Tuesday, April 01, 2008

House Cmt. Hears Bill on Fee Office Reform

A State House committee held a hearing today on a bill to reform the way Missouri's 183 license fee offices are run.

House Bill 1866 would give first dibs on the contracts to run the offices to local public school district foundations or charitable organizations. Private individuals could still win contracts through a competitive bidding process.

“Over the decades a lot of friends, relatives and political donors of whoever happened to be governor at the time have gotten wealthy off the captive customer base of Missourians who need to renew their licenses,” bill sponsor Rep. Luke Scavuzzo said. “With Missouri guaranteed of having a new governor next year, the contracts will be redistributed anyway. That makes now the perfect time to implement a new system and eliminate one of the last vestiges of political patronage from Missouri government.”

“After years of fee office reform being blocked, I am optimistic that this legislation is finally making progress in the House,” Scavuzzo said.

Republican candidate for Governor Kenny Hulshof recently announced his own similar plan to reform the way these offices are run.

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