House budget reject Greitens’ administration plan to expedite tax refund payments

House budget leaders are rejecting Governor Eric Greitens’ (R) plan to use a line of credit to help pay for getting tax refunds out to Missourians.

House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick (left) and the committee’s ranking Democrat, Representative Kip Kendrick (photos; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Under the administration’s plan the state would seek a line of credit of up to $250-million.  That would be used to help the state get refunds out faster and would be paid off by the time the fiscal year ends at the end of June.  The loan would have come from MoHEFA, the Missouri health and Educational Facilities Authority, which typically helps finance buildings projects for colleges and universities.

House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick (R-Shell Knob) considered the idea since it was first presented to him, but has since cooled on it.

“I personally didn’t love it at first, the first time I heard it, and the more I thought about it the more it wasn’t something I thought we should do, so the House is not going to do it,” said Fitzpatrick.

Both Fitzpatrick and the top Democrat on the budget committee, Representative Kip Kendrick (D-Columbia), also question the constitutionality of that plan.

“One of my biggest concerns about the whole thing is we have a process in place already to make sure we can pay refunds.  The idea that we can pull from MoHEFA, and the explanation that taking this $250-million line of credit is the same thing as providing funding for Mizzou Arena – that’s a false equivalency.  It’s not.  The “F” in MoHEFA stands for facilities,” said Kendrick.

“The nature by which they wanted to do it was to use a quasi-governmental agency to borrow off budget and then use state appropriations to pay off through that quasi-governmental entity those loans,” Fitzpatrick said.  “It was creative but it isn’t something that I feel real comfortable with on the constitutionality issue.”

Senate leaders have also reportedly rejected the loan idea.

Asked whether the legislature needs to reevaluate how refunds are disbursed in order get them out faster, and with the state paying less interest on delayed refunds, Fitzpatrick said let’s wait and see.

“Like two years ago we had a 15-percent year-over-year increase in refund expenditures.  It went up like $200-million in one year and … we didn’t anticipate that.  When you have something like that – that kind of growth in refunds – it can create some cash flow problems, especially right at the end of the fiscal year,” said Fitzpatrick.  “If we have a good year of growth and we can get our General Revenue Fund cash balance in a better situation, and we don’t have an explosion in refunds … I think we ought to be able to get ourselves in a better situation where we’re paying refunds in a timely fashion.”

The House Budget Committee this week began going over Greitens’ budget proposal.  Over the coming months the House and Senate will craft a legislative spending plan that will be sent to Greitens before the end of the session in May.

House budget leaders discuss Greitens’ plan to cut college, university funding

After legislators began going through Governor Eric Greitens’ (R) budget proposal many began expressing concern over his proposal to cut money from Missouri’s colleges and universities.

Representatives Kip Kendrick and Scott Fitzpatrick (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The Governor proposed a 7.7-percent reduction to higher education.  Coupled with money frozen in the state budget that took effect July 1, 2017, that would be a 10-percent cut overall.

House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick (R-Shell Knob) said that would amount to a reduction of about $68-million.  Higher education funding is also shifting to being based on performance, which could mean additional decreases for some institutions.

“I haven’t heard any rumblings from any institutions about, ‘If this happens, we’re closing,’ but I don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibility,” said Fitzpatrick.  “I don’t anticipate that all of those reductions will stand in the budget.  I think that we’ll probably try to recover some of that, but I think that the institutions – some more than others – are going to have a difficult time with it.”

Fitzpatrick and the budget committee are just beginning the process that over the next couple of months will see countless changes made to the governor’s budget proposal to morph it into the legislature’s own state spending plan.  He is sure efforts will be made along the way to restore at least some higher education funding.

“It’ll depend on what things we find in the budget that we think we can reduce or any other revenue source that we’re not currently considering that could become available through the process, which usually happens in some way shape or form,” said Fitzpatrick.

Legislators in both parties and in both chambers are expressing intent to propose more funding to colleges and universities than the governor proposed, so it seems likely the 10-percent reduction will not stand.  Still the leading Democrat on the House Budget Committee, Representative Kip Kendrick (Columbia), said he’s alarmed at the governor’s proposal.

“This is a time when we’re at full employment.  That’s what scares me the most is the economy’s doing well, yet we’re seeing such tremendous cuts to public higher education across the State of Missouri.  I’m very concerned about what it’s going to mean for our state,” said Kendrick.  “I think that this is a very concerning trend that we’ve been seeing … what happens in the next [economic] downturn?  What’s that going to mean for higher education at that time?”

As for other provisions in the governor’s plan, neither Fitzpatrick nor Kendrick are supportive of a plan to take out a line of credit to pay for the state to get tax refunds out to Missourians faster.  Both also want to retain or improve on the governor’s proposal to increase pay by $650 to state employees making less than $50,000 a year, but say only time will tell what form any state employee pay hike could take.

House asked to back needle exchanges to stem potential disease outbreaks

Members of a House Committee have been told a bill to exempt needle exchange programs from drug paraphernalia laws could help combat a potential outbreak in intravenous diseases like HIV and Hepatitis C.

Representative Holly Rehder (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Representative Holly Rehder (R-Sikeston) told the Special Committee on Urban Issues that abusers who take advantage of needle exchange programs are five times more likely to enter treatment programs.

The committee also heard that the Centers for Disease Control have identified 10 counties in Missouri where conditions could lead to an outbreak like that in Scott County, Indiana.  In that county of more than 24,000 people, 227 became infected with HIV in 2015 and 2016 due largely to sharing needles used to abuse intravenous drugs.

“This bill is to, honestly, sanction existing programs that we have running in the state,” Rehder told the committee about her bill, House Bill 1620.  “Right now we have syringe access, or needle exchange which it is also called, running in the St. Louis area and the Kansas City area.  These have been ongoing for some time but the problem is that they’re running in a somewhat grey area because Missouri’s law has a paraphernalia charge that could be charged.  The local jurisdictions have not pressed that because they see the good in these programs.”

Chad Sabora is a former prosecutor who became a heroin user, and is now an activist in fighting heroin addiction.  He runs one of the needle exchange programs operating in Missouri, which he said won’t stop an outbreak but is a “crucial piece of the puzzle.”

“80-percent of the people that use my syringe access program I put into treatment within three months, because as Holly stated it’s early engagement,” said Sabora.  “They walk into my office seeking clean needles and nothing else, and what they get is something different. They get conversation, they get compassion, they get treatment resources that they did not know exist, and once they find out that all these options are available for them most of them reach out for help, and I never would have told them about those options if they didn’t walk into my office just to get that clean needle that day.”

The committee heard needle exchange programs could also save the state money.  Rehder told the committee the cost to treat HIV patients on Medicaid is expected to increase this year because of changes to the Medicaid program.

Sabora told the committee that a rule change by the Department of Social Services means that anyone with Medicaid can receive treatment for Hepatitis C.

“Before that passed, when it was only the very limited few that got Medicaid treatment, the state still spent upwards of $80-million in 2014.  We can reduce these infections, we can reduce future cost of treatment, and lower the cost to the state,” said Sabora.

Rehder has led legislative efforts in recent years to pass a statewide drug monitoring program to help fight opioid abuse, and has shared how opioid addiction struck her family; her daughter became addicted to opioid painkillers after being treated for a cut she suffered at work.  Rehder said she sees this as another tool to fight opioid addiction.

“We’ve got to be sure that we move emotion to the side and actually look at the numbers, look at the statistics – what’s working?” said Rehder.  “When people first hear about needle exchange one of the first things they say is that’s enabling a user, but you have to look past that.  You have to look beyond the stigma of addiction and you have to see, ok but what helps?  What works?  What gets better outcomes?”

Rehder said if her bill passes to remove the “gray area,” she believes needle exchange programs will spread to other parts of the state including the counties flagged by the CDC.

“There are some federal dollars that we’re passing up right now because we don’t have in statute that these are clear of any gray area, so once we get this passed these individual health departments or individual needle exchanges can reach out to get some of that help in some of these more underserved areas,” said Rehder.

The committee voted unanimously to pass HB 1620.  It next goes to the House Committee on Rules.

House committee considers change to abortion parental notification law

A Missouri House Republican is again asking to require that both parents be notified before a minor in Missouri can have an abortion.

Representative Rocky Miller (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Lake Ozark representative Rocky Miller says it’s a matter of common sense, but Democrats argue the legislation could put some young women in danger.

Missouri law requires that a minor seeking an abortion and one parent or guardian of that minor give written consent before the procedure is performed.  House Bill 1383 would require that the parent or guardian giving consent notify any other custodial parent or guardian in writing before the minor gives her consent.  It would not apply in an emergency or for custodial parents or guardians that have been found guilty of certain crimes, are listed on the sex offender registry, are the subject of an order of protection, have had parental rights terminated, or for whom the whereabouts are not known.

Miller first filed the proposal five years ago and related it to his own experience.  His daughter at 15 became pregnant with his granddaughter, who he and his wife later raised.

“I did have a 15-year-old child that got pregnant and by the grace of God they notified me, which was nice,” said Miller.  “If you remember the first time we had this bill five years ago we had testimony from a woman … that said when she was 15 they went and got an abortion … well later her father, it was a married family, found out about it and he looked at her and he said, ‘I just want you to know I would have done whatever it takes if you wanted to keep that child,’ and she said – it was really gut-wrenching testimony – she said that she looks at her three children now and knows that there should be a fourth.”

Democrats including Stacey Newman of St. Louis oppose Miller’s bill, saying its requirement could put teenage girls in danger. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

In a hearing of the House Committee on Children and Families, Democrats said major medical associations have opposed Miller’s proposal each year because its requirement could put teen girls in danger.  They say despite the exemptions in the notification requirement it could force the involvement of a parent who is abusive or otherwise a danger to a pregnant teen.

Kansas City obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Valerie French told the committee, “The bill could put scared teens at risk to do something that would harm themselves.  This law could be detrimental to teens’ health and safety because research shows that laws like this one can delay access to care and force a teen to take measures into her own hands.”

In two previous years Miller’s proposal has been voted out of the House and approved by a Senate committee, but was not passed out of the Senate.

The Committee on Children and Families has not voted on HB 1383.

Wife and Missouri state rep. both recovering after three-way, cross-country kidney transplant

A state representative’s wife and he are recovering after a three-way kidney transplant that she needed to save her life.

Representative J. Eggleston (second from left) and his wife Cathie were joined by their daughter Stefanie and son Nick at the governor’s inauguration, January 9, 2017. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Cathie Eggleston, wife of Maysville representative J. Eggleston (R), was in need of the transplant.  J. Eggleston learned he wasn’t a match to donate to her directly, but through the Kidney Paired Donation program he donated a kidney to a patient in Michigan.  That patient’s friend donated a kidney to someone elsewhere in the U.S., and that recipient’s friend donated a kidney to Cathie.

The first round of surgeries began around 5 a.m. Wednesday, with the second round beginning around 2 p.m. that afternoon.  All were completed successfully and Cathie and J. Eggleston are recovering.

“I’m grateful for the other donors, the other recipients who have stepped forward.  We would love to meet them some day,” said Rep. Eggleston.  “We’re not allowed to know anything about them but after it’s all said and done if everybody gives permission to have their identities revealed to each other we’d love to get to know them and thank them for their gift.”

Eggleston said his wife was down to about 15-percent kidney function as of her latest appointment.  Without a donation she would have had to go to dialysis each day for the rest of her life.  He said she was expected to live about five years if she went on dialysis.

Cathie’s journey began roughly a year ago when she went to a doctor who discovered she had extremely high blood pressure.

Some will know Cathie Eggleston for her frequent visits to the Missouri House, during which she often brings cookies. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

“Hers was at about 210,” said J. Eggleston.  “In the process of doing all the tests they learned that her kidney function was severely hampered.  It was at only about 20-percent of what kidney function should be.  Over the years she had developed symptoms of fatigue that we just chalked up to aging but they said no, it’s the fact that her kidneys were not filtering her blood properly.”

J. Eggleston said he’s grateful that the KPD program exists. He encourages everyone to take advantage of any opportunity to donate organs, including by filling out the donation form on the back of a Missouri driver’s license.

“Obviously check it out, but I don’t see any reason why anyone wouldn’t want to sign up for that at the DMV knowing that the last thing you may do on this planet is to save the life of anywhere from one to eight other people with your donations,” said Eggleston.  “As far as live donations with your friends, ask them.  If you know they’re going through some kidney issues, they have been briefed on the procedures by their doctors and the coordinators for all of this and they can put you in contact with other people whose job it is to have the donor in mind.”

Cathie Eggleston will spend about six weeks recovering.  J. will need about three weeks before he returns to the Capitol.  The couple will spend part of that time staying with their son in Smithville and being helped by Cathie’s sister who will come from her home in North Dakota for a few weeks.

J. Eggleston thanks his son and sister-in-law, as well as several representatives who have agreed to handle legislation he has filed while he recovers.

About 18,000 people receive kidney transplants in the U.S. each year.  Roughly 12,000 of those come from deceased donors and the remainder from friends or loved ones.  About 100,000 people are on the waiting list hoping to receive a kidney.

House votes to send latest lobbyist gift ban proposal to Senate

The Missouri House has for the third straight year proposed a ban on lobbyist gifts to legislators and other elected and appointed officials.

Representative Justin Alferman (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The House voted 134-12 Wednesday to send to the Senate House Bill 1303, sponsored by Hermann Republican Justin Alferman.  The bill would bar lobbyists from giving gifts to government officials – things such as meals or tickets to concerts or sporting events.  It would allow lobbyists to pay for gifts at events in Missouri when all members of the legislature or all statewide officials are invited at least three days before the event.

“We’re trying to alleviate the one-on-one interactions that sometimes have personally consumable items given to individual legislators in the State of Missouri,” said Alferman.  “I think it’s important … that we as legislators tackle these tough issues and show the State of Missouri and its citizens that we are capable of handling complex issues like ethics reform.”

The bill specifies what elected and appointed officials could still receive.  That includes things like entrance fees to events at which they are participating in a ceremony; flowers or plants as expressions of condolence or congratulations; and plaques or awards.  It would also eliminate the requirement that lobbyists report having given such gifts.

Representative Peter Merideth (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Democrats wanted to restore those reporting requirements.  They also proposed that the bill should include penalties for lawmakers who violate it.  Their proposed amendments were rejected last week, though the bill still received broad bipartisan support.

“I do wish that we had included in the bill some provisions of transparency with regard especially to the new exemptions for allowable expenditures that are for individual legislators,” said St. Louis representative Peter Merideth (D).  “I also do wish that we had added provisions to make ourselves accountable under this bill … However with that said I still think this is an improvement from current law and so I will be supporting it.”

The vote came a year to the day after the House last voted to send a gift ban proposal to the Senate.  Neither that bill nor the one the House approved in 2016 were approved by that chamber.

Backers say bill to allow reassignment of birth control devices would save money, increase access

Proponents say a bill in the Missouri House would expand access to birth control and save the state hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

Representative Shamed Dogan (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

House Bill 1499 would allow health care providers to use a long-acting contraceptive device for a patient other than the one for whom it was initially prescribed.

In Missouri when a woman goes to a health care provider and elects to use a long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC), her provider must order that device and implant it on a subsequent office visit.  Often women don’t return to have the device implanted, and Missouri law doesn’t allow that device to be used by another patient – it must be returned to its manufacturer and is often destroyed.

In Fiscal Year 2017 approximately 1,800 LARCs were so “abandoned” in Missouri.  About 1,100 of those could have been used in other patients, saving the state approximately $220-thousand dollars.

Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri, Alison Dreith, told the House Committee on Health and Mental Health Policy, “By redistributing the device two things can happen.  Money is saved.  LARC devices are very expensive and this allows for the product to be utilized which overall saves the state money; and due to having stock on their shelves that can be used for another MO Health Net patient, providers are able to insert the IUD or implant that same day rather than having to wait for the person to return.”

Bill sponsor Representative Shamed Dogan (R-Ballwin) said the issue is one of fiscal responsibility.

“We’re wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars on pretty expensive birth control devices when in any other case with a pharmacy, with a product that someone orders and they don’t pick it up, you can reassign that to another patient,” said Dogan.  “This bill just allows MOHealthNet to do that with these devices and it has the potential savings to the state of a quarter of a million dollars a year.”

The proposal was passed out of the House in 2017 as an amendment to other legislation but did not become law.  No one testified in opposition to it in the Committee’s hearing.

The committee has not voted on HB 1499.

Bill would ease background checks on potential in-home care workers

The state House is again being asked to make it easier for people with minor criminal offenses to apply and be hired for jobs in the in-home care field.

Representative Cody Smith (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

When an applicant undergoes a background check, any finding results in a review that can take multiple weeks.  That can include crimes that occurred decades ago, or that would be considered minor or unrelated to security and healthcare.

According to House Bill 1350 sponsor Cody Smith (R-Carthage), more than 75-percent of reviews result in waivers that would clear the applicant to work, but reviews take so long that most applicants find other jobs during the delay.

“Once the provider wants to hire them, they simply can’t wait the amount of time it takes to get through this process – can’t wait that long to get into the workforce and start making money,” said Smith.

Smith said the issue creates problems not just for applicants but for in-home care providers, many of whom are short-staffed.

“That creates hardships for the providers, their clients, and the folks that would like to have those jobs,” said Smith.

Elisa Pellham, a provider with Integrity Home Care and Hospice, told the House Committee on Health and Mental Health Policy that many potential employees would come from other health industry jobs in which they don’t face these “very burdensome” checks – nursing homes, hospitals, or mental health facilities.

“So they really question why in home care do I have to then fill out this lengthy form that, again, may take five to six weeks to get the results back, so it is burdensome on the employee and burdensome on that provider,” said Pellham.  “Again they’ll just maybe go back to a health care entity that doesn’t require it and then home care, could lose a really good caregiver or nurse.”

HB 1350 would change background check requirements to remove those minor or irrelevant violations from being barriers to employment in in-home care positions.

The legislation would specify what offenses a person must have been found guilty of or pleaded guilty to for their employment by an in-home service provider to be illegal.  Such employees could also not be named on the Department of Health and Senior Services’ employee disqualification list, the Department of Mental Health’s disqualification registry, or the child abuse and neglect registry.

Smith said if his proposal passes the public should not be concerned about who could be hired.  He said background checks would remain very stringent, “To make sure that [in-home care providers] are qualified to be in homes caring for people who are often times very vulnerable.”

The committee has not voted on HB 1350.

Missouri House again fast-tracking ban on lobbyist gifts to legislators

Missouri House leadership is working to again make a proposed ban of gifts to lawmakers the first bill of the session to leave that chamber.

Representative Justin Alferman (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Representative Justin Alferman (R-Hermann) is sponsoring House Bill 1303 which is based on the gift ban proposal passed out of the House in 2017.  That bill, HB 60, was the first sent out of the House in 2017 but was never voted on in the Missouri Senate.

On Monday two House Committees held hearings on, and voted to pass, HB 1303.  It is expected to be debated Wednesday by the full chamber and could be sent to the Senate on Thursday, in keeping with House Speaker Todd Richardson’s (R-Poplar Bluff) statement on the opening day of the session that he expected that bill to be voted out this week.

House Democrats questioned several provisions in the legislation including one that aims to restrict the cost of gifts that would still be allowed under the legislation – things like plaques and awards.

Representative Tracy McCreery (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

St. Louis Democrat Tracy McCreery was concerned that the language of the bill would lead to fewer items falling under mandatory reporting by lobbyists, instead being included in legislators’ personal financial disclosures.  She said those disclosures by legislators are less accessible by the public.

“What I’m trying to do is make sure by fixing one thing we’re not opening up another opportunity for abuse where all of a sudden things are considered to be awards,” said McCreery.

“Honestly, Representative, in dealing with this type of ethics reform it’s always going to be whack-a-mole,” Alferman told McCreery.  “Anyone who is decisively trying to circumvent ethics laws is already an unethical person and it’s really hard to be able to think about every which way those type of individuals are going to circumvent the law.  I’m trying to capture the 98-percent of problems that will be alleviated with this bill.”

Amendments offered by McCreery and other Democrats were voted down along party lines, but the bill was passed out of the Committee on General Laws 12-0.  One Democrat said that even without the changes they wanted to see, the bill would still be an improvement over current law.

HB 1303 would still allow lobbyists to make expenditures to the entire General Assembly – things like a dinner to which every member of the House and Senate are invited.  Members would have to have at least 72-hours’ notice before such an event, and it must be held in-state, so that all lawmakers would have the opportunity to attend.

“I just don’t want us to get into a ‘gotcha’ moment for going to something like a Missouri Chamber dinner or something of that nature that we’ve all been invited to.  I don’t think anyone’s going to say that there’s an influence being levied at those large events.  You don’t have the one-on-one interaction like you do if a lobbyist takes you out for a dinner where 100-percent of their focus is on you,” said Alferman.

Last year’s legislation, HB 60, was passed out of the House 149-5.  Alferman expects similarly strong, bipartisan support for HB 1303.

Transportation Task Force proposes fuel tax increase, readies report to legislature

The 21st Century Missouri Transportation System Task Force is proposing an increase in the state’s fuel tax to support transportation infrastructure.

Representative Kevin Corlew (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The Task Force met on Tuesday to finalize the recommendations that will go into the report it will release before the legislative session begins January 3.  It says an increase of 10 cents in the tax on gasoline and of 12 cents in the tax on diesel would generate about $430-million annually for roads and bridges.  $43-million of that would go to counties and $64.5-million would go to municipalities.

Such an increase would have to be put before Missouri voters.

“We really do need an immediate impact investment in transportation to move forward, and to really meet a lot of needs that have been arising over many years of neglect in terms of funding,” said the Task Force’s chairman, Kansas City Republican Kevin Corlew.  “The first thing will be let’s make sure we give our transportation system – the people of Missouri – the shot in the arm in terms of transportation infrastructure that we need.”

The Task Force’s draft report said Missouri’s fuel tax burden is low – 46th in the nation – and the proposed increase would amount to an additional $5 per month for the average Missouri driver.

The report also recommends the implementation of a revenue stream dedicated to multimodal transportation (railways, aviation, mass transportation, ports, waterways, and transportation for the elderly and disabled).  The Task Force suggests restructuring Missouri’s Timely Filing Discount on retail sales or withholding tax and/or the discount given to companies that file employee withholding taxes on time.

“Recognizing that all of us benefit from a transportation system and particularly our retail businesses – and they’ve all come around and testified to us, many business groups, on the importance of it – we feel like that’s an area where there’s no additional taxation but we could restructure that … and not suggesting that we do away completely with that,” said Corlew.

He said a restructuring of the Timely Filing Discount could generate $50- to $70-million, which is the range of amounts the Task Force identified as enough to enhance multimodal transportation.

The Task Force also discussed a need to make transportation revenue sustainable long-term.  Recommendations to that end include increases in usage fees for electric and hybrid vehicles; increases in license, registration, and other non-fuel user fees; exploration of additional taxation of internet sales; and tolling on major bridges.

Other recommendations address safety, exploring and supporting innovation, and considering legislative action to remove barriers to various types of projects, including public-private partnerships.

Corlew said, as he has before, that this Task Force was more than, “just another government study … That’s why we worked extraordinarily hard to find a consensus on some of these solutions, that’s why we reached out to Missouri citizens at our meetings and individual members reached out to their communities at home to get the ideas.”

“We are fully committed to making sure that we really do move our transportation system forward and work as hard as we can to make sure that these recommendations are put into place,” said Corlew.

The Task Force includes 23 members from the state House and Senate, the Governor’s office, members of state agencies including the Departments of Transportation and Economic Development and the Highway Patrol, and representatives of business organizations.  It could continue meeting through the end of 2018.