March 16, 2009

The Missouri General Assembly has adjourned for the Spring Legislative Recess.

The legislature will resume March 23rd. May 15th is the date for final adjournment of the 2009 legislative session.

House Budget Committee members worked diligently late Wednesday evening to develop recommendations to take to the full House.

Massive budget cuts have been made in the House without utilizing the federal stimulus monies coming to Missouri. The Department of Health, Social Services and Mental Health alone have sustained cuts of over $400 million dollars alone. The total sweeping reductions amount to $1.1 billion dollars. Various estimates are that 89,000 Missourians will lose services, a loss of 4,200 jobs and a forfeiture of $238 million in federal matching funds could occur. A portion of the stimulus funds were used to “shore up” the school foundation formula. Consequently, cuts would have been even deeper.

During the mark-up, Committee members offered 107 amendments. Most were defeated. If a Committee member proposes to increase funding for a specific program or service, the Budget Chair’s rules require a member to first identify a line item to decrease, and get Committee approval for that.  Since there are a small number of programs that can realistically be decreased, several areas took big hits. For example, 26 amendments were proposed that used information technology in the Office of Administration as the source for their funding. Ten of these amendments passed, and Chair Icet said that he probably would have to revisit these cuts because they appear to be too deep.

The Senate and Governor will review House recommendations and overhaul the House version of the budget. Currently, the word is that the Senate will utilize a portion of the federal stimulus money to “shore up” the 2010 budget and revamp the House reductions.

The Governor envisions using the stimulus funding to stabilize the budget. This impasse will take up a great deal of time after the break.

News of interest in this busy week includes:

HJR 23 TABOR
On Thursday morning House Budget Chair Icet brought HJR 23 up for a final vote in the House.

This move was done intentionally as Icet still has tremendous leverage on the legislators with the House Budget pending.

The legislators were under a great deal of pressure to vote for the “TABOR-like” bill out and passed with the minimum of 82 votes. (Vote Y: 82/N: 78)

THIRD READING OF HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION

            HCS HJR 23, relating to limits on state appropriations, was taken up by Representative Icet.

On motion of Representative Icet, HCS HJR 23 was read the third time and passed by the following vote:

Speaker Pro Tem Pratt declared the bill passed.

This type of legislation was disastrous for Colorado and was eventually overturned by Colorado voters.

The legislation inhibits the ability of the state to appropriate funds to entities receiving state funds by limiting state growth each year with a formula figuring the cost of living and population growth with a base year.

The Senate will have a different perspective on the Resolution. This proposal is being pushed by billionaire Res Singquefield and his lobbying team.

Core Funding
On Wednesday afternoon all your efforts and contacts paid off as funding for CORE local public health agencies was restored.

I worked with Representative Mike Dethrow offer the amendment before the House Budget Committee and $900,000 was approved.

Representative Kelly, Hobbs and Dr. Cooper were particularly helpful in this massive effort. Stephanie’s Columbia calls energized Kelly (D) and Hobbs (R) and gave a bipartisan push to our efforts.

I have contacted Senator Nodler’s office and will be working with him to hold the restoration.

We should be very pleased that we are “level” is our funding as the majority of programs have suffered a 10% cut. Congratulations!

HHS Launches Office of Recovery Act Coordination
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is creating the Office of Recovery Act Coordination to manage the distribution of $137 billion in HHS funds included in the economic stimulus law. Dennis Williams will lead the new office and serve as HHS’ deputy assistant secretary for recovery act coordination. A new Web site from HHS allows visitors to track the progress of activities and the availability of federal funds through the Office of Recovery Act Coordination. 

Helmet Law
Senator Ridgeway successfully added her repeal of the helmet law to SB 202. It was slipped in on a voice vote.

Senator Schaffer (Columbia) is the sponsor of SB 202. My understanding is that Governor Nixon would veto this provision.

Tobacco
The $1.5 million the Governor included for smoking cessation was deleted by House Budget Chair Icet.

Senator Wilson’s SB 490 was heard Tuesday in the Senate General Laws Committee.

The legislation has been around several years.

The bill incorporates provisions of the model complementary enforcement legislation for the master settlement agreement by establishing certain requirements for participating tobacco manufacturers and nonparticipating tobacco manufacturers relating to the agreement between various tobacco companies, the State of Missouri, 45 other states, the District of Columbia, and five U. S. territories.

All tobacco manufacturers whose cigarettes are sold in Missouri are required to report and certify to the attorney general's office by April 30th of each year that they are in compliance with the Tobacco Settlement Model Statute currently in Missouri law. In addition to the certification, participating manufacturers must also provide a list of "brand families" of cigarette types.

Nonparticipating manufacturers must submit their brand families, the number of units sold for each family at any time during the preceding year, the name and address of any other manufacturer of their brand families for the preceding or current calendar year, as well as other information required to verify compliance with the model statute. Each nonparticipating manufacturer must further certify it is registered to do business in the state or maintains an agent within the state for the purpose of service of process relating to the enforcement of the act.

All tobacco manufacturers must update their lists thirty days prior to any addition to, or modification of, its brand families through a supplemental certification to the attorney general. Tobacco product manufactures must maintain all invoices and documentation of sales and other such information relied upon for certification for a period of five years, unless otherwise required by law to maintain such records for a longer period of time.

By July 1, 2010, the Director of the Department of Revenue must make available for public inspection, or publish on the department's web site, a list of all tobacco product manufacturers that have satisfied the certification requirements established in 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.

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).

Seat Belts
In a lengthy hearing on Tuesday Representative Deeken’s HB 665 (primary seat belts) was heard in the House Transportation Committee.

Currently, the driver and each front-seat passenger of cars and trucks with a licensed gross weight under 12,000 pounds must wear a safety belt.  Exemptions are allowed for United States Postal Service employees while performing their duties, persons operating or riding a motor vehicle being used in agricultural work-related activities, and persons with a medical reason.  This bill requires all drivers and passengers in all cars and trucks to wear a safety belt except those already exempt.  A person with a medical reason must possess documentation from a physician.

The bill also removes the provision that prohibits a person from being stopped, inspected, or detained solely for not wearing a properly adjusted and fastened safety belt.

Rabies
House Bill 617 (Brown) was heard in the House Animal Agriculture Committee on Tuesday.

The bill requires the owner of every dog or cat in this state to have his or her animal vaccinated against rabies by a veterinarian and to have the vaccination repeated periodically based on the age of the animal and type of vaccine administered or as required by an applicable municipal or county ordinance.

Any owner violating the provisions of the bill will be guilty of a class C misdemeanor for each dog or cat.

Cigarette Tax
Representative Nasheed’s HB 494 was heard in the House Tax Reform Committee.

The bill increases the excise tax on cigarettes from 17 cents to 33 cents per pack of 20 cigarettes with the additional revenue, less a 3% collection fee, being deposited into the General Revenue Fund.

This legislation has no chance for passage this year.

President Signs $410 Billion Omnibus Spending Bill into Law
President Obama signed a $410 billion omnibus appropriations bill Wednesday evening that includes regular health agency funding through Sept. 30. The Senate approved the measure by voice vote Tuesday; the House approved the bill in February.

State General Revenue Continues to Fall
Missouri General Revenue Collections, after refunds, decreased 10.4 percent in February, resulting in an overall decrease of 1.4 percent for the first eight months of State Fiscal Year 2009 (FY 2009) to date. The decline in State General Revenue (GR) over the last eight months, coupled with the generally weak economic situation, makes it clear that the state faces a very difficult budget situation now and in the foreseeable future.

Next Week
The General Assembly will adjourn until March 23rd. Weekly legislative reports will resume March 27th.

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