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February 22, 2011
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In this Week's Issue of the Capitol Child Advocate:
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MISSOURI
- The Week in Jefferson City
- PFC Testifies
- Budget Update
- New Bills
- Legislator Profile of the Week
KANSAS
- Kansas Update
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FEDERAL
- How Will Children's Programs Fare in the President's Budget
EVENTS
- Child Advocacy Day
- Pinwheels for Prevention
- Child Abuse Conference
RESOURCES
- State Food Action Plans
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The Week in Jefferson City: A Bird's Eye View from the Capitol
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| It was a busy week for Partnership for Children and many of our legislative priorities. Bills were being referred to committee quickly, numerous hearings were taking place and we’re still working with a number of legislators to draft and file other PFC priorities in the coming weeks. The biggest news highlight of the week was the scant 15 minutes of debate and discussion it took for the House Appropriations Committee, which oversees many of PFC’s priorities, to move the budget on to the Budget Committee. In previous years, this process has taken as long as a week. Rep. Flanigan (the committee chairman) introduced several amendments which all passed with little discussion and no other members of the committee offered any amendments. Read on for more information on the budget, bills we testified on, new bills introduced this week and, of course, our Legislator Profile of the Week. |
| PFC Testifies |
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PFC testified at several hearings this week on key pieces of legislation regarding kids. Read on for an overview of the legislation and our take on these issues.
Amy Hestir Student Protection Act
SB 54, sponsored by Jane Cunningham is the “Amy Hestir Student Protection Act”. In response to several cases of school employees preying on students, Senator Cunningham has introduced this legislation as a way to help protect our children from sexual predators. PFC, along with law enforcement, Missouri NEA, the Missouri State Teachers Association, other teacher organizations, community members and Amy Hestir herself testified in favor of the legislation. Senator Cunningham has worked hard with all of the stakeholders to draft a bill that works for everybody involved and the bill received no opposition this year.
Constitutional Amendment to Cap Appropriations
TABOR – HJR 11 was given a hearing last Thursday in the House Committee on Downsizing Government. This proposal has been introduced (and defeated) for many, many years. A similar proposal was passed in Colorado several years ago and as the result of its devastating impact on funding for critical services, was overturned by the voters of Colorado. The proposal would cap Missouri’s overall spending at a certain percentage above 2008 appropriations levels. If passed, this would limit future legislators from addressing critical funding needs and would tie their hands from being able to make adjustments above the constitutional cap. PFC was joined by the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, the Missouri NEA, and others in opposition. It’s still pretty early in the process, but we don’t expect this idea to get a lot of attention this year.
Insurance for Pregnant Women
Rep. Sifton’s HB 426 was heard in the House Committee on Health Insurance on Tuesday of last week. This bill would require insurance companies to provide health coverage for pregnant women beginning on the date that the insurance plan is active. Currently, insurance companies require women to wait at least one year before their pregnancy is covered. PFC testified in favor of this legislation because of the positive impact it can have on the number of low birth weight infants and infant mortality rates. If pregnant women are able to access prenatal care, their children are much more likely to be healthy infants. The Insurance companies testified that this would increase the cost of insurance for all policy holders. While we believe this is a good idea, we’re not expecting this bill to move much further forward because of the opposition of the insurance industry. However, we’ll be looking for bills that are moving through the process to amend it to.
Complete Streets Resolution
Rep. Sally Faith is the sponsor of HCR 23, a Complete Streets Resolution. This concurrent resolution has no binding impact on government but simply declares the support of the full House of Representatives for the concept of having streets with bike lanes and proper sidewalks. As a part of our Childhood Obesity work, we testified in favor of the resolution with the hope that more cities, counties and even the state would look at making improvements to streets and highways to include bike paths and sidewalks so that children are able to safely get outside and play.
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Budget Update
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As was mentioned above, the budget moved from the Appropriations Committee last week to the full budget committee. At this point, the majority of our budget priorities are at the levels we requested for the upcoming budget year. PFC’s top budget priority, Child Care Assistance, is at the level we requested at the beginning of the session, so there is good news on that front.
There are a few items that we have concerns about, particularly the funding for Family Reunification Services. This funding provides services to children and their families to avoid out-of-home placements (foster and adoptive care) for Missouri’s kids. The General Assembly funded the program last year with about $1.5 million; however the Governor withheld 50% of that funding beginning in July. The current budget carries that withhold over into the new year and cuts the program by nearly $800,000. Last week during testimony before the Appropriations Committee, the director of the Children’s Division indicated that there has been a 9% increase in the number of kids who have come into foster and adoptive care since that line item was withheld (this brings the total number of kids in foster/adoptive care to more than 10,300). We will be working with legislative leadership to help educate them on the impact this program has on children and families with the hope that this cut is restored quickly.
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| New Bills |
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Click HERE to view an overview of the new bills that PFC is currently tracking in our issue areas of Early Care & Education, Health and Safety & Security.
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| Legislator Profile of the Week: "Get to know me!" |
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Representative Sara Lampe (D-Springfield) hails from the southern part of Missouri where she was an educator for many years. She is the ranking member on the Budget committee, the highest ranking Democrat on the committee. Rep. Lampe has long championed issues for children, particularly education issues, and is a dear friend of the Partnership for Children. In her capacity as ranking member, she works with the budget chairman to help negotiate budget priorities. In this work, she holds a considerable amount of power to be able to advocate on behalf of individual line items within the budget. As well, she will likely be one of only a handful of legislators picked to serve on the Budget Conference Committee at the end of the session where the House and the Senate negotiate their differences in the budget. She’s a great friend and a great partner and a “must know” for anybody who is interested in budget items that impact the lives of Missouri’s kids..
Rep. Sara Lampe (from www.house.mo.gov)
Rep. Lampe, a Democrat, represents part of Greene County (District 138) in the Missouri House of Representatives. Elected to the House in 2004, Rep. Lampe is an Educational Consultant and Adjunct Professor in the Graduate Education Program at Drury University. She has taught in Missouri Public Schools since 1971, including 19 years as principal of the Phelps Center for the Gifted.
Rep. Lampe is a member of the Business & Professional Women’s Club, Gifted Association of Missouri, National Association for Gifted Children, Parents & Advocates of Gifted Children and the American Association University Women. She is also a member of the NAACP and is a member of the Faculty of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development in Alexandria, Virginia. She attends the South Street Christian Church in Springfield.
A 1967 graduate of Cassville High School in Cassville, Missouri, Rep. Lampe received a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education from Southwest Missouri State University in 1971. She also received a Masters degree in Elementary Administration from Southwest Missouri State University in 1976. Born on January 5, 1949, in Cassville, Missouri, Rep. Lampe lives in Springfield. She has three children: Thomas, William and Michael. Rep. Lampe’s contact information and a list of her committees can be found by clicking HERE.
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Kansas Update
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Thanks to our partners at Kansas Action for Children for their update from Topeka on policies affecting Kansas kids. Click HERE to see their most recent e-newsletter.
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Federal Update
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How Will Children's Programs Fare in the President's Budget
Read First Focus’s analysis of how children’s programs fare as a share of the President’s budget request by clicking HERE.
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Upcoming Events
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Child Advocacy Day
Mark March 31st on your calendar and plan to spend the day in Jefferson City with other advocates for children. Please click HERE for more information and to register for Child Advocacy Day!
Pinwheels for Prevention
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. This year's theme, the Power of Small Wins reminds us that even the smallest investments in children can result in sustained improvements in their lives. There are many ways you may become involved and make a difference in the lives of families and children in Missouri. Click HERE to see a few.
Small Wins = Big Victories Child Abuse & Neglect Prevention Conference
The Children's Trust Fund (CTF) invites you to participate in its statewide child abuse and neglect prevention conference April 13-15, 2011 at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Jefferson City. Please visit the CTF website at www.ctf4kids.org for further information and a complete conference registration form & agenda. As part of this conference, please rally with us Wednesday, April 13 on the Capitol south lawn for the Pinwheels for Prevention opening session to celebrate April as child abuse prevention month!
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| Resources |
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The Case for State Food Action Plans
State governments have a significant stake in reducing hunger, food insecurity, and obesity. Moreover, states have a significant role to play in reducing hunger and obesity as administrators of a number of federally funded nutritional safety-net programs.
This report argues that states’ food systems and nutrition needs—particularly the food-insecurity and obesity-reduction needs of low-income citizens and the plight of struggling family farms—are worthy of attention and deserving of such a process that should result in the development and implementation of what we call “food action plans,” or FAPs. Read more and download the full report here.
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Forward PFC’s newsletter to your friends!
Please forward our newsletter to your friends and colleagues. As more people are informed, we will have more voices speaking up on behalf of children. Thanks!
Sincerely,
The Partnership for Children Team
For questions about our legislative activities in Jefferson City, please contact our Director of Public Policy, Jeremy LaFaver, at lafaver@pfc.org or 816-531-9200, x 225.
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