March 7, 2011
In this Week's Issue of the Capitol Child Advocate:
MISSOURI - The Week in Jefferson City - Budget Update - Farm-to-Table Advisory Board - Missouri General Revenue Growth Continues in February - Upcoming Committee Hearings - New Bills - Bills on the Move - Legislator Profile of the Week KANSAS - Kansas Update	FEDERAL - America's Kids, America's Future Campaign - Speaking Out! We Reject Cuts to Our Children's Future EVENTS - Nonprofit Advocacy Training - Child Advocacy Day - Child Abuse Prevention Conference  - Wear Blue Day - MJJA Educational Conference RESOURCES & ARTICLES - Parent Engagement - Child Abuse Prevention Toolkit
The Week in Jefferson City: A Bird's Eye View from the Capitol
There was a significant amount of movement on Partnership for Children’s priorities last week.  The Foster Parent Recruitment and Retention Fund bill was voted out of committee and then referred to the House Rules Committee.  The Farm to Table Advisory Board legislation was voted out of the House Ag-Business committee in the House and voted out of the Senate Committee on Agriculture.  The budget committee substitutes were drafted and will be debated starting today (Monday) at noon.  This week will likely be dominated by the budget and, as items related to kids are increased or decreased, we will continue to keep you informed.  If you would like daily updates, we live “Tweet” using Twitter.  Sign up for a Twitter account at www.twitter.com and then “follow” @PFCinKC for minute-by-minute legislative updates.
Budget Update
Beginning at noon on Monday, March 7th, the full budget committee will begin debating the state’s budget for next fiscal year.  We are expecting the budget chairman, Ryan Silvey, to introduce committee substitutes for the budget bills which may differ somewhat from the recommendations of the appropriations committees.  We haven’t had a chance to look at the new substitutes, but we’ll be reviewing them next week once they become public.  The process of debate and amendments will likely take at least a couple of weeks and possibly more.
Farm-to-Table Advisory Board
The bill creating the Farm-to-Table Advisory Board (HB 344, Guernsey) was voted out of the House committee on Agri-Business last week.  A PFC priority, we’re looking forward to this bill continuing through the legislative process.  A diverse group of proponents continue to work together to support the Farm-to-Table legislation, including the American Heart Association, the Missouri Grocers Association, Partnership for Children, local farmers and many more. Almost identical to HB 344, the Senate Farm to Table bill (SB 162, Munzlinger) was voted out of the Senate committee on Agriculture last week and then placed on the Senate Calendar for Monday, March 7th.  We’re not sure whether it will be brought up for debate or a vote on Monday, but that is the soonest this can happen.  We’ll be working with the Senate leadership to help usher this through the process as quickly as possible.
Missouri General Revenue Growth Continues in February
Please read below for information from our partners at the Missouri Budget Project (www.mobudget.org).  As revenues continue to rebound, PFC is working with the Governor and legislative leaders to help restore some of the Governor’s withholds in the state budget.  In particular, we are concerned with the $800K the Governor withheld from the Family Reunification Program.  This program provides services for families to help reunify children and parents in instances of abuse and neglect.  Missouri saw a 9% increase in the number of kids who came into Foster Care last year and we believe this funding would help alleviate this increasing problem. Missouri General Revenue (GR) net of refunds rose 5.0 percent in February compared to February of 2010, bringing the FY 2011 fiscal year-to-date growth rate to 6.2 percent after 8 months of collections. The primary reason for the current growth rate is that GR Refunds have declined about 10 percent over the first 8 months of the fiscal year, while gross GR collections are up a modest 3.6 percent.  Assuming that refund growth reverts to more historically normal levels, the net GR collection growth rate is likely to taper off and eventually be closer to the level predicted in the Consensus GR Estimate, which is 3.6 percent for FY 2011. However, it should be noted that state GR collections through February are below what they were in FY 2007 and only slightly better than in FY 2006.  Recent growth in GR collections does not change the fact the Missouri’s General Revenue is inadequate.  MO Net GR Collections Through February (millions of dollars)    FY 2006              $4,443.1    FY 2007              $4,657.1    FY 2008              $4,901.3    FY 2009              $4,834.6    FY 2010              $4,219.8    FY 2011              $4,479.5 Source: Missouri Office of Administration
Upcoming Committee Hearings
Senate Appropriations - Monday at 12 noon in Senate Committee Room 2 The committee will hear from the Department of Social Services about their legislative priorities. House Budget - Monday at 12 noon in House Hearing Room 3 - Wednesday at 8 a.m. in House Hearing Room 3 The committee will review the House Committee Substitutes for the budget bills.  Senate General Laws - Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. in Senate Committee Room 1 The committee will create the task force on prevention of sexual abuse of children (SB 286, McKenna).
New Bills
Click HERE to view an overview of the new bills that PFC is currently tracking in our issue areas of Early Care & Education, Health, K-12 Education and Safety & Security.
Bills on the Move
Distribution of Information on Foster Parents, HB 259 (Cox); Authorizes a public body to close certain foster care licensure data and requires the Division of Family Services to prepare a detailed report of specific information obtained in the licensure process.   This bill was voted out of the committee on Children and Families last week.  No word yet on whether it will continue through the process.  PFC has not taken a position on this bill. Foster and Adoptive Parents Recruitment and Retention Fund, HB 431 (Franz); This was voted out of the committee on General Laws last week and then immediately referred to the House Rules Committee.  We’ll be working to get it out of Rules as soon as possible and onto the House floor for a full vote.  Among many other provisions (all of which PFC supports), this bill will establish a fund for donated money to be distributed to community based organizations to help them establish recruitment and retention activities for foster and adoptive parents for children who are “hard to place”. Task Force on Teacher Compensation and Effectiveness, SB 13 (Pearce); This was voted out of the full Senate last week and sent over to the House to begin the process in that Chamber.  Somewhat controversial, this would establish a task force to look at teacher tenure and to evaluate the impact of tenure on student success.  PFC hasn’t yet taken a position on this particular bill; however, we’ll be monitoring its progress to help engage in the discussion when appropriate.
Legislator Profile of the Week: "Get to know me!"
Senator Kurt Schaefer (R-Columbia) Senator Schaefer was elected to the Missouri Senate in 2008 representing the citizens of the 19th senatorial district.  He is the chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations committee, which is the equivalent to the House Budget Committee.  As in the House, the priorities of the Senate Appropriations Chairman often become the priorities of the Senate as a whole.  He is a critical part of the budget process and a “must know” for anyone who has an interest in the state’s budget.  It’s best to get to know him now before the budget is sent over to the Senate in the next 3-4 weeks. Sen. Kurt Schaefer (from www.house.mo.gov) Sen. Schaefer is the former General Counsel and Deputy Director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Special Counsel to the Governor, Special Counsel to the Missouri Department of Agriculture, Missouri Assistant Attorney General and Special Assistant United States Attorney. As General Counsel and Deputy Director at DNR, he was responsible for all legal aspects of the State's Environmental Regulatory and Enforcement Agency, which also owns and manages the State's 83 state parks and historic sites, including litigation management, environmental, administrative, employment, personal injury, Sunshine Law and open records/meetings, contracts, and constitutional law. Sen. Schaefer and his wife Stacia have three children and live in Columbia.  He is a partner in the law firm of Lathrop and Gage LLP.  Sen. Schaefer’s contact information and a list of his committees can be found by clicking HERE.
Kansas Update
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.
Federal Update
Voices for America's Children: America's Kids, America's Future Campaign  As part of its' America's Kids, America's Future campaign, Voices for America's Children has been issuing reports and other resources for child advocates.  A few weeks ago they released their annual analysis of the President's budget and below are some additional links to new resources just released last week.  Check out these resources at their America’s Kids, America’s Future page:  Video Introduction Letter to Congress Budget Paper, America's Kids, America's Future: An Analysis of the President's FY2012 Budget (Click HERE for slides to accompany the budget analysis)   Speaking Out!  We Reject Cuts to Our Children's Future  Click HERE to view Voice's statement on proposed budget cuts affecting our children.
Upcoming Events
Nonprofit Advocacy Training The Missouri Foundation for Health is sponsoring an upcoming training opportunity on nonprofit advocacy that will be conducted by the Alliance for Justice. There will be a training in Columbia on March 23 and a training in St. Louis on March 24. The training is being offered in two different locations, but each day of the training will cover the same content.  Click HERE for more details and to register.   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! 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 in Jefferson City. Please visit the CTF website at www.ctf4kids.org for further information and a complete conference registration form & agenda. The Pinwheels for Prevention rally will kick off the conference on Wednesday, April 13 on the Capitol south lawn.  To find out more ways to get involved please click HERE.  Wear Blue Day  Join child advocates nationwide and "Wear Blue" on Friday, April 15, 2011 to help prevent child abuse.  Thousands of businesses, churches, schools, civic organizations, government and nonprofit organizations will take part in this event.  To register your organization in the Kansas City metro area and help reach a national goal of 20,000 participants, please click HERE.  Missouri Juvenile Justice Association Spring 2011 Educational Conference  The Missouri Juvenile Justice Association (www.mjja.org) is holding their annual educational conference on May 25 - 27 at the Lake of the Ozarks.  Click HERE to access the conference brochure and registration information.
Resources & Articles of Interest
Growing and Sustaining Parent Engagement: A Toolkit for Parents and Community Partners The Center for the Study of Social Policy has released a toolkit featuring parent engagement approaches and strategies based on a five-year First 5 LA initiative called Partnerships for Families (PFF) launched in 2005 "to provide voluntary child abuse prevention services to pregnant women and families with young children.  PFF encourages the development of community networks of services and supports that can help parents nurture their children and also manage stress before it escalates.  Rather than engaging parents solely as recipients of assistance, PFF aims to join with them as full partners in defining and achieving goals within their own families and communities."  Click HERE to access the toolkit.   Child Abuse Prevention Toolkit April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and Missouri KidsFirst has announced the availability of their 2011 Missouri Child Abuse Prevention Month Community Resource Toolkit.
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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