State Rep. David Wood Archives

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.

Missouri vaping bill heading to Governor Parson’s desk

May 15, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Legislation that requires Missouri school districts to include instruction on the use and effects of vapor products is heading to the governor’s desk, after receiving final approval from the Missouri House on Friday.

State Rep. David Wood, R-Versailles, speaks on the Missouri House floor in Jefferson City on April 29, 2020 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The bipartisan vote was 125-19, and the debate was focused on numerous amendments that the Missouri Senate added, including language about marijuana edibles and “marijuana telehealth.”

State Rep. David Wood, R-Versailles, the bill sponsor, admitted to State Rep. Tracy McCreery, D-Olivette, that he didn’t know the specifics about all of the amendments the Senate added, because there are so many.

Wood and Rep. Lynn Morris, R-Nixa, urged colleagues to back the bill, saying it’s needed in schools. But Wood told House colleagues he understands some of “their heartburn,” due to all of the Senate amendments.

State Rep. Mike Moon, R-Ash Grove, warned on the floor that the Wood bill is unconstitutional, with multiple topics. Representative Moon told colleagues they took an oath to uphold the state Constitution, adding that this is an “egregious” violation.

In the end, the House approved the measure, and overwhelmingly approved an emergency clause.

Two Democrats added to governor’s coronavirus funding work group

April 23, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

House Democrat Kip Kendrick

The State Treasurer’s Office says two Democrats – State Representative Kip Kendrick of Columbia and Senator Karla May of St. Louis – have joined Gov. Mike Parson’s coronavirus funding working group. Members are tasked with recommending to the governor the best way to spend $2.3 billion in federal money to combat the virus.

Kendrick is the ranking Democrat on the Missouri House Budget Committee. As a state representative, May served on the Budget Committee and was the ranking minority member of the Subcommittee on Appropriations – Public Safety, Corrections, Transportation and Revenue.

Parson has been criticized for not originally including any Democrats, women or people of color on the panel. State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick, a Republican from southwest Missouri’s Shell Knob, is the chairman of the group. Before Parson appointed him to serve in his current role, Fitzpatrick was the House Budget Committee Chairman.

Sen. Karla May (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

“I think at the end of the day the governor is interested in having a group of people that will have relevant experience and can provide results to him,” Fitzpatrick tells Missouri. “The demographics things are, I think, kind of a secondary concern.”

Other group members include State Budget Director Dan Haug, Missouri Public Service Commission Chairman and former Missouri House Budget Committee Chairman Ryan Silvey, Missouri House Budget Committee Vice Chairman David Wood, State Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, Department of Natural Resources legislative liaison Rich Germinder and Dan Burgess, legislative director for Missouri U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt.

“I think what the governor was trying to accomplish was having some legislative input, some federal input with a member of the federal delegation staff representative there, somebody from a staff level from the executive branch as well as the budget director and myself and then also Budget Chairman Ryan Silvey,” says Fitzpatrick.

So far, Missouri has had at least 208 coronavirus related deaths and more than 6,100 people have tested positive for the respiratory disease. COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting African-Americans in Missouri.

Missouri Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick (Photos courtesy of the Treasurer’s Office)

Fitzpatrick says Missouri has already received $1.18 billion – half of the total federal allocation. The rest of the money could come later this week. The state is still awaiting federal guidance on the way it can spend the money in response to the coronavirus.

Auditor Nicole Galloway, a Democrat challenging Parson for governor, is reviewing the way the state is using the funding.

Fitzpatrick says he hopes to have the first meeting next week. It will be held in a public setting. The location is unknown at this time.

Missouri lawmakers approve $6.2 billion supplemental to battle the coronavirus

April 8, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

The Missouri Legislature voted Wednesday in Jefferson City to approve a historic $6.2 billion emergency relief package to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed at least 58 Missourians and has cost thousands of jobs across the state.

A masked Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, strikes the gavel to begin House proceedings on the COVID-19 supplemental on April 8, 2020, with empty galleries (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The Senate approved the bill first, before the House took it up and approved it on a 147-4 vote. Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, tells Missourinet that he and House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, have signed the supplemental budget, sending it to the governor’s desk.

The House debate was unlike anything that’s ever been seen in the chamber, with Speaker Haahr wearing a mask and the chamber limited to ten people at one time. There were no visitors sitting in the upper galleries, which normally are full of lobbyists, schoolchildren and the general public.

State Rep. David Wood, R-Versailles, says the supplemental includes additional funding for suicide prevention and mental health.

“When you put people into a stressful situation and forcing them to stay home without a paycheck and wondering how they’re going to make it to the next month, that leads to some very serious consequences,” Wood says.

Governor Mike Parson says more than 100,000 Missourians have filed for unemployment this past week.

State Rep. Kip Kendrick, D-Columbia, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, says local health departments across Missouri are critical to containing COVID-19.

State Rep. Kip Kendrick, D-Columbia, speaks in support of the COVID-19 supplemental budget on April 8, 2020 in Jefferson City (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

“We would ask that the executive branch remember the local health departments who are really underfunded at the state level, across the board,” Kendrick says.

The supplemental also includes $90 million for nursing homes to help with infection control. The state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) says Missouri has 3,327 COVID-19 cases and 58 deaths.

While the House vote was bipartisan, Wednesday’s floor debate did become heated briefly when Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, said Republicans reacted with scorn, when House Democrats tried to increase funding for the coronavirus outbreak three weeks ago.

“When we (House Democrats) warned that the $33 million in pandemic spending authority then included in the supplemental appropriations bill was woefully insufficient, folks on the other side accused us of political exploitation and shameful behavior,” Quade says.

But House Majority Leader Rob Vescovo, R-Arnold, fired back, accusing Democrats of politicizing the issue.

“There is no action we could have taken three weeks ago that would have kept us from being here today,” says Vescovo. “The truth is, the only people playing politics with this very serious issue are the ones on the other side of the aisle, Mr. Speaker.”

Wednesday’s House vote featured members wearing masks and going into the chamber to vote, four at a time. Only a few House microphones were used, and the chamber’s back door was kept open, so members did not have to touch door knobs.

House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, notes the supplemental increased from $413 million a few weeks ago to the current total of $6.2 billion.

Chairman Smith says the supplemental budget also includes about $300 million in funding for K-12 schools to handle COVID-19 related expenses. He says it also includes $12 million for Head Start.

During his floor speech, Smith warned against partisanship, saying Missourians have died from the coronavirus and that others are hurting and need help.

Across the chamber in the Senate, Pro Tem Schatz (R) and Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, D-Independence, also praise the supplemental’s importance.

Rizzo says the relief package is the most robust funding for progressive policies that Missouri has ever seen. He notes it includes $40 million for food banks and Meals on Wheels.

Missouri Medicaid Director Richardson to present budget this week (AUDIO)

February 9, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

The state’s Medicaid director will present his budget to the Missouri House Budget Committee Tuesday morning in Jefferson City.

Former Missouri House Speaker Todd Richardson opens a special session on June 11, 2018. Richardson is now the state’s Medicaid director (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The hearing is set for 8:15.

During his January State of the State Address, Governor Mike Parson (R) credited former House Speaker and current Medicaid director Todd Richardson for finding $84 million in savings, in the Medicaid system.

“While some in the press are eager to criticize this improved efficiency – or outright misrepresent it – the truth is that this system has been broken for many years and unproductively serving every Missourian who is paying for it,” Governor Parson told a joint session of the Legislature on January 15, in Jefferson City.

Richardson says that savings is important.

“Across the program, you know with both big chunks and small chunks we’ve been working to identify those efficiencies that allow us to deliver a better program,” Richardson says.

Medicaid is a federal and state program that assists with medical costs for residents with limited incomes. Missouri’s Medicaid budget is about $10 billion, accounting for more than one-third of the state’s $30 billion operating budget.

Governor Mike Parson criticized Medicaid expansion during his State of the State Address on January 15, 2020 in Jefferson City (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Governor Parson and Richardson say that savings is important to protect citizens who need Medicaid services the most. Director Richardson says there’s more work to do.

“We’ve got to work together to build a best-in-class Medicaid program that provides for the needs of Missouri’s most vulnerable, but does so in a way that’s financially sustainable,” says Richardson.

Richardson was appointed to his post by Governor Parson, and has been in the position since November 2018.

Statistics provided by the state Department of Social Services (DSS) show the number of Missourians on Medicaid has decreased from 953,000 in August 2018 to 846,000 now. Richardson will likely face some questions on Tuesday from lawmakers about thousands of children who have recently been removed from Medicaid.

The “Springfield News-Leader” reported this weekend that State Rep. David Wood, R-Versailles, says thousands of children removed from the Medicaid rolls were likely still eligible for coverage. The newspaper quotes Wood as saying that paperwork for the parents is horrendous, and that the state could do a better job of helping people through the process.

Wood is the House Budget Committee’s vice chairman.

Another issue that could come up during the hearing is Medicaid expansion. Governor Parson opposes it, as does Richardson. Director Richardson tells Missourinet he’s focused on reforming Medicaid, not expanding it.

“There will be a tremendous cost to Medicaid expansion and costs that frankly the state doesn’t have,” Richardson says.

Richardson’s focus is on operating a better program that produces better outcomes, in a financially sustainable way.

House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, and House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, also oppose Medicaid expansion. They say it would take dollars out of the classroom, noting it requires a ten percent match for the 90 percent draw down.

Speaker Haahr has warned that it would blow a hole in the general revenue budget.

But Democrats like House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, and State Rep. Deb Lavender, D-Kirkwood, support Medicaid expansion. They have said 100,000 children have lost their Medicaid coverage and that it’s an emergency.

The organization “Healthcare for Missouri” also backs Medicaid expansion, citing a recent report from the Missouri Hospital Association and nine other healthcare organizations.

“This new research (the new report) only adds to the growing body of fact-based evidence that Medicaid expansion will not just save lives but could also save taxpayers money. The recent examples of Arkansas, Indiana, and Ohio show three states that have used Medicaid-derived savings to cut income taxes, increase government efficiency and improve worker productivity,” Healthcare for Missouri campaign spokesman Jack Cardetti’s statement reads, in part.

Medicaid expansion supporters also note that eight rural Missouri hospitals have closed in recent years.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and State Medicaid Director Todd Richardson, which was recorded on January 15, 2020 at the Statehouse in Jefferson City: