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Senator Nodler, chair of
the Senate Appropriations Committee, has introduced SB 313 to provide more
transparency to the process of receiving and disbursing federal
funds from the economic recovery package. SB 313 will be heard
in the Senate Appropriations Committee this Tuesday at 1:30
pm.
Even when federal
stimulus money does make its way to Missouri,
many lawmakers are objecting to using “one-time”
funds for on-going social service programs, especially health
care expansion. Yet
with the state unemployment rate rising to 7.3%, and more and
more families losing health coverage and at risk of falling into
poverty, Missouri must make immediate investments in healthcare,
education and our workforce to ensure that we pull ourselves out
of this economic recession and put families back on the path to
financial stability.
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Update on
Children’s Bills of
Interest
An update on legislation relating to Partnership
for Children’s 2009 Policy Agenda:
TABOR (HJR23): The
House Budget Committee heard testimony last Wednesday on HJR23,
a constitutional amendment similar to
Colorado’s TABOR that
limits growth in spending to a formula accounting for inflation
and population growth. The bill also requires permanent tax
reductions when revenue growth temporarily exceeds certain
limits in a given year. Partnership for Children testified in
opposition to HJR 23, because of its potentially crippling
impact on funding for children’s services. If Missouri is
truly dedicated to reducing state spending and government
services in the future, then we should invest now in the health,
education, welfare, and the human capitol potential of every
Missouri child.
Outreach to Uninsured Children (HB 293):
HB 293, introduced by Representative
Bob Nance (R-Excelsior Springs), aims to reach out to many of
the estimated 100,000 uninsured children who are eligible but
not enrolled in state health coverage. The bill would require Missouri
school districts to distribute information about the MO
Healthnet for Kids program to parents enrolling their children
in public school. Partnership for Children testified in support
of HB 293 during a hearing in the House Healthcare
Transformation Committee last Tuesday and offered some ideas for
additional outreach methods that might be considered as part of
the existing legislation, including using children’s
school lunch applications and state income tax returns to
identify eligible yet uninsured children.
Quality Rating System (SB4 &
HB387):
Last Tuesday, the Senate Committee on
Health, Mental Health, Seniors & Families voted Do Pass on
SB 4 by a vote of 5-2. SB 4, sponsored by Senate President
Pro-Tem Shields, would establish a voluntary statewide Quality
Rating System for child care programs in Missouri.
Senators Justus (D-Kansas City) and Cunningham (R-St.
Louis County) were the two
dissenting votes against the legislation.
Before the bill was voted out of committee, Senator
Justus offered her SB94 as an amendment, which would increase
income eligibility for child care assistance to 140% of federal
poverty (FPL) and extend transitional assistance up to 185% FPL.
The amendment failed by a 4-3 vote, with Senators Justus, Smith,
and Cunningham voting in favor of the eligibility expansion.
Improving the quality and affordability of child
care in Missouri are two of
Partnership for Children’s top policy priorities this
year. In addition to working to pass Quality Rating System
legislation, PFC is advocating strongly in the budget process to
support the Governor’s recommendation of maintaining state
eligibility for child care at 127% FPL and to use federal
stimulus funding to assist more families with the high cost of
child care during these tough economic
times.
Tobacco Prevention: The House Committee on Health Care Policy heard
informational testimony from the Missouri Foundation for Health
(MFH) last Wednesday regarding tobacco use and cessation
programs. According
to MFH, tobacco is the leading cause of preventable deaths,
causing more than 9,500 deaths annually in the state of
Missouri alone. The smoking rate for
high school students in Missouri is higher than the
national average – 23.8% vs. 20% respectively. The annual cost in
Medicaid expenditures caused by tobacco use is approximately
$532 million, a staggering number when considering the
state’s current financial shortfall. A recent article in
the St. Louis Post Dispatch highlights the MFH
study comparing MO Medicaid enrollment and smoking rates by
county.
Educational Rights for Foster Children
(SB96):
SB 96 (Justus) is scheduled to be
heard this Tuesday morning at 8:15 a.m. in the Senate Committee
on Health, Mental Health, Seniors & Families. This bill
establishes educational rights for
foster care students and requires a full school day of education
for certain children.
This legislation would require each school district to
designate a staff person to be an educational liaison for foster
care children. This liaison would assist with proper educational
placements, transferring between schools, ensuring transfer of
grades and credits, requesting school records, and submitting
school records that have been requested.
View PFC’s full tracking list for legislation relating to children’s
health, education, and safety.
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New
Bills Filed
HB
634 (Holsman): Adds home nursing
visits and follow-up care as needed for certain at-risk newborns
to the list of covered services under the MO HealthNet
Program.
HB
635 (Holsman): Expands the State
Children's Health Insurance Program to offer insurance coverage
to all children residing in this state regardless of
income.
HB
636 (Holsman): Creates the
Persistence to Graduation Fund to distribute grants to certain
school districts for drop-out prevention
efforts.
HB
637 (Holsman): Establishes lower
permissible and desirable class sizes than currently exist in
administrative rules for the Kansas City school
district.
HB
686 (Bringer): Establishes a
tuition and fee waiver program for certain incoming Missouri
resident freshman who have been in foster care or residential
care.
HB
708 (Tracy): Exempts MO
HealthNet expense reimbursements received by doctors, dentists,
and nurses from state income tax.
HB
716 (Roorda): Establishes the
Brady Alan Cunningham Newborn Screening Act which adds Lysosomal
Storage Diseases to the list of required newborn
screenings.
HCR
27 (Curls): Urges the Department
of Health and Senior Services to educate parents on the
importance of adolescent health.
SB 344 (Lager):
Creates the P-20 Council to create a more efficient and
effective education system.
SB
345 (Lager): Allows school boards
to adopt a four-day school week instead of a five-day school
week.
SB
347 (Mayer): Enacts the Uniform
Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement
Act.
SB
352 (Bray): Establishes a
Commission on the Reorganization of State Health
Care.
SB
373 (Mayer): Creates procedures
for open enrollment of public school students across school
district boundary lines.
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-KANSAS
UPDATE-
KAC Policy
Update
Thanks to our Partners at Kansas
Action for Children for this update from Topeka on
children’s issues relating to KAC’s 2009 Policy
Agenda:
Budget. A conference committee agreed Wednesday evening to
a 2009 rescission bill that spares the state children's fund.
During negotiations, conferees approved of the
Senate's position to protect the Children's Initiatives
Fund (CIF) from a roughly $3 million cut. The CIF includes
funding for most of the state's early education programs -
including Parents as Teachers and Smart Start - as well as the
Newborn Screening Program and a portion of HealthWave (the state
children's health insurance program). Across-the-board cuts to
agency budgets still stand to impact a handful of other
children's programs, including Early Head Start and the Child
Care Assistance program.
Teen Drivers. A subcommittee of the House Transportation
Committee met Monday to discuss HB 2143, a proposal to
update the state's drivers licensing system with a Graduated
Drivers License (GDL). The subcommittee voted to recommend the
bill to the full committee with the addition of a cell phone
restriction. The Transportation Committee will hear testimony
Feb. 16 on the bill from Kansas Action for Children and other
proponents.
KIDS College Savings Program. The Senate Education Committee will hold a
hearing Feb. 16 on SB 225. The bill would make
permanent the KIDS
College Savings Match
Program, which encourages low-income Kansas
families to save for their children's college or technical
school tuition expenses. Originally established as
a three-year pilot program, KIDS is set to expire in
2009 if lawmakers do not approve of
continuation.
Child Support
Enforcement. On Tuesday, Kansas Action for
Children testified on behalf of HB 2201, which would
improve child support collections in Kansas
by more effectively utilizing professional license
sanctions. This would provide another tool to
encourage compliance with child support orders and ultimately
improve the well-being of Kansas children.
Financial Literacy. KAC testified Monday in support of SB 84,
which would strengthen the state personal financial education
curriculum and require the State Board of Education to include
questions on personal financial education on the statewide math
or social studies assessments. A similar bill was requested by
Rep. Melody McCray-Miller this week in the House Taxation
Committee.
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- FEDERAL
UPDATE –
Congress Passes
Economic
Recovery Package (Finally)
On Friday, both the U.S. House of Representatives and
Senate passed the compromise $787 billion American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act, which now heads to President Obama’s
desk for signature. Early childhood advocates are celebrating
that the compromise measure restored $2.1 billion for Head Start
and Early Head Start, which had been cut from the Senate
version. Now PFC will be watching to see how quickly this money
filters down to the states to fill budget shortfalls and prevent
program cuts as KS and MO lawmakers have already begun work on
their FY ’10 budgets.
The Center for Budget & Policy Priorities has state
by state estimates of key provisions impacting
low-income families.
Key provisions in the bill
include:
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$87 billion over the next two years for
federal matching funds (FMAP) to allow states to maintain
Medicaid programs despite substantial state budget
shortfalls.
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$53.6 billion for the State Fiscal
Stabilization Fund, which includes: $40.6 billion in funding for
local school districts for use in preventing cutbacks and
layoffs, school modernization, or other purposes; and $5 billion
in bonus grants for states to use in meeting education
performance measures.
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Extending unemployment benefits up to 33
weeks through December 2009, which will assist at least 3.5
million additional jobless workers.
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An increase in unemployment benefits by $25
per week for 20 million jobless workers and a temporary
suspension in the taxation of some unemployment
benefits.
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An increase of more than 13% in food stamp
benefits, which will help more than 31 million people, half of
whom are children, with rising food costs.
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$1.1 billion for Early Head Start and $1
billion for Head Start, which will provide services for an
additional 110,000 infants and children.
-
$2 billion for the Child Care Development Block Grant
(CCDBG), which will provide child care services to an additional
300,000 low-income children.
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Lowering the Child Tax Credit earnings
threshold to $3,000.
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Until next week
–
Carrie Shapton & Jeremy
LaFaver
Policy & Outreach
Coordinators
Partnership for
Children
shapton@pfc.org; lafaver@pfc.org
816-531-9200 | 
