JEFFERSON CITY, MO - Members of the Missouri Senate's Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee approved a measure requiring the state to utilize performance-based budgeting practices. Based on legislation drafted by committee chairman Sen. John Cauthorn, R-Mexico, Senate Bill 299 would have budget officials develop and implement a system establishing goals and objectives; provide detailed measures of program and fund performance against attainment of planned outcomes; and provide ongoing program evaluation.

"The act would require every state department and agency to conduct a performance-based budget review at least once every five years beginning in 2005," Cauthorn said. "Missouri families develop their household budgets based on this practice and it's high time the state does the same."

The budget accountability measure is now up for debate by the full body for final passage. Final Senate passage would send the measure to the House. Passage in both chambers would allow the bill to become law.

Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee members also approved a measure specifying the method in which revenue estimates are calculated for each fiscal year's budget. Senate Bill 28 would have budget revenue estimates based on the lesser of either the revenue estimate prepared under current standards or on the actual amount spent for the most recently completed fiscal year as modified by an increase of 1 percent or any voter-approved state spending increase.

Cauthorn and his fellow Senators this week gave first-round approval, or "perfected," a measure establishing Alert Missouri, a statewide communications program for tracking abductions as they transpire in an effort to bring them to a safe and speedy conclusion.

Senate Bill 30 is patterned after "AMBER Alert" programs now in use by several other states Amber being the first name of an abducted and murdered Texas girl. The Department of Public Safety (DPS) would oversee the Alert Missouri program and divide the state into regions of local law enforcement agencies and local media organizations. On suspicion of an abduction, the DPS would coordinate the distribution of information in the originating region and in any other region(s) the abductor is thought to be traveling in.

The wavering state budget now estimated at over $300 million in the red remains the single greatest challenge before all state lawmakers. Missouri's Constitution prohibits deficit state spending, creating the need for expense cutting, revenue generation, or a combination of both. One deficit-plugging proposal Senators are warily evaluating uses money from the settlement between Missouri and major tobacco companies. Specifically, the plan would involve issuing $350 million in bonds backed by future tobacco settlement payments, which are on a 25-year schedule. (The process is known as "securitization.")

The plan raises concerns in most lawmakers. One is that while securitizing allows for an advance on future money, producing an up-front balloon payment, the process greatly reduces the overall revenue by not following the 25-year payment schedule. The plan also stands to put considerable bonding risk on taxpayers, rather than investors.

In any event, some form of securitization plan must be arrived at soon in order to be of help in the current budget year, which ends on June 30. The absence of tobacco money almost certainly would force withholding previously approved appropriations.

"Elementary and secondary education are two areas the governor has specifically slated for withholding if we don't go along with his 'solution,'" Cauthorn said. "But there are ways we can balance the budget without making schoolchildren fiscal pawns."

Cauthorn and other conservative lawmakers have been fine-tuning a budget plan that calls for using no more than $100 million in tobacco money in the short-term, leaving nearly $300 million for future budget years. The plan also nets some $250 million in savings by cutting certain expenses, carrying less money over to the next budget year and delaying certain tax awards and construction projects.

Sen. Cauthorn met earlier this week with state juvenile and family court judges, who presented lawmakers from the Senate and House with a judiciary standards proposal making juvenile and family courts more accountable for decisions affecting foster children and their families.

"I really think we covered a lot of ground in making our foster care system one that works for not against foster parents and foster children," Cauthorn said. "For too long, the concerns and voices of birth and foster parents have gone unheard. This symposium is a turning of the corner, representing a commitment to better communication and better foster care in Missouri."

Planning for the juvenile court symposium began more than a year ago and was largely initiated and overseen by Missouri Supreme Court justices. The specific reforms outlined this week stem from circumstances surrounding the August, 2002, death of a Springfield-area child left in a foster care setting now widely acknowledged as inadequate and inappropriate.

"It's sad to think about what has to happen sometimes before action is taken," Cauthorn said. "But even though his young life was tragically ended, the spirit of Dominic James lives on in those of us fighting for real reform, real progress and real foster care."

The primary objective of the proposed judiciary reforms is to have judges meet expedited timelines to prevent foster care cases from stalling in court, which often serves to prolong improper and unsafe foster care. Holding status hearings on all foster care cases at least three times a year is also key component of the plan, as is creating an emphasis on placing foster children with relatives whenever possible.

"These proposed reforms are a great first step," Cauthorn said. "Now we need to dig deeper into the issue for the safety and well being of all involved."