Hoskins: The Last Week Is The Busiest

This begins the final week in this legislative session. I can tell you in all honesty, the last week is the busiest.

Legislative Update

Several key legislative accomplishments last week included an historic veto override and final approval of the appropriations bills for next year’s budget. I’ll also cover a couple of other issues in this week’s report.

Congressional Redistricting

Congressional redistricting has been highly controversial, to put it mildly. In fact, this has been so controversial that Governor Nixon vetoed HB 193, the map approved by the House and Senate. Since the legislature is still in session, then both bodies had the opportunity to override the governor’s veto before this session adjourns, which we did on Wednesday. Prior to this, the last time a veto was overridden was in 2003 so you see it is not a process taken lightly.

Although not support by Governor Nixon, this map was supported by eight of the nine current congressmen and women and by both Republicans and Democrats in the General Assembly. The map we passed was clearly supported by both sides of the aisle. Overriding a veto requires a 2/3 majority in both chambers. In the House, that equates to 109 of 163 members in the Missouri House. As there are only 105 Republicans in the House this session, Democrats have to join in for a veto override to be successful. Not to be repetitive, but this was truly a bi-partisan effort.

I’ve covered the topic of Congressional redistricting in several previous Capitol Reports so I trust this is the final report to you on this topic. Besides Missouri losing a vote in the Electoral College, the importance of Congressional redistricting can have a significant impact on the accessibility to federal funding for our state. All over Johnson County, we are reminded everyday of the importance of federal defense funding to our communities. We also need to remember the impacts of other federal funding including education and transportation.

Here’s a link to the approved version of the new congressional map:
http://kc.citizen-publications.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/missouri-redistricting-map.jpg

Budget

By our state constitution, the legislature has a deadline for completing work on the next year’s budget. This year’s deadline was May 6, 2011 and we finished the budget on May 5th. It made for some long days but we were successful. In spite of revenue limitations, we have submitted a good budget to Governor Nixon that takes a common-sense, family-style approach to budgeting – only spending the money that we actually have.

The Missouri Constitution requires our state to operate with a balanced budget. It’s irresponsible to budget on the backs of our children, and we would never allow that to happen in our state. As a result, we did everything we could to fund the vital needs of our state without raising taxes. With our current economic climate, it was challenging to draft a budget that would meet the state’s needs. Not only were we able to pass a budget without new job-killing taxes, but we were able to craft a plan in line with our session-long goal of creating new jobs for Missourians.

I am proud to announce that even though our State’s revenue picture continues to be grim, we were able to hold the line on our foundation formula education funding. Our local school districts will continue to be funded according to the formula. Last year we were forced to make some cuts to school bus transportation funds. This year, we were able to put some of that money back in the budget, helping our schools deal with the rising price of gasoline and diesel.

Higher Education is a little different story. Though the original budget recommended a 7% overall cut to funding, in our final budget we were able to increase our original amount by $13,000,000, which resulted in a smaller 5.5% cut. This increase from our original number for the year should help our universities, including UCM, continue to operate at a high level despite the poor economic conditions in our state.

Our budget also contains incentives to help small-businesses develop, grow, and hopefully hire new workers in our state. This session we have tried to do everything in our power to help turn around this economy, and this approach is also reflected in the budget that we passed.

In additional, we were able to preserve Missouri Rx. This is a program that helps thousands of Missouri seniors with their prescription medications. We had to find money that was previously used in other parts of the budget, but with a little creativity and ingenuity, we were able to cobble together funds from different areas to ensure that these prescription drug benefits would remain.

The state budget is roughly $23 billion and there are many other programs that lost or gained funding. I have just included some of the highlights. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss other aspects of the budget in addition to the limited high points that I covered here.

Voter Identification

In the 2005 legislative session, Missouri passed into law the requirement that individuals present photographic identification when they vote in person. This was in response to the public perception to irregularities in St. Louis and in several counties during the 2004 presidential election. After the election was over, it seems more individuals voted than the number of people who actually lived there.

The Missouri Supreme Court said that this requirement was unconstitutional under state law, because voting is a fundamental right under our state constitution, and one or two named individuals in the case may have a hard time getting the photographic identification required to vote.

Yes, voting is a fundamental right. It should be protected to the fullest extent of the law. One way to protect the right to vote is to make sure that everyone’s vote counts equally. When individuals vote illegally, it reduces the value of the legally cast ballots. I see this voting identification measure as being designed to protect Missourian’s fundamental right to vote. Because the Missouri Supreme Court disagrees, we’re going to poll the people.

At the next statewide election, you will have the opportunity to vote on SJR 2. This is an amendment to our state constitution that would allow early voting, and also would grant the legislature the power to specifically require voters to present photographic identification at the polls. We think requiring identification protects those of us who vote legally from those that don’t. On this issue, you get to decide. I hope that you’ll choose to protect our right to vote by amending our constitution to allow us to require photographic identification for voting.

Visitors to the Capitol

The highlight of this week’s visitors was a group of Whiteman and UCM spouses. The trip was hosted by the Warrensburg Chamber of Commerce. For many of the spouses, this was their first visit to our state capitol. Several made comments about the beautiful artwork in our capitol, especially in comparison to other states where they have lived or visited. Tammy Long planned a great day ending with a trip to Central Dairy, a true Jefferson City landmark. I am hopeful that some of these spouses will return with their families to the Capitol (and Central Dairy) in the future. Whenever you’re in the Capitol, I hope you’ll stop by to say hello, too.

Special Visitor to Missouri

Last Friday evening, it was my pleasure to attend the UCM commencement to see 272 graduates of the Class of 2011 complete this stage of their formal education with their graduate degrees. Former President Bill Clinton made this an especially memorable event for these graduates as their commencement speaker. This is the first time a President has been to Warrensburg since Harry Truman. UCM has been especially innovative in efforts to enhance renewable energy, which is what brought President Clinton to our campus. We may not share political beliefs but it was my pleasure to be in the presence of an American President.

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.