|
At the request
of the Missouri Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing,
Representative Jenee Lowe introduced HB 500 and Representative Denny
Meredith introduced HB 547. Both of these bills, if enacted into
law, would have eliminated the present statutory language that bars
people who can't "read" or "speak" the English language from serving
on petit or grand juries in Missouri. These bills were rolled
together, had a public hearing, and were voted "Do Pass" by the
House Judiciary Committee. However they were never reported out by
the committee chair.
The language of HB 547 was later added to SB 469.
That bill passed the Senate and passed the House in a slightly
different form. Neither chamber would accept the other's language
and the bill went to a conference committee, where it died on the
last day of the legislative session. Much of the language of SB 469
was added to HB 613, which was Truly Agreed to and Finally Passed on
the last day of the session. Unfortunately, for some unknown reason,
the language that would have made deaf people who did not speak
eligible for petit and grand jury duty in Missouri was not added to
HB 613.
Therefore, all efforts in this legislative session
to remove the discriminatory language that bars non-speaking ASL
users from sitting on Missouri petit and grand juries failed. But as
Chicago Cub fans always say, "Wait till next year!"
|
