Missouri House Passes Budget, Moves to Senate

Last week, the Missouri House of Representatives advanced the state budget with several items positively impacting Missouri’s children and families.  Partnership for Children (PFC) has worked with advocates from across the state to ensure that these funding proposals move forward.

The budget bill for Department of Social Services includes $3.3 million to expand presumptive eligibility for health insurance for children.  Representative Ryan Silvey, R-Kansas City, offered the amendment in the budget committee.   

Presumptive eligibility allows a child immediate access to health insurance coverage while his or her eligibility for public health insurance is being determined.  A health care provider can make the presumptive determination about a child’s eligibility based on the family’s declaration that its income is below the state’s public health insurance income eligibility guidelines.  This gives families the time and assistance they need to complete the MO HealthNet for Kids application while the child gets health care services.  Last year, Representative Mike Talboy, D-Kansas City, offered a similar measure during legislative session. 

Also moving forward in the budget are reimbursement rate increases for foster and adoptive families.  Foster parents open their homes and hearts to care for our most vulnerable children, and it is important that we support their efforts.  Additional items include $650,000 directed to mental health support services for the families of active and past duty service men and women and additional funding to achieve accreditation of the Children’s Division, Department of Social Services.  Accreditation is vital to decreasing foster care caseloads for social workers and helps move children more quickly to permanent homes.

Despite the best efforts of PFC and their advocacy partners, the House of Representatives chose not to fully fund a transitional child care assistance program that would have allowed parents to accept a $2 raise in salary without risking the loss of their child care funding assistance.  Nearly 3,000 Missouri children could continue to access safe, reliable, and enriching child care programs if the funding is approved during the appropriations process in the Senate.   Senate Appropriations will work all this week on  their recommendations.

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Last Thursday the Missouri Senate third read and passed legislation to establish a voluntary, statewide quality rating system for child care programs  by a 19-14 vote. SB 726, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Charlie Shields from St. Joseph, will improve the quality of care available in the state while giving parents a way to evaluate and select high quality programs. 

SB 726 also creates a Quality Improvement Grant Fund that will help providers pay for quality improvements so that programs will not have to pass on these costs to parents. The Quality Improvement Fund could provide grants for technical assistance, capital improvements, educational materials, staff scholarships, and wage assistance.

The final version of the bill includes a $5 million pilot pre-k program targeting 3 & 4 yr-olds in unaccredited school districts as well as a provision that allows child care programs accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) to automatically receive a 5-star rating under QRS.

During debate on SB 726 a few weeks ago, Senator Justus (D-Kansas City) offered an

amendment to increase the affordability of child care for low-income families by expanding eligibility for child care assistance.  The amendment failed on a tie 15-15 vote.

SB 726 is a positive step towards improving the quality of early childhood programs in Missouri, however Partnership for Children believes that simultaneously improving child care quality and affordability will have the greatest return on investment for Missouri. Ensuring that low-income families can afford quality early education programs will improve educational outcomes in K-12 education and save the state in future, more costly interventions later in life.

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SB1106, sponsored by Sen. Delbert Scott, R-Lowry City, a bill that has child advocates very concerned, will be heard this Tuesday, April 1^st am in Seniors, Families and Public Health at 8:15 am.  Although the Partnership for Children anticipates a committee substitute to be filed, at this point, SB1106 has many provisions adversely impacting child abuse and neglect procedures in Missouri.  As it currently stands, this bill would require the Children’s Division to complete investigations within thirty days. 

Oftentimes, it takes a child more than 30 days to even open up about the abuse they have suffered.  In addition, this would require trials de novo be conducted under the Missouri criminal rules of evidence and the Missouri rules of civil procedure.  Because of this, child victims may be required to testify about their abuse in front of their perpetrators.  SB1106 would also require that no more than five of the nine members of the Child Abuse and Neglect Review Board are from the same political party as the governor.  The bill requires that the CAN Review Board must have at least 2 attorneys, each of whom has engaged in their private practice of law in Missouri for no less than 10 years, a physician, and five other members.  This appears to politicize the board and removes the multi-disciplinary members who may have greater expertise in the area of child abuse and neglect, as well as interested citizens who can serve in this function. 

Partnership for Children opposes SB1106.

The Missouri Foundation for Health has just released a fact sheet highlighting the impact of seven proposed regulatory changes that would reduce federal funding for the Medicaid Program. The proposed changes from The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency responsible for monitoring and regulating state Medicaid, reduce federal funding for the Missouri Medicaid program, by approximately $1.4 billion over the next 5 years.

The latest fact sheet, Proposed Federal Medicaid Regulations: Impact on Missouri, can be found on the MFH website or by clicking here: http://www.mffh.org/Factsheet_FederalMedicaidRegs.pdf

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Join together to rally for foster and adopted children!

April 14^th – 10 AM –Capitol Building Rotunda - Jefferson City

Hosted by the Missouri Foster Care and Adoption Association

"When reimbursement rates don't reflect the real expenses that foster parents face, it's the children who suffer. 'Hitting the MARC' ensures that the basic needs of children in foster care are met," Karen Jorgenson/ Executive Director of the NFPA. The Governor recommended a $12.5 million rate increase for foster and adoptive families and this rally will encourage the General Assembly to “hit the MARC.”

For bus & carpool information visit:

St Louis Area: Foster and Adoptive Care Coalition
800.FOSTER.3 -- 314.FOSTER.3 -- www.foster-adopt.org

Mid-Missouri Area: Missouri Foster Care Association
417.538.4362

Kansas City Area: Midwest Foster Care Association
816.350.0215 - www.mfcaa.org

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SB1106 (Scott):  Tuesday, April 1st 8:15 am in the SCR2 – Committee on Seniors, Families & Public Health.  This bill modifies provisions relating to child abuse investigations.

SB1283 (Dempsey):  Wednesday, April 2nd at 1 pm in the Senate Lounge—Committee on Health and Mental Health. This bill creates the Health Transformation Act of 2008.

Senate Appropriations will meet to mark-up budget bills 1-13 (pending referral) on Tuesday, April 1st at 8 am and 6 pm; Wednesday, April 2nd at 8 am and 6pm and Thursday, April 3rd at 8 am in SCR 2. 

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Thanks to our partners at Kansas Action for Children for providing this update.

Early Care & Education Budget Update

The Senate spent most of March 27 on the floor debating their major appropriations bills of the Session. Like the House, the Senate opted to defer significant spending decisions until Omnibus in late April. This includes education priorities such as the Early Childhood Block Grant, Pre-K and Parents As Teachers. A House-Senate conference committee will start negotiations to work out the differences between the two budgets. It is likely that the $2.5 million shortfall facing the Child Care Assistance Program will be addressed. Other differences between the budgets include $400,000 for the Kansas Middle School Afterschool Activity Advancement Grant (KMSA³), the administration of the Pre-K Pilots, and the source of funding for existing Parents As Teachers services.

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The House Federal and State Affairs Committee held a hearing March 25 on HB 2972. The bill was drafted based upon recommendations from a subcommittee that studied four child care licensing bills. Although the subcommittee met several times, questions remain about whether suggested improvements should be placed in statute or in regulation. This committee is not subject to committee deadlines and the bill will remain alive in the House. However, it is likely the issue will be referred to an interim committee for further study.

Robert H. Dugger, a national business leader and economist, visited Topeka March 27 to speak with local business leaders and legislators. Dugger joined with Gov. Kathleen Sebelius in supporting the proposed Early Childhood Block Grant. In his capacity as trustee of the Committee for Economic Development, Dugger chairs the Invest in Kids Working Group, which was created to document the impact of early learning investments on economic success. Click here for more information about Dugger's research: http://www.partnershipforsuccess.org/index.php?id=01

The House Transportation Committee passed out an amended version of SB 294, the graduated drivers licensing bill, on March 25^th. The House bill would limit 16-year-olds to driving between the hours of 5 a.m. and midnight and would allow a maximum of three non-sibling passengers. Although not as strong as the Senate version of GDL, the House committee took a step in the right direction. A conference committee between the House and Senate for the GDL legislation is expected soon.

A conference committee on the House and Senate health reform bills is expected to meet Monday, April 1. Included in the Senate bill, SB 541, is an expansion of the eligibility level for the state's HealthWave program to 250% of the poverty level.

The Senate Insurance and Financial Institutions Committee held an informational hearing March 24 on the House Substitute for SB 723. This bill facilitates the use of insurance proceeds to pay past-due child support. Because the bill passed the House, it was eligible to be placed in a conference committee report. However, since the Senate had not yet held a hearing on the bill, the Committee opted to have an informational hearing as a means to educate the committee members on the issue prior to the conference committee meetings. The conference committee is expected to meet this week.