Dear Friends:

In an effort to keep you informed about the activities at your state Capitol and how those activities might impact your lives, I am offering a regular electronic newsletter. I will send you information about bills making their way through the legislative process, especially bills that directly impact the lives of Kansas Citians. I welcome your feedback and encourage you to contact my office with any questions or concerns you may have.

Thank you.

Winter Storm Cuts Legislative Week Short

Missouri lawmakers adjourned early in the week to give members time to get back to their districts before an approaching winter storm made travel difficult.  Senators perfected a number of bills on Tuesday, including Senate Bill 69, sponsored by Sen. Joe Keaveny, D-St. Louis.  SB 69 makes a number of changes related to administrative child support orders.  The measure grants the authority to administrative hearing officers from the Department of Social Services to set aside or correct administrative child support decisions or orders and proposed administrative modifications of a judicial order. This measure has now been delivered to the House for similar consideration.

Senators also gave first-round approval to Senate Bill 75 after extended debate on the bill. SB 75 authorizes school districts and charter schools to provide training and education about firearms safety and address potentially dangerous or armed intruders. The legislation was amended during debate to change the gun safety training and education from a requirement to a program school officials could teach to their students.

Democratic lawmakers in both the House and Senate are introducing legislation to expand Medicaid in Missouri.  Governor Nixon called on Missouri lawmakers to expand Medicaid in Missouri under the provisions of the Affordable Care Act during his State of the State address in January.  In the Senate, Sen. Paul LeVota, D-Independence, introduced Senate Bill 349, which provides for the expansion of MO HealthNet services beginning Jan. 1, 2014.  Majority party leaders have expressed opposition to expanding health care services for low-income, working Missourians by contending the state cannot afford its share of the cost.  However, a University of Missouri School of Medicine study found the expansion would essentially pay for itself.

According to the MU report, the federal government will contribute $8.2 billion to Missouri’s Medicaid expansion from 2014-2020, or 96.1 percent of the cost of expansion.  During that same period, the state will contribute $332.9 million to expanding Medicaid, or just 3.9 percent of the total cost.  The study’s authors conclude the Medicaid expansion will generate $856 million in state and local taxes from 2014-2020, more than enough to pay Missouri’s share of the cost of expansion.

Medicaid expansion could be the single largest job creation program in Missouri, far outpacing legislative incentives such as the Quality Jobs Program or the various tax credit programs designed to entice employers to hire more people or to relocate to the state.  The MU study finds that expanding Medicaid in Missouri would create more than 24,000 new jobs in Missouri in 2014.  In just that one year, that is more than the employment of Missouri’s 10 Fortune 500 companies.  Those new jobs would generate nearly $7 billion in labor income in the state while adding nearly $10 billion in gross state product from 2014-2020.
The study, released last November, concludes that more than 200,000 Missourians will be eligible to participate in MO HealthNet each year between 2014 and 2020 if Missouri expands Medicaid under the ACA.

If Missouri refuses to expand Medicaid, hospitals in rural areas could close, leaving thousands of Missourians without access to care.  Right now, low-income Missourians without health insurance go to the emergency room for care because hospitals are required to provide care even for patients who cannot afford to pay.  Currently, the federal government reimburses hospitals for providing this care, but those payments will begin to decrease under the ACA.  The Missouri Hospital Association estimates Missouri stands to lose $704 million in federal reimbursement to hospitals.  Without Medicaid expansion, that loss of federal funds will make it difficult for many small, rural hospitals to remain open.

To those who worry the federal government will not uphold its end of the bargain and will try to push an increasing share of the costs onto the states, the federal government allows states to opt out of the expansion at any time.  In his State of the State address, Gov. Nixon called for a rollback provision for Medicaid expansion if the federal government fails to honor its financial commitments.  Sen. LeVota’s bill includes a similar caveat.
Lawmakers will return to the state Capitol Monday.  Thursday, Feb. 28, will be the last day senators can introduce bills for the 2013 legislative session.

Status of Sen. Curls' Sponsored Legislation

The following are measures I have filed this session (notes last legislative action):

• Senate Bill 151 - Changes the notice requirement to a tenant in a foreclosure action from 10 to 90 days (assigned to the Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee)
• Senate Bill 152 - Allows judges to suspend the imposition of an adult criminal sentence for juvenile offenders (assigned to the Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee)
• Senate Bill 153 - Requires a non-custodial parent to pay child support until the child reaches 22 instead of 21 years of age (assigned to the Senate Seniors, Families and Pensions Committee)
• Senate Bill 223 - Modifies provisions of the Public School Retirement System of Kansas City (assigned to the Senate Seniors, Families and Pensions Committee)
• Senate Bill 224 - Increases the maximum salaries that may be paid to the members of the Kansas City Policy Department and provides that actions taken against the police chief are subject to review (assigned to the Senate Progress and Development Committee)
• Senate Bill 225 - Modifies laws regarding educational parental support for higher education (assigned to the Senate Judicial and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee)
• Senate Bill 262 - Prohibits heath carriers from denying coverage for a health care service on the basis that the service was provided through telemedicine if the same service would be covered when delivered in person (assigned to the Senate Small Business, Insurance and Industry Committee)
• Senate Bill 263 - Creates the crimes of assault of an employee of a mass transit system while in the scope of his or her duties in the first, second and their degree (assigned to the Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee)
• Senate Joint Resolution 11 - Increases the amount of time for repaying the Budget Reserve Fund when monies from this fund are appropriated due to a disaster or the governor's reduction of the state's expenditures (assigned to Senate Ways and Means Committee)

To read more about my legislative actions in the Missouri Senate, visit my Senate website at www.senate.mo.gov/curls and click on the various informative links, which include my news releases, under my Media tab.