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Committee advances bill raising penalties for vehicle break-ins with firearms present
Summary
House Committee advanced a bill (HB 117) that broadens the definition of entering a vehicle to include reaching in with any body part or tool and elevates penalties when a firearm is present; sponsor said the change targets organized property crime rings that repeatedly check vehicles for unlocked doors.
The Missouri House Committee on Crime and Public Safety voted to advance House Bill 117 after a public hearing and adoption of a committee substitute that tightened definitions for vehicle entry and increased penalties in specified cases.
Representative Murphy, sponsor of HB 117, said the bill “really only does 2 things”: (1) it clarifies that entering a vehicle includes inserting a body part or any physical object connected to the body (for example, a grabber tool) and (2) it elevates the offense to a class C felony when a firearm is possessed during a tampering/vehicle-entry theft and certain aggravating behaviors occur.
Members asked technical questions about intent and scope. Representative Sites noted an older person's risk of mistakenly entering the wrong car and sought to confirm that simple accidental entry without intent is not the bill’s target. Representative Hovis asked whether the statutory phrase “successive” (used in the draft to describe repeated attempts) could be clarified to prevent unjust prosecutions for isolated mistakes; the sponsor said the provision is meant to address repeated or organized patterns observed in surveillance video.
After committee consideration and a committee substitute, the panel voted to report the house committee substitute for HB 117 favorably. The clerk recorded a roll-call result of 15 yes, 2 no and 1 present.
Ending: Committee members from both rural and urban districts supported stiffer penalties for organized vehicle-entry thefts involving firearms, while several members asked staff to refine language on intent and the threshold for 'successive' conduct.
