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| Capitol Report: Session Preview | Contact: (573) 751- 3074 | |||
| 2014 Session Preview | ||||
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As your state senator, I wanted to provide a preview of this year’s Legislative session, which began Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2014, at noon. |
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| What the Legislature Will Be Working On | ||||
Fixing the Student Transfer Issue That is why I filed Senate Bill 624. The bill allows school districts to establish policies that outline class sizes and student-to-teacher ratios. Once a district establishes a desirable class size and student-to-teacher ratio, districts will not be required to accept transfer students from unaccredited school districts if the move would violate the class size and student-to-teacher ratio. This bill addresses the student transfer issue in a way that helps both the accredited and unaccredited school districts. It is unfair to overwhelm accredited districts with transferring students. On the other hand, it’s also unfair to turn students away if the district has the room to accommodate them. Senate Bill 624 also prohibits the State School Board from classifying a school district as unaccredited or reclassifying a district's accreditation to provisional if a vacancy exists on the board for the congressional district where the school is located. Massive Tax Cuts Issue One issue already introduced againthis session deals with proposals to provide a massive, ‘Kansas-like’ tax cut that will mostly benefit just corporations and wealthy individuals. Similar legislation passed last session and was thankfully vetoed by Governor Nixon. I still believe that we should be the ‘Show-Me State,' not the ‘Me-too’ state. Tax reform is a crucial part of our economic development policy, but we need to be able to pay for the things the state government has to do. We should not put our responsibilities to education, transportation, mental health and all other priorities in jeopardy. This session, I will be filing legislation that will help provide a rational and more accountable tax policy for our state without hurting our essential responsibilities. |
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| What the Legislature Should Be Working On | ||||
Medicaid Expansion Other returning issues died last year from lack of legislative action. Chief among those was a proposal to expand Missouri’s Medicaid eligibility threshold under the federal Affordable Care Act, which would allow the state to leverage billions of dollars in federal funds while extending health care coverage to another 300,000 Missourians. Access to affordable health care is one of the most important public policy issues that we face in Missouri. No other issue involves such deep moral and economic consequences for our state. Health care service delivery is far too important in terms of lives, jobs, and the overall economic well-being of the state for us to be complicit in the lack of seriousness in crafting meaningful health care policy. We can no longer accept the Majority’s slouch towards a solution. Once again, I have filed legislation, Senate Bill 661, to get back our federal tax money to increase access to affordable health care. I will be working with my colleagues in the General Assembly to find a solution to this significant public policy issue. But before this can happen, some need to look beyond their seeming hatred of all things related to the president and instead look at the facts: We can save money, create jobs, save lives, and improve our overall economy. Increase to the Minimum Wage Increasing Missouri's minimum wage is a simple change state government can make to raise the incomes of millions of working families in Missouri. For businesses, it would mean more customers. This makes sense to do at this time since corporations’ profits and CEO salaries have never been higher. I have filed legislation to increase the minimum wage to $9 per hour in Missouri. I will continue to work until we get a higher minimum wage for hard-working families in our state. |
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| What Will Be My Focus | ||||
Increase Accountability of State Government to Help Small Businesses A dominant focus that I will have this session is to continue to be a voice for increased accountably in state government. I have introduced legislation to streamline processes for businesses, improve procedures in the Professional Registration Department and better organize various functions of government. Real Ethics Reform Additionally, I have again introduced legislation, Senate Bill 627, to impose contribution limits for individuals and committees in support of candidates running for public office. The good news is several ethics reform measures have already been introduced. Yet, I contend that real ethics reform must include limits on campaign contributions. The now common practice of a few wealthy donors pouring unlimited money for candidates that support their agenda is harmful to a fair political process. Missouri needs to reinstate campaign finance limits. |
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| Stay Involved | ||||
I look forward to a productive legislative session. It is an honor to serve as your state senator. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments. |
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Senator Paul LeVota |
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