Kids Win Missouri Archives

What we’re watching next week in Missouri Legislature: budget, oversight hearings and MLB antitrust exemption pushback

April 17, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

The proposed state operating budget will be heading to the Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee in Jefferson City next week for daily hearings and for consideration. The state Constitution requires lawmakers to approve a balanced budget by early May.

House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith (R-Carthage) and State Rep. Brad Hudson (R-Cape Fair) have a discussion on the Missouri House floor on April 1, 2021 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The Missouri House approved a $34.1 billion state operating budget this month, a budget which does not contain funding for Medicaid expansion. It includes a $76 million increase for foster and adoptive children, including a 45 percent increase to the clothing allowance for foster teens.

Kids Win Missouri policy director Craig Stevenson says the House budget provides unprecedented support for the kinship and foster families who care for the thousands of children in Missouri foster care. The state Department of Social Services (DSS) notes there are currently
13,939 foster care children in Missouri.

“It increases everything from the maintenance, the monthly maintenance payments that foster guardian and adoptive parents get. But then also increases important things like the diaper allowance for people who are caring for infants,” Stevenson told Missourinet this month.

House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith (R-Carthage) tells Missourinet that he will not be testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee next week. He says Committee Chairman State Sen. Dan Hegeman (R-Cosby) will be the Senate handler.

The House has also approved a budget blueprint from Chairman Smith that directs dollars slated for Medicaid expansion for other programs. Smith says it’s a $342 million bill. That includes $88 million for long-term care in nursing facilities, $15.5 million for k-12 school transportation, $2 million for adult high schools, $11.6 million for the Department of Mental Health (DMH) for alcohol and drug abuse treatment, $53 million to DMH for adult community programs and $30 million for programs like respite care, adult day care and home-delivered meals.

House Special Committee on Government Oversight Chair Rep. Jered Taylor (R-Nixa) speaks on the Missouri House floor in April 2021 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Democrats in the Missouri Senate are expected to try to restore funding for Medicaid expansion, which was approved by 53 percent of Missouri voters in August.

The issue of oversight will also get more attention next week in the Missouri House.

The House Special Committee on Government Oversight plans Monday and Tuesday hearings about operations within the Department of Social Services (DSS) and the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DOLIR). The issues at faith-based boarding schools like the now-defunct Circle of Hope will likely be discussed again.

Prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) legislation will be heard by the Missouri House Veterans Committee on Tuesday afternoon. The committee will hear testimony from bill sponsor State Sen. Holly Rehder (R-Scott City). The Senate has given final approval to PDMP, which is an electronic database that collects data on controlled substance prescriptions within a state. Missouri is the only state in the nation without a PDMP.

Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz (R-Sullivan) supports PDMP, saying it provides a layer of protection against drug and dependency and dangerous drug interactions.

Meantime, the Missouri Senate Rules, Joint Rules, Resolutions and Ethics Committee meets Tuesday to hear testimony from State Sen. Rick Brattin (R-Harrisonville) about his resolution, which urges Congress to end Major League Baseball’s (MLB) federal antitrust exemption. Senator Brattin’s resolution is in response to MLB’s decision to move the All-Star game from Atlanta because of Georgia legislation requiring photo ID.

“This is yet another instance of corporate virtue signaling and sports stoking the culture wars in this country,” Brattin said last week. He also says MLB is undercutting the basis of its antitrust exemption. He notes the exemption has been in place since a 1922 U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Critics of the Georgia law say it will make it more difficult for minorities and the elderly to vote.

Missouri’s gasoline tax will also be discussed this week. The Missouri House Transportation Committee meets Wednesday afternoon at 5 to hear testimony from Pro Tem Schatz (R-Sullivan) about his bill, which increases the state’s gasoline tax by 2.5 cents each year, for a total of a 12.5 cent per gallon increase by 2025. The GOP-controlled Missouri Senate has already given final approval to the bill.

Missouri’s 17-cent per gallon gasoline tax has remained the same since 1996.

Missouri House’s bipartisan budget increase for foster children praised by Kids Win Missouri (AUDIO)

April 8, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

A coalition that’s dedicated to improving the well-being of Missouri children is praising the Missouri House’s bipartisan approval of a $76 million increase for foster and adoptive children.

Missouri House Speaker Rob Vescovo (right) and House Budget Committee chairman Cody Smith (R-Carthage) listen to budget debate in the chamber on March 30, 2021 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Kids Win Missouri policy director Craig Stevenson says the House budget provides unprecedented support for the kinship and foster families who care for the thousands of children in Missouri foster care. The state Department of Social Services (DSS) says there are currently 13,917 foster care children in Missouri.

The House budget increases the infant care enhancement from $50 to $80 per month. There is a $44 per month foster care monthly maintenance increase for foster children ages 0-5, and $47 per month for ages 6-12. It’s $127 per month increase for foster teens.

Mr. Stevenson also notes the House budget includes a 45 percent increase to the clothing allowance for foster teens.

“We all know that it takes a lot of resources to clothe and keep our growing kids in appropriate clothing,” says Stevenson.

The House budget increases the clothing allowance for foster teens by $220 annually, up from the current $480. It also increases the clothing allowance for Missouri foster children ages 6-12 by $110 annually, up from the current $290.

Stevenson is thankful to House Speaker Rob Vescovo (R-Arnold) and to House members in both parties for their support, saying it represents a much-needed investment.

“Foster parenting is a calling, and we are grateful for the commitment of the House of Representatives in providing additional support for those caring for children,” Stevenson says.

Kids Win Missouri’s website says its mission is “to further child well-being by advancing the health, education, safety and development of Missouri children and their families, especially those who are at-risk because of poverty, abuse, neglect, racial inequities or other risk factors.”

Vescovo, who was elected House Speaker in January, focused on early childhood education and adoption during his opening day address. He called on state lawmakers that day to expand Missouri’s adoption tax credit, so that families who want to adopt a child aren’t blocked from doing it simply because of cost.

Speaker Vescovo was adopted.

The Missouri House approved a $34.1 billion state operating budget last week. That budget now heads to the Missouri Senate. The state Constitution requires Missouri lawmakers to approve a balanced budget by early May.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with Kids Win Missouri policy director Craig Stevenson, which was recorded on April 2, 2021:

Missouri lawmaker leads effort to boost early childhood education funding

February 4, 2021 By Alisa Nelson

Missouri has been struggling for years to find ways to increase funding for pre-kindergarten learning efforts. The profession also continues to battle serious worker retention problems.

Rep. Brenda Shields, R-St. Joseph

State Representative Brenda Shields, R-St. Joseph, is proposing to let counties ask voters to levy an annual real property tax to help fund local early childhood education programs and services. During a Missouri House committee hearing, Shields says the levy could not exceed 40 cents per 100 dollars of assessed property value. The plan would also create seven-member county early childhood education boards to manage the tax funds.

“The population in our state that we really have lacked providing services to and helping families is our 0 to 3-year-old population, in which we know that 85% of the brain development happens,” says Shields. “I envision, but it’s not limited because it’s anything under the age of 5, but a lot of these funds will go to really support families and children from 0 to 3.”

In 1969, the Missouri Legislature passed Senate Bill 40 to provide services for citizens with developmental disabilities. Shields says her bill is designed the same way, but instead to focus on early childhood education needs.

“Eighty-seven counties in the state of Missouri have voted to have Senate Bill 40 boards because Missourians saw the advantage of taking care of their neighbor,” she says.

Linda Rallo, vice president of a Kansas City area education nonprofit called Aligned, testified in support of the plan.

“This is exactly what we need in Missouri,” says Rallo. “We have federal funding that comes into our state and we have state funding through the foundation formula that funds pre-K, but it’s not enough to meet the needs of each community.”

Rallo says early childhood education solves a two-generation workforce problem.

“Our organization really sees early childhood investment as an investment in our workforce for the future – both for providing quality options for parents and providing a pathway for greater attainment of academic and social success later in life,” she says.

Craig Stevenson, with a child advocacy group called Kids Win Missouri, shared data about the state’s shortage of pre-K education providers.

“We have 72 counties that qualify as childcare deserts,” he says. “What that means is that for every licensed slot available in that county, there are at least three children who could fill that slot. So, 72 of our counties qualify as of a month ago. Five of our counties don’t have one licensed facility. Five other counties only have one.”

No one spoke in opposition to the measure.

To view House Bill 865, click here.

Missouri’s governor signs major foster care legislation into law (AUDIO)

July 13, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Bipartisan legislation that aims to modernize Missouri’s foster care system and provides Medicaid coverage to homeless children was signed into law Monday by the governor in Jefferson City.

State Rep. Sheila Solon, R-St. Joseph, testifies before a Missouri House committee in Jefferson City on January 28, 2020 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

State Rep. Sheila Solon, R-St. Joseph, who chairs the House Children and Families Committee, says it’s one of the most important bills she’s passed in her eight years in Jefferson City. She’s leaving the House in December, due to term limits.

“It’s going to help children all over the state of Missouri and especially it’s going to help foster children, who are the responsibility of all of us,” Solon says.

The Missouri Department of Social Services (DSS) says there were 14,043 foster care children in Missouri as of May.

Solon’s bill aims to reform Missouri’s foster care system, by requiring the creation of a response team that will review the practices of the state Children’s Division and any contractors. The Children’s Division, which is part of DSS, is responsible for the administration of child welfare services.

Chairwoman Solon tells Missourinet that the response team is a key component of her bill.

“Some of the shortcomings, and not just our foster care system here in Missouri but all across the country is a lack of transparency, a lack of sharing data and the lack of sharing information when it comes to foster children,” says Solon.

Under House Bill 1414, the new response team must meet for the first time before January 1, 2021.

Solon says her legislation improves transparency in the foster care system, and ensures that it remains focused on the best interests of each child.

Missouri’s homeless youth will be covered by Medicaid and will have access to a free birth certificate, under the 58-page bill.

“Those two provisions, believe it or not, were not as difficult as the third provision, which allows homeless youth to contract for mental health services,” Solon says.

The bill also ensures that foster parents have access to full medical records of a child placed with them, at the time of placement.

The Missouri House approved the legislation by a bipartisan 144-3 vote. Solon credits State Sen. David Sater, R-Cassville, for getting the bill through the Senate, where it also had bipartisan support.

Craig Stevenson, the policy director of “Kids Win Missouri,” also praises the bill.

“The passage of this bill is the work of passionate policymakers and it will positively impact children of all ages,” Stevenson says, in a statement.

The new law will take effect on August 28.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with State Rep. Sheila Solon, R-St. Joseph, which was recorded on July 13, 2020:

Missouri House Speaker and children’s advocates praise Wood’s selection as Children’s Division director

May 22, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

(News director J.T. Gerlt from Missourinet Versailles affiliate KTKS contributed to this story)

A veteran Missouri lawmaker who is term-limited has announced that he will be taking over as the new Children’s Division director in mid-June.

State Rep. David Wood, R-Versailles, listens to testimony during the May 21, 2020 meeting of the CARES Act funding working group at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

State Rep. David Wood, R-Versailles, made the announcement Friday morning on Missourinet Versailles affiliate KTKS (FM 95.1). Wood joined news director J.T. Gerlt in-studio for a live interview.

Wood notes there have been five Children’s Division directors in the past seven years.

“I have promised that I will take this job for at least four years,” Wood says. “And I told the Governor (Mike Parson) that we need stability there and I would stay as long as he was there for sure, and longer.”

The Children’s Division is part of the state Department of Social Services (DSS), and is responsible for the administration of child welfare services.

Children’s Division responsibilities include foster care and adoption. The division also partners with local child care providers through the child care subsidy program, which helps Missouri families to become self-sufficient.

The division works with families, communities and the courts toward ensuring the safety and well-bring of Missouri children.

Wood, who’s in his eighth and final year in the House because of term limits, was first elected to the Legislature in 2012. He also serves as the House Budget Committee’s vice chairman.

He tells KTKS that he hopes his experience will help in funding the Children’s Division.

“I know it’s going to be a tough budget cycle because the revenues aren’t coming in, we’re going to have to look at cuts,” says Wood. “And with my experience on the budget and knowing how to deal with that and how to defend certain pieces, I think I’m going to be a good advocate for the department.”

Representative Wood tells Missourinet he will start as Children’s Division director on June 15, and that his resignation from the House will be effective just before that.

Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, praises Wood’s appointment. Haahr has served in the Legislature with Wood for eight years.

“Rep. Wood is one of the most knowledgeable and respected members of the state legislature and will be an incredible asset to the state in his new role,” Speaker Haahr tells Missourinet.

The appointment is also praised by a lobbyist who represents “Kids Win Missouri.” That’s a coalition of groups and individuals who are working to improve the well-being of Missouri children.

“Representative Wood’s passion for keeping children safe, supporting families, and working to make state systems better will all come together perfectly in this role,” Craig Stevenson of “Kids Win Missouri” tweeted on Friday.