April 15, 2011

The Senate this week did pass legislation to extend federal jobless benefits to thousands of peoo9ple cut off from payments earlier this month. The bill would reduce jobless benefits in Missouri from 26 weeks to 20 weeks.

Several Republican Senators led by Senator Lembke successfully stopped the legislation until an agreement was reached to reduce the acceptance of federal stimulus money by $250 million dollars out of $500 million slated to come to Missouri. Without passage the state would lose $115 million dollars in benefits.

They seek to send a message to Washington, D.C. that federal spending to out of control. The unemployment benefits if not approved would have been sent to other states.

House Speaker Tilley has not agreed to send the $250 million back to the federal government. Missouri would be the only state to return the federal money paid for by Missouri taxpayers.

The cuts of $250 million have yet to be decided. In fact House and Senate staffers are “scrambling” to find out how much has been spent and remains of the federal money.

The Missouri Senate is now debating the proposed redistricting plan approved by the House. In addition, the Senate is also discussing the plan to charge customers for the costs of seeking and wining a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission early site permit.

ATTORNEY GENERAL  Koster after months of silence joined the federal appeals court document in support of lawsuit brought by Florida and 25 other state challenging the constitutionality of the federal health care law signed by President Obama.

It appears Koster  bowed to pressure by the Missouri Republican controlled House and Senate who passed resolutions against the measure. In addition, Missouri voters overwhelmingly passed a measure barring the government from requiring people to have health insurance.

Interesting week! News this week includes:

House-Workforce Development and Workplace Safety
The House Workforce Development and Workplace Safety Committee on Monday. A public hearing was held for Senate Bill 8, sponsored by Sen. Jack Goodman.

SB 8   Restricts co-employee liability in workers' compensation cases.

Sen. Goodman's legislation makes three changes to Missouri's workers' compensation system. First, it requires all occupational diseases to continue to be covered by workers' compensation, which had been state law until recent court interpretations allowed employees to sue employers in civil court for occupational diseases. In an amendment added to SB 8 during Senate debate denies subrogation when the occupational disease relates to toxic exposure and is caused by the employer. Finally, SB 8 would restrict co-employee liability in workers' compensation cases.

Speaking in favor of the legislation were: Associated Industries of Missouri; United Steelworkers District 11 and the Missouri AFL-CIO; Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry;, CertainTeed Corporation; American Insurance Association and Missouri Insurance Coalition; Associated Builders and Contractors; NFIB; Missouri Restaurant Association; and Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.

The bill then was voted DO PASS in committee.

Fair Tax
HJR 8 “Mega Tax “received considerable debate Tuesday evening and was eventually “laid over” for future debate.

The bill will be stalled in the Senate so this effort may be for more exposure prior to the initiative petition to be filed by Rex Singqufield.

Public Health Departments
As you will recall the House Budget Committee (Flanigan) restored the Governor’s cut of $1.3 million to the county health departments.

The Senate had planned to close with the House recommendation.

However, Tuesday afternoon they went with the Governor’s cut.

The recommendation will go to conference and the committees will be contacted.

Senate-Health/Mental Health/Seniors & Families
The Senate Health/Mental Health/Seniors and Families Committee met on Tuesday. Several pieces of legislation approved by the House were presented before committee members.

HB 423   Authorizes Missouri to adopt the provisions of the Health Care Compact to improve health care policy by returning the authority to regulate health care to the state legislatures.

House Bill 423, Rep. Burlison's last bill before the committee, would authorize Missouri to adopt the provisions of the Health Care Compact to improve health care policy by returning the authority to regulate health care to the state legislatures. Burlison described this legislation not as health care policy reform, but rather governance reform." He said that a number of compacts already exist in the state, and this would operate similarly to those. Burlison is working with many other states implementing the same policy.

Speaking in favor of HB 423 was John Putman, a Carthage resident and member of Health Care Compact Missouri.

HB 73   Requires certain recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program benefits to be tested for the illegal use of controlled substances.

The final piece of legislation heard during the meeting was House Bill 73, sponsored by Rep. Ellen Brandom, R-Sikeston. Her bill would require certain recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program benefits to be tested for the illegal use of controlled substances. Supporters of this legislation say that taxpayer dollars should not be used to fund drug addictions. Opponents argue that the cost of issuing the drug tests would be extreme.

Two witnesses spoke in opposition to HB 73: Colleen Coble, Missouri Coalition Against Domestic Violence; and Pat Dougherty, Catholic Charities Archdiocese of St. Louis.

The committee then entered into executive session. Though a quorum of four senators was present, the approved legislation is still open for additional votes.

HB 270   Requires the state health insurance plan to provide coverage that is substantially similar to Medicare to participants eligible for and covered by Medicare and those eligible but not covered by Medicare. - Reported Do Pass

HB 388   Requires the attending physician, instead of the Department of Health and Senior Services, to provide a breast implantation patient with information on the advantages, disadvantages, and risks. - Reported Do Pass

HB 423   Authorizes Missouri to adopt the provisions of the Health Care Compact to improve health care policy by returning the authority to regulate health care to the state legislatures. - Reported Do Pass

Preparing to Care
The Senate Appropriations committee cut the “Preparing to Care” budget $12 million dollars. The program trains future health care workers.

Unions
The Senate gave final approval to the Senate Substitute for Senate Bill 202 and sent the measure to the House. Subject to voter approval, it would prohibit use of wage withholding to collect union dues or fees from public employees. Also, unions could not make political contributions from dues of public employees without each employee’s written authorization.

Health Care Related Bills
Additional bills also were addressed:

• A House committee reviewed House Bill 838, which would add pulse oximetry screening to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services’ list of newborn screening requirements. The change would be contingent on state appropriations to perform the tests.
• The House of Representatives gave final approval to House Bill 28, which governs the regulation of abortion-inducing drugs. Also, pharmacies may not be compelled to offer or provide a service resulting in an abortion and will be immune from liability for their refusal to do so. The bill moves to the Senate.
• A Senate committee approved Senate Bill 428, which would allow a sheriff to be reimbursed for the cost of transporting a patient to and from a mental health facility.

TABOR “Light” Passes Committee
The Senate Ways and Means and Fiscal Oversight Committee passed Senate Joint Resolution 8, a proposal for a constitutional amendment that would establish a revenue lid for the state.  The amendment, if passed by voters, would require the state to provide refunds to taxpayers if revenue increased by more than five percent over the previous fiscal year.  Like other TABOR revenue lids, the bill is problematic because it permanently locks the state into the current revenue crisis and threatens the ability of future legislatures to respond to the state’s changing needs and adequately fund basic state services. 

Next Week
As always after months of debate and negotiations and hearings the General Assembly tends to complete all their business in the last three weeks.

Consequently, look for a lot of floor actions as these next four weeks draw the 2011 session to a close.

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