "group showers" together at the downtown bike station to save water.
"I think the anti-Agenda 21 bill has no place in our legislature," said Mack. "It's just fear-mongering to pass something like this in Missouri and it makes us look silly. I applaud Gov. Nixon for his veto of this bill."
- MoBikeFed's Legislative Platform - what we believe in, what we work for in the Missouri General Assembly
- MoBikeFed's 2013 Legislative Survey - what do our members and supporters think is important in our Legislative Platform?
- Stories and articles about 2013 Legislative Session - what happened, what it all means
Vote records
In the Senate, 23 votes are needed to override the veto. The vote to override the SB 265 veto passed by a vote of 24 to 6. Here are the votes from the Senate Journal:
YEAS (24)Brown Cunningham Dempsey Dixon Emery Kehoe Kraus LagerLamping Libla Munzlinger Nieves Parson Pearce Richard RomineRupp Sater Schaaf Schaefer Schmitt Silvey Wallingford WassonNAYS (6)Chappelle-Nadal Holsman Justus Keaveny McKenna SiftonAbsent (4)Curls LeVota Nasheed Walsh
AYES: 107Allen Anderson Austin Bahr BernskoetterBerry Brattin Brown Burlison CierpiotConway 104 Cookson Cornejo Cox CrawfordCross Curtman Davis Diehl DohrmanDugger Elmer Engler Entlicher FitzpatrickFitzwater Flanigan Fowler Fraker FranklinFrederick Funderburk Gannon Gatschenberger GosenGrisamore Guernsey Haahr Haefner HamptonHansen Hicks Higdon Hinson HoskinsHoughton Hurst Johnson Jones 50 JustusKeeney Kelley 127 Koenig Kolkmeyer KormanLair Lant Lauer Leara LichteneggerLove Lynch Marshall McCaherty McGaughMessenger Miller Molendorp Moon MorrisMuntzel Neely Neth Parkinson PfautschPhillips Pike Pogue Redmon RehderReiboldt Remole Rhoads Richardson RiddleRoss Rowden Rowland Scharnhorst SchatzSchieber Shull Shumake Solon SommerSpencer Stream Swan Thomson TorpeyWalker White Wieland Wilson WoodZerr Mr SpeakerNOES: 053Anders Barnes Black Burns ButlerCarpenter Colona Conway 10 Curtis DunnEllinger English Englund Frame GardnerHarris Hodges Hough Hubbard HummelKelly 45 Kirkton Kratky LaFaver MayMayfield McCann Beatty McDonald McKenna McManusMcNeil Meredith Mims Mitten MontecilloMorgan Nichols Norr Otto PacePeters Pierson Rizzo Roorda RunionsSchieffer Schupp Smith Swearingen Walton GrayWebb Webber WrightPRESENT: 001EllingtonThe vote in the House was close to party-line, with all Republicans but two voting in favor and all Democrats voting against or present. Two Republican Representatives voted against SB 265--just enough to defeat the override attempt: Representative Lincoln Hough of Springfield and Representative Jay Barnes of Jefferson City.
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