Jackson County Democratic Committee

WILLIAM CRAIG HOSMER

Born in Marshfield, MO in 1959, Craig is the seventh child in a family of thirteen.  His father, John Hosmer, was a long time Greene and Webster County attorney who served as Webster County Magistrate Judge and Prosecuting Attorney.   Craig attended the Marshfield public schools and the University of Missouri-Columbia where he received his BA in Political Science in 1982.  In 1983 he served as a legislative intern in the Missouri House of Representatives.  Craig earned his law degree in1986 from George Washington University National Law Center in Washington, D.C., and since 1986 has been practicing law in Springfield, Missouri.

Craig served six terms as state representative for the 138^th legislative district representing northeast Springfield.  He was Chairman of the Criminal Law Committee and served on the following House committees:  Judiciary, Civil and Administrative Law, and Utilities Regulation.   Over the twelve years in the Missouri House of Representatives, Craig sponsored DWI legislation to reduce the BAC for administrative suspension, and served on the Joint Conference committee that drafted the Right to Die/Durable Power of Attorney legislation.  He sponsored legislation prohibiting stalking, broadening Missouri’s open meetings/open records law, increasing law enforcement officer training, and authorizing the City of Springfield to forfeit the vehicles of multiple DWI offenders.  He sponsored juvenile crime legislation, zero tolerance legislation to stop underage drinking and driving, legislation to give Missouri State University a statewide mission, and legislation to allow Greene County to establish juvenile offender boot camps. Craig also sponsored legislation granting statewide arrest powers for law enforcement officers, granting statewide authority to emergency personnel to use automatic external defibrillators to save heart attack victims, increasing penalties for methamphetamine production, and requiring civil commitment for sexual predators.  He successfully worked to prohibit the death penalty for persons with mental retardation, and sponsored the bill that lowered the blood alcohol content for DWI convictions from .10 to .08. He also sponsored legislation to repeal the statute of limitations on rape and forcible sodomy, and increase the penalties for attempted rape.

Craig has served on the Missouri Community Service Commission and the Governor’s Commission on Driving While Intoxicated.  He co-chaired the 1999 Interim Committee on Elder Abuse and Neglect, the 2001 Interim Committee on Institutional and Sentencing Alternatives and chaired the 2002 Interim Committee on the Prevention of Child Abduction and Kidnapping.

Craig served as Chair for the Greene County Democratic Central Committee from 2005 to 2008.  During his tenure, the Greene County Democratic Central Committee hired a full time Executive Director and purchased a building to serve as Democratic Headquarters.  He was elected as Chair for the Missouri State Democratic Party in December of 2008.

Craig and his wife Joann have three sons, William, Harrison and Theo.

2/09