April 29, 2010

Once again the Missouri General Assembly focused on the topic of the year “the budget” this week.

The House and Senate passed the budget conferred upon and agreed upon this session this week on Thursday.

The Senate cut $506 million over the Governor’s budget. Adjustments for the teacher career ladder program funding for this year only ended one of the major sticking points in cuts.

It is already projected that the governor will need to withhold an additional $50 million in withholds from this budget.

The 22 bills needed to accomplish additional revenue savings as projected by the Senate appear to be in trouble. These bills provide additional savings to the state by consolidating services. Specifically 10 bills with a savings of $84 million were anticipated to be included to balance the budget. However only two weeks remain and they are just now leaving the Senate chamber.

The massive SB 714 merging of the retirement systems is in trouble in the House. This is an example of a way the Senate planned to save major funds for the state. Approximately 1,000 additional state jobs will be eliminated on top of 1500 already cut.

News this week includes:

Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement
As reported earlier in the Senate effort to consolidate government SB 1057 among its provisions moves Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement from the Department of Public Safety to the Department of Revenue without funding for enforcement.

This will leave enforcement to city police and sheriff’s departments.

After several contacts including working with the Police Chiefs Association and Sheriffs Association this bill was stalled in the Government Accountability Committee.

SJR 25
SJR 25(Cunningham) provides for the “opt out” measure on the ballot for the federal healthcare reform.

This is a politically charged issue. Democrats will filibuster the measure and several Republicans are attempting a procedural rule call moving the “previous question” shutting off debate.

Republicans believe if this issue is on the ballot more conservatives will turn out to vote.

Missourians have already been included along with the health care industry to pay for this federal measure. If Missourians “opt out” we will still pay with people going to the emergency rooms without coverage.

Tobacco Settlement
Senator Schafer’s SB 884 was heard in the government Accountability Committee.
The bill requires all tobacco manufacturers whose cigarettes are sold in Missouri to report and certify to the Department of Revenue and the Attorney General's office by April 30 of each year that they are in compliance with the Tobacco Settlement Model Statute currently in Missouri law. In addition to the certification, manufacturers must also provide a list of "brand families". Non-participating manufacturers must provide the number of units sold for each family for the preceding year, the name and address of any other manufacturer of their brand families in the preceding or current calendar year, and other information to verify compliance with the model statute in their certification. All manufacturers must update their lists thirty days prior to any addition to or modification of its brand families through a supplemental certification to the director of the Department of Revenue.

In addition to other certification requirements, each non-participating manufacturer must be registered to do business in the state or maintain an agent within the state for the purpose of service of process relating to the enforcement of the act. By January 1, 2011, the Director of the Department of Revenue must make available for public inspection or publish on the department's website a list of all tobacco product manufacturers that have satisfied the certification requirements established in the act. The directory may be updated on the first calendar day of each month if necessary. Upon first publication of the directory and following any updates to the directory, the act allows tobacco wholesalers and retailers to sell their inventory of cigarettes of manufacturers which have been not been included the directory for specified periods without penalty.

The Director of the Department of Revenue and the Attorney General are allowed to share information on tobacco sales in the state to implement and enforce the provisions of the act.

Stamping agents (persons authorized to affix cigarette tax stamps to cigarette packages) are required to submit to the director an e-mail address for the receipt of notifications as required by the bill and to submit various reports and documents as required by the department.

The act provides that any cigarettes that have been deemed by a court of competent jurisdiction to have been sold, offered for sale, or possessed for sale in violation of the act will be deemed contraband and subject to seizure, forfeiture, and destruction. In any successful action brought by the state under the act, the state may be entitled to recover the costs of investigation and action including reasonable attorney fees. The amendment subjects determinations not to list, or to remove from, the directory a brand family or tobacco product manufacturer to review by a court of competent jurisdiction.

Various penalties and actions for failure to comply with the requirements of the act are included.
The act contains an emergency clause.

This act is similar to the Senate Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 242 (2007).

The legislation has a chance for passage this year.

Smoking
The Missouri HealthNet Division had a huge winner for smoking cessation programs for qualified participants in the Missouri HealthNet Program.

Money was utilized from the Pharmacy “claw back” of federal funds.

Smoking cessation programs will be funded at $8,239,495.00.

The Division must devise a pre-authorization program and documentation of benefits, cost-savings and reduction of in needed services.

Missouri HealthNet must report to the House Budget and Senate Appropriations chairs and return on investment of the programs first year as well as subsequent years.

Animal Control
House Bill 1404 (Cox) was heard in Senate Judiciary.

The bill creates the crime of failure to adequately control an animal if the owner intentionally or recklessly fails to adequately control or restrain his or her animal and the animal bites or causes physical injury to a person unless the person bitten or injured taunts, provokes, harms, or attempts to harm the animal.  Anyone committing this crime will be guilty of a class C misdemeanor for the first offense and a class B misdemeanor for any subsequent offense.

FISCAL NOTE:  No impact on state funds in FY 2011, FY 2012, and FY 2013.

Budget Initiatives
Also this week, several pieces of legislation filed to benefit the budget process in years to come made movement including:

SCS/ HCS/ HB 1903 (Icet) this act creates the Federal Budget Stabilization Extension Fund to receive moneys from any federal legislation enacted by the 111th United States Congress intended to assist states in budget stabilization or that contains a provision that extends the temporary increase in the Medicaid Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP).

This act creates the Race to the Top Fund, in which all funds received from the federal government through the Race to the Top Program will be deposited. Prior to the distribution of any such funds, the Commissioner of Education must appear before the Joint Committee on Education and present the proposed distribution of funds. The Joint Committee must approve or deny, by majority vote, the Commissioner's proposed distribution. This provision is identical to SB 976 (2010).

The act contains an emergency clause.

HCS/ SCR 54 (Purgason) this concurrent resolution creates the Joint Interim Committee on Reducing the Size of State Government. The Committee shall examine each department and agency of the state in order to determine programs or bureaucracies that should be eliminate or reduced as well as developing recommendations and strategies for reducing the size of state government overall.

HCS/ SS/ SB 757 (Rupp)This act establishes the Joint Committee on Recovery Accountability and Transparency to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse of the funds received by the state or any political subdivision from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The committee will consist of four members of the senate and four members of the house. This committee will have the power to oversee the reporting of contracts and grants using covered funds, review whether competition requirements applicable to contracts and grants have been satisfied, review covered funds, refer matters for investigation to the attorney general or the agency dispersing the funds, receive regular reports from the commissioner of the office of administration, receive regular testimony from the state auditor, review audits from the state auditor, and review the number of jobs created in the state using these funds. The committee is required to report annually to the governor and general assembly. The committee also has the power to subpoena witnesses. The committee will end March 1, 2013.

This act requires the governor to submit a daily report of all amounts withheld from the state's operating budget. This report will be posted on the Missouri Accountability Portal. The Missouri Accountability Portal shall also display the expenses incurred or reimbursed to any state employee or elected or appointed official for travel out of the state.
This act requires the auditor of any county with a charter form of government to annually take an inventory of county property with an original value of $1,000 or more, rather than $250.

This act is similar to HB 939 (2009), a provision of SS/SCS/HB 376 (2009) and HCS/SB 386 (2009), SB 354 (2009), SCS/HB 544 (2009), and SB 568 (2009).

Next Week
Only ten legislative days remain before the May 14th adjournment at 6:00pm.

The Senate and House will now focus on the Senate’s cost saving initiatives.

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