HOUSE & SENATE JOINT PRIORITIES
At right:
Rep. Tim Jones addresses the media at the joint house/senate press conference on 13 January.This week, the House and Senate issued a list of joint priorities that they plan to pursue in the early weeks of Session. As each Chamber begins the intense work of Committee hearings and debate, they intend to keep these priorities in mind as these goals will benefit all Missourians all across the State.
Protecting Your Tax Dollars
Fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets have been a hallmark of the General Assembly for nearly ten years. The reason that Missouri's budget is not suffering as much as most of the other States in the Union is because of careful planning and wise use of your tax dollars over the past several years. Missouri will have its budget challenges this year, however, if we tighten our belts and spend our money wisely, making the difficult choices that you have had to make in your family and your business's budget, we will continue to weather this economic storm. Specific items that we will be pursuing to safeguard and protect your tax dollars include:- Urge the Governor to issue prompt income tax refunds;
- Require legislative oversight for the spending of federal stimulus dollars;
- Reduce fraud and abuse in the Medicaid system; and
- Pledge that there will be absolutely no tax increases on Missourians.
Safeguarding Our Freedoms, Protecting our Families, Upholding our Values
In addition to continuing to operate your State Government in a fiscally prudent, conservative fashion so that our State continues to be solvent and viable for our children and grandchildren, we have pledged to do what we can to protect our vital constitutional freedoms and liberties, to continue to secure the health, safety and welfare of all our citizens and continue to uphold our traditional, common sense Missouri values. Specific items that we will pursue to reach these goals include:- Ensure greater transparency and strengthen ethics in government;
- Oppose a bloated and expanded government, support smaller government;
- Oppose the federal government takeover of our health care system;
- Call upon Congress to oppose job destroying cap-and-trade legislation;
- Make certain that statutes pertaining to clean water are implemented to ensure public safety of our citizens; and
- Require credit agencies to withhold reporting negative information if it is caused by identity theft.
HEALTH CARE FREEDOM ACT
As I previously discussed, I have sponsored House Joint Resolution 57 which would, if passed and approved by the voters, secure the current rights and freedoms that Missouri citizens have to choose to participate in whatever health care system or care that they want. Seventy five of my colleagues have co-sponsored this legislation and I am very grateful to them for their support. You may view the legislation at this link: http://house.mo.gov/content.aspx?info=/bills101/bills/HJR57.htm. On Wednesday, we had a very large turnout here at the Capitol for a rally in support of the bills in the House and the Senate on this very topic. Passionate Missourians rallied at the Capitol in support of this cause and then toured the entire Capitol and professionally and skillfully made their case for support of the bill to all of the Senators and Representatives in the General Assembly.The healthcare bill that the federal government is pushing can only hurt Missourians. Federal mandates will increase costs to our state and on our citizens and we do NOT want any tax hikes, especially during an economic recession. The results of a tax hike on hard working Missourians would be devastating.
This week we had a letter hand-delivered to the Governor's office, urging him to take action against federal mandates that would lead us to a devastating financial crisis. The Governor MUST speak out on this issue – he is the leader of our state and he owes us an answer.
This week we also sent a letter to Attorney General Chris Koster urging him to join other State's Attorney Generals nation-wide in standing against the "Nebraska Compromise", which would leave Missourians to foot the bill for Nebraska's Medicaid expansion. It is our hope that Attorney General Koster will review the constitutionality and legality of this compromise – it may violate the United States Constitution.
And as I have mentioned, hundreds of concerned Missourians flooded the halls of the State Capitol to express their displeasure with the federal health care plan currently being considered by Congress. I was honored to speak at the rally where the main topic of discussion focused on the unfunded mandates contained in the federal plan. Like me, the folks who attended the rally are concerned the federal plans would create an unfair tax on individuals who do not purchase health insurance and penalize businesses that do not offer it to their employees. It was energizing to see so many Missourians make their voices heard on this vitally important issue.
As our state faces budget uncertainty, we must be wary of any plan that would potentially cost Missouri taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars each year. The bottom line is that we must take a stand against the federal government in order to protect our individual rights to make our own choices when it comes to health care coverage.
Tim's Legislative Platform for 2010
So far this year I have sponsored and filed nine individual pieces of legislation. I have co-sponsored numerous other bills. To review all of the bills that I have sponsored or co-sponsored, please follow this link: http://www.house.mo.gov/content.aspx?info=/bills101/spon/spn089.htmPersonal News & Notes
At right: The latest family photo, Christmas 2009
This was our first full week back at the Capitol. While I am away each week, I owe a major debt of gratitude to so many people back home who continue to make the true sacrifices so that I can continue this journey of public service. My wife Suzanne and daughters Katie and Abby continue to be a source of great inspiration for me as they maintain the homestead and manage their very busy lives. My partners at my law firm of Doster Ullom continue to help me manage my caseload and take excellent care of my clients while I work on passing more laws for them to read (they may not be laughing at my little joke). I want to thank my family and everyone at my law firm for all of their continued generous help and support.
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