JEFFERSON CITY, MO (April 2, 2024) - The Missouri Senate's Local Government and Elections Committee held a hearing for Rep. Mike Haffner's (R-Pleasant Hill) House Bill 1751 Tuesday.

"Rep. Haffner did an incredible job speaking on our behalf on the merits of the bill to protect our residents," Raymore Mayor Kris Turnbow said. 

Including the usual litany of misinformation in her testimony, landfill developer Jenny Monheiser was the only witness to testify in opposition to the bill. 

A passing committee vote is anticipated next week. The Local Government and Elections Committee advanced the identical Senate Bill 739, sponsored by Sen. Mike Cierpiot (R-08), out of committee in January with a 6-0 vote.

HB 1751 and SB 739 seek to amend the current state statute that only allows an adjoining municipality to approve or reject a landfill development within a half mile of its border. The one word change to RSMo 260.205(9) would give communities a more meaningful voice by extending that authority to a full mile. Monheiser's proposed landfill location is entirely within one mile of Raymore's city limits.

Haffner says that amending this statute is a starting point to rewriting the entire section of the Revised Statutes of Missouri relating to solid waste disposal area permits in order to better protect Missourians through regional planning.

HB 1751 and SB 739 have broad support among the region’s legislators, and more than two dozen cities, counties, school districts and other organizations have voiced public opposition to the landfill location proposed by Monheiser along Kansas City’s southern border with Cass County.

Learn more about Raymore’s opposition to a landfill in this location at www.raymore.com/nolandfill

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