(The Center Square) – In a legislative session filled with filibusters, ethics investigations and hyperbole, it’s unusual the first non-appropriations bill to be signed by Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson regulates landfills.
“I would not have guessed that it would be on the governor’s desk on April 23,” House Majority Floor Leader John Patterson, R-Lee’s Summit, said the day it was sent from the legislature to Parson.
House Bill 1751, sponsored by Rep. Mike Haffner, R-Pleasant Hill, and signed into law on Tuesday, widens a municipal approval radius from one-half mile to one mile for landfills, solid waste processing facilities, and demolition and sanitary landfills.
Previously, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources was prohibited from issuing a permit for a solid waste disposal area to serve a city with a population greater than 400,000 if the landfill was in more than one county and located within one-half mile of an adjoining municipality without that municipality’s approval.
Haffner had a similar bill last year that died in the Senate.
“This commonsense measure will ensure homeowners have more of a say in what developments are allowed in their communities,” Parson said in a statement. “Not only is HB 1751 a win for Raymore residents, but it’s a win for property rights across the state of Missouri.”
The DNR will not be able to issue a solid waste disposal operating permit to one municipality without approval of the adjoining municipalities’ governing bodies if the location for the permit is within one mile of the adjoining municipalities’ border.
Haffner said the success of the bill was dependent on Sen. Mike Cierpiot, R-Lee’s Summit, getting it through the Senate and the support from the city of Raymore.
“I’m a guy of history and I love history,” Haffner said. “I go back to the founding documents where our founding fathers talked about this concept of the primacy of property rights. They understood very clearly that property represented economic opportunity and that is the case here.”
Haffner praised Raymore’s leaders for representing land and property owners in Cass and Jackson counties.
“I do know that this was very stressful and puts a lot of stress not only on the local government but the people who live in that area and are affected by it,” Mayor Kristofer Turnbow told reporters the day the bill was sent to the governor. “Maybe in a less remote location it might be more palatable.”
Turnbow advised other municipalities throughout the state to begin regular communication with solid waste management districts.
“Begin that conversation about what might be an appropriate location,” Turnbow said. “Find out what kind of landfill capacity there is in your area and work from there. We really need to have that conversation in the Kansas City metropolitan area.”
Haffner said legislators will review Missouri law to ensure the same problem doesn’t happen again.
“The place where this fell apart is there was not community involvement,” Haffner said. “… So as the state changes, we need to change statute to make sure our folks are protected.”
