Last Friday, May 14^th, marked the end of Missouri’s 2010 Legislative Session but the state’s budget problems are sure to continue into next year. State lawmakers approved a $23.3 billion budget for FY ’11 that included $484 million in cuts from Governor Nixon’s initial plan. Yet the legislature’s failure to pass several cost-saving measures in the last week of session means that the governor will likely have to make more immediate cuts to balance the budget that begins July 1^st.

While child advocates can count many victories in the 2010 session—including surviving the year with mostly minimal budget cuts—it is also clear that our victories will be few and far between in the coming years unless we change the conversation about responsible revenue options in this state.

This year, a third of Missouri’s legislature is leaving office due to term limits. With 69 open state house races and 10 open senate races, the 2010 state primary and general elections will provide an unprecedented opportunity to talk to candidates and voters about the need for adequate revenue to invest in the education, health, and safety of Missouri’s children. Missouri’s future depends on it.

Read below for a summary of this session’s victories, disappointments, and other bills of interest and mark your calendars for Partnership for Children’s MO Legislative Wrap-Up Luncheon on Mon, June 7, 2010.

 2010 Victories,  Disappointments, & Bills of Interest (In Brief)

VICTORIES

• $38 Million Child Care Stimulus Funding Maintained
• Child Care Assistance Codified
• Outreach for Children’s Health
• Tuition Waiver for Foster Youth
• Autism Coverage
• Cyber-bullying
• Mega Sales Tax Fails
• TANF Drug-Testing Fails

DISAPPOINTMENTS

• Lawmakers Cut Budget, Ignore Revenue Options
• 58% Budget Cut to Parents as Teachers
• Children’s Health Insurance Cut $9 million
• Child Care Safety Proposals Stall

OTHER BILLS OF INTEREST

• Compromise on Gaming Funds for Early Childhood
• Voluntary Pre-k
• P-20 Education
• School Funding Formula

Join Partnership for Children for our annual MO Legislative Wrap-Up Event, featuring several legislators from the Kansas City area!  This luncheon will highlight the accomplishments for Missouri’s children and families during the 2010 legislative session as well as opportunities and challenges in moving forward for children's health, education, and safety.

Where:  Kauffman Conference Center
              4801 Rockhill Rd. ~ Kansas City, MO 64110
When:   Monday, June 7, 2010
Time:    11:30 a.m.—1:30 p.m.
Cost:      $10 per person

Lunch served at 11:30, Program begins at noon

Invited Legislators for Panel: Senator Jolie Justus, Senator Charlie Shields, Rep. Kiki Curls, Rep. Ryan Silvey

RSVP/Questions Contact: Laura Lyon Melo at lyonmelo@pfc.org
Online payment will be available shortly.

Special thanks to United Way of Greater Kansas City for sponsoring this year's event.

$38 Million Child Care Stimulus Funding Maintained
Missouri maintained sufficient state funding in the child care assistance program this year to ensure that Missouri still qualifies for $38.7 million in federal recovery funding that will be used to improve the quality and affordability of child care in FY’10-‘11. The House initially proposed a $7.4 million cut from the Governor’s FY’11 budget for child care, which would have forced the state to mail a $38 million check back to Washington for violating state maintenance of effort requirements. Lawmakers ultimately approved a $3 million cut in FY’11 that will not impact currently eligibility levels for child care assistance.

Child Care Assistance Put into Statute
Senator Justus (D-Kansas City) scored a significant victory for child care assistance this year by successfully amending her SB 625 language onto two separate bills that passed in the last week of session – HB 2290 and SB 1007. The bills codify the state child care and transitional assistance programs and require that eligibility for the programs be subject to appropriation. Though the Department of Social Services operates a $190 million budget for child care each year and serves over 43,000 children, the program is not currently in state statute.

The bill also establishes a sliding fee scale for child care assistance based on adjusted gross income, which would allow DSS to deduct certain expenses or income when determining eligibility and make it easier for some families to qualify. Many thanks to Senator Justus for her unwavering commitment to passing this bill for the past four years and to Rep. Silvey (R-Kansas City) for handling the child care amendment in the House this year.

Outreach for Children’s Health
SB 583, an omnibus insurance bill, included two provisions to improve children’s health coverage. One piece, originally sponsored by Rep. Therese Sander (R-Moberly), mandates health insurance companies to cover adopted children on the same basis as other dependents.

A second section of the bill addresses a key Partnership for Children priority: outreach to uninsured kids who qualify for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Rep. Bob Nance (R-Excelsior Springs) sponsored this amendment that requires the Department of Social Services to distribute information on CHIP eligibility criteria and application procedures to school districts and licensed family-home providers. Parents would then receive this information upon enrollment in school or child care.

A new form would also be added to applications for the Free & Reduced Lunch Program, asking parents if any of their children are uninsured. If so, families would receive information on eligibility for CHIP. Some of the language in this provision may be open to interpretation so PFC will be working closely with the department over the next year to help them implement the new law.

Lawmakers Cut Budget, Ignore Revenue Options
Missouri state general revenue collections declined $1.2 billion (15%) over the past two years. This unprecedented budget shortfall led Governor Nixon to cut over $900 million mid-year from the current FY 2010 budget and urge the legislature to cut an additional $500 million from his proposed FY 2011 budget that begins July 1st.

While lawmakers willingly approved $484 million in cuts this year a full week ahead of the constitutional budget deadline, they were unwilling to even discuss other revenue and cost-saving options that would obviate the need for more devastating cuts in the next few years. Several common sense revenue solutions made little (if any) progress this year, including:

• Reigning in tax credits. Spending on tax credits has increased 57% since 2001 while state general revenue only grew 15.7% over the same time period.
• Ending sweet deal tax breaks.  Sales tax exemptions for yacht owners and tax discounts for corporations that file on time (aren’t we supposed to do that?) should be repealed in favor of incentives that will actually increase jobs and put Missourians back to work.
• Extending the state sales tax to internet purchases. This would enforce a tax that should already be collected and put Missouri’s main street small businesses on an equal playing field with out-of-state internet based companies.
• Closing corporate tax loopholes. Out of the 46 states that assess a corporate income tax, Missouri ranks last in per capita collections. While local Missouri businesses pay corporate income taxes, large national companies are able to set up tax shelters in other states and avoid paying taxes on their franchise stores in our state.
• Increasing the tobacco tax. Missouri has long been the 2nd lowest taxing state for cigarettes at 17 cents a pack. Now that the South Carolina legislature voted just last week to raise its tax from 7 to 57 cents, Missouri can proudly claim the bottom title. The average state cigarette tax is $1.34/pack. An increased tobacco tax would not only raise much needed revenue for the state, it would also reduce youth smoking rates and tobacco related health costs.

58% Budget Cut to Parents as Teachers
State lawmakers ignored pleas from thousands of educators, recipients, and supporters of the Missouri-born Parents as Teachers Program, approving a 58% cut in the FY ’11 budget. Governor Nixon also single-handedly cut nearly $7 million mid-year from PAT in the current FY ’10 budget. The cuts will mean that hundreds of parent educators will lose their jobs and thousands of families will no longer receive developmental screenings and early childhood resources.

Lawmakers also passed language on an omnibus education bill (HB 1543) that removes a requirement that PAT services be free, allows school districts to establish cost-sharing strategies for services, and requires that priority be given to high-needs families. The short-sighted cuts approved this year will most likely result in increased costs in the future for special education when developmental delays aren’t caught early on and for remedial education when children enter kindergarten less prepared for success.

HB 1534—“Sam Pratt’s Law”—sponsored by Rep. Linda Fischer (D-St. Francois) would have prohibited an unlicensed child care provider from continuing to provide services if there are criminal charges pending against them. Licensed providers are already subject to this restriction. HB 1534 was referred to the House Special Committee on Children and Families but the Chair, Rep. Cynthia Davis (R-O’Fallon), refused to give the bill a hearing, stating that the committee’s focus was on abortion. Senator Scott Rupp (R-Wentzville) successfully amended the bill onto another omnibus judiciary bill in the last week of session but that measure also failed to pass.

Compromise on Gaming Funds for Early Childhood
Over the past several years, veterans groups have continually proposed legislation to redirect funding away from early learning and toward veterans programs and services. Partnership for Children worked closely with Rep. Chris Kelly (D-Columbia) to come up with compromise language this year that does not cut current funding levels. HB 1893 splits any additional revenues from entrance fees to gambling boats above FY’09 levels between Early Learning Programs and Veterans’ Service Officers until each group gets an additional $600,000.  Once both groups receive $600,000, the remaining money reverts back to supporting early learning.

The bill also requires an audit of the Veterans Commission Capital Improvement Trust Fund and the Early Childhood Development Education & Care Fund beginning in FY 2011. In exchange for working together on a compromise, Rep. Kelly publicly stated that he would work with children’s advocates against any further proposals to take money away from early learning programs funded through gaming revenues.

Partnership for Children would like to thank the countless advocates here in Kansas City, in Jefferson City and statewide, who walked the halls, made the calls and used their voices to speak out for our children this year! Our victories and disappointments in 2010 bolster our resolve to continue fighting in the coming years to make Missouri a great place to be and raise a child.

Sincerely,

The Partnership for Children Team
Charron Townsend, Carrie Shapton, & Jeremy LaFaver