Lawmakers meet with constituents at first Eggs and Issues forum

Feb. 9—CARTHAGE, Mo. — Education issues and "sludge" applications on farmland were two topics on the agenda when area lawmakers met with constituents Friday for the first of four Eggs and Issues breakfasts, this one held in Carthage.

These events are sponsored by the chambers in Carthage, Webb City, Joplin and Neosho and are held in a different community each month between February and May.

State Rep. Cody Smith, R-Carthage, discussed a bill he introduced opening up Missouri Empowerment Scholarships to a broader range of students across the state.

He said his bill would remove a restriction that limits access to these scholarships to students living in communities with more than than 30,000 people.

"If you live in Joplin, you qualify," Smith said. "If you live in Carthage or outside the Joplin city limits, you don't qualify. This just simply removes that geographical limitation and lets kids from all over the state apply for them."

Smith is in his eighth and final year in the House because of term limits, and also in his sixth year as chairman of the House Budget Committee.

State Sen. Jill Carter, R-Granby, spoke about her dedication to education in Missouri and a bill she's sponsoring to bring third-party accreditation to schools.

"The days of teaching to the test I think are antiquated," Carter said. "To ask and expect schools to be innovative while at the same time telling them they have to meet all of those benchmarks the Department of Education wants you to meet is the antithesis of each other. They cannot do that with their hands tied behind their back."

Carter also talked about her bill to tighten the rules for spreading residual waste from food processing companies on land and storing it in lagoons. The companies that spread it say it has a value as free fertilizer but opponents of the practice call it "sludge." Many area residents have been opposed to the process, fearing its impact on property values, water quality and lifestyles in the region. The bill would outline placement of storage lagoons for that wastewater to reduce the impact on the environment and communities close to these waste basins.

—State Rep. Ann Kelley, R-Lamar, spoke about her bill, HB 1569, which in part would expand the A-Plus program scholarships to allow them to be used for career certificates as well as community college or college programs.

She said her bill was inspired by a constituent in Sarcoxie who wanted to buy a trash truck and start a business straight out of high school. The constituent planned to use part of his A-Plus scholarship to obtain his commercial drivers license, but he was prevented by the program's requirements.

—State Rep. Dirk Deaton, R-Noel, gave more information on his efforts, along with Carter's, to change the rules regarding the use of fertilizer/sludge that is affecting streams around these areas being sprayed and neighbors who are complaining about the odor.

He said his goal is to change the costs and incentives for this process and then add new rules to keep wastewater lagoons farther from homes, schools and other buildings.

Deaton said one of his bills could be considered for passage by the House as early next week, which would move it to the Senate, where Carter is sponsoring a bill with similar language.

—State Rep. Ben Baker, R-Neosho, talked about a number of bills he's introduced, including one to prohibit apps with connections to Chinese companies such as TikTok and others from being downloaded on state-owned cellphones, and one to prevent "deep fake" videos or audio messages created by artificial intelligence from being used in political campaigns.

—State Rep. Lane Roberts, R-Joplin, spoke about his passion for working with crime victims.

—State Rep. Bob Bromley, R-Carl Junction, spoke about campaigns tying him to increasing utility bills, saying he was chairman of the House Utilities Committee and none of the bills these ads talk about are his, they're just being considered by his committee.

He also talked about his efforts to make sure the state is working on widening Interstate 44 in the wake of the funding provided to widen Interstate 70 last year.