With victim’s family present, House passes bill to require reporting of sexual assaults in nursing homes

Several years ago a woman living in a Missouri nursing home died after being sexually assaulted in that home, and the identity of her attacker will likely never be known.  On Friday the Missouri House completed passage of a bill aimed at keeping that from happening to anyone else.

Maribeth and David Russell of Russellville, Missouri, listen as the House passes legislation Maribeth advocated for, for five years, after her mother-in-law was victimized at a nursing home and the crime was not reported to law enforcement. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications – click for larger version)

That woman was Maribeth Russell’s mother-in-law, and Russell spent the past five years pushing for a change in Missouri law.  That culminated Friday with the passage of House Bill 1635, which requires that law enforcement be notified when it is suspected that a long-term care resident 60-years of age or older has been sexually assaulted.

Russell was in the House when it gave final passage to HB 1635, 139-0.

Russell said that law enforcement was not notified by the nursing home or the hospital of the crime against her mother-in-law.  The family assumed such notification was made when the Department of Health and Senior Services was contacted.  By the time the family learned that was not the case, it was too late.

“Sexual assault is timely.  You have to quickly jump on it to try to collect evidence and that wasn’t done, so there was never an arrest made or a prosecution made at all, and I simply wanted to prevent this from happening to others down the road,” said Russell.  “Let’s change this law, let’s fill this gap that’s in the statute and prevent this from happening again.”

HB 1635 would expand Missouri law that requires abuse or neglect to be reported to the Department of Health and Senior Services.  Its reporting requirement applies to in-home care providers, adult day care workers, medical and mental health care providers, medical examiners, funeral directors, and those in numerous other professions.

Representative Mike Bernskoetter (R-Jefferson City) has worked for several years, with Russell, on the language that became HB 1635.  He agreed with other lawmakers that the issue was, “unsettling.”

“Especially a situation like this where somebody went through this kind of heinous act and then there was basically nothing [that] could be done about it because there was a hole in our statutes,” said Bernskoetter.  “Just thinking about what could have happened to [Maribeth Russell’s] mother-in-law, it could happen to your mom or your grandma or somebody that you knew.”

Russell said the passage of HB 1635 amounts to closure for her.

Representative Mike Bernskoetter (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications – click for larger version)

“Knowing that we’re helping others down the road – people who may never know we’ve helped – but we’re trying to prevent others from having to experience what we’ve experienced here,” said Russell.

She said the nursing home and hospital that treated her mother-in-law have made it their practice to report possible sexual assaults to law enforcement, and she’s thankful for that.  She wants HB 1635 to ensure that all agencies in the state are doing the same.

Bernskoetter is hopeful that, while it is unlikely, the person who attacked Russell’s mother-in-law will one day be identified.  In the meantime he hopes that 1635 will be signed into law by the governor, and will prevent the same thing from happening again.

Missouri House honors well-known Capitol employee who started local summer lunch program

The state House has honored a long-time fixture in the Capitol not only for her work under the dome, but her charitable efforts elsewhere in the capital city.

Malissa Smith (2nd from left) accepts a House resolution sponsored by Representative Mike Bernskoetter (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications – click for larger version)

Malissa Smith has worked in the Capitol’s cafeteria for twelve years.  Visually impaired since the age of 31, she helped train workers in the cafeteria when it was operated by the Division of the Blind.

These days she is often seen in the hallways of the building, sometimes pushing a sandwich cart from office-to-office for those who don’t have time to dash out for lunch.

Representative Mike Bernskoetter (R-Jefferson City) said nearly everyone who works in the building knows Smith and she speaks with them as she makes her rounds.

“Not only is Malissa an example for people without sight, she shows everybody an example of what can be done if you set your mind to it,” said Bernskoetter.  “I think she’s an example for us all.  She has a fantastic attitude.  If you go down and talk to Joan at [the current cafeteria, operated by] Chez Monet, she will tell you how great a worker she is and she will do anything for anybody at any time.”

Bernskoetter said Smith has also launched, with her own money, a free summer lunch program for children and teenagers up to the age of 17.  All summer long she and the volunteers who joined her feed more than 100 children in Jefferson City who otherwise would likely go without lunch during the months they aren’t in school.

“What happened was my chair of the board of the church said I want to appoint you chairman of outreach, and I said, ‘Oh, Lord, what am I going to do?’” Smith said.

She had learned a lot of children in the church’s neighborhood were not eating, so she decided on the lunch program as part of her outreach effort.

“It’s a blessing just to see the smiles on their face.  Now that the majority of them have come back year after year, they kind of talk to us now – make conversation – and they think we’re part of their family now,” said Smith.  “If they have a need also, like if they tell me they don’t have a pair of shoes or something, we have another outreach that works with me – community outreach – that we can look for things like that for them.”

Smith moved to Jefferson City from her hometown of Moberly in 2004 to pursue a job that would allow her to keep working in spite of her impairment.

“I’m trying to be an example to the blind.  Just because you have a disability doesn’t mean you can’t try something,” said Smith.

She hopes to keep working in the Capitol for years to come.

“I love the people around here.  That’s my biggest thing,” said Smith.  “I’ve made a lot of rapport and friends, and it’s just fun being up here.”

Smith was honored with a resolution from the House recognizing her 12 years of work in the Capitol, and the lunch program that she expects will grow this year to feeding nearly 200 children.

The summer lunch program she launched resumes May 21 at the annex of the Second Christian Church in Jefferson City, where she is an elder.

Legislature includes money for K-3rd grade dyslexia screenings in FY ’19 budget

The budget approved last week by the Missouri legislature includes some money for screening children for dyslexia while they are in kindergarten through the third grade.  Those screenings are required under a bill the legislature approved two years ago.

Representative Kathy Swan (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications – click for larger version)

That bill, House Bill 2379, was sponsored by Cape Girardeau Republican Kathryn Swan.  It required those screenings to begin in the coming school year and created a task force to develop recommendations for how they should be conducted.

The budget includes $250,000 that would help some schools pay for those screenings.

Students who have dyslexia often struggle in every subject in school, can fall behind their peers, and even be victims of ridicule because of their struggling.  Swan said beginning to screen all students for dyslexia will reveal earlier which students have it and need to be educated differently so that they don’t have those struggles.

“When we’re talking one out of five people being dyslexic, it’s not something that’s outgrown; it’s a neurological disorder that tends to run in families that people accommodate for sometimes themselves, but obviously it can impact reading and you have to be able to read in order to learn,” said Swan.

Swan said identifying earlier in life those who have dyslexia and then helping them deal with it could also save the state money in the long run in a number of ways, not the least of which being to keep some of those students off a path that often leads to prison.

“Not only does it make sense from helping students graduate from school on time and prepared, whether they want to go into the workforce or whether they want to go on for some kind of additional training or go to college, but it can also help prevent some substance abuse, incarcerations in prison – most incarcerations in prison are related to a substance abuse of some sort – so long-term this is a small investment to make with a big return on family lives and on success in one’s career and life,” said Swan.

Swan said she would like to have seen more than $250,000 go toward dyslexia screenings, but was grateful that the state could provide any money toward that purpose.  She also said the fact that there is now a line in the budget to support screenings increases the likelihood that the state will spend more toward them in future years.

Swan has spent several legislative sessions working on issues related to dyslexia.  She said after realizing that one in five people must deal with that condition, she saw that those people need help.

“We had to do something not only to help the quality of life for people, we had to do something because of the impact it has on our prisons and the rest of society, because that does impact the rest of society,” said Swan.  “So it just became critical and we had to do something, and I felt as the educational community we were not being responsible if we were not addressing this need because it is such a significant need.”

HB 2379 also required additional training for teachers so that they can recognize the signs of a possible dyslexia diagnosis.

“We’re going to screen grades K-3, so if there’s a student outside that – maybe there’s a student that transfers in – so we want teachers to have the knowledge in order to be able to determine, ‘You know, there might be something going on here, I think we need to screen this student,’ or, ‘Let’s try moving him or her closer to the board,’ or, ‘Let’s not make them read aloud in a round-robin,’ or, ‘Let’s give them more time for their test,’ or, ‘Let’s give them an oral test,’” said Swan.  “We’ve got to help arm the teachers with information so they know some simple things they can do in the classroom to help.”

The House and Senate agreed last week on a $28.3-billion spending proposal for the fiscal year that begins July 1.  That plan will next go to the governor for his consideration.

Earlier stories:

Task Force on Dyslexia issues recommendations for dyslexia screenings of Missouri students

Legislative Task Force on Dyslexia holds first hearing, Rep. Swan selected as chair

Missouri legislature honors sheriff, 1st trooper killed in line of duty, as nation honors police

The state legislature has voted to memorialize two law enforcement officers fatally shot in 1933 by naming sections of Interstate 70 for them.

Missouri Highway Patrol Sergeant Ben Booth (left) and Boone County Sheriff Roger Isaac Wilson

Highway Patrol Sergeant Benjamin Booth was the first member of the Missouri State Highway Patrol to be killed in the line of duty.  He and Boone County Sheriff Roger Isaac Wilson were killed by two men they had stopped at the intersection of Highways 40 and 63.

On June 14, 1933, Booth was on a day off when Wilson called him in to help set up a roadblock as part of an effort to catch two men who robbed a bank in Mexico earlier that day.  The two men they stopped were not the robbers but were armed, and when their vehicle was stopped they shot the two law enforcement officers.  Wilson, 43, died at the scene.  Booth, 37, died on the way to a hospital.

Senate Bill 999 would designate I-70 in Columbia from Rangeline Street to Business Loop 70 the “Sergeant Benjamin Booth Memorial Highway,” and would make I-70 from Highway 63 to Rangeline the “Sheriff Roger I. Wilson Memorial Highway.”  The House finalized passage of that bill last week, ahead of National Police Week.

It was sponsored by Columbia senator Caleb Rowden (R) and carried in the House by Hallsville Republican Cheri Toalson Reisch.

The Missouri State Capitol’s dome is illuminated in blue through the month of May to honor Missouri law enforcement officers who gave their lives in the line of duty.

“These men were killed in cold blood in Boone County … and it is our duty to honor these men especially in light of law enforcement memorial month,” said Toalson Reisch.

Wilson is the grandfather of former Missouri Governor Roger Wilson, whose father was 15 when Sheriff Wilson was killed.  He told House Communications the recognition will mean a lot to the Wilson and Booth families.

“I think the recognition on the highways will probably mean more to the families than anybody else but I think it’ll also mean something to our community, so I’m glad that this is taking place,” said the former governor.

Kelly Allen of Springfield, Illinois, is the granddaughter of Ben Booth’s widow.  She says her grandmother and others often talked about the kind of man he was.

“He was an honest, good, working man, family man, and he was an honorable trooper,” said Allen.  “I’m just really honored and thrilled.  I know my mother and my grandmother would be so pleased that people still remember.”

Allen said when Booth was killed her grandmother struggled to raise the couple’s 7-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son.

“No safety net, no social security – of course that wasn’t invented yet – no pension, nothing.  The patrol was very good to her as what they could do but being during The Depression, everybody was having hard times,” said Allen.

Wilson said a lot has changed in law enforcement since his grandfather was the sheriff.

“We have lost the era when police officers of all stripes could actually be protectors, and almost parents, of our children – bringing somebody home and informing a parent instead of taking them down to the station and booking them is probably out the window because of all the liability now and the sensitivity around law enforcement.  I feel that’s a lost, constructive thing for society,” said Wilson.

SB 999 has been sent to the governor to await his attention.

The murders of Sheriff Wilson and Sergeant Booth triggered a massive manhunt including the use of roadblocks and airplanes.  Authorities eventually caught up to the two men responsible.  One of them was later hung in one of the last state executions by hanging in Missouri.  The other man, who testified against his partner, spent 12 years in state prison before being paroled.  He moved to Iowa, married and had four children, and his sentence was eventually commuted.

Legislature’s budget proposal would boost employee pay and benefits, study pay by job class

State employees would receive a pay raise beginning January 1 under the budget the legislature proposed last week, and their health care benefits would also be bolstered.

The ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, Kip Kendrick (left) and House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications – click for larger version)

The legislature approved a budget that would increase by $700 the pay of employees making less than $70,000 a year.  Those making more than $70,000 would receive a 1-percent increase.

It would also pump $61-million into the Missouri Consolidated Health Care Plan – the insurance program for most state workers.  Budget makers say MCHCP was close to depleting its reserve funds, and they hope that the infusion of money in this budget will stave off premium increases for state employees.

“I don’t think there’s enough discussion in the state right now on the condition of Missouri Consolidated Health Care Plan,” said Columbia representative Kip Kendrick, the leading Democrat on the House Budget Committee.  “Any new funding that we could do for them this year – I’m glad we could get to $61-million in new decision item funding for Missouri Consolidated – it’ll help offset that.  I suspect there will be plan changes and premium increases, but it will help us at least keep those costs somewhat contained.”

The budget also includes an additional $350-per year increase in pay for prison guards.  House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick (R-Shell Knob) said lawmakers have heard that the Department of Corrections has had increasing difficulty in hiring and retaining guards, and that is in part due to the offered salary not being great enough.

Fitzpatrick and Kendrick agreed that while there are employees throughout the state to whom they would like to give greater pay increases, corrections officers’ pay needed immediate attention.

“The raise we agreed to specifically for corrections officers combined with the raise for all state employees amounts to over a $1000 increase, which for some of these corrections officers who are making in the high 20s, low 30s per year I think is significant,” said Fitzpatrick.  “That, by itself, probably isn’t going to be a game-changer but hopefully it’ll help reduce turnover and help us with the issue we have with the vacancies in that area.”

$3.2-million would go to increase pay for public defenders.  Kendrick said the average public defender starting out is making $39,000 a year.

“Typically having a new law degree and an average debt of over $100,000, $39,000 does not go nearly far enough.  We needed to do what we could make sure we increased pay for public defenders to somewhat balance the justice system again,” said Kendrick.  “Nothing against prosecutors – prosecutors are great.  They tend to be paid much better than public defenders and when you have that it kind of tilts the balance even more so in the direction of the prosecutors.”

Kendrick said bolstering the state’s public defenders could save the state money by slowing the growth of its prison population.

The budget also includes a $6.3-million boost in pay for the state’s Highway Patrol troopers.

Fitzpatrick said perhaps more significant for state employees than the pay and benefits increases in this budget could be funding for a reward for performance study requested by the Office of Administration.

“We’re going to give them the opportunity to go out and really study all the job classes in the state – what we’re asking people to do and trying to compare and find out what the market rate is on that, so that we can get a real good sense of what job classes we really need to focus on,” said Fitzpatrick.  “I think we have some job classes in the state that are probably overpaid, I think we probably have some that are severely underpaid, and some that are probably right about where they need to be.”

Fitzpatrick said with the information from that study the legislature could begin, even next year, working to get Missouri out of last place among all states in employee pay.

The legislature’s budget lays out more than $28.3-billion in proposed spending of state-controlled money.  It was approved on Wednesday, two days ahead of the constitutional deadline, and will next be sent to the governor.

Legislature’s budget could help counties save money on holding state prisoners

The budget passed by the Missouri legislature this week aims to get the state caught up in payments to counties for holding state prisoners, and to give counties cheaper options for taking care of those prisoners.

Representative Kathie Conway (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications – click for larger version)

The budget includes more than $34-million to reimburse county jails that hold inmates on state charges until they are transferred into state custody.  Missouri statute calls for the state to reimburse each county $22.58 per day for every state inmate that county holds in its jail.  Missouri is about 6-months behind in those reimbursements according to House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick (R-Shell Knob).

Out of that $34-million, counties can spend up to $5-million in state funds on alternative methods for tracking inmates – methods including ankle monitors or a smartphone app for monitoring of prisoners.

“There’s talk of, for super-low-risk offenders, potentially letting them out with an app on their phone – basically they’ll have to check in with facial recognition requirements and they have to check in however many times a day the court wants them to check in from their home,” said House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick.  “It’s a riskier method but it’s also much less expensive and if we feel like somebody’s not a risk of fleeing or something like that, it’d be a low-cost option.”

“This is a chance for the state and the counties to save money up front, and hopefully start catching up with the reimbursements we owe the counties and keep costs down going forward,” said Representative Kathie Conway (R-St. Charles), the Chair of the budget subcommittee that deals with the Departments of Public Safety and Corrections.

“[The state only releases] $10-million per quarter [in county reimbursements], so if [a county gets] the money that’s fine, then you have  to wait for the n ext quarter to start getting reimbursed again.  There are a lot of counties out there that just can’t afford to do that,” said Conway.  “This $5-million also gives other counties the opportunity to use this GPS tracker system if they wish … if they can use this electronic tracking system for the cost of what one day [of holding a state prisoner] would be, they’re actually going to catch up with their arrears a lot sooner.”

Conway has also been working for several years to develop a similar program that will be launching as a pilot in Audrain, Montgomery, and Warren Counties.  It will use a bracelet similar to those people wear to track the number of steps they take each day, popularly known as a “FitBit.”

House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications – click for larger version)

“It worked with [a smart phone app], and rather than the $12.50 a day that it costs for the ankle bracelet, this was around $15 to $20 a month.  People could be out on probation and every three minutes this would send a ping for GPS and the probation and parole officer would always know their location, could send them notification of court dates and different payments that were due,” said Conway.  “[We] set up a pilot program where it could be pre-conviction as well, and I think the significance of that is most of the cost for county jails to hold prisoners for the state came before the conviction.”

Counties could utilize that $5-million for any “alternative jail sanctions,” as these prisoner tracking options are being called, that don’t cost more than $12.50 per day.  If not all of the $5-million is utilized, it will roll back into the money used to reimburse counties.

The legislature voted to approve its budget proposal on Wednesday, two days ahead of its constitutional deadline.

House votes to condemn Missouri high court’s 1852 decision in Dred Scott case

The Missouri House has voted, in the presence of one of Dred Scott’s descendants, to denounce the 1852 decision  by the Missouri Supreme Court to deny Scott his freedom.

Representative Mike Moon (right) is joined by Lynne Jackson, the great-great-great granddaughter of Dred Scott. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications – click for larger version)

In that case, Scott vs. Emerson, Scott sought judgement that he, his wife, and their two children were free because they had lived in the free state of Illinois.  The Missouri Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s ruling in Scott’s favor and said the family was not free.

Scott went on to sue a New York man who succeeded Irene Emerson in ownership of Scott’s family.  That case, Scott vs. Sanford, is better known as it reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which also found against Scott.

Ash Grove Republican Mike Moon offered House Concurrent Resolution 86, which condemns the Missouri Court’s ruling.  He did so at the request of Scott’s great-great-great granddaughter, Lynne Jackson, who was in the House when HCR 86 was brought up.

“I was honored to be able to bring this resolution.  I don’t know why they asked me, but Miss Jackson, thank you,” said Moon.  “I’m extremely grateful … to be included in this process to condemn the Missouri court decision of 1852 … for all of us working with the lady from Dred Scott’s ancestry, Lynne Jackson, for abiding by her wishes.”

Ballwin Republican Shamed Dogan said the Missouri high court’s ruling, and that of the U.S. Supreme Court after it, made worse more than a century of debate over the status of people of color in the United States, and said for the legislature to pass HCR 86 is an important step.

Representative Shamed Dogan (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications – click for larger version)

“Denouncing that decision, denouncing the words within that decision – the words which helped to, for more than a century after those words were put forth by the Supreme Court as the law of the land, that helped to establish the foundation for Jim Crowe, for all kinds of other injustices done towards not just people of African descent but other people who were treated poorly by this country – we can take one small step by passing this resolution,” said Dogan.

Ferguson Democrat Courtney Allen Curtis offered an amendment to HCR 86 that he said tweaked the wording, at the behest of Jackson, to make sure the resolution reflected her spirit of reconciliation.

“I’m honored to be a part of this because it’s not every day that I move forward in the spirit of reconciliation, but to know that there are people out there that are better than me that are, it makes me look at my actions and what I do and ask if I’m doing the right thing … I’m glad that she did bring this to us,” said Curtis.

Jackson said for the legislature to be willing to say that the Missouri court’s 1852 decision was wrong is all she wanted.

Representative Courtney Allen Curtis (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications – click for larger version)

“The difference is that the U.S. Supreme Court decision was overturned by the 14th Amendment, but Missouri never dealt with the fact that they said times are not as they once were when we made [decisions in trials prior to Scott’s that granted freedom to people who had been slaves], therefore we’re not going to let you have your freedom – it was just a political motion, that’s all it was, to save the institution of slavery – so the fact that they’re just acknowledging that it’s wrong is important,” said Jackson.

“I also think it may have a more spiritual connection.  It might be just the mere fact that sometimes when people say, ‘I’m sorry,’ that everything changes.  You can reestablish relationships.  When people say, ‘I forgive you,’ when they acknowledge they’re wrong, it’s easier to get back and have that relationship with people,” said Jackson.

Jackson thanked Moon and the other representatives that worked and voted for HCR 86.  The House voted 134-2 to send that resolution to the Missouri Senate.

Moon expressed hope that the resolution will pass this year because July 9 is the 150th anniversary of the 14th Amendment, which overturned the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Scott vs. Sanford.

House proposes increase in state aid to sheltered workshops

The Missouri House has voted to increase state financial support to sheltered workshops.

Representative Rory Rowland’s has a son, JP, who has Down syndrome and loves working in a Kansas City-area workshop. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications – click for larger version)

House Bill 2644 would increase from $19 to $21 dollars the amount the state pays to workshops for every six-hour or longer day worked by a handicapped employee. Backers say the boost would give those workshops and their employees more financial stability, while reaffirming the state’s support for them and the work they do.

HB 2644 is sponsored by Representative Rory Rowland (D-Independence), whose son JP has Down syndrome and works in a Kansas City-area workshop.

“I want to thank everyone in this body for your kindness and support of this,” an emotional Rowland told his House colleagues. “This means so much to my family [and] my son.”

Many lawmakers spoke while HB 2644 was before the House about the workshops in their districts and what those mean to their communities, and their employees.

Representative David Wood (R-Versailles) has been on the board of directors for a workshop in his district for more than 30 years. He said the employees of that workshop would rather be there than have a day off even on holidays.

“You see these workers not grumbling about being there. They want don’t want to take off. They want to be at work. They want the socialization. They want to feel a worth,” said Wood. “When you’re packaging something that they can go to Wal-Mart and see on the shelf and say, ‘Hey, I packaged that. I did that work,’ it gives them a feeling of self-worth that nothing else can.”

Representative Richard Brown (D-Kansas City) is the parent of a daughter with cerebral palsy who died at the age of 15.

Representative David Wood has been on the board of directors for a sheltered workshop for more than 30 years.  (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications – click for larger version)

“As a parent I often wondered, ‘Where would my child be able to go to work?’” Brown told his House colleagues. “A lot of the kids that she went to school with, they work at a sheltered workshop in my district called Southeast Enterprises, and when I look at kids like Dwayne Bell or Tiffany Johnson I see the joy that comes from their heart from going to work every day and having the ability to maintain a job and having a sense of purpose and a sense of self-worth from doing a job each day.”

Hermann Republican Justin Alferman said the value of workshops doesn’t only come from what they mean to their employees. He spoke about a component for air conditioner compressors that is made at a workshop in his district.

“It’s not just about giving these individuals a job. They are huge economic drivers of our communities,” said Alferman.

Wood said because of a combination of lagging state support and a pencil producer moving its operation from his district to the country of Mexico, the workshop he sits on the board of had to cut 45 of its employees.

“The state aid is extremely important. This is an extremely important program to the State of Missouri. They do work that you wouldn’t believe,” said Wood.

Rowland and other lawmakers thanked Majority Floor Leader Rob Vescovo (R-Arnold) and House Speaker Todd Richardson (R-Poplar Bluff) for their support of the legislation.

HB 2644 goes to the Senate with less than two weeks left in the legislative session, but Rowland is optimistic that because of its subject matter it will receive enough attention to pass before the session’s end.

Earlier story:  Effort to reaffirm House support for sheltered workshops led by lawmaker whose son works in one

Budget proposal maintains House’s steep cuts to DHSS after dispute over virus data

House and Senate conferees have agreed to a budget that would make significant cuts in the Department of Health and Senior Services’ director’s office.  House members say that department is needlessly withholding information about a virus outbreak that killed two people in Missouri, including one state employee.

House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick (in foreground, right) and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Dan Brown (foreground, left) speak to Senator Jamilah Nasheed while House Budget Committee Vice Chairman Justin Alferman (top, center) speaks to Senators Dan Hegeman (top left) and Kiki Curls during a break in the conference committee hearing Monday. Those senators had concerns about Reps. Fitzpatrick’s and Alferman’s intentions to cut money that amounts to the salaries of several people in the Department of Health and Senior Services’ Director’s office, including the director. (photo; Mike Lear, Missouri House Communications – click for larger version)

The conference committee agreed to cut money equal to the salaries of eight positions in the director’s office, including the director.

House Budget Committee Vice Chairman Justin Alferman (R-Hermann) is one of several lawmakers who have asked how many people in Missouri have tested positive for the antibodies to the Bourbon virus.  The House has also subpoenaed the Department seeking that information, and the Department still hasn’t provided it.

The Director of the Department of Health and Senior Services, who had not appeared before the House Budget Committee for any of its public hearings, did appear before the conference committee between House and Senate members that met Monday night to agree on a budget proposal for both chambers to vote on this week.  Dr. Randall Williams maintains he can’t release what Alferman and others are asking for.

“Missouri law and HIPAA are very clear that if I provide information that can identify you in a small sample size, [that’s a violation],” said Williams.

The Department’s General Counsel, Nikki Loethen, told the committee, “The issue here is that there is already significant information already available regarding who was tested and with all of that information that’s already available, for us to disclose the information that [lawmakers are asking for] could lead to the identification of individuals.”

Alferman said the Department’s argument that the information could lead to the identification of individuals is “ridiculous.”

Some senators on the conference committee wanted to restore what they called “drastic” cuts to DHSS, but Alferman and House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick (R-Shell Knob) did not want to back down.  Alferman had already agreed to reverse another of his amendments in response to the situation that shifted control of the state health lab from DHSS to the Department of Public Safety.

“I don’t know how I’m supposed to negotiate with someone who doesn’t come to the table,” said Alferman about the Department.

Fitzpatrick noted that Williams was once before at the center of a controversy with serious implications for public health.

In 2016 Williams, while the public health director for the State of North Carolina, joined another state official in rescinding a “do not drink” notice regarding well water potentially contaminated by coal ash.  The state’s toxicologist at the time said North Carolina was telling people the water was safe when it knew it wasn’t, and went so far as to accuse other state officials of “playing down the risk.”

“It would just seem to indicate that there’s a pattern of behavior that Dr. Williams has made a controversial decision in the past,” said Fitzpatrick.  “I just don’t think that allowing that to continue to happen in Missouri is a good idea.”

Democrats who opposed the cuts to DHSS noted the positions cut in the Director’s office would include the lawyers who interpret for the Department how it must act to comply with state and federal laws.

“I do find it concerning that when we ask the Department to interpret laws, both federal and state, and then they interpret it, if we disagree with their interpretation that we’re then going to cut their funding, of the very people who makes those interpretations,” said Springfield representative Crystal Quade (D).  “We’re dealing with very sensitive information and very dangerous, life-threatening things, often, with these viruses, and it’s important that we are following the law accordingly so that we can make sure people are protected, so it was concerning to me that was the decision of the committee.”

Fitzpatrick noted that the cuts would remove 8 people from a department of more than 1,700 employees.

“I doubt those eight people are going to make it impossible for the mission of the Department of Health and Senior Services to be met.  I think if anything, several of those people were part of obstructing the General Assembly from finding the information that I think [it’s] entitled to,” said Fitzpatrick.

Backers of the cuts said they are concerned about the safety of the public, and that includes Missourians knowing whether they should be concerned about a bourbon virus outbreak.

“I can’t go home and confidently tell my constituents that I believe that the state department of health is working on their behalf when they shut me out and shut all the members of the House out completely,” said Alferman.

The House and Senate are expected to vote Wednesday on the budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins July 1.  The deadline for the legislature to submit a budget proposal to the governor is at the close of business on Friday.

Fitzpatrick said he would consider restoring the money for those positions if the Department gives the House the information it has asked for, but the next opportunity to do that would likely not come until work begins on a supplemental budget bill in January of 2019.

Earlier story:  House Budget Committee adopts stiff cuts to DHSS over Bourbon virus data dispute

House approves limited medical marijuana proposal

The Missouri House has voted to allow those suffering from terminal and debilitating conditions to use medical marijuana.  The proposal now goes to the state Senate for consideration.

Representative Jim Neely sponsored HB 1554, a medical marijuana proposal, that the House sent to the Senate on May 1, 2018. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications – click for larger version)

House Bill 1554 would expand on a law passed in 2014 that allows the use of a cannabis extract, cannabidiol (CBD) oil, to treat intractable epilepsy.  If HB 1554 became law, a patient suffering from conditions including cancer, HIV, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and post-traumatic stress disorder could use medical marijuana if a doctor signs a statement saying he or she could benefit from its use and that all options approved by the Food and Drug Administration have been considered.

The House voted 112-44 to send that bill to the Senate, but some Republicans spoke against IT even though it is sponsored by one of their fellows.

Pacific Republican Kirk Mathews said the legislative process is not the proper way for a drug to be approved.

“I don’t know of any other medicines that become medicine by an act of the legislature versus the process that we’ve gone through for years in the history of our country and medicine in our country, with FDA clinical trials, double-blind studies, etcetera, etcetera,” said Mathews.

He also argued that the bill is too broad in what conditions it would allow medical marijuana to be used for, because it would allow the Department of Health and Senior Services to add conditions to that list if at least ten physicians sign a petition calling for it to be added.

“We don’t know what conditions we are allowing this to be used for if we pass this bill,” said Mathews.

Representative J. Eggleston (R-Maysville) said passing HB 1554 would send Missouri down a similar path to that the nation has taken with opioids.  Those are now seen as the crux of a health crisis, but they started off as a way to treat pain.

Representative Kirk Mathews (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications – click for larger version)

“Surely the companies behind them would only care about relieving others’ pain and doctors would only prescribe for that reason, and the recipients would only use them for that reason and not use them for that reason and not use them for recreational fashion, and surely it wouldn’t get away from us to where other people would rob medicine cabinets or things like that, and yet all of that stuff is happening.  Now we’re having to deal with the aftermath of those unintended consequences,” said Eggleston.

The bill was sent to the Senate on the strength of bipartisan support.  Representative Clem Smith (D-Velda Village Hills) told bill sponsor Jim Neely (R-Camdenton), who is a doctor, that he hoped the bill would become law.

“I know in your career you’ve seen a lot of different things, seen a lot of people that have been impacted, and maybe in your thinking, you’re like, ‘Hey, this might help them get through life or increase their standard of living,’ so just wanted to thank you for it,” said Smith.

The bill also earned support from some in House leadership, including the Majority Floor Leader, Rob Vescovo (R-Arnold).

“I think [Representative Neely] has done a fantastic, fabulous job, channeling this down to what the members of this body wanted to see,” said Vescovo.  “I’m going to go ahead and cast my vote for the terminally ill in my district and across the state.”

HB 1554 goes to the Senate with less than three weeks remaining in the legislative session.

Earlier stories:  

Missouri House considers legalizing medical use of marijuana

Bill to legalize limited medical marijuana heard in House committee