MO Budget Project update – 2009 Leg session
By Cara | May 20, 2009
from mobudget.org:Missouri Budget Project Update
2009 Legislative Highlights
May 18, 2009
In this issue:
I. What we accomplished together
II. Biggest loss this session
III. Legislative “Heroes”
IV. Our work isn’t done: where do we go from here?
I. What we accomplished together:
At a time of great need, together we enhanced Unemployment Benefits, helping more than 260,000 Missouri families:
The Missouri Budget Project worked in partnership with you to advance HB 1075 (Sponsored by Representative Barney Fisher, R-District 125) and SB 495 (Sponsored by Senator John Griesheimer, R-District 26). In addition, Representative Vicki Lorenz Englund, D-District 85, sponsored a critical amendment to HB 1075 that brought essential changes to the legislation. These legislators worked tirelessly on this important measure. On the final day of session the legislature worked in a bi-partisan manner to pass HB 1075. Missouri’s unemployment rate reached 8.7 percent in March, making this a critical bill for hundreds of thousands of Missourians.
More than 261,000 unemployed Missouri workers will be helped by this legislation that:
* Increases the Unemployment insurance benefit by $25 per week for all workers in the current year. This is fully federally funded and will bring an estimated $122 mil in federal funds to Missouri
* Provides an additional 13 – 20 weeks of extended unemployment benefits for an estimated 34,479 Missourians who are facing long-term unemployment due to the recession. This benefit is also fully federally funded and will bring an estimated $130 mil to Missouri in extended benefits.
Together we advanced state budget priorities and the appropriate use of Federal Economic Recovery Funding:
Faced with proposed significant budget cuts to vital services at the start of the legislative session, together we were able to convince the legislature to invest Federal Economic Recovery funding into critical budgetary priorities including mental health, child care and services for seniors. Together we were able to prevent an attempt to divert $1 billion of the federal economic recovery funding for a short-sighted tax cut.
Because of our work, together we were able to:
* Restore much funding for critical mental health services,
* Protect child care assistance from reductions,
* Protect an array of services for seniors including congregate and in-home meals.
Tens of thousands of Missourians will be helped by these measures.
The Missouri Legislature approved:
* House Bills 1 – 13 (the annual operating budget) utilizing $783 million in federal recovery funding,
* House Bill 21 utilizing $2.5 billion in federal recovery funding, and
* House Bill 22 utilizing $381 million in federal recovery funding.
The MBP is working to finalize a report with more details on the full content of these bills.
All of these budget bills are on the Governor’s desk. He has the power to veto line items in the budget, but he may not add money to any line item.
Together we prevented bills that would deteriorate Missouri’s revenue and harm Missouri families (TABOR & HJR 36):
Together we once again prevented passage of a TABOR bill in Missouri. The measure would create the strictest constitutional constraint on revenue, limit the State’s ability to invest in services such as transportation, education and health care, and tie Missouri’s future fiscal health to the current fiscal crisis.
In addition, we successfully faced and prevented a new threat in 2009: HJR 36. This measure would eliminate Missouri’s corporate and individual income tax and replace it with a much enhanced, expanded sales tax. Estimates by the MBP indicate that the state would need to increase the general revenue sales tax rate from 3 percent to 9 percent for the measure to be “revenue neutral”. The enhanced sales tax would have been applied to all services and purchases including food, prescription drugs and over the counter medication, child care, educational services and nursing facilities. With exemption of any services or purchasing, an even higher tax rate would be needed.
II. Biggest loss this session: Health Care
The largest defeat this session was the failure of the Legislature to pass restoration of Medicaid eligibility for 35,000 very low income parents with incomes between 20 – 50 percent of the federal poverty level (or an income of $292 – $763) per month. In an attempt to encourage bi-partisan action on increasing access to health care, Senator Tom Dempsey, District 23, proposed SB 306, the “Show-Me Health Plan”. In the final days of the legislative session, Senator Dempsey worked tirelessly with other Senate Leaders including Senators Engler and Shields to incorporate language that the Missouri Budget Project requested in order to support the measure.
The Substitute for HB306 passed by the House was drastically different from the Senate-passed version. Although House and Senate conferees were appointed, it was apparent that the House and Senate would not come to an agreement, and SB306 was not taken up.
In a last ditch effort on the last day of the session, parts of SB306 were amended to HB156 (Nance), which provided supplemental food stamps for elderly persons. The Senate passed the Senate Substitute for HB156 and sent it back to the House. Unfortunately, the House leadership failed to bring up this bi-partisan measure endorsed by the Senate and the Governor, which would have provided health care to 35,000 low income families at NO cost to the State.
Another loss in health care was the failure of the General Assembly to approve funding for the Governor’s proposal to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Ideology and partisanship took precedence over the health care needs of Missouri’s children and families in 2009.
III. Legislative “Heroes”
Unemployment Heroes:
The Missouri Budget Project commends Representative Barney Fisher, Senator John Griesheimer, and Representative Vicki Lorenz Englund, , for their tireless efforts to pass the Unemployment Benefits legislation.
Budget Heroes:
The Missouri Budget Project commends Representatives Kiki Curls and Chris Kelly and Senators Nodler, Bray, Green, Mayer and Rupp for their tireless efforts to bring compassion to the Missouri budget. Representatives Bringer, Curls, Harris, Hughes, Lampe, McClanahan, Morris and Storch were strong advocates in the House Appropriations process, as was Representative Silvey on the SCHIP issue
Health Care Heroes:
The Missouri Budget Project commends Senate Republican Leadership, particularly Senators Engler, Shields and Dempsey for their tireless efforts to enhance access to health care for low income Missourians, and their willingness to move beyond party lines to support Medicaid. In addition, the Missouri Budget Project commends House and Senate Democrats who continued to fight for Medicaid Restoration.. Finally, the MBP commends Representatives Silvey, Hoskins, Largent, and Wasson for their willingness to support Medicaid in HB 11, despite the House Republican leadership’s opposition.
Please help us thank these legislative heroes for their efforts!
IV. Our work isn’t done; where do we go from here?
The Missouri Budget Project is discussing how we can best continue our collective work on health care and budget issues prior to the next legislative session. Our work to advance access to health care for parents and children will continue. With the economic recession, growing number of unemployed families and growing number of uninsured, we believe the time is now to advance health care access to Missouri. Missouri families simply can not wait any longer for access to health care.
The federal economic recovery money softened the blow that Missouri’s budget could have been dealt this year. That federal money is temporary. The Missouri Budget Project believes that it is critically important that policy makers address the structural deficit in Missouri’s budget, and find ways to raise adequate income to meet critical needs in a way that is fair and equitable. We simply cannot continue to short change education, health care, mental health and other services in order to balance the budget.
For more information regarding the issues in this update, please contact one of the MBP staff:
Amy Blouin, Executive Director
314.652.1400 (office) 314.518.8867 (cell), ablouin@mobudget.org
Ruth R. Ehresman, Director of Health & Budgetary Policy
314.652.1400 (office) 314 504.3616 (cell), rehresman@mobudget.org
Tom Kruckemeyer, Chief Economist
573.636.2581, tkruckemeyer@mobudget.org
Heather Lasher Todd, Communications Director
314.652.1400 (office), hlashertodd@mobudget.org
Topics: Legislation, Missouri, newsletter | No Comments »
Comments
« Longtime GOP Sen. Arlen Specter becomes Democrat – CNN.com | Home | Robin Carnahan campaign update »