SECOND REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
1128 & 1161
92ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Reported from the Committee on Local Government March 11, 2004, with recommendation that the House Committee Substitute for House Bill Nos. 795, 972, 1128 & 1161 Do Pass.
STEPHEN S. DAVIS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal sections 49.650, 50.339, 260.831, and 304.010, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof five new sections relating to county government, with penalty provisions.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 49.650, 50.339, 260.831, and 304.010, RSMo, are repealed and five new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 49.650, 50.339, 138.011, 260.831, and 304.010, to read as follows:
49.650. 1. The governing authority of each county [of the first, second, or fourth classification] without a charter form of government shall have the power to adopt ordinances or resolutions relating to its property, affairs, and local government for which no provision has been made in the constitution of this state or state statute regarding the following:
(1) County roads controlled by the county;
(2) Emergency management, as it specifically relates to the actual occurrence of a natural or man-made disaster of major proportions within the county when the safety and welfare of the inhabitants of such county are jeopardized;
(3) Nuisance abatement, excluding agricultural and horticultural property as defined in section 137.016, RSMo;
(4) Storm water control, excluding agricultural and horticultural property as defined in section 137.016, RSMo;
(5) The promotion of economic development for job creation purposes; [and]
(6) Parks and recreation; and
(7) Protection of the environment and the health of the general public from the risks posed by methamphetamine production.
If any such ordinance, order, or resolution conflicts with a municipal, fire protection district, or ambulance district ordinance, the provisions of such municipality, fire protection district, or ambulance district shall prevail within the corporate boundaries of the municipality, of such municipality, fire protection district, or ambulance district. All ordinances adopted pursuant to this section shall remain effective until repealed or amended by the governing authority, except that the general assembly shall have the power to further define, broaden, limit, or otherwise regulate the power of each such county to adopt ordinances, resolutions, or regulations.
2. The governing body of each county [of the first, second, or fourth classification] without a charter form of government may submit to the qualified voters of the county any ordinance, resolution, or regulation proposed pursuant to this section for the approval of the qualified voters of the county. Any ordinance, resolution, or regulation submitted to the qualified voters pursuant to this section shall become effective if a majority of the qualified voters voting on the ordinance, resolution, or regulation are in favor of its adoption, but no ordinance, resolution, or regulation shall become effective if a majority of the qualified voters voting on the ordinance, resolution, or regulation are opposed to its adoption.
3. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section to the contrary, no tax or fee shall be submitted to the voters of the county unless the tax or fee has been authorized by statute by the general assembly.
4. No county of the first, second, third, or fourth classification shall have the power to adopt any ordinance, resolution, or regulation pursuant to this section governing any railroad company, telecommunications or wireless companies, public utilities, rural electric cooperatives, or municipal utilities.
50.339. 1. In any county of the first classification with more than seventy-one thousand three hundred but less than seventy-one thousand four hundred inhabitants, the salary commission at its meeting in 2003 and at any meeting held in 2004 may equalize the base salary for each office to an amount not greater than that set by law as the maximum compensation. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent offices which have additional compensation specified in law from receiving such compensation or from having such compensation added to the base compensation in excess of the equalized salary.
2. Notwithstanding any provision of section 50.343 to the contrary, in any county of the first classification with more than sixty-eight thousand six hundred but less than sixty-eight thousand seven hundred inhabitants, the salary commission may meet in the year 2004 to determine whether to equalize the base salary for the office of treasurer with the base salaries of other county officers at an amount not greater than the amount set as the maximum compensation in subdivision (1) of subsection 1 of section 50.343.
138.011. No member of any board of equalization in any county with a charter form of government shall be an official of any city, town, or village in the county, a member of any school board in the county, or an employee of any school district within the county. Each member shall have some level of experience as determined by the governing authority of the county as a real estate broker, real estate appraiser, home builder, property developer, lending officer, or investor in real estate before their appointment to the board.
260.831. 1. Each operator of a solid waste sanitary or demolition landfill in any county wherein a landfill fee has been approved by the voters pursuant to section 260.830 shall collect a charge equal to the charge authorized by the voters in such election, not to exceed one dollar and fifty cents per ton or its volumetric equivalent of solid waste accepted. Such fee shall be collected in addition to any fee authorized or imposed pursuant to the provisions of section 260.330, and shall be paid to such operator by all political subdivisions, municipalities, corporations, entities or persons disposing of solid waste or demolition waste, whether pursuant to contract or otherwise, and notwithstanding that any such contract may provide for collection, transportation and disposal of such waste at a fixed fee. Any such contract providing for collections, transportation and disposal of such waste at a fixed fee which is in force on August 28, 2003, shall be renegotiated by the parties to the contract to include the additional fee imposed by this section. Each such operator shall submit the charge, less collection costs, to the governing body of the county, which shall dedicate such funds for use by the industrial development authority within the county and such funds shall be used by the county commission or authority for economic development within the county. Collection costs shall be the same as established by the department of natural resources pursuant to section 260.330, and shall not exceed two percent of the amount collected pursuant to this section.
2. The charges established in this section shall be enumerated separately from any disposal fee charged by the landfill. After January 1, 1994, the fee authorized under section 260.830 and this section shall be stated as a separate surcharge on each individual solid waste collection customer's invoice and shall also [name the] indicate whether the county commission or economic development authority [which] receives the funds. Moneys transmitted to the governing body of the county shall be no less than the amount collected less collection costs and in a form, manner and frequency as the governing body may prescribe. Failure to collect such charge shall not relieve the operator from responsibility for transmitting an amount equal to the charge to the governing body.
304.010. 1. As used in this section, the following terms mean:
(1) "Expressway", a divided highway of at least ten miles in length with four or more lanes which is not part of the federal interstate system of highways which has crossovers or accesses from streets, roads or other highways at the same grade level as such divided highway;
(2) "Freeway", a limited access divided highway of at least ten miles in length with four or more lanes which is not part of the federal interstate system of highways which does not have any crossovers or accesses from streets, roads or other highways at the same grade level as such divided highway within such ten miles of divided highway;
(3) "Rural interstate", that part of the federal interstate highway system that is not located in an urban area;
(4) "Urbanized area", an area of fifty thousand population at a density at or greater than one thousand persons per square mile.
2. Except as otherwise provided in this section, the uniform maximum speed limits are and no vehicle shall be operated in excess of the speed limits established pursuant to this section:
(1) Upon the rural interstates and freeways of this state, seventy miles per hour;
(2) Upon the rural expressways of this state, sixty-five miles per hour;
(3) Upon the interstate highways, freeways or expressways within the urbanized areas of this state, sixty miles per hour;
(4) All other roads and highways in this state not located in an urbanized area and not provided for in subdivisions (1) to (3) of this subsection, sixty miles per hour;
(5) All other roads provided for in subdivision (4) of this subsection shall not include any state two-lane road which is identified by letter. Such lettered roads shall not exceed fifty-five miles per hour unless set at a higher speed as established by the department of transportation, except that no speed limit shall be set higher than sixty miles per hour;
(6) For the purposes of enforcing the speed limit laws of this state, it is a rebuttable presumption that the posted speed limit is the legal speed limit.
3. On any state road or highway where the speed limit is not set pursuant to a local ordinance, the highways and transportation commission may set a speed limit higher or lower than the uniform maximum speed limit provided in subsection 2 of this section, if a higher or lower speed limit is recommended by the department of transportation. The department of public safety, where it believes for safety reasons, or to expedite the flow of traffic a higher or lower speed limit is warranted, may request the department of transportation to raise or lower such speed limit, except that no speed limit shall be set higher than seventy miles per hour.
4. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 304.120 or any other provision of law to the contrary, cities, towns and villages may regulate the speed of vehicles on state roads and highways within such cities', towns' or villages' corporate limits by ordinance with the approval of the state highways and transportation commission. Any reduction of speed in cities, towns or villages shall be designed to expedite the flow of traffic on such state roads and highways to the extent consistent with public safety. The commission may declare any ordinance void if it finds that such ordinance is:
(1) Not primarily designed to expedite traffic flow; and
(2) Primarily designed to produce revenue for the city, town or village which enacted such ordinance.
If an ordinance is declared void, the city, town or village shall have any future proposed ordinance approved by the highways and transportation commission before such ordinance may take effect.
5. The county commission of any county of the second, third or fourth classification may set the speed limit or the weight limit or both the speed limit and the weight limit on roads or bridges on any county, township or road district road in the county and, with the approval of the state highways and transportation commission, on any state road or highway not within the limits of any incorporated city, town or village, lower than the uniform maximum speed limit as provided in subsection 2 of this section where the condition of the road or the nature of the area requires a lower speed. The commission shall send copies of any order establishing a speed limit or weight limit on roads and bridges on a county, township or road district road in the county to the chief engineer of the state department of transportation, the superintendent of the state highway patrol and to any township or road district maintaining roads in the county. After the roads have been properly marked by signs indicating the speed limits and weight limits set by the county commission, the speed limits and weight limits shall be of the same effect as the speed limits provided for in subsection 1 of this section and shall be enforced by the state highway patrol and the county sheriff as if such speed limits and weight limits were established by state law.
6. The county commission of any county of the second, third, or fourth classification may by ordinance set a countywide speed limit on roads within unincorporated areas of any county, township, or road district in the county and may establish reasonable speed regulations for motor vehicles within the limit of such county. No person who is not a resident of such county and who has not been within the limits thereof for a continuous period of more than forty-eight hours shall be convicted of a violation of such ordinances, unless it is shown by competent evidence that there was posted at the place where the boundary of such county road enters the county a sign displaying in black letters not less than four inches high and one inch wide on a white background the speed fixed by such county so that such signs may be clearly seen by operators and drivers from their vehicles upon entering such county. The commission shall send copies of any order establishing a countywide speed limit on a county, township, or road district road in the county to the chief engineer of the Missouri department of transportation, the superintendent of the state highway patrol, and to any township or road district maintaining roads in the county. After the boundaries of the county roads entering the county have been properly marked by signs indicating the speed limits set by the county commission, the speed limits shall be of the same effect as the speed limits provided for in subsection 1 of this section and shall be enforced by the state highway patrol and the county sheriff as if such speed limits were established by state law.
[6.] 7. All road signs indicating speed limits or weight limits shall be uniform in size, shape, lettering and coloring and shall conform to standards established by the department of transportation.
[7.] 8. The provisions of this section shall not be construed to alter any speed limit set below fifty-five miles per hour by any ordinance of any county, city, town or village of the state adopted before March 13, 1996.
[8.] 9. The speed limits established pursuant to this section shall not apply to the operation of any emergency vehicle as defined in section 304.022.
[9.] 10. A violation of the provisions of this section shall not be construed to relieve the parties in any civil action on any claim or counterclaim from the burden of proving negligence or contributory negligence as the proximate cause of any accident or as the defense to a negligence action.
[10.] 11. Any person violating the provisions of this section is guilty of a class C misdemeanor, unless such person was exceeding the posted speed limit by twenty miles per hour or more then it is a class B misdemeanor.