CLAYTON 鈥 50度灰视频 County Chair Rita Heard Days said she will press forward with a measure to update the county鈥檚 24-year-old whistleblower protections law despite the council鈥檚 failure on Tuesday to override County Executive Sam Page鈥檚 veto of a similar measure.
Pointing to riveting testimony by corrections officers and others about staffing and safety concerns at the county jail, Days said that her bill would serve an immediate need.
鈥淭here are people who want to talk about situations and they feel they cannot do that because of retaliation,鈥 Days said. 鈥淭his bill is simply for protection of the people who work for 50度灰视频 County.鈥
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Asked Wednesday if there is a version of the bill that he would support, Page pointed to a parallel idea by the 50度灰视频 County Human Relations Commission, supported by his ally Councilwoman Lisa Clancy, D-5th District, to update county ordinances to match .
鈥淚鈥檓 sure there is a version of the bill that I would support if it鈥檚 consistent with its original intent, which is to align 50度灰视频 County ordinances with state law,鈥 Page said.
The bill he vetoed aimed to update the county鈥檚 , last revised in 1997, by to expand the county鈥檚 definitions of qualifying employees, qualifying allegations of mismanagement and prohibitions against retaliatory discipline.
Among other provisions, it would specify that county supervisors would not be able to prevent employees from talking to an individual County Council member, the news media, any law enforcement officer or state officials such as the auditor, the attorney general and members of the General Assembly 鈥 including under legislative subpoena. The current ordinance only specifies that supervisors are barred from preventing employees from talking to the council.
The bill had support from 50度灰视频 County Police Officer Shanette Hall, who told the council it was needed to address complaints within the police department by officers who feel they can鈥檛 come forward due to possible retaliation. Hall is a vice president of the Ethical Society of Police, a group representing Black and non-white police officers that has pushed for diversity and equity in the department.
Days and Council members Tim Fitch, R-3rd District, Shalonda Webb, D-4th District, and Mark Harder, R-7th District, voted to approve the bill on Oct. 27. After the vote, Page said he would veto the legislation, citing concerns raised by Council members Ernie Trakas, R-6th District, and Lisa Clancy, D-5th District.
Trakas and Clancy said the bill did not include exceptions if an employee were to release other employees鈥 private health records, a potential violation of federal privacy laws that restrict the release of individually identifiable health information. Clancy also asked Days to wait for a formal opinion from the Human Relations Commission on the bill, which had called for updating whistleblower protections to match state law.
At a Nov. 5 meeting, some commission members, including its chair, Karen Aroesty, questioned passages in the bill, but delayed issuing a formal opinion, instead discussing a plan to invite Days and other council members to talk through the legislation.
In a to the council, Page asked Days to meet with the commission and said he also wanted the Board of Police Commissioners, a panel of Page appointees that oversees the police department, to issue an opinion on how they would implement the rule for the department.
And Page also asserted the bill could subject county employees to politically motivated subpoenas by the Missouri Legislature.
鈥淚n this age of unprecedented state intervention in local affairs, this bill would expose all County employees 鈥 even entry-level employees 鈥 to the risk of becoming political fodder for those in state government who want to control local governments. Exposing county employees to that risk is not a responsible step.鈥
Days, , said her bill 鈥渕akes no substantive changes鈥 to the existing law that would prevent the county from disciplining an employee over a violation of federal health privacy laws.
The Legislature, she said, already has the power to subpoena county employees. Her bill, she said, would only specify that the county cannot bar an employee from testifying under such a subpoena.
And Days said she had yet to receive an invitation to meet with the Human Relations Commission.
In a separate letter, Days wrote to the Board of Police Commissioners asking for their input on her repeat bill, asking for a response .
Days, Fitch, Harder and Webb on Tuesday voted to override Page鈥檚 veto; Trakas and Kelli Dunaway, D-2nd District, voted against the override. Clancy abstained.
The charter requires five votes to override an executive veto.
The Rev. Philip Duvall, a member of a citizen advisory panel Page appointed in 2019 to help reform the jail after a series of inmate deaths, on Tuesday sharply criticized the council鈥檚 failure to override Page鈥檚 veto. Jail employees, he said during the public forum period that came after the vote, wanted to report on conditions at the jail but feared retaliation.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e been wanting to talk for over two years, but they can鈥檛 say it because they can鈥檛 get their voices heard,鈥 he said.
鈥淪hame on you ... unmuzzle the children 鈥 and let them speak.鈥
Vaccine benefits veto stands Page this week also returned to the council a veto of a bill that would have required the county to pay for lifelong medical treatment for employees who proved an illness from a COVID-19 vaccine.
The , sponsored by Fitch, would have applied to employees who were notified by a supervisor that they would be disciplined for refusing to comply with a county requirement to be vaccinated or submit to regular testing. It would also have required the county to pay a $1 million benefit to the beneficiary of any county government worker who died because of the vaccine, according to an attestation from a doctor, medical examiner or coroner that a vaccine caused the death.
Fitch, Harder, Trakas and Days voted to give the bill final approval Oct. 27.
Page and other council Democrats said the bill was unnecessary because vaccines are safe and effective.
Fitch did not ask the council to vote Tuesday to override the veto.
There is no causal evidence of COVID-19 vaccines causing deaths and serious adverse effects from COVID-19 vaccines are , according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.
The federal government has two programs, the and the , that provide financial coverage for proven COVID-19 vaccine-related injuries or deaths.
In a this week, Page said the programs would supersede local laws providing benefits for vaccine-related illnesses, 鈥渉owever remote that chance may be.鈥
He also tied Fitch鈥檚 bill to anti-vaccine sentiments by people who have packed County Council meetings for months to oppose mask and vaccine mandates, including several speakers who characterized vaccines as a government conspiracy.
鈥淚n short, this bill undermines a federal program in order to placate some of our most misinformed public forum speakers,鈥 Page said. 鈥淧lacating conspiracy theorists cannot be our way forward in
50度灰视频 County. And stoking fear of the vaccine will not get us out of the pandemic 鈥 that kind of behavior will only prolong it.鈥