Hoskins: Survey Results, A Fix to Propsition C

With the advent of April, March madness is now over. I love basketball but I was as caught off-guard by the teams progressing in the NCAA brackets as much as everybody else. Now I’m ready to move on to baseball season. Batter up! But first – on to business at the Capitol.

Congressional Redistricting

Every ten years, when the Census data comes in, the Missouri Legislature is tasked with redrawing the voting districts for our United States Representatives. Unfortunately, this year Missouri’s population did not grow as fast as the rest of the country, and we lost a congressional seat, taking us from 9 to 8.

With this reduction in seats, one member of our congressional delegation will literally lose their seat. With nine current members of Congress, and eight districts, a tough choice had to be made. As part of this process, the House Redistricting Committee has spent the past month holding hearings around the state. Citizens were invited to testify concerning how they wanted to be represented in the new districts, who should be included, and what the districts should look like on the map.

Taking this input into consideration, the committee drew a map that was both fair and representative. People have the right to vote for a representative of their choice. Part of this right is the guarantee that the district within which they live is drawn so that their vote counts. In addition, Missouri’s Constitution requires that districts be drawn so as to be “contiguous and compact.” This means they have to be mostly contained within the same spot on the map – no spider webs, snake shapes, or sporadic blobs on the map to be gerrymandering.

The end result [HB193] is what we think is a fair way to make the adjustments that are required because of our loss of that Congressional district. Every district's population increased significantly. The proposed map meets the requirements of the Missouri Constitution and splits only eight counties into different Congressional districts.

For a look at the map approved by the House, you can visit: http://monewshorizonblog.org/wp-content/
uploads/2011/03/Screen-shot-2011-03-31-at-7.10.58-AM.png. Although we have approved this plan in the House, now the Senate will address its proposal. Redistricting is an arduous process, and the map may look different than this when everything is said and done.

Legislative Action

This week continues to be busy for the House, as several bills we have been working on to create new jobs in Missouri were passed out of our chamber. One of the issues we addressed pertains to the franchise tax. [SB19]

The franchise tax is a tax that corporations pay in advance for doing business within the state. It is not a tax on franchisees. When corporations are looking at where to locate their businesses, a state’s franchise taxes are something they consider. Currently, Missouri businesses are taxed both on their income and the value of their assets and stock. This would be like getting taxed on your yearly income plus on all the income you’ve made your entire life. The bill we sent to the Governor would phase out this tax over a period of five years, making Missouri a very attractive state for businesses to locate.

Missouri only collects about 3% of its revenue from corporate taxes of any kind and the franchise tax is only part of this collection. I am confident this tax cut will help attract more businesses to open, expand, or relocate to Missouri. We can create more jobs by allowing businesses to flourish than we ever could by raising taxes.

In the next fiscal year the franchise tax cut is expected to save Missouri businesses $16,554,054 - that is a lot of jobs. The year after that, it would save Missouri businesses upwards of $35,000,000. By the time the franchise tax is completely phased-out in five years, Missouri businesses will be saving around $85,000,000 a year. To use simple numbers, that is 850 new $100,000 jobs that could be created, or 1700 new $50,000 jobs.

In the Special Committee on Renewable Energy, we approved HB 613 which will now head to the full House. When Proposition C (known as the Missouri Clean Energy Initiative) passed in 2008, it quickly became evident that there are issues with the language causing it to be unable to be administered. At the current time, the State of Missouri is in court due to vague language used in the initiative petition approved by the voters. The purpose of this bill is to make corrections so the renewable energy provisions of Proposition C can be instituted. I am pleased to have been named to this committee and think we have a workable solution still in keeping with the will of the people.

District Survey Results

At the end of February, I mailed a survey to each household in the 121^st District that voted in the last two statewide elections. For the first time, the technology was available for constituents to return their responses online in addition to traditional mail. Of the 11,722 surveys mailed, I received 588 back. I would like to have had a higher return rate, but perhaps that could be interpreted to mean that the voters are satisfied with the job I’m doing. When people are up in arms about something, then that’s when it seems we as elected officials get lots of feedback. Whether you are upset about an issue or not, I’m always open to hear from you.

Research shows that surveys are an effective method to help elected officials receive opinions from our constituents. I use my surveys as just one of the tools to keep informed. I am limited to only be able to ask a few questions per survey. Each time I send a survey, I try to ask about different topics from those I have addressed in a previous survey. Surveys combined with my town hall meetings and communicating with you either in the Capitol or in Johnson County all help me to know what is important to you.

So how do your opinions compare with the surveys I received?

Education Funding

1. Is Missouri’s education system being adequately funded?
Yes 59.2%
No 33.5%
No opinion 7.3%

2. Should Missouri permit children in failing school districts to enroll in a successful school district?
Yes 34%
Yes with private funding 37.1%
No 20.1%
No opinion 8.8%

Making Schools Accountable

3. Should Missouri require public school districts to pay for the remedial education a graduate must receive in college?
Yes 26.7%
No 63.4%
No opinion 9.9%

Finance and the Economy – Stimulating Job Growth

4. Do you support incentives for large businesses?
Yes 46.8%
No 42.2
No opinion 11%

5. Should Missouri lower the overall tax burden on all Missouri businesses instead of offering incentives to large corporations?
Yes 71.3%
No 19.9%
No opinion 8.8%

Tax Credits

6. Should state laws require lawmakers to regularly review tax credits?
Yes 93.4%
No 1.7%
No opinion 4.9%

Health Care Transparency

7. Should Missouri require medical facilities to incorporate more transparency?
Yes 74.8%
No 11.4%
No opinion 13.8%

Term Limits

8. Should Missouri eliminate term limits for legislators?
Yes 23%
No 70.7%
No opinion 6.3%

Limiting Government Growth

9. Do you support a constitutional amendment to limit government growth?
Yes 65.8%
No 24.2%
No opinion 10%

Working While Imprisoned

10. Should Missouri institute a statewide prisoner work system?
Yes 91.7%
No 3.2%
No opinion 5.1%

Environment – Alternate Energy Sources

11. Should Missouri make it easier for alternate energy sources, such as wind farms and hydroelectric plants, to be constructed?
Yes 79.9%
No 10.9%
No opinion 9.2%

If you returned your survey, many thanks! I especially appreciate all the added comments. About a third of the surveys included extensive hand-written comments. Some even included extra pages.

Visitors to the Capitol

This week the Capitol was filled with young people involved with Boys and Girls Clubs from around the state. Nicole Valenzuela was here to compete for state recognition for her involvement in her club at Whiteman. This summer, she will travel to Washington DC to represent her club in conjunction with the Air Force.

Other visitors this week that stopped by my office included Violet Corbett, Ben Cast, Tom and Grant Doherty, John Hardegen, Thomas Beyer, and Gene Reed. Whenever you’re in the Capitol, I hope you’ll stop by to say hello.

Ways to Keep in Contact

I consider communication with my constituents a high priority. My weekly Monday morning chat at 8:45 a.m. with Woody at KOKO Radio on AM 1450 is one of the best ways I’ve found for you to literally “hear” from me. Tune in every Monday morning at 8:45 to hear the latest concerning District 121.

Please share this report with anyone you feel would be interested in this information. As the Legislature will not be in session, it will be two weeks before my next Capitol Report. It is genuinely a privilege to serve as your state representative.