‘The Art of Being Me’ tackles mental health stigmas in the Missouri Capitol

      Those visiting the Capitol this week will see photos and stories from nearly 30 people living with mental health conditions.  Participants in The Art of Being Me hope to inspire others to share their stories, to seek help, and to reduce stigmas surrounding mental health issues.

The Art of Being Me on display in the Missouri Capitol (Photo: Mike Lear, Missouri House Communications)

      The exhibit, mostly found in the Capitol’s third floor Rotunda, features large portraits of each participant next to the text of a portion of their experience.  There is also a video that features 3-5 minutes of each participant. 

The project is a collaboration between the Burrell Foundation and artist Randy Bacon.  Burrell Foundation Executive Director Gabrielle Martin said it began with 22 volunteers and is now up to 27, talking about, “their very raw, very real experiences with mental health, substance use, sometimes suicide; it kind of runs the gamut.” 

“I think our youngest is 9 years old and it goes all the way up to a gentleman named Joe who’s in his mid-70s.  Every mental health diagnosis, every ethnicity; we wanted it so that anyone who comes in to experience the exhibit will be able to identify with someone or an experience with someone.  Maybe it’s not their own mental health journey but someone that they’re supporting or someone that they know.”

      The exhibit includes stories like those of Alia, a friend of Martin.  She shares not only her own story which began in her youth, but that of supporting her college-age son.

The Art of Being Me on display in the Missouri Capitol (Photo: Mike Lear, Missouri House Communications)

      “Her video is really powerful because she actually brought her son with her to it and so you see her sharing all of this really difficult content, and her struggles, and her coping mechanisms through it, with him, and he’s right there with her,” said Martin.  “We have some very great youths in there as well.  Lincoln and Eli, two boys that share their experience with anxiety, and I believe that one of them does have autism, and we have a young lady, Kate, who shares about her struggle with eating disorders and she is on the recovery side of that … and her video is so powerful.”

Eli, one of the subjects of The Art of Being Me, on display now in the Missouri Capitol (Photo: Mike Lear, Missouri House Communications)

      The Art of Being Me came to the Capitol after several legislators and other elected officials saw it last year at Bacon’s studio in Springfield.  After seeing it, some of them requested that it come to the Capitol.  

That included Representative John Black (R-Marshfield), who chairs the House’s budget subcommittee on Health, Mental Health, and Social Services.  He called the exhibit, “powerful.”

      “It’s encouraging, too.  Inspirational, actually.   A lot of those people have powerful testimonies, how they’ve overcome mental illness to lead productive lives.  The fact is, and it’s becoming more and more apparent to everyone, that mental illness is a root cause of many of our societal problems, specifically drug abuse and homelessness.  If we can address the mental illness issues then we have a lot better chance of helping people return to [being] productive and happy.”

      Another of those legislators is Representative Betsy Fogle (D-Springfield), who said a large part of addressing mental health issues in state policy is removing stigmas surrounding them, and she hopes having that display in the Capitol will help do just that.

The Art of Being Me on display in the Missouri Capitol (Photo: Mike Lear, Missouri House Communications)

      “It was beautiful.  You had children up to people in their 60s, 70s, and 80s that shared their struggle,” Fogle said of the exhibit.  I don’t know a single family in the world that hasn’t been impacted by mental health or substance abuse disorder and it’s about time we start talking about it and doing something in this building to make sure that future families don’t have the same struggles.”

      Those featured in The Art of Being Me are at varying points in their own mental health journeys, but Martin said the fact that they were willing to share their own stories is empowering for them as well.

      “These individuals were brave and vulnerable enough to share and to talk about their struggles and maybe it is a triumph, maybe it is a continued struggle, maybe it’s talking about their experience with finding therapy and finding ways to cope with maybe a situation that they will live with forever.”

The Art of Being Me on display in the Missouri Capitol (Photo: Mike Lear, Missouri House Communications)

      “These photos are not touched up.  You can see every pore, every hair, every tear, and we did that intentionally, and the size is intentional, so that when you’re there you’re truly feeling like you are looking through the eyes of these individuals and feeling what they’re feeling.”

      Martin adds, “We’re so excited that it’s going to be [in the Capitol] through the 10th, and we hope that it inspires others and we hope that people want to come forward and share their stories and continue the conversations that we so desperately need to continue sharing and seeking help for.”

House bills would help Missourians with vehicle taxation, stem temp tag ‘abuse’

      The House passed two bills this week that will help Missourians regarding the taxes they pay on vehicles.  One would address a years-old issue regarding temporary license tags.  The other would stem the hiking of property taxes on vehicles that are getting older with increasing mileage. 

Representative Michael O’Donnell (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      House Bill 415 could at last cut off the displaying by drivers of expired temporary tags – something that has been an issue in Missouri for years.   It would require dealerships to collect sales tax at the time of a vehicle purchase, either as a lump sum or by rolling the tax into the financed amount.  House Bill 713 would lay out how vehicles’ assessed valuations would be determined, replacing a system that has allowed property tax increases in the last two years. 

      St. Louis Republican Michael O’Donnell carries HB 415, which he says is the latest step in addressing the temporary tag issue.  Under previous action by the General Assembly a new computer system is coming to the Department of Revenue that will allow the collection of sales tax by dealers.  This bill would allow for its use beginning in January.

      “There is no other thing that you purchase where you have to go someplace else to pay the sales tax.  You buy a pen, you pay the sales tax at that point.  [If this bill becomes law] you’re going to buy your car and you’re going to pay the sales tax when you buy it,” said O’Donnell. 

He said the bill could also make car and truck purchases easier for Missourians by addressing what can now be a significant up-front cost. 

      “[It would] allow for the sales tax, if you’re interested, if you’re financing, to roll the sales tax into the financing if you would like that.  For a lot of folks that becomes a more reasonable proposition because writing a check for $2,000 to pay the sales tax is a lot more difficult than adding $30 to your payments every month.”

      Bipartisan backing gave the bill a 155-1 vote on its way to the Senate.  Democrats including Peter Merideth (St. Louis) said it would be a fix that is “important,” and “overdue.”

      “I actually hear more from constituents about this than many other things, strangely – about the expired tags, and frequently have to have the conversation with them that the main problem in Missouri is that we aren’t requiring dealers to collect the sales tax at the time of sale,” said Merideth.  “So folks, either intentionally or not intentionally find themselves not getting their taxes paid and their licenses ready.”

      O’Donnell said the passage of this legislation could eliminate “90%” of “temp tag abuse” in Missouri, and noted that 47 other states already allow dealers to collect tax at the time of the sale.

Representative Roger Reedy (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      The sponsor of HB 713, Rodger Reedy (R-Windsor) explained that each year Missouri assessors use the October edition of the National Automobile Dealers’ Association (NADA) Used Car Guide to determine the values of the vehicles on which Missourians pay property taxes.  HB 713 would replace that with a system that begins with the original suggested retail price (MSRP) of each vehicle from when it was new, and apply a depreciation schedule for each year of its age up to 15 years.  After that its value would be assessed at one-tenth of one percent.

      Reedy said the old system’s flaws were made obvious in the wake of the COVID pandemic. 

“In 2021 and ’22, due to used care values going up, our constituents and citizens had higher tax assessments and therefore paid higher taxes,” said Reedy.  “When those values went up, there’s no provision for rollbacks on personal property, and when that happened our taxpayers just got a taxing increase and I’ve talked to several members [who have said] that that’s been a really big issue as they’ve talked to their constituents.”

He called the bill a, “taxpayer protection act.  If there’s nothing else we can do, we can protect our taxpayers from unjustly having to pay more taxes on a vehicle that’s a year older that has more mileage.  I just don’t think it’s right to do that to our taxpayers.”

      That measure advanced to the Senate on the strength of a 150-0 vote.

Bills would have MODOT, not families, cover cost for highway memorial signs

      The families of fallen veterans, police officers, and firefighters, and of those missing in action, would no longer have to foot the bill for highway or bridge memorial signs honoring those loved ones under a bill approved by a House committee.

Representative Tricia Byrnes (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      Legislation sponsored by Representatives Tricia Byrnes (R-Wentzville) and Don Mayhew (R-Crocker) would require the Department of Transportation to cover those costs. 

“Keep in mind, folks, these are the folks who gave all to represent our country … if we’re going to have honorary signs, the very least that we can do is pay for it,” said Mayhew when presenting the legislation to the House Committee on Transportation Accountability, which he chairs. 

Byrnes joined Mayhew in proposing this change in response to the effort to honor Marine Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz, a Wentzville native, who was one of 13 U.S. military members who died in a 2021 bombing at an airport in Kabul, in Afghanistan.  She learned that when Corporal Schmitz’s family wanted to have a section of highway named for him they received an invoice from the Department of Transportation for more than $3,000.

“If we have people that are dying for our country and dying for our communities the least that we can do is not hand them an invoice, because in my opinion that’s just selling signs to people who sacrificed their life for us,” said Byrnes.

Corporal Schmitz’ father, Mark, told the committee, “Being a Gold Star father, everyone knows, you die twice.  The last thing I want is for my son to be forgotten.  To be on I-70, to be visible to so many people every day would be tremendous.  So, we went through the state … I think it was $3,200 to be exact … they sent us an invoice that once we raised this money they’ll go ahead and proceed with it.  You can imagine, after the sacrifice that he made, to then have to figure out how you’re going to pay for it.  I think it was ludicrous and shameful.”

Schmitz said he talked to the families of the other 12 personnel who died at the same time as his son.  None of them had to pay the cost of having a memorial sign placed in honor of their loved on, on a highway in their respective states.

“I don’t want to see any fallen [police officer’s, fireman’s, or other veteran’s] family have to go through that.  Luckily we have tremendous support from our community … we were able to raise the money in about 24-hours, thank God, but I don’t think people [should] have to go through that,” Schmitz told the Committee.

      The Department of Transportation did not oppose the legislation but offered information on how the system currently operates.  Chief Safety and Operations Manager Becky Allmeroth said the Department has to consider other signage. 

Representative Don Mayhew (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      “This new signage would not aid drivers in navigating the highways.  Placing new signs necessary for safe travel would also become more difficult with fewer locations available.  This is especially true in our St. Louis and our Kansas City regions of the state right now.  It’s a very awkward situation when you’re designing a new interchange and you have to make decisions on those signs that actually guide motorists up through an exit versus a memorial signs that’s already in place and where we can fit all those signs to make sure that we’re keeping our motorists safe.”

      Allmeroth told legislators, “We have 830 memorial designations across the state highway system.  The number is expected, with this bill, to increase exponentially if the current participation fee is removed.”

      Most committee members voiced support for making the change in policy. 

      “Personally I don’t care about the costs.  I just think we need to do this.  I don’t think the family should pay,” said Republican Bob Bromley (Carl Junction).  “If we’re making the Slim Pickens Highway or Mark Twain Highway at Hannibal I understand having a fee.  If we’re doing it for fallen soldiers I think [having a fee is] ridiculous.”

      The committee voted unanimously in favor of the bills, House Bill 882 (Byrnes) and 518 (Mayhew), advancing them to another committee for consideration.

House members push for lesser tax on feminine hygiene products, diapers

      Nine bills filed in the Missouri House would reduce or eliminate the taxes paid on diapers, and most of those would also apply to feminine hygiene products.  The bipartisan group of legislators backing them say such a change would help some among the Missourians who most need relief, especially during this period of increased inflation. 

Representative Maggie Nurrenbern (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      The rate at which these products are taxed is sometimes referred to as a “luxury tax.”  That is the rate at which most products in Missouri are taxed.  Food is taxed at a decreased rate, and some of the proposals would set the levy on those products to that rate.  Others would make them exempt from the sales tax altogether.

      Several of the bills’ sponsors said there is no reason to keep taxing these things at the greater rate.

      “It’s ludicrous … these are not luxury items.  These are items that you need to exist and function in society, period,” said Kansas City Democrat Maggie Nurrenbern. 

      Similar bills have been offered for several years but have fallen short of becoming law.  Among their most fervent and consistent backers have been diaper banks.  Data released last year by the National Diaper Bank Network placed the annual cost of diapers at nearly $1,000 per infant.

“Over time for the average family, the average parent that’s buying diapers for their child over the course of the first three or four years that will add up,” said Representative Mark Sharp (D-Kansas City) of the tax on those diaper purchases.  “The least we can do at the state level is make sure that we’re taking care of the average person, the everyday person who’s just trying to make it and make sure that their child has adequate diapers [and we should] make sure that our older folks have the stuff they need as well.”

Representative Phil Christofanelli (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      Republican Phil Christofanelli (R-St. Peters), sponsoring the proposal for the second straight year, said he thinks part of what has held it up in the past has been that it would significantly reduce revenue, particularly for local governments, “But I think this one’s important, particularly in our time of inflation, where the basic necessities for so many working families are incredibly high and we want to be a culture that encourages stable families and child rearing and a vibrant family culture and this is part of that, make sure that families can afford the necessities of raising kids.”

      Representative Peter Merideth (D-St. Louis) has for years sat on the House Budget Committee.  He said the state could afford this change.

“I do think that we can make it work with lowering the food tax and that the impact it will have on people is worth it, regardless.  If it means we have to adjust revenue elsewhere to make up for it I would support that too.”

      Merideth’s version of the bill would extend such changes to other necessities, such as, “Toothpaste, deodorant, soap, shampoo, but I do exempt sort of luxury cosmetic-type products.  So I think, again, the basic necessities, people just shouldn’t be paying taxes on them.”

Representative Peter Merideth (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      In addition to this issue, St. Louis Representative Jo Doll (D) also proposes in House Bill 408 that public charter, middle- and high schools provide feminine hygiene products free to students.  She said that wouldn’t just be for students who can’t afford them, it’s about the mental health of young girls dealing with what might still be a new experience.

      “You might have them in your bathroom at home and all of a sudden you’re at school and you need one and you don’t want to have to go ask your math teacher, or the nurse, even, for a tampon.  There’s a huge mental health factor in just security that you always have those products available.”

      Regarding those who struggle to afford those products, Doll said, “We know that girls who can’t afford feminine hygiene products don’t go to school during that time and so this would just give them access to products that they may not be able to afford.”

Representative Jo Doll (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      She adds, “They’re not optional and the lack of being able to afford them causes all kinds of issues for, whether it’s working mothers or school age girls.”

      The House sponsors and co-sponsors of those bills include a bipartisan group of 12 Democrats and four Republicans.  None of those bills have been referred to a committee.

      In the Senate three such measures have been filed.  Two of those, filed by Republicans, have been approved by a committee in that chamber.

The bills that have been filed are:

HB 114 (Sharp), HB 126 (Nurrenburn), HB 145 (Doll), HB 290 (Patty Lewis), HB 351 (Christofanelli), HB 381 (Rasheen Aldridge, Jr.), HB 744 (Stephanie Hein), HB 1053 (Barbara Phifer), and HB 1136 (Merideth)

Rep. Doll’s legislation to require schools to provide feminine hygiene products to students at no cost is HB 408.

Legislators to MODOT and Conservation: get dead deer off the roads

      Two House lawmakers say there are too many dead deer on the state’s roads and it’s hurting economic development and tourism.  They say it’s time the legislature steps in and gets the Departments of Conservation and Transportation to do something about it.

Representative Paula Brown (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      Hazelwood Democrat Paula Brown and Mexico Republican Kent Haden have each filed identical legislation that would require the Department of Transportation to move dead deer from roadways and bury them at least three feet deep on Conservation land, and would have the Department of Conservation pay for that removal and burial.

      Both representatives say this is an issue driven by constituent concerns.  Brown shared with the Committee on Transportation Accountability some of the reports she’s gotten from people throughout the state: “There’s 22 deer on this stretch of road … I hit a buzzard because it was eating a deer … then one of my other representatives from my side of the aisle called and said, ‘Have you been hearing about dead deer?’ and I was like, ‘It’s time to do something.’”

      Haden had a similar experience. 

“I was in a Sunday school class right before I filed this bill and without any prompting from me … the subject of deer on the highways came up, and suddenly a quiet, normally, 25-people in a Sunday school class turned into a pitchfork and torches meeting.  Their question was why don’t we do something about these dead deer on the road?”

“We are open to solutions,” said Brown.  “This is not to punish anyone but when constituents call you and tell you how disgusted they are, and they’re from all over the state, it’s time for us to do something.”

“ … the problem’s gotten worse, not better.”

The issue came before a House transportation committee four years ago when its then-chairman, former representative Tim Remole (R-Excello), said he counted 75 deer on Highway 63 in the roughly 30 mile distance between Moberly and Columbia.  Remole filed legislation about the problem then, and Haden said the committee was told by the Departments of Conservation and Transportation that they would work something out and a legislative solution would not be needed. 

Transportation Accountability Committee Chairman Don Mayhew (R-Crocker) said he was on the committee then, “I was a participant in that [hearing] and that was four years ago and I can tell you from my own personal experience the problem’s gotten worse, not better.”

      “If the two groups would do what is right for the State of Missouri and not argue over, ‘It’s our money.  You can’t tell us what to do,’ then this wouldn’t be an issue,” said Haden.  “We have two commissions with adequate funding who … have not yet done what is correct for the betterment of the whole State of Missouri, for a relatively small amount of money.”

      Brown agreed, “Conservation carried over roughly $43-million from their budget from last year and we’re asking for, in their estimates, $975,000, give or take.”

      The Departments told lawmakers a combination of things has led to the large number of dead deer remaining along the state’s byways.  One of those has been staffing. 

Department of Transportation Legislative Liaison Jay Wunderlich said the Department is down about 300 maintenance workers.  Also gone are hundreds of incarcerated individuals who, pre-COVID, helped remove carcasses and trash along highways.

“ … right now what we’ve been asked to do is just turn the deer around and to leave it on highway right-of-way … ”

Another factor has been chronic wasting disease (CWD), a fatal neurological disease in deer and other cervids.  Department of Conservation Deputy Director of Resource Management Jason Sumners said the Department is concerned about the movement and disposal of deer carcasses in relation to controlling the spread of that disease.

Representative Kent Haden (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

“While not removing the carcass doesn’t deal with that environmental contamination – it’s already there … unless it’s going to a lined landfill, I would prefer (and I think the science would bear out) that just simply leaving that carcass relatively close to where it was … is the best way to mitigate that risk.”

      Wunderlich said Transportation crews have been following Conservation Department guidance on what to do with a dead deer.

      “If it’s alongside the road, right now what we’ve been asked to do is just turn the deer around and to leave it on highway right-of-way so that the deer will decompose as nature deems appropriate.”

      He said between Conservation directions and financial concerns, leaving the deer on the roads made more sense to his Department.

“To make it a priority to go out picking up dead deer our number one focus for the particular day, that’s just not good [use of] taxpayers’ dollars in our minds.  We’ve got to take care of the roads so that people are driving safely,” said Wunderlich.  “Do we have the choice of picking up dead deer for that particular area or do we have to go out and fill potholes, fix a bridge that has a hole in it, put up guardrail, what have you.  We’re doing the best we can with what we’ve got but right now the best that we have is to just go out there to remove the deer as we see them, as it becomes a health or a safety factor.”

      At least one Committee member, Lakeshire Democrat Michael Burton, sympathized with the Transportation Department’s argument.

      “This bill is going to be putting a higher workload on a department that is underfunded and understaffed and I don’t know how you do that without taking employees away from other things that need to be taken care of.”

“ … somebody’s going to have to say, ‘What’s good for the State of Missouri and who’s going to do it?’”

      Haden and Brown insist, though, that the current situation needs to be addressed.  They said in addition to being eyesores, sources of odor, and potential road hazards, the carcasses are threats to economic development and tourism.

“A million dollars could very well be made up with one business settling in our state who could be turned off by the fact of, ‘What is the deal here?’ if they come from a state who does pick up their deer better,” said Haden.  “You also have all the tourists coming through.  How many of them want to look at a decaying, rotten carcass, with odor?  What is that damage to the State of Missouri?  In my opinion it’s very damaging … as Representative Brown said, it is a constituent-driven issue.”

      The Committee’s top Democrat, Michael Johnson, hails from Kansas City which in coming years will host the NFL Draft and the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament.       

“With all of these great events that we’re going to be having throughout our great State of Missouri that are coming up would you say that it would be in the best interests of us to make sure that our highways look as good as they possibly can?”

      Brown agreed, “FIFA, we know that it’s going to impact 250 square miles around the Kansas City city limits.  250 square miles of people coming into our state from everywhere.  We have been trying to attract that kind of business and tourism for years and I don’t want them leaving and saying, ‘I’m not going back there,’ … We can brag about our state parks all day long but if you’re going to pass all the carcasses to get to them, they’re not going to want to come back and we want them to come back.”

      The committee took in the concerns of the two departments but most members commented that something different needs to start happening.  Representative Rudy Veit (R-Wardsville) said he doesn’t think the legislature should be having to deal with this.

      “I just don’t see that this is the type of thing that we should be micromanaging, telling you how to go pick up a deer and where to put it and how deep to put it.  I would appreciate it if you all would … come back [to] us with a simple solution that may not make everybody totally happy but is something in the right direction.”

      Added Haden, “It’s a food fight and somebody’s going to have to say, ‘What’s good for the State of Missouri and who’s going to do it?’”

The legislation is House Bill 501 (Brown) and House Bill 404 (Haden). The committee has not voted on either bill.

Pronunciations:

Remole = REM-oh-lee

Wunderlich = WON-der-lick

Veit = veet

Bipartisan set of bills would extend post-pregnancy healthcare

      A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is sponsoring legislation that they hope will save the lives of women and infants in Missouri, and in doing so, move the state farther from the bottom in the nation in infant and maternal mortality.

Majority Floor Leader Jon Patterson (R) (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      Their proposals would extend MO HealthNet or Show-Me Healthy Babies coverage for low-income pregnant women to a full year after the end of their pregnancy.  Currently that coverage stops after 60 days. 

      Six representatives have filed that proposal, including Majority Floor Leader Jonathan Patterson (R-Lees Summit).     

      “The wellbeing of the child is based upon the wellbeing of the mother, so that’s why we’re really worried about, and we really want to focus on, healthcare for the mother, because it affects the child,” said Patterson. 

      He says there are about 5,000 women in Missouri who don’t have insurance coverage either through the state, personal coverage, or an employer.

“The data are very clear that it’s critically important.  You’re talking about the physical development of the child, development of the brain, that they have support, and one of those things is having a mother that can be there.  For example if your mother is in the hospital for a mental crisis or high blood pressure they can’t be there for the child so that’s what we’re trying to avoid.”

Representative LaKeySha Bosley (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      Governor Mike Parson (R) in his State of the State Address earlier this month said, “we are heartbroken to be failing,” in the area of infant mortality, with Missouri ranking 44th in the nation for its “abnormally high” rate.

      Kansas City Democrat Patty Lewis calls the situation, “abysmal.”  She said in a Department of Health and Senior Services report covering 2017 to 2019, “Something that was pretty astounding to me based on their findings is 75-percent of the deaths are preventable.  As [someone with a] background in nursing, if we can prevent something that’s what I want to do,” said Lewis.

      She said in the years covered by the report an average of 61 women died while pregnant or within one year of pregnancy, with 68 in 2018. 

      “If we can just save one that would be great, but saving 60 women I think would be very important to me.”

      Freshman representative Melanie Stinnett (R-Springfield) said maternal healthcare was an issue that voters talked to her about leading up to her election in November.

Representative Patty Lewis (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      “I work in the realm of healthcare and I work with a lot of families with children with disabilities, specifically, but also work really closely with organizations like The Doula Foundation and midwife groups in Springfield so it’s certainly something that’s come up in Springfield and a topic that has been something that I’ve talked about in our community,” said Stinnett.

      Representative Brad Pollitt (R-Sedalia) said the data about how many of those deaths could have been prevented weighs heavily on him. 

He said the proposal, “is just giving a little extra healthcare to get them off on the right foot and to help the mother who may be having issues and I just think it’s the right thing to do.”

      “It’s not the state’s job, it’s not the taxpayer’s job to financially take care of every individual from birth to death.  That’s not what this is doing.  This is giving someone an opportunity to start off on a better life and if we can do that then I just think it’s the right thing to do and I think it shows that we do care as a party about life after the baby’s born, and about the mother’s life.”

The Republican sponsors of the bill acknowledge that it also relates to their party’s identity regarding its pro-life stance.  Bishop Davidson (R-Republic) said his party is often criticized as only supporting life before birth, but this bill is one thing that demonstrates otherwise. 

Representative Melanie Stinnett (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

“We carried it before that Dobbs case.  We’re going to carry it after that Dobbs case.  We’re interested in lives, and lives being fulfilled from conception to death, and so I see this piece of legislation as a part of a holistic agenda that is pro-life.” 

      Representative LaKeySha Bosley (D-St. Louis), who is for the fourth time sponsoring this proposal, says that it is “imperative” after Dobbs, “as we did pass the abortion ban, and [even] before we passed House Bill 126, the heartbeat bill, women who were in rural or underserved communities were dying [in] childbirth.”

      Patterson agrees with his fellow Republicans, “We’re a pro-life state.  I’m very proud to be pro-life, but that also means taking care of these children that are born.  This is a measure that would ensure that the mother has healthcare for a year after they’re born, which is critically important to the wellbeing of the newborn baby.”

Representative Brad Pollitt (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      Bosley notes that while maternal mortality rates are an issue statewide, they hit some in Missouri harder than others. 

“As an African American woman, as a minority in the State of Missouri … women who look like me are dying at a higher number and at a higher rate than our white counterparts.”

      Bosley is glad that this proposal has gained more sponsors and a lot of media attention and she hopes it will lead to more. 

“I’m happy that it’s a hot topic.  Let’s go further than just the 12th months.  Let’s talk about doulas.  Let’s go into the holistic conversation about how we can provide some assistance to doulas and have them be reimbursed,” adding, “Extending the coverage from the three months to the twelve months is just one of the small things that we can do, and it may seem small but it’s going to mean so much to a lot more people across the state.”

Representative Bishop Davidson (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      Patterson observes that the broad appeal of this plan isn’t limited to the House but extends to the Senate, where two versions have been filed and have already received a hearing.  He and the other sponsors share great optimism that this will pass this year.

      “It’s just a common sense measure that we can do to ensure the health of the babies.”

      None of the House versions of this bill have been referred to a committee.

The bills that have been filed are: House Bill 91 (Patterson), House Bill 254 (Pollitt), House Bill 286 (Lewis), House Bill 328 (Bosley), House Bill 354 (Davidson), and House Bill 965 (Stinnett).

House efforts target suicide especially among veterans

      One House member continues his push to reduce suicide in Missouri, particularly among the state’s veterans. 

Representative Dave Griffith (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      Representative Dave Griffith (R-Jefferson City) has made veterans’ issues a priority throughout his five years in the House, and now chairs the chamber’s Veterans Committee.  Over the summer he also chaired an interim committee on Veterans’ Mental Health and Suicide. 

      Griffith said one of the most important things that committee learned is that in Missouri the 988 Suicide and Crisis Hotline is not fully funded.   

      “The recommendation we had out of the committee was that $27-million be added to the budget to enhance and to continue the 988 program.  988 is one of the most effective tools because just in the first six months that that was used, it was used over 200-thousand times.  They’re estimating that in the first year it’s going to be used over 1-million times,” said Griffith. 

      Griffith is again this year sponsoring legislation to give guidance to the Missouri Veterans Commission about how to use the data it collects on veteran suicides, as well as to require it to report annually to the legislature on that data and what it’s doing to reduce the number of those incidents. 

“Where we rank in this in the entire country is not good,” Griffith told the House Committee on Health and Mental Health Policy, saying Missouri is around fourth or fifth among the states with the most veteran suicides. 

He added that even though his proposal, which this year is House Bill 132, didn’t pass in 2022, the Commission is already doing much of what it would require.

“Their heart’s in the right place and I can tell you that they get it and they’re dealing with it.”

      Griffith said his aim is not just to increase awareness about mental health and suicide in the military and veteran communities but among the population as a whole. 

“Two and a half years ago we had a nine year old down in Eugene, Missouri that committed suicide because he was being bullied at school.  If it can happen at that age it can happen at any age.”

      This week Griffith presented HB 132 to Veterans Committee and presented the report from his interim panel to the Committee on Health and Mental Health Policy, showing that the issue is again his top priority as the 2023 session gets underway.  He spent much of both presentations speaking about the 988 hotline because of the importance of listening to those considering suicide, whether it be when they call the hotline or in other settings. 

“For someone that has suicide ideation, for them to be able to step forward and say, ‘I need some help,’ that’s one of the hardest things for them to do.  When they do they need to have someone that’s going to be able to sit there and to listen to them and hear what they’ve got to say.”

      He said one thing discussed at a recent symposium on suicide in the military community that resonated with him is a question that was put to commanders:  “Do you really know your personnel?”  He said the same could be asked of managers in the private sector.   

      “In order for us to be able to make a difference they’ve got to be able to know and be able to identify and recognize when there’s something going on in [their subordinates’] lives,” said Griffith.  “What my hope was, is we can take that same model and we can bring that into the private sector.  We’ve got companies like Scholastic and we’ve got Hitachi, we’ve got Westinghouse, large companies across the State of Missouri and each one of them have got supervisors.  If we can train those supervisors and we can get people that have got the aptitude and really the forthrightness to be able to do something like that, it’s something that I hope we can learn from our military background and military friends.”

      Griffith’s proposal passed out of the House unanimously last year but didn’t reach Governor Parson.  The Veterans Committee will likely vote on it soon.