Progress in Missouri

This past week was a very busy week for the House and the Senate. The House worked into the early morning Thursday to pass over 70 bills that are considered “consent”, i.e. bills that are not controversial, do not come with a cost to taxpayers, and have no penalties associated with them. In addition, legislation passed both chambers that could have a significant positive impact for Missouri.

Property Taxes - HJR43
As I mentioned earlier in the year, the General Assembly is considering a number of ways to help people suffering from the financial strain caused by excessive property taxes. The House has passed a proposed constitutional amendment that, upon voter approval, changes the rollback requirement for the Hancock Amendment by requiring the current levy, instead of the voter approved maximum levy, to be reduced in a reassessment year. These rollbacks are intended to protect property owners from sharp tax rate increases and prevent windfall revenues by taxing entities in reassessment years. If approved by the Senate, it will be on the ballot for voters to approve in November 2008.

Judicial Taxation – HJR41
While we can’t control the actions of federal judges, we can ensure Missouri judges don’t overreach and stake a claim on the power to tax. The House gave approval this past week for a proposed constitutional amendment that would clearly state that the judiciary does not have the power to tax through court order. Specifically, this proposed amendment prohibits the Missouri Supreme Court or any other court of the state from ordering the state, a county, or any city to increase taxes. The amendment also prohibits any Missouri court from controlling how the state, a county, or any city spends, allocates, or budgets, except as expressly authorized by legislation or approved by Missouri voters. If approved by the Senate, it will be on the ballot for voters to approve this November.

Illegal Immigration – SB858
The Missouri Senate kept itself busy this past week by approving legislation dealing with the problem of illegal immigration. The bill has a number of provisions including: prohibiting illegal aliens from obtaining a driver’s license; prohibiting the creation of sanctuary cities in the state; requiring verification of the legal employment status of every public employee; allowing for the cancellation of state contracts for contractors if they hire illegal immigrants; requiring public agencies to verify the legal status of applicants before providing welfare benefits; criminalizing the transportation of illegal aliens for the purposes of human trafficking, drug trafficking, prostitution, or illegal labor; and enacting provisions to punish bad acting employers who hire illegal aliens. This bill is now under consideration of the House.

Protecting Missourians from excessive property taxes; strengthening our Constitution by further defining the roles of the judicial, legislative, and executive branches; and taking leadership to protect our national sovereignty – not a bad week, not a bad week at all.

Ervin Introduces Comprehensive Health Care Initiative

Jefferson City – It should be easier for many of the estimated 700,000 uninsured Missourians to afford health insurance and have a better idea of what health care goods and services cost under legislation sponsored by Rep. Doug Ervin (R-Holt).

“Building upon our tax equity and portability successes from last year, we are now in a position to continue making market-based reforms to improve access to affordable coverage for those who are unable to be medically underwritten and to low-income individuals. It is also time that Missourians be given the information necessary to be informed consumers and not just participants in their health care. We have a right to know the cost and quality of health care before those services are provided,” said Rep. Ervin. “This legislation takes steps to change things, to move the state in the right direction, to redirect our state’s health care policies to meet the needs of its citizens instead of the needs of employers, government, insurers, and providers.”

Transparency
Ervin believes that people have the right to know what health care costs and have some idea of the quality of that care before the care is provided. “All of us, at one time or another has driven across town to save a penny or two per gallon of gas or spent time clipping coupons, yet we don’t think twice about the price of health care,” Ervin said. “As consumers of health care we act irrationally, especially when it is paid for by a third party. This is largely due to the lack of price and quality information available to consumers.”

Ervin’s plan ensures that people have the right to request an estimate of the costs of their care in non-emergency situations before that care is provided. “It is not that we don’t care about what something costs or how good our doctor is, but simply that we have never been given the opportunity to find out. Let’s face it, we have a health care system that is price blind and quality silent, patients demand and deserve better than that.”

The Missouri Health Insurance Pool
Under Rep. Ervin’s plan, the medically uninsurable will be provided affordable health insurance through the high risk pool known as the Missouri Health Insurance Pool (MHIP). The MHIP serves individuals who have medical conditions that insurers won’t provide coverage to in the individual health insurance market. These individuals typically do not qualify for public assistance and do not have an employer health insurance plan available to them. It is estimated that one to two percent of Missouri’s population is considered medically uninsurable.

Currently, individuals qualifying for the high risk pool pay 150% of the standard market rate for coverage. Ervin’s bill would lower that rate to the standard market rate for lower income enrollees and cap the rate at 125% of the standard market rate for higher income enrollees. The plan also authorizes the MHIP to create a low-income premium subsidy program to assist low-income enrollees.

Small businesses find the cost of providing employees with employer-sponsored health insurance to be excessively prohibitive, especially when an employee or dependent has a significant health problem. Ervin’s bill would create a pilot program to allow insurers to transfer the high risks from the small group to the MHIP through a risk transfer product with the intent to stabilize rates for the small group. It is estimated that half of Missouri’s uninsured population work for small businesses.

Insure Missouri
Another provision in Ervin’s plan would establish the Insure Missouri program. This program will provide premium assistance to low-income Missourians allowing them to purchase individual health insurance policies. The program is intended to assist at least 71,000 low-income, working adults.

Each Insure Missouri policy holder will be required to make a monthly contribution, based upon income, to a separate account to pay for deductibles and co-pays. Failure to make the monthly contribution will cause the individual to be removed from the program.

“The Insure Missouri plan allows those qualified individuals to purchase an individual health insurance policy while promoting personal responsibility and ownership of their health, leveraging private market innovations, focusing on prevention and wellness, and using existing revenues to pay for the plan eliminating the need to raise taxes,” explained Ervin. “This plan helps eliminate the hidden tax that each of us pay due to uncompensated care from the uninsured and uninsurable populations.”

Ervin recently introduced HB2394 relating to price and quality transparency in health care and HB2413 relating to access and affordability of health coverage through the MHIP and Insure Missouri program.

Feel Good Economics

Apparently, Congress is unaware of the economy that you and I live in. Just yesterday (March 13, 2008) Congress passed a non-binding budget resolution that ends the tax cuts from earlier this decade to pay for questionable pork barrel projects (which poses another question: why can’t Congress do anything for the people of this land that IS binding?).

Since when do tax increases help a struggling economy? How can Congress talk about economic “stimulus” packages out of one side of their mouth and job killing tax increases out of the other? Why does Congress want us to believe that a one-time tax rebate is good for us, but a permanent tax cut it is not? Is Congress more concerned with central planning of the economy, than the prosperity of its citizens?

Missouri’s constitution does not allow for deficit spending and requires the General Assembly to pass a balanced budget each and every year for the protection of taxpayers. Unfortunately, we have no such protection from Congress.

Politicians in Washington have opted for a politically expedient “stimulus” package that will do little, if anything, to stimulate the economy, but may be enough to stimulate their re-election campaigns. When the rebate becomes available, take it – it may be the only thing you’ll get from Congress, unless you have a personal “earmark”.

What is a state to do?

The General Assembly is already working on legislation to curb illegal immigration – a job that belongs to the federal government. The General Assembly is working to provide better access and affordability in our health care markets, but the federal government has put up barriers that stifle innovation and our ability to do so. The General Assembly is working to improve public education, but again the federal No Child Left Behind Act has too many strings attached.

Once again, what is a state to do? How can Missouri compete on the national and global playing field when Washington fails?

To add insult to injury, an old adage tells us that high tax rates don’t redistribute income as much as they redistribute people. In the next census, it is expected that Missouri will lose a congressional seat. These seats are apportioned by population and this would indicate that Missouri is not growing as fast as other states. This loss of a congressional seat will reduce Missouri’s representation and ability to influence Washington.

Where do people go? Over 20,000 people a day are relocating from one state to another. Americans are leaving the Northeast and the Midwest in favor of Southern and Western states. While a number of factors come into play like climate, quality of life, and housing prices to name a few, it is also true that taxes are a motivating factor.

Of the 12 top states netting new residents, eight of them do not have a state income tax. Those on the Left would tell us that people are willing to pay more taxes to get better government services, but the migration patterns strongly suggest otherwise. Interestingly, the people who tend to be the most mobile tend to be the most educated and motivated, or to put it bluntly, are taxpayers – tax them too much and they may not be here in the future to tax at all.

Missouri should take steps to reverse this trend by reducing our state income tax burden. One proposal (HB1340) would phase in the full deductibility of our federal income tax liability from our state income taxes. There is also a bill (HB2112) which requires the state to develop a way to replace the state income tax with a state sales tax. Another proposal, to be introduced by the end of the month, will reduce the top state income tax by up to 15% providing real tax relief for Missourians, especially the middle class.

These proposals are intended to allow people keep more of their own money, to allow them to make decisions for themselves and their families, to give individuals more liberty in their consumption, savings, and debt retirement.

By contrast, House Democrats have introduced a bill (HB2131) this year that will deny citizens more liberty in their consumption, savings, and debt retirement. This bill increases income taxes by up to 50% for middle class families in a time when families need to keep more of their hard-earned income, not less. Apparently, some believe government knows how best to spend your money than you do.

If we continue to ignore the long-term benefits of lower taxes and instead, embrace the “feel good economics” of Washington where Americans are baited into a $600 tax rebate check while imposing a tax increase roughly twice that size, not only will Missouri continue lose representation in Washington, but the individual liberty of each Missourian will be eroded. Let’s be thankful, as Will Rogers observed that we are not getting all of the government we are paying for.

Identity Theft

On Wednesday, the Missouri House passed HB1384, giving Missourians a new weapon to help fight identity theft. We don’t have to spend much time watching television or listening to the radio to see or hear one of the many commercials offering free credit reports or credit card security services designed to protect us from the threat of identity theft. While the ads are often humorous and the jingles are usually catchy, they shed light on a serious problem that is no laughing matter to the millions of Americans victimized by identity thieves each year.

Innocent Missourians have been the victims of crimes ranging from someone using an existing credit card account to purchase goods to an individual opening multiple accounts using stolen personal information to someone using a stolen identity to secure a business or home loan. The methods for perpetrating identity theft are many and that is why it is important that Missourians are provided with adequate protection from these devastating and very personal crimes.

Identity thieves work hard to steal information about us from online transactions, looking over one’s shoulder at an ATM, to going through our trash. Our trash is a potential treasure trove information if credit card offers and various other mailings with personal information are not shredded before being discarded. It’s this information that can be used to register new credit cards and endanger the financial stability of innocent, unsuspecting Missourians. The avenues of identity theft are many and that is why identity theft is so hard to combat.

In 2004, the legislature passed legislation to increase the penalties for those who steal our personal information (HB916). That bill put some real teeth into our law to send the message that Missouri views identity theft as a serious crime and criminals will not get away with a simple slap on the wrist. On a federal level, President Bush created the first ever Identity Theft Task Force to protect American families from identity theft and to crack down on criminals who traffic in stolen identities. The combination of state and federal efforts has made it more difficult to engage in this illicit behavior.

This year the House is taking additional steps with another piece of legislation that makes a very simple change that could mean a big difference for anyone who is victimized by identity thieves. This bill clarifies that identity theft victims have the right to contact local law enforcement to have an incident report prepared and filed. While many police departments already do this, believe or not, there are some that are not willing to take identity theft reports. This is especially important when a victim attempts to have charges removed from a credit card that were run up by an identity thief, because the victim needs a police report to substantiate the fact that they were the victim of a crime. This is a simple, commonsense change that will assist Missourians victimized by identity theft to straighten out the financial mess that can result from these types of crimes.

Identity theft is a serious crime and all of us are at risk of becoming the kind of cautionary tale we see in those catchy commercials. By being smart with the way we do business and by enacting laws that give Missourians adequate protection, we can thwart the efforts of these criminals who seek to impersonate us.

Property Taxes

“Milk the cow, but do not pull off the udder,” or so goes an old Greek proverb so goes the experience of property owners throughout Missouri.

No one disputes the necessary evil of taxes to fund vital public services that range from fire and police protection, to water and sewer service, to funding schools to educate the next generation. Tax paying citizens deserve that our local political subdivisions do their level best to be stewards of these tax dollars making sure that each dollar that is collected is spent wisely and the greatest value possible is received in return. A system of equitable taxation, open books, and accountability are essential for good and sound government.

It is difficult to find a region in our great state, especially in the suburban areas, where property owners are not struggling to meet the financial burden that results from the ever-increasing property values and the corresponding increase their property tax burden. In some counties in Missouri, assessed values increased by an average of 22% between 2005 and 2007. Such increases touch every family, but its harshest impact is felt by those on fixed incomes.

To add insult to injury, our assessed valuations trail the home market resulting in valuations that may not accurately reflect the market price of a home. While Missouri is feeling the pinch of dropping median home prices, we are much better off than some parts of the country. Property taxes remain a local issue, but these striking increases call for action at the state level and property tax reform is a top priority this session.

The Missouri Senate has passed a bill that mandates tax rate rollbacks by all political subdivisions in reassessment years (SB711). These rollbacks are intended to protect property owners from sharp tax rate increases and prevent windfall revenues by taxing entities in reassessment years.

The bill also allows the ability for taxpayers to pay their property taxes in installments to prevent the “shock” of lump sum tax payments at year-end during the holiday season. Current law already allows counties to opt for quarterly installments, so this bill will require counties to provide taxpayers an estimate of their tax liability in the spring.

Citizens should never be liable for the errors of government, but in Clay County citizens are held liable for penalties and interest even when an error is made by the county. Unfortunately, our county collector will not make any exceptions and citizens are not prone to go to court, or are unaware of that alternative to prove their innocence. In either case, the taxpayer should not have to bear the burden of legal fees and the hassle of a lawsuit, because the county is unwilling to admit fault and waive the penalties and interest. This bill, and a companion House bill (HB1958) which I have co-sponsored, prohibits the imposition of penalties and interest where there is clear and convincing evidence that a county made an error in the determination of taxes owed by a taxpayer.

The Missouri House is considering an increase in the income cap for property tax relief known as the circuit breaker (HB1321). The program is currently available to seniors and disabled individuals who make $27,500. This bill would raise the cap to $32,500 for a single person and $36,500 for a married couple while increasing the maximum tax credit from $750 to $800.

Another bill under consideration by the House (HJR59) is a constitutional amendment exempting Missouri citizens on active military duty from paying personal property taxes.

Property tax reform is a very complex issue. Radio-television personality Arthur Godfrey proclaimed, “I'm proud to be paying taxes in the United States. The only thing is - I could be just as proud for half the money.” The best humor is always rooted in truth. We should demand accountability in the usage of our tax dollars and we deserve an open and accurate assessment process that prevents government from taking advantage of them.

Teacher Liability Protection

No matter how many years it has been since graduation day, every one of us can still remember that one teacher in our elementary and secondary experience that stands out. Whether that teacher pushed you to your limits, made you laugh on the worst of days, or had that unique gift of making the complex understandable, these teachers still stand out today.

No matter how long it has been since you walked out of class for the last time, you will still find teachers and staff that continue to work hard providing the best learning environment with the resources available to them for our children. As in your life each new day brings new challenges and that is no different for our teachers and supporting staff. Unfortunately, there are days when unforeseen incidents take place that are beyond the control of a teacher which create a liability for the school district and its employees.

From a teacher breaking up a fight between students resulting in an accidental strike to a student in the scuffle to a child injuring himself after running away from the group during a field trip there are many situations in between and beyond that can find a teacher or staff member liable for events that are out of their control.

Unfortunate episodes such as these have led to lawsuits being filed against teachers and staff around our state, despite the fact that school board policies were being followed to address the situation.

Teachers have enough on their hands every day than to worry about whether an accident will happen in which they will be liable. To help address this issue I have co-sponsored the Teacher Liability Protection Act. This legislation is intended to protect teachers, staff, and volunteers from unnecessary lawsuits that divert money away from the classroom and into the courtroom. Such lawsuits can ruin the career of valued a teacher regardless of whether negligence or guilt was found.

The proposed legislation expands the existing liability protection for teachers and other school personnel. Teachers and staff already have some legal protections against liability on matters relating to discipline under our current law. This bill expands the existing protections and establishes a legal precedence to throw out lawsuits if the teacher or staff member was acting within established school board policies. This proposal will not extend these protections to teachers and staff that are not following school board policies or are willfully negligent in performing their duties.

The bill also provides immunity from liability to qualified teachers and staff who dispense medication or life-saving medical treatments such as CPR. In addition, a teacher or other public school employee who is not qualified or one who refuses to offer a treatment or administer medication will not be held liable.

The Teacher Liability Protection Act will provide teachers and staff the security they need to perform their duties without fear of reprisal. The parents and children of Missouri rely on teachers to provide our children the education they need for success. This legislation will give teachers the tools they need to create the best educational environment possible for our children.

Joint Sessions

This past week two joint sessions of the General Assembly were held. The State of the Judiciary address was delivered on Tuesday followed by the State of Transportation address on Wednesday.

Chief Justice Laura Denvir Stith delivered the 35th State of the Judiciary address. While many topics were discussed one area stands out. She defended the non-partisan court plan, but did allow that changes in the process are being considered. First, more transparency is needed in the selection process for judges. The Supreme Court will begin by making more information available to the public and the media about the judicial candidates in a timely fashion. Commissions will be required to announce the time, date, and location of their meetings and to provide demographic information about the applicant pool prior to those meetings.

Second, Chief Justice Stith declared, “We want citizens to have ready information about the performance of their judges so they can make fully informed decisions when they exercise their right to vote”. This is a very positive change. Retention votes for judges are the most difficult votes to cast, due to the extreme lack of information and sources for information about the judges. She noted:

The Supreme Court also is requiring the creation of judicial performance committees to use objective standards to conduct in-depth evaluations of nonpartisan judges seeking retention. These performance committees, composed of an equal number of lay persons and lawyers, will release their evaluation summaries and will recommend whether a nonpartisan judge should be retained. The bottom line recommendations, and directions to a Web site with detailed evaluation information, will be made available in a concise voter information pamphlet - the type of pamphlet we hope one day to be able to send to all the voters.

These are positive changes for the courts and the courts would not have taken these steps and announce these intentions without the feedback and interest received by the public.

Oddly enough the Chief Justice noted that the $395 million of in damages, offsets, fines, fees, and costs are considered a “positive economic impact” and further stated that “we courts do our share in contributing to the state's bottom line”. Apparently I missed that in the constitution. The assessment of damages, offsets, fines, fees, and costs, while justified by law and necessary to punish offenders, is really a form of wealth redistribution. To have a positive economic impact both parties would to benefit in the transaction.

Director Pete Rahn delivered the fifth, and final, State of Transportation address. This address was required by statute in 2003 in response the lack of credibility MODOT was experiencing with the public and the General Assembly. Director Rahn noted, “The road to credibility is a long one. The road to discredit is not. Credibility takes a long time to build, but it can be torn down in a matter of seconds” – very true words indeed.

MODOT has made significant improvements over the past few years and has racked up a number of successes. The success or failure to deliver the Smooth Roads Initiative and the Safe and Sound Bridge program will be MODOT’s legacy for this decade. Here are some “success” highlights from the address:

In 2006, we delivered 2,200 miles of smoother, safer roads a full year ahead of schedule. We are now building on that success with our Better Roads, Brighter Future initiative which will result in 5,600 miles of major roads with smooth pavement; brighter, wider striping; larger signs; rumble stripes; and, in most cases, a minimum four-foot paved shoulder all by 2012.

With just one year of Better Roads, Brighter Future completed, 78 percent of our
major roads are now in good condition as compared to 44 percent just five years ago. That is progress that benefits all of us. That is an example of how far we've come.

…

Missouri climbed from 39th to 17th between 2000 and 2005 including an eleven-spot jump from 2004 to 2005 - the second biggest improvement in the country. And that was prior to the full effects of the Smooth Roads Initiative or any of the positive improvements through Better Roads, Brighter Future, which will undoubtedly move us up the rankings in future years.

…

Construction contracts awarded in Fiscal Year 2007 came in 7.4 percent under budget. That was a 90 million dollar savings - 90 million dollars more for road and bridge improvements. For Fiscal Year 2008, so far we are at 114 million dollars or 14 percent under budget.

Additionally, all projects in our five-year plan that were sped up due to Amendment 3 funding have been awarded to a contractor. With 100 percent of these projects under contract, we came in at 4 percent under budget. That is even more savings for even more highway improvements. That is an example of how far we've come!

MODOT in recent years has moved beyond their old “patch and promise” reputation to making significant improvements to our ailing infrastructure and reduced the number of fatalities on Missouri highways. While MODOT has certainly made significant improvements, it will continue to take a diligent public to hold their feet to the fire. Their performance has raised our expectations on what we can expect.