JEFFERSON CITY, MO. ? The Confederate flag would be raised again at two historical sites in Missouri under bills pending in the state Legislature.

The bill in the House, sponsored by state Rep. Rob Mayer, R-Dexter, would allow the Missouri State Park Board to decide matters related to proposed changes in historical markers and monuments on state property.

The measure is a response to a January 2003 decision by Missouri Department of Natural Resources director Stephen Mahfood to remove Confederate flags that had long flown over the Confederate Memorial State Historic Site, a cemetery in Higginsville, and the Fort Davidson State Historic Site in Pilot Knob.

Under the bill, discussed this week by the House Corrections and State Institutions Committee, flags at both sites would be restored and remain in place unless the park board, after public hearings, decides they should be removed. The committee did not take any immediate action. A similar bill is pending in the Senate.

“This would give the general public due process and allow their input into what is going on with our state parks system,” Mayer said.

Bruce Hillis, of Dexter, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said the bill was about preserving history, not flags. But state Rep. Betty Thompson, D-St. Louis, said the flag was seen as a symbol of violence and oppression by many black Missourians.

“I couldn’t in good conscience support this bill,” said Thompson, who is black.

The familiar Confederate battle flag has sometimes been linked to hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan. However, bill co-sponsor Rep. J.C. Kuessner said the flag at Pilot Knob was a battle flag unique to the Confederate unit that fought at the site.